I was using this blog in the past to update friends and family as I journeyed through Australia on my DTS. I have been home for just over a month now and wasn't sure what to do with some of the free time I have. So I decide to use that time to turn this blog into an outlet for my ideas, thoughts and struggles. The main idea behind this is to get my thoughts out in the open. To articulate what I'm really thinking and feeling so it becomes real, solid, something I know I can stand on. Not everyone will agree with everything I am saying, and that's okay. They don't have to. Actually, I hope if someone disagrees with me they challenge me on it, get me to think.
To start off the new direction of my blog, I wanted to get out what I have been thinking/struggling with the last couple week. The idea of success. I feel for most our lives we have been told that success is attained through consumption, wealth, power... And it makes sense, the kings of history had all of this and for the most part anyone who is "worth" hearing about has these things too. But is that what success really is? Is that what the core of our being really wants?
I heard my pastor talk about success several months ago and he talked about what success through God looks like. Hearing what he had to say and thinking a bit about it myself, I have come to the conclusion that success, in God's eyes, is only based around one thing, obedience. Funny thing, huh? Obedience is something I feel that doesn't come easily to the human condition, well at least it doesn't come easily to me. It goes against everything that success is see as in about 99% of the world. So what do I think, do I really want to just be obedient and not care about anything else? One of the things that I have learned about following God is that it rarely is based on how I feel, for me a lot of it is based on me making a choice. So I have to make this decision based on love, trust and truth. I have to trust that God wants the best for me and he loves me and if I obey him he will take care of the rest. So obedience, you may suck and be had at times, but I have decided I love God more than I love the idea of success everyone else is caught up on. I choose the narrower path, the one that may look harder but in the end was so much more fulfilling. God, please help me be successful in your eyes.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Home stretch
Hey everyone,
Sorry it's been so long since my last post, things were a little busy. I can't believe that I only have a week left of outreach! It's flown by so fast. The last four weeks have been pretty crazy. The last post I was writing from Gladstone, but since then I have been to Mackay, Sarina, Airlie Beach and now I am writing to you from Mount Isa. Each place has been jam packed full of fun and God has moved so much during those times.
Mackay was maybe one of the most difficult times on outreach I encountered. As a team we became camp counselors for troubled youth. Camp Eagle was a place put on by the chaplains from the schools around town for kids that they felt needed a bit more attention. The reason it was so trying is because of the lack of respect. Though, as the camp went on we where able to see more and more improvement in their attitudes and their respect for others. I was asked to look after a kid that has severe depression. I spent about 90% of the time at camp with him talking and looking after him. He is a Christian, so we had some great conversations about God and I did my best to answer some difficult questions. Even though this time was some of the most difficult it was probably some of the most fruitful.
Next my team headed to Sarina. Here we had one of the craziest schedules I think I have ever heard. We did a few school programs, helped clean up a skate park, went to an old folks home, and gathered native seeds... yep you read it right, gathered native seeds. For being such a crazy schedule it was one of the most fun. The diversity of our group definitely helped us in each of our diverse engagements. We were also blessed enough to be billeted at a beach house on a private beach. Don't worry I took heaps of photos.
After that we headed up to Airlie Beach. This is a huge stop for backpackers. We stayed at a YWAM base that has just started up there and we showed up to meet their first DTS. The team and I ran a few school programs and a Bible study which were great experiences. The YWAM base there is really focused on backpacker ministry, so we got to help them out with that as well.
Now I am in the Isa. This is the second time being here and it's become quite a bit hotter than last time, but still bearable because I jump in the pool whenever I get the chance. The last few days have been great because we have been doing acts of service which I love. We are staying at a caravan park run by some YWAMers, which we were able to help out and do some yard work at. We also ran a Sunday school, an indigenous youth group, more yard work and a kids telephone religious class. The kids telephone class was really awesome. Because Australia is so spread out a lot of kids are on cattle farms and don't get the chance to go to school. We participated with School of the Air and what they do is have a school over the phone so kids can have a chance to receive an education. It was amazing being able to be a part of it and see how it all works.
Tomorrow we head off to Maggie Island for Red Frogs and schoolies. Its bound to be an amazing time and I am excited to see what God does. Keep your prayers coming and I will blog again once I get the chance.
N.G.
Sorry it's been so long since my last post, things were a little busy. I can't believe that I only have a week left of outreach! It's flown by so fast. The last four weeks have been pretty crazy. The last post I was writing from Gladstone, but since then I have been to Mackay, Sarina, Airlie Beach and now I am writing to you from Mount Isa. Each place has been jam packed full of fun and God has moved so much during those times.
Mackay was maybe one of the most difficult times on outreach I encountered. As a team we became camp counselors for troubled youth. Camp Eagle was a place put on by the chaplains from the schools around town for kids that they felt needed a bit more attention. The reason it was so trying is because of the lack of respect. Though, as the camp went on we where able to see more and more improvement in their attitudes and their respect for others. I was asked to look after a kid that has severe depression. I spent about 90% of the time at camp with him talking and looking after him. He is a Christian, so we had some great conversations about God and I did my best to answer some difficult questions. Even though this time was some of the most difficult it was probably some of the most fruitful.
Next my team headed to Sarina. Here we had one of the craziest schedules I think I have ever heard. We did a few school programs, helped clean up a skate park, went to an old folks home, and gathered native seeds... yep you read it right, gathered native seeds. For being such a crazy schedule it was one of the most fun. The diversity of our group definitely helped us in each of our diverse engagements. We were also blessed enough to be billeted at a beach house on a private beach. Don't worry I took heaps of photos.
After that we headed up to Airlie Beach. This is a huge stop for backpackers. We stayed at a YWAM base that has just started up there and we showed up to meet their first DTS. The team and I ran a few school programs and a Bible study which were great experiences. The YWAM base there is really focused on backpacker ministry, so we got to help them out with that as well.
Now I am in the Isa. This is the second time being here and it's become quite a bit hotter than last time, but still bearable because I jump in the pool whenever I get the chance. The last few days have been great because we have been doing acts of service which I love. We are staying at a caravan park run by some YWAMers, which we were able to help out and do some yard work at. We also ran a Sunday school, an indigenous youth group, more yard work and a kids telephone religious class. The kids telephone class was really awesome. Because Australia is so spread out a lot of kids are on cattle farms and don't get the chance to go to school. We participated with School of the Air and what they do is have a school over the phone so kids can have a chance to receive an education. It was amazing being able to be a part of it and see how it all works.
Tomorrow we head off to Maggie Island for Red Frogs and schoolies. Its bound to be an amazing time and I am excited to see what God does. Keep your prayers coming and I will blog again once I get the chance.
N.G.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
First week in Gladstone
So I have officially finish my first week of major outreach. It has been an amazing last seven days with everything I experienced. Last week was jam packed full of Auslifes. This program is so different to anything I have seen in the States because Queensland allows God to be taught in the schools. It's quite incredible doing a program that introduces foundational values to these kids and also brings in the element of God. It blew me away on how well the kids behaved and how many positive responses we received to what our team was bringing. The best part about it is that all the kids that had some sort of a response to the program are able to be followed up by a person called a Chaplain. Most of the schools in Queensland have Chaplains for extra moral support for the kids and the problems they encounter on a day to day basis. So all the kids that went through Auslife and wanted to know more about God are able to go talk to the Chappies and have someone to continue to build them up. It has been awesome getting to be apart of God's plan during this time. I am looking forward to see what will happen next week and excited to see what God has in store for me.
Hope you all are well.
Nate
Hope you all are well.
Nate
Friday, October 16, 2009
Just before I leave for outreach...
It amazes me that I have just completed two thirds of my DTS. Friday was my last day of lectures and tomorrow I leave for my major outreach. It seems to me that I have only been here for a fraction of the time but as I think back at all I have learned and the time I spent with God, it is evident to me that I have been bearing the fruit that comes out of fourteen weeks of lectures and outreach.
As I began to try and prepare myself for the next six weeks of outreach and walking into something completely new, I came to the realization that there was no point of me to try and prepare. If I try to predict what might happen or try to figure out what God might possible do, I realize now, that I would be putting God into an entirely way too small of a box and I wouldn’t let anything happen the way it should. Plus I would be for too over whelmed at all the thing that are going to come. I’ve decided the less I know the better, just give me what I need to know and I will run with it. So I will give you all the gist of what I know. First stop is in Gladstone and there we will be working with the schools doing Auslife. The only thing that I really know about Auslife is that the schools give us time with the kids to impart foundational values into their lives through games, talks and small group discussions. Then we head up the coast to Makay and Airlie Beach. At these destinations my team and I will work with a backpackers ministry and a camp for “troubled” youth. Next we head all the way back to Mount Isa for around a week. I’m still not sure if we know what we are doing there but I figure it will be a lot like the first time we went. Lastly we will go to Maggie Island during schoolies to work with Red Frogs crew. Really the only thing I know about our last stop is that schoolies is like an Australian version of spring break. So I’m assuming it will be a pretty intense time for my team and I to be a true representation of Christ.
That’s about all I know of the next six weeks of my adventure. I’m doing everything possible to go into this time with an open mind and an open heart. Only God knows what this time will hold and I hope I will be in the position to allow his will for this time to be done. I appreciate everyones prayers and thoughts and if you would keep them coming it would be a huge blessing.
I don’t know if I will be able to write a blog in the next six weeks, due to lack of internet or time. If I do get the opportunity I will be sure to send something your way. I will also be sure to come back with stories and heaps of photos. Hope you all are well.
As I began to try and prepare myself for the next six weeks of outreach and walking into something completely new, I came to the realization that there was no point of me to try and prepare. If I try to predict what might happen or try to figure out what God might possible do, I realize now, that I would be putting God into an entirely way too small of a box and I wouldn’t let anything happen the way it should. Plus I would be for too over whelmed at all the thing that are going to come. I’ve decided the less I know the better, just give me what I need to know and I will run with it. So I will give you all the gist of what I know. First stop is in Gladstone and there we will be working with the schools doing Auslife. The only thing that I really know about Auslife is that the schools give us time with the kids to impart foundational values into their lives through games, talks and small group discussions. Then we head up the coast to Makay and Airlie Beach. At these destinations my team and I will work with a backpackers ministry and a camp for “troubled” youth. Next we head all the way back to Mount Isa for around a week. I’m still not sure if we know what we are doing there but I figure it will be a lot like the first time we went. Lastly we will go to Maggie Island during schoolies to work with Red Frogs crew. Really the only thing I know about our last stop is that schoolies is like an Australian version of spring break. So I’m assuming it will be a pretty intense time for my team and I to be a true representation of Christ.
That’s about all I know of the next six weeks of my adventure. I’m doing everything possible to go into this time with an open mind and an open heart. Only God knows what this time will hold and I hope I will be in the position to allow his will for this time to be done. I appreciate everyones prayers and thoughts and if you would keep them coming it would be a huge blessing.
I don’t know if I will be able to write a blog in the next six weeks, due to lack of internet or time. If I do get the opportunity I will be sure to send something your way. I will also be sure to come back with stories and heaps of photos. Hope you all are well.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Back from Minor Outreach.
Dear Friends,
I have just returned from outreach and glad to say it went very well. The last three weeks have been jam packed full of new experiences and adventure. During this time the team and I have lead school programs, church services, a youth camp and did a bunch of praying. Through all these experiences all the class time I have received has come in to use and became more valuable than I realized it would be.
Mount Isa was the first stop on our trip and a great first introduction to outreach. One of the days we were there we did a school program that we able to lead for a group of 11th graders. Here we were able to share biblical truths with them and get to see in what ways these ideas could help them in there day to day lives. Another opportunity we were able to serve in was an evening church service for young aboriginal kids, we had so much fun singing songs, doing a drama and playing games. To top off the time in Isa the team and I went to the top of a mountain and prayed with a man named Ray who has been praying every Tuesday night at 5:30 for the last eleven years. It was a real humbling experience getting to pray with him for his city and to witness, first hand, such dedication and passion to see something change.
The second half of outreach we spent with with eleven high school kids from Melbourne. The first week we spent time discipling these young kids a lot like we had been through the first ten weeks of our DTS. After that, as a big group we ventured to Palm Island were we spent the next week serving the community and one of the local churches as much as we could. Palm is a much different place than the rest of Australia in the way that most people consider it to be the closest thing to a third world community that is still a part of a first world nation. We also learned that the people of Palm have a lot of hurt from the past in the way the government and caucasians have treated them, so we did everything we could to be an example of Christ and to help mend the wounds that are there.
It’s crazy to think that these last three weeks were just a taste of what is to come on my major outreach. I am doing well and looking towards the next two weeks of lectures, then it’s off again on outreach. Thank you all for all your prayer and if you would keep them coming that would be much appreciated.
Hope you all are well.
N.G.
Mount Isa. The whole town is built around this mine and that tack is a giant lead smelter.
A late afternoon at the beach on Palm with the Jetty.
I have just returned from outreach and glad to say it went very well. The last three weeks have been jam packed full of new experiences and adventure. During this time the team and I have lead school programs, church services, a youth camp and did a bunch of praying. Through all these experiences all the class time I have received has come in to use and became more valuable than I realized it would be.
Mount Isa was the first stop on our trip and a great first introduction to outreach. One of the days we were there we did a school program that we able to lead for a group of 11th graders. Here we were able to share biblical truths with them and get to see in what ways these ideas could help them in there day to day lives. Another opportunity we were able to serve in was an evening church service for young aboriginal kids, we had so much fun singing songs, doing a drama and playing games. To top off the time in Isa the team and I went to the top of a mountain and prayed with a man named Ray who has been praying every Tuesday night at 5:30 for the last eleven years. It was a real humbling experience getting to pray with him for his city and to witness, first hand, such dedication and passion to see something change.
The second half of outreach we spent with with eleven high school kids from Melbourne. The first week we spent time discipling these young kids a lot like we had been through the first ten weeks of our DTS. After that, as a big group we ventured to Palm Island were we spent the next week serving the community and one of the local churches as much as we could. Palm is a much different place than the rest of Australia in the way that most people consider it to be the closest thing to a third world community that is still a part of a first world nation. We also learned that the people of Palm have a lot of hurt from the past in the way the government and caucasians have treated them, so we did everything we could to be an example of Christ and to help mend the wounds that are there.
It’s crazy to think that these last three weeks were just a taste of what is to come on my major outreach. I am doing well and looking towards the next two weeks of lectures, then it’s off again on outreach. Thank you all for all your prayer and if you would keep them coming that would be much appreciated.
Hope you all are well.
N.G.
Mount Isa. The whole town is built around this mine and that tack is a giant lead smelter.
A late afternoon at the beach on Palm with the Jetty.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
A few days before outreach
So it's a few days before outreach and everything seems like its gone by so fast. It is week nine now and I only have thirteen more to go. For me, at least, time has flown by. This week of lectures are on spiritual warfare, taught by Dean Sherman. Dean has been in YWAM for forty-two years now and the funny thing is that he spoke on my Dad's DTS twenty-seven years ago on the exact same subject. It's funny how truth never grows old or never stops being true. It is a real blessing to listen to him speak and the value of the knowledge he has given me is unfathomable.
A new update on our minor outreach is that we will actually be leaving on Sunday now instead of Saturday, because they still need some people to help out with Youth Street. I'm really looking forward to these next three weeks seeing how all this training is going to come into play with people who don't know Jesus. Please pray for my team and I as we go out and do what God has asked of us.
Hope all of you are doing well.
A new update on our minor outreach is that we will actually be leaving on Sunday now instead of Saturday, because they still need some people to help out with Youth Street. I'm really looking forward to these next three weeks seeing how all this training is going to come into play with people who don't know Jesus. Please pray for my team and I as we go out and do what God has asked of us.
Hope all of you are doing well.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Post camping
Hey Everyone,
Hope everyone is doing well. I have been extremely well. Got back last week form camping for two weeks in the bush. It was so awesome! Our DTS got heaps closer and God met us in the most incredible way. To put the icing on the cake, the scenery was breath taking; from the awesome gum trees that surrounded us, to the spectacular array of stars scattered across the dark sky and the gorge that was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen in person. How could we not become closer with God, he was everywhere we looked.
We have one more week of lectures then my team heads off for our first outreach. On this outreach myself and eight others will head to Mt. Isa and Palm Island to minister to the indigenous people of Australia. It's going to be an exciting time to see what God has in store for us, anything is going to be possible and I'm the passenger seat along for the ride.
I want to thank everyone who has prayed and support me along the way. Within the last few days I have received the rest of the money needed to pay for this outreach. I would like to sincerely thank all of you and a few of my fellow DTSers for making this happen. It is a very humbling position to be in and it's just amazing to see God work.
I should be able to get online and post blogs while I am out on minor outreach, but if not I will be sure to post once I get back with tons of pictures.
Love you all,
Nathan
Hope everyone is doing well. I have been extremely well. Got back last week form camping for two weeks in the bush. It was so awesome! Our DTS got heaps closer and God met us in the most incredible way. To put the icing on the cake, the scenery was breath taking; from the awesome gum trees that surrounded us, to the spectacular array of stars scattered across the dark sky and the gorge that was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen in person. How could we not become closer with God, he was everywhere we looked.
We have one more week of lectures then my team heads off for our first outreach. On this outreach myself and eight others will head to Mt. Isa and Palm Island to minister to the indigenous people of Australia. It's going to be an exciting time to see what God has in store for us, anything is going to be possible and I'm the passenger seat along for the ride.
I want to thank everyone who has prayed and support me along the way. Within the last few days I have received the rest of the money needed to pay for this outreach. I would like to sincerely thank all of you and a few of my fellow DTSers for making this happen. It is a very humbling position to be in and it's just amazing to see God work.
I should be able to get online and post blogs while I am out on minor outreach, but if not I will be sure to post once I get back with tons of pictures.
Love you all,
Nathan
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