Meet William (part one):
I met William on the 10
hour bus ride from Matamata, New Zealand to Waikanae, the southern tip of the
North Island. My team was on its
way to accomplish our first ministry assignment of the next 11 months of
2010.
I learned many things from William as you will see in the
video in part 2. I sum up the experience with William with
this thought:
The
destination can often overshadow the journey there
Since I was accepted to go on the January 2010 World Race, I
have been anticipating with so much eagerness the ministry that I would be able
to do for God. This joyful anticipation
has been building for many months. When I loaded the bus at 8:30am on
January 8th, with 19 other fellow racers holding 40lb backpacks, I was
so excited to get to Waikanae to start ministry at El Rancho Camp.
As my 
team waited for the bus, we
looked down the street and realized we were standing in Hobbiton. This is the location where they filmed
the ‘shire’ in Lord of The Rings.
It was awesome (as we American’s and Kiwi’s love to say) to be standing
in the actual place of this epic movie. My team and I loved taking pictures with Smegal. It was then, amidst our raucous fun
time on the street, that I noticed a guy standing with his bags in hand, at
the bus stop. A passer by-er would
definitely be able to distinguish that he was not with these other 20
‘American tourists.’ I knew then,
that ministry for me had just begun, in the journey, not in the destination. You
see, I love to minister wherever I am at, i.e. grocery store, buses, planes,
etc. So I immediately wanted to
break the awkwardness of this gentleman and us racers standing together, but
not really. Interesting how that
happens isn’t it? So I went up to
him and struck up conversation.
Immediately I could tell he had a kind and gentle heart. We talked about why we were at the bus
stop and where we were heading. He
was heading to the same city, back home to continue his 2nd year of
University (college in America). I
then had this thought in my head as the bus pulled up and we loaded the dozens
of oversized bags…”when I load the bus it would be cool to sit next to William
but I’m sick, and I could really use some sleep, and maybe God wants to use
someone else to have a good bus ride with William.” As I walked up the stairs of the bus, and slowly made my way
down the middle isle, I saw that most seats were taken. My eyes were drawn to the back of the bus
and there was exactly one empty seat next to William. I hesitated because that prior thought was still rolling
around in my head, but God knew that, and perfectly orchestrated, perfectly
adjusted the situation, perfectly tugged at my heart stronger than my own selfish
desires. I quickly then submitted to His way, and overcame my selfish thoughts and went and sat next to William, where there was ‘ironically’ an open seat.
have been anticipating with so much eagerness the ministry that I would be able
to do for God. This joyful anticipation
has been building for many months. When I loaded the bus at 8:30am on
January 8th, with 19 other fellow racers holding 40lb backpacks, I was
so excited to get to Waikanae to start ministry at El Rancho Camp.
As my team waited for the bus, welooked down the street and realized we were standing in Hobbiton. This is the location where they filmed
the ‘shire’ in Lord of The Rings.
It was awesome (as we American’s and Kiwi’s love to say) to be standing
in the actual place of this epic movie. My team and I loved taking pictures with Smegal. It was then, amidst our raucous fun
time on the street, that I noticed a guy standing with his bags in hand, at
the bus stop. A passer by-er would
definitely be able to distinguish that he was not with these other 20
‘American tourists.’ I knew then,
that ministry for me had just begun, in the journey, not in the destination. You
see, I love to minister wherever I am at, i.e. grocery store, buses, planes,
etc. So I immediately wanted to
break the awkwardness of this gentleman and us racers standing together, but
not really. Interesting how that
happens isn’t it? So I went up to
him and struck up conversation.
Immediately I could tell he had a kind and gentle heart. We talked about why we were at the bus
stop and where we were heading. He
was heading to the same city, back home to continue his 2nd year of
University (college in America). I
then had this thought in my head as the bus pulled up and we loaded the dozens
of oversized bags…”when I load the bus it would be cool to sit next to William
but I’m sick, and I could really use some sleep, and maybe God wants to use
someone else to have a good bus ride with William.” As I walked up the stairs of the bus, and slowly made my way
down the middle isle, I saw that most seats were taken. My eyes were drawn to the back of the bus
and there was exactly one empty seat next to William. I hesitated because that prior thought was still rolling
around in my head, but God knew that, and perfectly orchestrated, perfectly
adjusted the situation, perfectly tugged at my heart stronger than my own selfish
desires. I quickly then submitted to His way, and overcame my selfish thoughts and went and sat next to William, where there was ‘ironically’ an open seat.
(…be transformed by the renewing of your mind…romans 12:1…)
Sitting next to him, now in joy, but still tired and sick, we quickly continued our conversation. And what I thought was a 10 hour bus ride to our ministry destination, turned
into a 1 minute walk down the isle towards the seat of ‘God’s kingdom come.’
into a 1 minute walk down the isle towards the seat of ‘God’s kingdom come.’
(matthew 6:10)
To be continued…
