wil·der·ness- an uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable region.
The train ride from Surabaya to Bandung was 14 hours long. It left at 5am in the morning and did not arrive till close 8pm that evening. That ride was an experience. People walking up and down the train selling Popme (a type of ramen),coffee, and something deep fried that we were not sure what it was. I look around me and out the window and think this is the Worldrace.
At some point during the train I pull out my journal and start writing some thoughts down.
“The adventure of discovering my living heart & spirit”
“I have been given a new living heart with the acceptance that Christ is Lord. Have I ever gone and explored this new gift that Jesus gave me? What is it going to look like for me to take an adventure into the undiscovered depths of my own heart? I will be brought to an uncharted wilderness in my heart that is ruled by a roaring Lion. I know there is a lion there because I have heard the echos of his roars. Though he is roaring I know he is calling me to come to him, he wants me to chart these depths of my heart on my way to him.”
I began to pray after these thoughts. I heard God tell me that he is going to lead me into the wilderness both physically and spiritually. Cool, I like the wilderness. I have grown up outside. My heart longs for the water. My favorite place to rest and clear my mind is in the middle of a 2000 plus year old swamp back home. Out of cell phone reception, out of range of hearing cars, out in the middle of Gods creation. I find rest in his creation. I am pretty pumped with what has told me to be honest. Like I want to be led into places that are unexplored, uncultivated, and uninhabited. But for the next 21 days I am living in the middle of the first and second biggest cities in Indonesia.
What? God you said you were going to take me into the wilderness, the city is not the wilderness. Where are the trees? Where is the wild animals? Where is the fresh air? God why am I not where you said I would be. I am comfortable in the wilderness, not in the city. God why did you bring me here?
It was hard for me in Bandung. All the constant noise, being woken up around 5am every morning for the call to prayer. The rats crawling through my stuff. The air pollution. The shear amount of people that are just everywhere. It was hard for me.
I started asking God why am I not in the wilderness like he said? I prayed and he asked me to study when the people were led into the wilderness by God. Look at the Jesus, the best example we have to study. Why was he lead into the wilderness? It was to fully rely upon the lord and his provision for him. The same example for the Israelites when they were in the wilderness for 40 years. It was to teach them to be fully dependent on the Lord. John the Baptist, David, Paul, John…. So many examples when people were placed into areas where they had to be fully dependent upon the Lords provision.
I look around me and I know that I cannot make it here for long. This is not the area that I was designed to live in at all. I am not a city person. But God showed up. He became my provision. He provided for me in so many small moments during these past two weeks that I am still blown away from. Shoot, to give one example of how he provided in the smallest yet most sweet ways. I was getting sick towards our last few days in Bandung, when I am on the verge of getting sick I love eating oranges. The flavor brings me warm memories and the vitamin C helps fight off sickness also! Well our team had a one orange left so I grabbed it and ate it! It was the most disappointing I have eaten in my whole life…. So tasteless, no juice, so blahh. What do I have to expect being in Indonesia though? Its not like they have the ability to have Florida oranges in the store right? Well later that night I was feeling just a little better and our host wanted to take us to her favorite restaurant in Bandung. On the ride there I started not feeling well again and it just sucked. Well we get there and our host orders us this special drink, I had no idea what it was at all when she ordered it. A few minutes later this man walks our with four piping hot orange drinks. It wasnt orange juice, it was something that I have never had before. And it was amazing.
This is just a small way that the Lord showed up to me. It is such a small yet sweet way that he did. He knows our heart, where we want to be, where we dont want to be. I have been so stretched and grown in Indonesia it is wild. I am excited to see what he will do more of in the following months.
I am going to be taking a break from the internet for about the next month! No blogs, no facebook, no instagram, no nothing! I am so excited for this time to give to God in prayer and fasting!
I am just under 2k left to fundraise! Whohoo! It is going to be hard to step away and not be putting stuff out for a whole month trying to fundraise. I will be spending this time in specific prayer for funding to come!
Our squad is read to head into South East Asia. We are so expectant and ready to see God move in whole new ways out on the field.
Love Joe
