Dave in Australia

I've now left Malaysia... I had an absolutely awesome time... words can't describe... I loved it soo much! In australia with my good friend Jonny now, visiting him in the University of Western Australia for a couple of weeks before heading home...

Wednesday, September 6

post mission apathy...



sorry for the wait... been finding it hard to get on and write on here... don't let the title of this post fool you, i've been having a really good time here with jonny in australia... we went to a place called margaret river for a long weekend and had a great time there seeing a bit more of australia... here is what we did:



on thursday when we arrived we braved the wind and rain and went down to the beach for a swim and jonny did a little bit of surfing, but the waves weren't the right type so he couldn't catch any



on friday we went on a bushtucker winery tour... we went to three different wineries and sampled their wines... we had lunch at one of them and tried some bushtucker... including a grub which i ate... after lunch we went to the cheese factory the chocolate company and a brewery... we managed to exercise some self control at the wineries and the brewery but i'm not sure if the same could be said for the cheese factory and chocolate company... all in all it was a really nice day



on saturday i hired a surf board and wetsuit and we went to the beach for the day... we both got pretty battered by the waves (you learn very quickly to have some respect for the ocean) but we also both had a few moments of success... i managed to catch quite a few waves and even stood up for a small number of them...



on sunday we hired some scooters/mopeds/motos... and drove about all over the area to see various different things... we stopped off at an aboriginal settlement to learn how to throw spears and boomerangs... we found ourselves once again at the chocolate company... we went to maragaret river town, to a couple of beaches and by the time we got to the famous caves there they were closed so we went for a little drive through the forest...



on monday morning jonny braved the stormy weather to do some more surfing and i stayed in the hostel and watched rambo with a guy from manchester called sam... we got the bus back and are now in perth once again...



now to the main point of my post: "post mission apathy"

since arriving in australia i've been finding it difficult to spend time with God, that is through reading the bible and prayer, praising and worshipping Him through listeningto/playing music or just by the way i live my life... so i've been finding this hard...

last night we went to hear
Don Carson talk from Revelation 12 (click here) and also on the parable of the weeds - Matthew 13 v 24-30 (click here) it was a bit of a frightening talk - he talked about how, for the Christian, optimism is naive (that is the condition of the world - physical and political - isn't going to get any better) and pessimism is atheistic (there is no place for cynicism in the Christian mind) ... leaving us wondering what we should be thinking, the world is moving towards an end and we can be neither optimistic that it might no happen, nor pessimistic, feeling that there's no hope...

God is in control, He know's what is going on... Carson talked about how we need to be aware of the spiritual battle going on... that Satan and his angels have been defeated and kicked out of heaven, and whilst he knows his time is short, satan is displaying his fury against the Christians on the earth... doing this in obvious ways (the persecuted church in china and the middle east) and subtle, deceptive ways (false teachings and post modernism in the west) the 20th century was the bloodiest ever witnessed and there's no reason at the moment to believe that the 21st won't be worse... he brought our attention to the parable of the weeds... God lets both the weeds and the good crop GROW, ready to be sorted when it comes to the harvest... when taking a serious look at it its not hard to see that the world we live in reflects the world that is predicted by the bible about 2000 years ago...

What are we to do then in this seemingly dire situation? 1. we overcome satan by the basis of the blood of the lamb. 2. we overcome him by bearing good witness to who Jesus is again and again and again and finally 3. we overcome him the simple willingness to die for Jesus, as Carson said, what can the devil do to the Chtistian who's not afraid of death? Kill him?!

Anyway, all this hepled me realise why i had been feeling so apathetic, I had such a purpose in Malaysia, I knew why I was there, what i was meant to be doing (loosely) and everyday counted... since arriving in australia I had been kidding myself that I no longer had this purpose... but I'm fairly sure that when Jesus gives us the great commission (click here) He's not only talking about when we're on short term mission trips to a far off land... life is our mission trip, please pray for continued devotion to Jesus, and passion for evangelism even though my time in malaysia is over... in four days my mission trip is headin back to England...

5 Comments:

At 1:28 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think Rebecca's hit the nail on the head and gives some very sound advice - try to remember it when you get home and things are so quiet after all you've been doing - and don't forget the hedge is part of your next mission!

We shall keep praying for you - even in Greece,

Love Mumxxxx

 
At 2:28 am, Blogger seowqj said...

Dave,

I agree with what becca said, an emptiness after a storm. This is the most vulnerable but important part after a trip. Purpose is still the same, but in a different way.

About the talk you attended, it kinda makes me alert that there are weeds growing within us. Not only the world herself, our own temple will grow weeds. I pray that God will protect us from the weeds and help us.

You learn to ride eh??? You learned from a master in Malaysia?? *ahem* (I think I'm the guy *ahem*). You have a better bike than me!!!!

Love
Not Gay friend Kelvin

 
At 8:24 pm, Blogger Kat said...

Great stuff Dave, i know a little of how you're feeling...went through it after Bournemouth mission but only for a day or two then i had the stress of coming out here. Lean on Jesus and his love, in the great times of joy and difficulty.

Enjoy the last of the waves with el Jonny and sew that hole in your jeans *waves hand in front of face and shouts woo like a certain Wray*

Love Kat

 
At 6:41 pm, Blogger Daniel Hames said...

Dave,

Great photos. Looking forward to having you back home soon.

Dan

 
At 6:46 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Dave! This is excitingly my first proper comment on a blog and have had a good giggle reading about your antics in Malaysia and now in the land of Oz with Mr Richards! Had a lot to catch up on cos I couldn't get onto blog stuff in China!

Am excited to hear that you're still as crazy as ever and God's still teaching you things even if they seem tough at times. Being out of a routine i think often makes time with God more tricky but it's all a learning experience during which we lean on his grace!

Can't wait to catch up when you get home, which i'm sure isn't long now, and then my jealous thoughts will only be directed to people like Jonny, Kat and Jenny who still have lots of time to spend in foreign countries! Over the next few years I'll just get to know the city of Leicester much better!

Right, had better go - some of us have letures in the morning!

See you soon, God bless, love Rach xxx (of the Webb variety!)

 

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