Sunday, September 7, 2008
I've just had the craziest yet most spiritually refreshing weekend and as I type this my head is still spinning.
Friday night was the first time I formally played keys (and sing) in worship since arriving in sydney. hahaha it was awesome. It was probably the first time I have ever felt like i could truly worship and play at the same time. There's too much to say..but i think all i will say is..Blue Sky was awesome that night!
Mission prep has started which took up a lot of yesterday and part of today and from the very first minute of the meeting i knew that this is not a mission trip I can take on half heartedly. Many deep and extremely challenging questions were thrown our way yesterday...questions like..."what is the one word God has said to you that has rocked your world?" and..."what are your expectations for this trip?" Even though they were incredibly hard questions to answer, it was amazing being able to share from your heart and know that 12 other people share the same heart, visions and passions as you.
Dave led us into a time of worship and sometimes I get so used to worshipping with a full band with a theatre of people but even there, as 13 of us sat around a circle worshipping with just a guitar and the voices God has given us, you could feel God's presence with us and the tears flowed. It was such an uplifting experience as we bonded as a mission team and prepared our hearts. I still feel so overwhelmed that God has blessed me with this opportunity to be part of a team of people SO passionate about God..SO desperate to see the lost saved and it's just so exciting that we are going to be spending so much time together, growing together, praying together and living out our calling together. I have been on mission trips before but each time the teams have been huge which isn't a bad thing but i'm reeallyy excited about being part of a smaller team of about 13-14 people because in terms of logistics it'll be so much easier to manage but most importantly, it's so much easier to grow together with a small tight-knit group. I also know there's a lot of preperation to be done before we leave. We have been given the task to read our bibles every morning before we step out of our front door and to journal. lol! i have no idea if i'll be able to keep up with the journaling thing. I love to journal but i seem to only journal when I feel like it just like how i only blog when i feel like it..hence..it'll be itneresting to see if i can keep up with it. So as corny and cliche as this is going to sound...the journey has definitely started and I cannot wait to see how God uses me, how God transforms me, how God transforms China and how God will be glorified through this trip and beyond. (we bonded over korean bbq last night LOL..most of the time we had no idea what we were eating but it was a good experience)
Continuing on the missions theme, today our special guest speaker was the guy who is the head of OM (operation mobilisation), the organisation under which the Doulos is run. (for those who don't know, the Doulos is a big ship that travels all over the world preaching the gospel to countries that are so poor and so desperately need God..it is also a floating Christian bookstore) Anyway! it was such a privilege to have this guy speak at our church. He truly is a man of God and a man that God has used so mightily to extend his Kingdom. He truly has such a heart for the nations and such a heart for the lost and he truly was an inspiration to us..espescially to those of us whom God has placed a nation on our own hearts. He challenged us to make ourselves available, and once again, all i could say at the end to God was "Here am I, Send me"
Of the many, many conversations I was a part of today (all deep, profound and God-related) the one conversation I probably found the most encouraging was the one we had over lunch. Even though everyone else had ditched us, (just kidding..i think it was more like..we ditched them, unitentionally of course) it was really nice to be able to really fellowship with each other (something which is sometimes hard to do in a big groups) One thing I have realised is how much I admire honesty and the love and support we receive from our brothers and sisters in Christ. It was so nice to be able to just admit to each other that yes a lot of the time we don't feel close to God at all...a lot of the time the passion just isn't there. The fact that we do not need to pretend with each other that we are so 'holy' when it's quite far from the truth, that people in ministry go through rough times too. It's nice to be able to just encourage each other in our walks with God.
I can't thank God enough for the way he has placed such amazing people in my life that I have come to know and love. It has been one huge weekend and God has truly been working.
posted @ 3:00 AM
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