Hebrews 6:9-12 (ESV)

For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

A few weeks ago I met Tom on campus. Tom wasn’t 100% sure about the basis of his faith, so we spent some time talking about how one can be sure of their salvation. Tom and I decided to meet each week to look through the “Knowing Jesus Personally” magazine, to learn more about how to grow in a relationship with God.

Today Tom brought a friend Dennis along to our meeting. I hadn’t met Dennis before, so I didn’t know what he thought about God. I asked Dennis what he thought, and he said he wasn’t really sure. He told me how he was looking for something to help him get on the “right path” in life, someone to turn to in times of need. I asked him if he’d heard about how someone can know God in a personal way. He said no, but he’d be interested in finding out more.

Tom and I talked through the “Knowing God Personally” booklet (a basic gospel presentation) with Dennis. When we got to the point about how to invite Christ into your life, Dennis said that he had never asked Jesus in, but he wanted to! Dennis then prayed to ask Jesus into his life right there!

Events like this make my day! It’s great to see people receive Christ into their lives. It’s even more exciting to see people like Tom wanting to share with their friends! Had Tom not brought Dennis along, the chances of me meeting him would have been slim to none. Tom is still learning how to share about God with his friends, but the fact that he’s eager and taking steps to do so is encouraging!

This is what gets me out of bed in the morning! Please pray that Tom and Dennis would continue to grow in their relationships with God!

Praise God I now have somewhere to live in Auckland! Completely out of character for me, I haven’t even seen the place (left a flatmate to describe it, I hope it’s good)! Move in date is unsure yet, but probably around the 11th of Feb. It’s in the Kingsland area, so easy to catch a bus to uni, and I can walk to the office where I’ll be working once a week!

Thanks for your prayers!

Update: Move in date is the 11th!

Pre-post Side Note: I was going to title this post something along the lines of “The True Cost of Meetings”, but then realised that wouldn’t do it justice. I then thought something like “Counting Blessings” might work, but it occurred to me that this could sound boring, meaning people wouldn’t read it…. alas, now you’re left with the title I ended up choosing…

There really is no catchy way to say this: At approximately 10am this morning, in the fast lane of the Southern Motorway into Auckland, carnage happened. The guy in the car in front of me slowed down suddenly, meaning I came to a screeching halt to avoid hitting him. Unfortunately, the guy behind me also came to a screeching halt, the halt part of that event provided by the rear of my car! …Subsequently causing my car to be pushed into the car in front.

Thankfully no one was seriously hurt… well, except for my poor car. Chances of survival: minimum (still waiting for the insurance assessor to call, but it doesn’t look good). The good news is that I don’t have to pay the excess on the insurance, because I’m not at fault.

Please pray for the three of us involved that there would be speedy recovery from any whiplash (I’m feeling it, so I’m sure they are too). Please also pray for the other two guys that they don’t get too stressed out by the ordeal! (Especially the guy who is legally at fault; thankfully he did have insurance though). Please also pray that if I have to find a new car, I can find the right one quickly! (I don’t know when I’m going to have time? How do I finish support raising without a car?)

Oh yes, that other thing. Both car accidents I’ve now been involved in were on the way to staff meetings… I knew staff meetings had hidden costs!

There are many things I hope to do in life. I recently wrote a list of 100 of them.

Lately I’ve been thinking about how hope can turn into expectations, how those expectations can turn into assumptions, and why this isn’t always a good thing.

There have been many times where I’ve heard people say that we should “expect big things from God.” The reason people say this would seem to be based on the view that we shouldn’t limit our ideas about what God can do to our own human understanding: an idea which sounds good to me.

But when we hope (and pray) for something, can we rely too much on this idea of expectation in God? Do we see expectation change from one form (expectation for the sake of not limiting God to an easily definable box), turn in to expectation of another form (assumption that something will actually happen)? How does this change sneak up on us?

In hindsight, there have been times in my life where I’ve asked for something from God, really have hoped that said thing will happen, and it has. An example would be when I needed a car, prayed for one, and literally got given a car within a month.

There are also plenty of times where I’ve asked God for something, hoped just as much (or more) for it to happen, and it hasn’t. Looking back at some of those situations, it would seem that hope turned into assumption, that after some length of time I was no longer trusting in God as much as I originally had. I think this happens because when we expect something to happen, we no longer have a felt need for hope in that situation; we eliminate the need to trust God as much as we do when we’re praying for something that we wouldn’t normally expect to happen.

When we assume something will happen, I think what we’re really saying is that we understand in our minds what the outcome of that situation will be. That’s presumptuous, because even if we don’t explicitly think it, we’re saying we know as much as God does in that situation! That seems like idolatry at the highest level.

Psalm 71:19 (ESV):

Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

From the Spiritual Types Test (emphasis mine):

You are a Lover, a feeling type, whose spirituality comes primarily from the heart or emotions. You value freedom, independence, and spontaneity. Along with your gift of enthusiasm, you show us how to have fun and appreciate beauty. More than any other type, you know how to experience joy. This puts you in a unique position to experience God in the moment, to revel in what is happening around you, and to be in the present tense.

To Lovers, God is a nurturing parent. Prayer for you is often extemporaneous, speaking to God about what is on your heart at the moment. Music moves you deeply; so does heartfelt preaching and worship. You believe that real faith must be shared. Consequently, many Lovers are interested in missions or in spreading the Gospel through the media. You are passionate about holy living.

On the other hand, a Lover’s impulsive behavior can get you in trouble. You sometimes focus on satisfying immediate desires to the detriment of investing in longer term needs. You have been known to exude a “holier-than-thou” attitude toward other spiritual types. That does not endear you to us. Guard against thinking that to be right everyone else must share a spiritual experience similar to yours. You also may need permission to acknowledge anger, disappointment, sadness, and doubt, and to allow yourself to be less than ideal.

I’m a doubter. I doubt a lot of things. I’ve been thinking recently (read: over the past 5 minutes plus the time it took to write this post) about the psychology of doubting, and how that relates to our trust in God.

I’d like to say that when things that I think are in God’s plans don’t go the way I had hoped, that my doubt about whether they were really God’s plans in the first place is doubt in myself. Whoa, what a mouthful; let me break it down in an example:

I have an idea about how something (be it a short event or a longer term plan) should go, and what I think God’s plan is in regards to how that thing should go. Then that thing doesn’t go the way I had hoped (planned), and as a result, I doubt that God’s plan was what I originally thought it was.

Simple, right? I can look at myself in any given situation that doesn’t go the way I want it to, and say “Any doubt in this situation is with regards to my own ability to do/plan/see things according to how God sees them.” In (attempting) to say “I doubt myself”, I’m theoretically putting God first, and saying “God, you know better.” But there’s a problem! Am I really trusting in God, or am I still trusting in myself?

Other than the fact that things didn’t go the way I planned, did I learn anything from the situation? Did I learn to trust in God more than I already knew how? Or did I just say “my fault” and ‘move on’? How can I ensure that I’m really going to trust God in the future? These types of situations can lead into the trap of thinking (probably subconsciously, as if that’s an excuse!) “Well, I’m going to plan X, Y and Z, and if things don’t happen that way, I’ll deal with it because it wasn’t God’s plan anyway.” Some trust in God that is, huh?

I’m sure there are many things which lead to one finding themselves in this sort of situation: perhaps the choleric need for achievement, and the sense that a goal should be achieved because of one’s own hard work (in essence the need to be in control of things). Or perhaps the sanguine need to please people by being quick to offer an explanation/apology when something doesn’t go as expected. (There may be some influence for those of the melancholy/phlegmatic nature too, but I don’t readily identify with those, and I wasn’t intending for this post to turn into a commentary on personalities).

Isaiah 55:6-9 (ESV):

Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Psalm 143:10 (ESV):

Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

I’m trying to find around $1200/month to continue with Student Life/Campus Crusade, but I don’t have any contacts for people who would like to hear about/support my ministry. It appears that a door has been closed with regard to some contacts I had hoped would be of help, because I am moving to Auckland (they wanted to support local ministry). Please pray for God to show me who I should approach, and pray that I would see where he is working and pointing me to! Thank you.

It is with both excitement and (somewhat nervous) anticipation that I am pleased to tell you all that follows!

I’d like to begin with a “summary” of 2007. As I have taken the time over the last few weeks to seek God, there are two things he has taught me that stand out above all the rest.

The first thing — which may sound obvious, but I sense God has been saying to me directly in recent times — is that he wants me to trust in him more. Psalm 143:10 stands out to me, it says

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!

My natural response is “Lord, I am already trusting in you as much as I know how.” He has responded, “Yes, I know. I’m going to teach you how to trust in me more, so that you can.” That is both a scary and exciting prospect!

Secondly, recent times have brought along many challenges, both in ministry and personally. Romans 8:24-28 is encouraging,

For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Despite any difficult challenges that come along, I know that God uses all things for good, because of his purposes and salvation that he has called me to!

So, what of the future?

With these things in mind, I believe God is leading me away from Waikato University for 2008. I have been asked (and confirmed) to work in Auckland next year! This will be a significant change in many ways. My role will include 4 days a week doing campus work, and 1 day helping with IT in the national office. In this, I’m looking forward to working with Murray Johnson, a Canadian who is coming over specifically to help with IT.

With the change of location will come many challenges! Probably the hardest thing for me will be leaving behind my friends here in the Waikato, this is especially true of the staff team that I have been working with this year. I’ll also need to sort out living arrangements, a church, and all sorts of other details too! (I’m not sure of the exact date I will be moving, although it will likely be sometime in January).

Please pray for me during this time as I prepare for and begin to make this transition! I’ll post further updates on the move when relevant.

Lyrics from the song “I’m In Awe” by Receiver:

I’m in awe at the wonder of you
And I’m amazed to have a father like you.

And when I’m caught in the flood
And I am walking through the fire
I get down on my knees and pray
And I remember the promise you made.

You’ll never leave me
You walk beside me
You’re always with me
You’ll never leave me.

Though I may walk a thousand miles
Though I may fall a thousand times
I know you’ll find me where I am
I know you’ll reach me.