Our team had arranged with out contacts in Mareeba to leave a couple of days early in order to see the Great Barrier Reef. Everyone we met in Australia had asked us if we had seen the Reef yet because there was no way to leave without seeing it. I think with all these comments we all were really excited to do this. The reason I bring this up is not just to talk about God’s AMAZING CREATION but to share with you the opportunities all around us.
Sometimes, myself included, we get caught up with the idea that we are going away for the weekend or headed on vacation. I was so very guilty of having the idea that I was going to check out completely for these 2 days and do nothing. I do not think that Christ really took a vacation… I mean we have opportunities all around us because we surrounded be people, people who are in need of knowing and seeing the love of Jesus. How hard is it to do that? Well this is how easy it is:
I got up at 6 AM to head out on this reef trip, thinking that I could just take the day to myself and do NOTHING but scuba and eat on a boat. Well that was a big part of it but something else happened that made my day. We were informed by the crew that there would be two ladies filming a travel documentary. Heck yes, awesome! So being interested in this documentary I went to talk to them and they asked to interview me. Okay, this is legit, sure I’ll do it! It came up that I was a missionary and then they were filming the documentary for the gay community. They were doing the documentary to find places that were safe for the gay community to travel too because many are fearful of what people will do to them if they go out. Several of the questions that they posed wanted to know, how as a missionary, would I deal with people that were gay, and would they feel safe and accepted around us. These questions were based on the way the church has dealt with the issue in the past. My response (more like God’s, not mine) was that everyone is looking for acceptance everywhere and that I found mine in Christ and that I would hope that they or anyone for that matter would feel accepted by me. I apologized to them because they need love and Christ just as everyone else in this world does, and if He were here today, I can almost bet that He would talk to them and love them too. After the interview I went up to one of the ladies and she thanked me for “giving a refreshing view.” I don’t know what will come of this but more than anything I pray that they know that Christ came for them and for EVERYONE.
Much love,
Auston
