I left America with high hopes of bringing change to this world. I was somehow convinced that I held the key to freedom and the ability to offer love, hope, and healing. I arrived in Australia filled with dreams and expectations of the revival that I was certain would sweep across this country.
I quickly begin to feel as though I have nothing to offer.
Team Radiance attempts to make ministry contacts while here in Katherine. We are asked repeatedly, “what do you do?” “What do we DO? Uh ….” “Do you sing or play a musical instrument?” “Well not quite …..” “Do you have any dramas prepared?” “Not yet, but we are working on some.” “What do we have to offer?” We shrug our shoulders and attempt to keep our heads from hanging in shame as we inwardly ponder the question of our purpose this year. We can offer love, yes. We can offer freedom in Christ, absolutely. However, the people we are meeting already have these things and seem to be lacking in nothing “What do we DO?”
I trudge to a church service held by the Aboriginal people. On my back, I am carrying all that I hold dear in my trusty backpack. I have my computer and my IPOD on my back to prevent them from getting stolen. Oops, I forgot my Bible.
I arrive expecting a buildin
g and am met by a cul-de-sac at the end of a neighborhood. Church tonight, and every other night, is held on a dusty dirt road in the midst of a pack of dogs (I am talking dozens of dogs here, and we learned by experience, that they bite.) “Is this church? Where is the beautiful brick building with the stained glass windows?”
An hour goes by. And then another and I begin to get antsy. “Do these people not realize that church only lasts an hour and a half?” I stare at my watch with impatience as I begin to yawn with boredom. I cannot even begin to fathom a church that lasts past midnight. “It’s past midnight! Do they not realize how late it is? How could they NOT realize how late it is?”
As the service is ending, these people come to me and ask me to pray for them. “Me? Why me? You seem to have this Holy Spirit thing down pat. I have rarely heard of Him and don’t understand the way He is moving among you. Remember, I don’t have anything to offer.” I timidly begin to pray and as I pray I become bolder and begin to ask for the big things. I beg for the miracles that they 
desperately need. I ask for healing. I ask for hope. Suddenly, with a change of heart and a change of perspective my prayers become filled with power as I ask for the impossible.
I set out to change the world. But the people in this world are changing me.
