A Path of Reflection: Australia

"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, ²for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. ³For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁵For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,"

1 Timothy 2:1-5

This passage immediately spoke to me when I read it this morning. A couple of weeks ago, I realized there were a few things in my life that I wanted to work on. Since it was nearly the end of January, I decided to sit down and pray about everything that was in my head, write thoughts down on paper, and then create some goals for February - short-term, achievable goals.

One of my goals was to intercede for others. There are so many special people in my life, and while I can't invest lots of time with them as individuals, I CAN pray for them as much as I like! I find that when I take specific time to pray for others, my heart is filled with joy, because this is such a privilege.

As I read this passage, I noticed the clear reference to "kings and all who are in authority".

Do I pray for my nation's politicians and leaders and officials?

No.

Never.

Wow. I call myself a Christian, yet I never pray for my leaders! Sure, I make plenty of comments such as "What were they thinking?!?!...this is a Christian country? Doesn't seem like it!...I can't believe the place our country is in..." You get my point.

I expect the best, but don't pray into the decisions that are made by our leaders.

God, forgive my ignorance and pride and selfishness!!

I am encouraged - yes, convicted! - to pursue prayer. Pursue time to intercede for friends and family. Pursue prayer for my nation's leaders. Pursue my Lord and Saviour and all that He has for me.

Will you join me?
What are you convicted to pray for today?

~Rachel

Oikos Church of the Nazarene

This was the last day of Third Wave - but we were really nowhere near finished yet! Much was planned for the last two days, and Saturday January 7 was a biggie.

This was our Ministry with Others projects day.

We were to have two work-sites. The first was a community park, where the team would clean up, do some painting and maintenance work, and form friendships with the people there. The second location was at a place that was affected by the recent flooding in Bangkok - general cleanup and building relationships was the goal there.

Unfortunately, on this day I was feeling very unwell. On Friday, our day of sight-seeing, I had not felt well all day, and on Saturday I woke up feeling a little better, but even after breakfast I could just tell that I was not well. I decided to stay back at the hotel all day - and trust me, that was one tough decision! I just LOVE to serve, and working outside in dirt and mud is no exception! But, for what was to come in the evening... I decided that this would be best.

As soon as the buses left for the project sites (they left soon after 8:30am), I tried to use the internet for a little while, and then I went up to my room and slept for a couple hours. Around noon, I came downstairs to help set up our Third Wave t-shirts, so that when everyone came back, they could simply pick out their size before going up to their rooms, showering, and getting ready for the evening project.

Church of the Nazarene logo - Thai

We were split into 3 groups, and we were to go to 3 different Nazarene churches. I went to Oikos church, a small church, that had postponed its Christmas and New Years celebrations until we were there!!! They had somehow (miraculously, I'm sure!) gotten approval to close their end of the street, to hold the event in the middle of the street - sound system, band, chairs for the audience, space for kids to play, and all. In a Buddhist country. Where less than 1% of the population is Christian. WOW. That blew my mind!!

Arriving at Oikos Church of the Nazarene

I wasn't feeling too well, but I knew I had to push myself - I knew I would regret it if I just sat around watching the activities.

Marie looking very official, as she keeps score of Tammie's Rock, Paper Scissors game with the boys

I looked around at the church for a little while...

The church kitchen. You can see the little gas heaters in the middle of the floor there. Newspaper covered the floor. And the toilets were just to the left of this picture!

...and then I got involved!

Attaching a message from Oikos Church to every "showbag" (that we filled up here)

Playing some style of volleyball. They played for about 2 hours!

The church ladies provided us with a wonderful buffet!

They gave out Samaritan's Purse Shoeboxes!! Sooooo amazing to see the other side of these gifts - the smiles on those faces were priceless!

Each country / region had to prepare a cultural presentation, and as I already shared here, Australia and New Zealand teamed up.

Now, I know, for some of you Aussies and Kiwis, the idea of these two countries being one team may be a little strange, and maybe even outrageous!!! (if you are not an Aussie or Kiwi, and are a bit confused right now - you do really have to be one of us to understand this ;-) )

In fact, I am generally like that. And when our team suggested performing this Mauori song and the Haka... I admit I thought it was unfair that our entire presentation would be Kiwi. I wanted something Australian in our presentation!

But do you know what?

My heart was changed in those few days between the decision, and when we were at Oikos.

I looked around me at our International Fair - Australians, Kiwis, Mexicans, English, Scottish, Irish, Thai people, all together, having fun, eating food, celebrating the birth of Jesus and the beginning of a New Year. I saw laughter and love. I saw different skin colour, different clothing styles, heard different languages, tasted different food, and saw many cultures. All together, in one street, in this Buddhist country.

And it was then that I realized. At an event like this, we can still have the Aussie / Kiwi banter / competition / silliness - but when it comes to sharing the love of Jesus and the unity that it brings, that doesn't matter.
The whole performance was SUCH fun (even though I'm sure I mimed half of the lyrics, and *subtly* peeked at the other girls to make sure I was doing the actions right!)!! And you know what? Even though I sang a song that I wouldn't have understood if Moana hadn't translated for me - a song from my country's rival, no less! - and the boys took off their Aussie hats of to do the Haka, I am so very grateful for that experience!

AND I got to share it with these AWESOME people!!!

Tammie, Moana, Yannis, Marie, John, Dani, Aaron and me

...and my awesome big brother Simon =D

Although... that's not going to change my mind about the cricket or the rugby or most of the other things us Aussies compete the Kiwis for! ;-)

Click here to see us performing. (note: this links to Facebook, so you may not be able to access the video without logging in to Facebook)