Have you ever thought there aren’t enough hours in the day, but then come to the deep and meaningful realisation that there are more than enough hours in the day…the problem is trying to do too much!? Yeah well that’s kinda like where I’m at! Super busy with a new job at Australia’s leading health retreat working in the creative/marketing team, slowly building my own creative company, trying to avoid being murdered by various clients because their jobs haven’t been completed yet (if any of you are reading this please be understanding ), trying to have some sort of social life with friends and family – cause life’s no fun without friends, trying to be all things to all men and coming to cognisance of the fact that 99% of the time it’s impossible to placate, mollify, conciliate (and a whole bunch of other synonyms) 2% of the 10% of people you’d rather not have to deal with more than 0.000000125% of the time – you figured that one out yet? No neither have I. :p Oh and I just started the last three items in my rather unordered list with trying…yeah, I’m trying! Also when I get some free time and money enjoying making slow progress on Safara – my long-term project Land Rover Defender 110. On that note two weeks ago I drove down to Sydney (2500km round trip) with my dad tagging along for an awesome weekend 4wding in the Blue Mountains, and it looks like I’ll be heading back down there this weekend – flying this time! Lastly, as of two months ago my last grandparent died – my grandma…really miss her!

So there you have it. A very haphazard encapsulation of my life the last few months. Even though it may not sound like it I’m really enjoying life at the moment. It’s an adventure, every passing day leaves me wondering what is going to happen next, how long I’ll be able to keep my fast departing sanity as I face wave after wave of work and personal related stress, realising that I need God more than I ever have before, and standing in awe of His goodness and faithfulness to me each and every moment of the day. Yes, life is good because God is good. All the time!

It’s been a very last minute thing – made possible because God worked a miracle through some amazing people getting me a new MacBook Pro (thanks again!), and also having credit card lol – picked up my tickets on Thursday! It’s going to be an awesome trip, totally looking forward to it…it’s going to be busy too: GYC, photo shoot for next years GYC branding and brainstorming for marketing, Weimartians @ GYC (reunion with people from Weimar College), shooting a friends wedding, 400 odd mile road trip up to Grants Pass, then down to Mount Shasta for Christmas with some really cool friends (it’ll be a white Christmas – just checked the weather, -12C to -2C and snowing!), then a week when I don’t know what we’re going to do! I say we because one of my best buddies Kerrod is joining me in Sydney for the trip – we’re going to have a blast…the USA isn’t going to know what hit it.

So yeah, it’s going to be heaps fun! And I’d better get packed ASAP or I will be saying j’ai manqué mon vol!

My friend Philip Mills over at his blog has posted something that I think everyone who’s asked that question will appreciate – check it out HERE!

How do I condense seven months without writing 10,000+ words? I’ll try, cause I doubt that any of you want to read that much about what I’ve been up to, and I don’t have the time to write that much anyway.

So, in brief synopsis form: I’m no longer in the US of A. After GYC 07 my health kinda took a nose dive, not getting enough sleep and studying/working full time took it’s toll and to cut a long story short, God has led me back to Australia with a burden to work here in ministry – God willing combining Christian media and ministry – my plan is to finish my theology degree with Griggs while I’m working. Currently I’m working at Living Valley Springs Health Retreat – while I really enjoy working there, it’s only until God opens the door for active ministry, as that’s where I feel called. I’m also the designer for GYC this year and a few other ministry related design jobs. OK, so that’s a really quick catchup on my life the last seven months…there’s a lot more that has happened, and it’s been a very hard time with some things that have happened in my family that I can’t go into detail about.

To be honest I’m trying to understand exactly why God has me where I am just now, but that’s what faith is for! And going by past experience I know that God has everything in control, in fact where I am now is part of His plan for my life! And not only that, it in some way is preparing me for where He wants me next!! So based on that I can’t wait to see where He is going to lead in the next step!

With my mother in Yosemite National Park

The biggest blessing was having my mother over from Australia for three months! She’s one of my best (if not the best at the moment) friends – we are really close which is great, but it’s made it harder being in two different countries. So it was such a blessing to have her come over here to Weimar and volunteer for almost three months. She worked with Paula, Heather and myself in educational marketing here at Weimar which was great – her desk was right beside mine! She stayed in the girls dorm and by the time she left most of the girls had adopted her – in fact, I’d often feel a little left out because of all the time she’d spend with the girls lol, but that’s OK as I was busy often too. We had some great experiences together, from a weekend backpacking trip up into the Sierra Nevada mountains (with it snowing on us – great fun!), to a trip to Yosemite National Park with the whole college, to always having someone to talk to about the day at meal time. I am so thankful for God bringing here over here as it was such a blessing to me and others!

Then out of the blue a week or so before my mother was scheduled to fly home my dad decided to come over and see the two of us together – which was a total surprise, and a shock in many ways. So my dad few in at midnight on Sunday and flew out again on Friday morning at 6am – that’s what I call a rushed visit! All up it was positive, and prayers are being answered…my parents have been going through some difficult times in their marriage, but by God’s power things seem to be getting a little better. I’m only able to keep on praying and hoping for the best.

WYC08 poster

Work has been very busy. There are a few things going on that I can’t go into detail about yet, but I’m really, really excited about!! Really! I believe that Weimar College’s best days are yet ahead, and it’s exciting being a part of it! There’s also been work for Western Youth Conference (WYC) and a new project that GYC are starting called Army of Youth.

Army of Youth ad for GYC07 booklet

College has been good this quarter, I took 17 credits (took 12 last quarter) and all the classes have been good – I’ve taken Christian Spirituality, Christian Beliefs, Christian Marriage and Family, College English, Outreach, and Personal Physical Fitness this quarter. Challenging in many areas (one of my midterm tests I spent two days memorizing for!), it’s fun pushing my mind and seeing it grow. And now I’m in the middle of finials and am looking forward to the end of it and getting some sleep! This last week I’ve been lucky if I’ve gotten more than 4 hours sleep a night on average…there’s just so much going on! When I reflect on what life was like back home it’s quite a contrast – and in many ways I’m too busy, I’m noticing my health running down a little which I’m not happy about, but anyway, with some rest, nutrition and exercise I’ll bounce back.

A few weeks ago it really came to a head, I was questioning why God was allowing certain things to happen in my life…from what I thought were really close friends not wanting to have anything to do with me, to my Dad leaving my Mother after 25 years of marriage – I mean this doesn’t happen to people that have been missionaries and from a man I thought was a Christian does it? (I’m still praying that God will work a miracle and restore things). Life hasn’t been going according to how I wanted it to go…

However after lots of prayer, lots of tears, heartache and a fair bit of questioning God’s wisdom, He has been patiently showing me that despite everything, He is leading in my life. The trials that I’m going through at the moment are part of His master plan for my life, and He wants me to trust Him with it. God writing through His prophet Jeremiah says, “I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11). There are some things that God hasn’t given me answers on yet, but looking back at my life I can clearly see His direction – and that gives me courage to trust Him and commit my future direction to Him, because He so far has never made a mistake!

I’m excited to say that I’m content with God’s plan for my life – and even though I can’t see all of it, I know that it will be good…because He is good! I feel that I’m starting to understand what Paul meant writing to Timothy when he said that, “godliness with contentment is great gain” because the joy that comes in total surrender to God’s leading in everything is wonderful – and that is great gain! It really struck home yesterday (Sabbath), when a group of us were singing some older songs – from hymn books like Christ in Song. We sang a song called “Beautiful Flowers” – it’s a great song…though like a lot of older songs goes quite high, and while singing the second last verse I hit a high note and cracked up laughing – I was laughing so hard the tears came and I felt such joy in my heart! Then I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me and say, “you’re content aren’t you?”. And I realized that I’ve let go, all the plans I had made back in Australia before I left I’ve given to God, I’m trusting Him with all of my life, not just the parts I want to give to Him…and man alive, it feels good!

One thing I was really looking forward to was my Mother bringing my bike over! It’s been so great to get out and ride after five months of not riding – and boy, I’m not as fit as I used to be!! But will be soon!

I can’t believe how fast this last year’s gone. It seemed like only a few months ago that I was 20 – I hope that this is not a trend as I get older. But at the same time so much has happened it could’ve been two years!

I’m over in America, and technically, my birthday is on the 27th, even though I was born on the 28th…as Australia is a day ahead – but I kinda spread it over two days…time zones are great aren’t they?!

On Monday (the 27th here, but Tuesday the 28th in Australia) I was having a normal day with just work and the like. I had Keith (he’s a student here at Weimar – a friend of Philip’s, and now me) surprise me with getting people to sing happy birthday to me at lunch and then he took me out to a juice bar after lunch. Then I came back to work and left the office at about 6pm – after talking to my mother before I left. I was reflecting on how different this birthday had been from the last few I’ve had as I was walking down to my room. I noticed that a black car had turned around had pulled up ahead of me, Keith got out and wanted to talk to me about something…and the next thing I knew I was blindfolded and thrown into the car! What followed was one of the craziest things I’ve had done to me – it was almost a realistic kidnapping (hats off to everyone involved lol). After driving around all over the place and becoming totally disorientated I eventually found the car slowing down and I was escorted from the car and into a building; where I was told to could take off the blindfold – and then almost died of shock as people shouted surprise. I had been taken to Jumba Juice and there was about 10-15 friends from Weimar there. It was a cool surprise!

I’m really looking forward to the next year of my life, I know that it’s going to be great! Just where I’ll be in a year I’m not exactly sure…there are lots of exciting possibilities, I’ll just have to see where God opens the door – so in other words, it’s going to be a year of “holding on for the ride” and letting God lead…and that makes for the most exciting life ever – period, full-stop, whatever it is!

Our group of 11 people were from all over the West Coast of the US – and we had a great time (thanks for making a Aussie feel welcome guys!). Below are just a few photos from the trip – I’ll upload a gallery of the photos when I get time.

Weighing our packs before the hike begins – mine weighed in at 21kg and three days later on our return it weighed 15kg!

Starting to climb – it was a total of 17km from the trail head to the summit (34km round trip)

Looking up to the summit from base camp – we camped here for one night before climbing to get used to the altitude (and also on the way back down)

I’m on top of the US!

Our group on the top

Here I am signing the guest book on the top – I was the only Australian in the guest book for over six months!

Our group at the end of the hike – we’re all exhausted, but elated to have made it there and back!

Today I got my results from the last quarter and I’m so grateful to God for the result! As most of you know I was delayed in getting over to the US and starting this quarter because of my Visa taking longer than I’d estimated. Add to that the fact that I was working in the marketing department at Weimar College between 15-20 hours a week, and also that I was on academic probation…and I wasn’t expecting all that great a result for this quarter – even though I had done as much as I could. Well I just got my GPA score in and I got 3.1108 out of 4 – praise the Lord! This means no more academic probation for next school year! This next year I’m aiming for as close to a GPA of 4 as I can get, but considering everything this quarter I’m very happy with the result – God is so good!