Not all those who wander are lost

Hello friends!

 I’m here to give ya’ll a little update on our weekend (last weekend, yes I’m a week behind. But last weekend was especially epic, so you won’t want to miss out).

On Friday we had lectures as normal.  Come Friday night however, we had a good old-fashioned worship night down in the Valley. The worship guys hauled a generator and all the equipment down to a platform in Gideon’s Valley. They’re hard work was rewarded with a fantastic night of worship. Even thought the weather was chilly, everyone got warmed up after dancing and singing for a couple hours.

The next morning everyone woke up early, ready for the day trip to Cathedral Cove. Only a couple hours away, Cathedral Cove lies to the north of Tauranga, up the Coromandel Peninsula. Besides being a ridiculously beautiful stretch of beach, scenes from the second Narnia film, “Prince Caspian” were filmed here. The beach is incredible, and rock formations and caves abound. Several brave souls even went for a swim and body surf in frigid water (okay, I was one of them. How many chances do you get to swim in Narnian water?) The weather was perfect when we arrived, and only turned foul as we left, sprinkling us with a bit of rain.

Trees!

 After returning back to the base sandy, salty and perfectly content, we enjoyed a hot diner and a bit of rest. Our night was far from over, as this weekend we held a 24/2-prayer session. Essentially, all day/night on Saturday and Sunday someone was praying in our lovely prayer chapel here at the base. It was a fantastic idea, and everyone who participated was blessed heaps. Dan and I had already signed up for a slot on Sunday morning, be we both wanted to pray it up for a bit on Saturday night. So Dan and I, along with several others, went and talked with Jesus for bit. The Holy Spirit totally showed up, and helped guide our prayers and thoughts. It was a huge blessing to be apart of what was happening.

And because our day had not been awesome enough, we finished it by watching “Back To The Future”.  Days like this just make me love my life.

Sunday dawned bright and early for Dan and I, as we did our slot in the chapel. To be honest, even though our time in the prayer chapel the night before had been sweet, I really didn’t want to get up. It took me a bit to actually wake up but once I did, prayer started to flow. Its amazing how quickly time passes when you are actively praying.

After praying, Dan and I went to church at Mosaic for the last time. It was sad to realize that I wouldn’t be coming back to this church again, but I am so thankful for all that church has offered me. They have really blessed us with the messages that they have spoken, and the community and hospitality they have shown us.

 Now we come to perhaps the most interesting part of this weekend. Several weeks back we we’re given the opportunity to participate in a flash mob in Tauranga. The city has done a lot of work along the waterfront, and they we’re holding a festival to celebrate the completion of the work. The group “Do Something Tauranga” planned a flash mob for this event, to draw attention to their organization, in a effort to get people involved in the city. Somehow Marine Reach was contacted, and the rest is history. A local dance group taught us the moves to the Korean pop song “Gangnam Style”. Everyone had a blast, even my rhythmically challenged self!

Here we are! You can see Dan toward the front of the group, and I jump in the back for the second chorus!

Needless to say, I was wiped out after this weekend. But I can check two items of my bucket list: visit Narnia, and participate in a flash mob.

At this point, I also want to fill you all in on what God is speaking to me about my life after DTS.  Several weeks back, I was asked about coming back in January to staff the next DTS. Up until that point, I hadn’t put much thought into staying. My plans had always been to come back home. Thus started a long train of thought that has culminated only recently. As MUCH as I want to come back in January to staff, I feel Jesus is guiding me back to the United States. I feel like He wants me to go home. This was a ridiculously tough pill to swallow. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE home. I love my family, my friends, and my church. And I really love those Blue Ridge Mountains. But after living a exciting Holy Spirit filled, Jesus following life halfway around the world with friends who are now as close as family, going back home to work or college seemed…well, rather unexciting. My eyes have been opened to just how BIG this word is, but in the same way, I also realize that literally anything can happen when you trust Jesus. It is precisely because I know that ANYTHING is possible, that simply going home is difficult.

Being a silly guy, I even tried to get myself psyched up about staffing; essentially trying to trick myself into believe Jesus wanted me to stay. But when I finally got brutally honest with myself, the decision was clear. When I looked at the reasons I wanted to stay, they were pretty selfish. I love the people here, the community. I love the place itself, the base, the Valley, and New Zealand as a whole. And finally, I just really love this lifestyle. It seems a bit more an extrovert than I though, and I feed off of the lifestyle here at the base. I found that all of these things where the main draw to coming back. Not that Jesus doesn’t want me to enjoy my life; I know He does. But when I make an idol of things, and place them above Jesus himself, I have taken a dramatic step away from community with God.

So, all that to say, as of now, I’m coming back home for good in December. As to what I could be doing at home, I don't have the slightest idea. God has given me a peace about going home, which is totally a supernatural thing. I feel good about it, even though its not what I wanted to do. That doesn’t make sense in the natural world, but I know that God provides the peace which  passes beyond comprehension.

 Having said all that, I am well aware that we have 2 months of outreach left to go. No telling what in the world Jesus could tell me in that time. There is always the possibility of coming back to staff later (if I was sure my priorities were straight), as they run a Justice school in July of 2013. If God puts it on your heart to pray for me, I would appreciate clarity and confirmation on my decisions about the future.

Being a Tolkien geek, I of course relate everything back to LotR. In this situation however, the quote I think of really does fit, and actually encourages and comforts me:

All that is gold does not glitter,Not all those who wander are lost;The old that is strong does not wither,Deep roots are not reached by frost.

 Not all those who wander are lost. This applies pretty darn well to where I'm at. I may be wandering, but I'm sure as goodness not lost.