First day of Australia. It has been such a wild ride so far. A 20 hour layover in LA, a 13 hour flight to New Zealand, 3 hours to Australia, what was supposed to be a 3 hour drive to our ministry host’s place in Coffs Harbour took about 6, not knowing what day it is cause we skipped a day somewhere on the flight. It’s a pretty wild life right now and I love it.
So many thoughts since getting to Australia. I’ve seen scars of the horrific fires that have been tearing through this whole country. How loving these families are and how active the fathers are in the family. How the locals really remind me of Carolina Beach locals the way they hold themselves. The water tastes super good here for some reason, I haven’t gotten an answer to why yet.
The church we are staying at is called Lifehouse and it is amazing. Its small and yet it is THE most active church I have ever seen. Each day they have a play center for children to come play. They run a cafe for the parents to come and relax at while the children are running around and being active. Our host was explaining it to us last night when all of us were very sleep deprived so I missed most of the story of how that part of the church came to be, but what I do know is that the Church is having a huge impact in the community. Most of the people who attend the cafe do not even go to Lifehouse. It is so cool to see this building being used everyday of the church instead of just two or three days of the week. I am so excited to be partnering with them to be able to reach this community of people.
Today we were worshiping with some people on outreach from YWAM Gold Coast. God was telling me to go read in book of Mathew about when Jesus fed the 5000 people.
Mathew 14:15-17
Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.”
People focus on the part of the feeding the 5000 with just five loaves and 2 fish. That is such an amazing miracle preformed but God wanted me to see something else. A dear friend of mine was telling me one time about her time working with kids and teaching them about health and food. She would ask them where does food come from? Their answer would almost unanimously would be the grocery store or a restaurant. How wrong they are. The earth is what gives us our food that we eat not some store that sells it. Through the provision that was meant feed the few, will feed the many. How many times do we turn people away when we have been given the provision? Why do we hold the little provision so close wether that be money, food, or Jesus. The disciples knew they didnt have enough provision for everyone so they tell them to go where they could get what they thought they needed, but in doing so they were sending them away from the source of all provision. We have this idea of self-love and self-care that we have to treat ourselves to something to be ok with our life and how crazy it is. When in reality when we do that we are moving away from our true provider, our true comforter, our true love. In seeking life, we move further and further away from it.
It was a cool moment with Jesus. He showed me what it looks like to trust him with little. He showed me what it looks like whenI point people back to Jesus and not what I think or where they shouldgo.
I love Australia. I am just under $3,000 from being fully funded! Man I am so excited to see how God uses this time when I am in the nations to see how he will provide me this next $3,000! What a place of dependence on the Lord and it is extremely beautiful.
Love you guys
Joe
