November 27th till December 7th I was in the Australian Rainforest, camping with my Discipleship Training School. Spicing up the scenery and enjoying God’s beautiful nature, we had lectures in the heat of the day with all the humidity that was lavished upon us. Every individual at some point had sweat dripping from their forehead down to their toes. To try to explain the sweat and smell that came off our bodies would be too revealing; so much so that I might just scare off anyone who thought of attending a DTS or going into the Aussie Rainforest. Other than that, there was much of God’s beautiful creation to adore such as a calm river to bathe in, the vast colors of butterflies, the forest full of trees, diverse animals such as tree snakes, wallabies, goannas, salamanders, frogs of yellow and light green, large toads, horse flies, saccades, ticks and leeches. My personal favourite was the saccades. This is an original masterpiece of God’s. Saccades are large tree bugs that make lots of noise, like a screeching possum. They either pee or spit (you choose what expression you like better) on you all day and night. You would think its raining or something, but no... it is just saccades giving you a lovely shower...It would have been something extremely gross, but since the sweating was already there it could be seen as...refreshing... The evening skies were beautiful. Almost every evening lightning and thunder would diligently make its appearance. The stars were of many, and one evening we went out to the road and made our proclamations to God and just stood in awe at His Handy Work. This was in the second week with the speaker, Mark Parker, a Kiwi, who spoke on the topic of Lordship. As all of the DTS students were on the road, we knew we were to lay down our troubles, fears and to allow the Lord to move in and through us. The stars shone out the Lord’s radiance which humbled all of us to serve Our Lord and serve others. The realizations that we needed to sow something today to be able to reap something tomorrow dawned on me. It was clear that no day would be better to start then today.
My purposes are so simple and yet often times I miss them. I am to love God and make Him increase and me, decrease. God must get bigger, and making Him known makes me so aware of His presence that I don’t even care. God’s grace is more than enough. Christ broke the chains that would hold me back. I am no longer held down by sin. Yet I am dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. I have been debating for too long to give just half my life away thinking that was enough. It wasn’t. I have given my life away. God wants to use me to love others and genuinely share my love for Him. He loved me first, so that I might love Him. God is calling me not to just to follow and go along with the crowd but to lead out. I will seek to obey God even if it seems impossible because my Refuge and Protector is on my side. It might not make sense and look irresponsible, ridiculous and crazy. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. I am consecrating my life to the Giver of Life. I am confident that my Father will never leave me nor forsake me. The Holy Spirit will always be with me and lead me into purposely challenging places where I am to bring and speak life. I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me...I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. There is no life...without death.
God has always pursued me. Always. It’s about time that I started pursuing Him, my first love. Every day He calls me His child; His sweet beloved. I am endeavoured to you my family who has encouraged me and pursued me to grow in the knowledge of our Lord.
Being back from the Rainforest and back in Townsville on Ingham Road I am constantly itching like every DTS student. The bites that cover our legs are undeniably, uncontrollably uncomfortable. The scratching and itching will last for another week as testimonies were given by others to affirm this monstrosity. As Christmas is approaching, our schedule is filling up. We host a youth summer camp called Impact Summer which is from December 17th-23rd. It is easily understood as a mini DTS for kids ages 12-17 where they can learn more about God and share that love with others. Then two days later it is Christmas. That seems so peculiar; I won’t be at home with family, or attending our candle light service. From being away from all the familiarities, I have been really dwelling on the real meaning of Christmas. How it’s not about me and my comforts, but about the gift that was given to us at the cross. There is a lot that is happening, but God is forever Good.
Silent Night, Holy Night
