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Tragedy is going to happen to us, sooner or later. So when it does, what will we do? This blog describes briefly the floods and category 5 hurricane recently hitting my family in Australia and the catastrophic Christchurch earthquake (with some links for pictures)...and my first experience with a Tornado last week. The second half of the blog helps us question if we are actually ready for these 'times of trouble', it encourages us to see how God will help us embrace the tragedy in our lives and to expect even greater challenges ahead. It also asks the question... "When people pray for the soon return of Jesus, do they really know what they are praying for?"
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| South Bank Beach in the city center of Brisbane by the river. It all flooded! |
In January I watched my beautiful city, flood. It was devastating. A city so perfect, so clean, so fun, with bike paths, gardens and even a beach overlooking the city skyscrapers next to the winding Brisbane river. In the U.S. I struggled to find news or information. To be so far away from my homeland and feel so helpless is a feeling we have all felt at some time. Memories of 911 flashed through my mind.
Queensland had been drowned with rain for the last month or two - the wettest season in 100 years. La Nina they said, causing drastic changes to the weather patterns. Last year had been a drought (the last ten years on and off) bringing with it, water restrictions of four minute showers. Everyone just lived with that. But now the dams were at 160% capacity and climbing. The rains had flooded the large towns at the top of Queensland and it seemed to be slowly coming down the coast. Three quarters of the state, an area the size of France and Germany, was under water. Then the flash flooding started, water gushing with such enormous force a whole town was swept away without warning. People were trapped and missing. Terrifying beyond words.
The next morning we drove into the Copper Canyon and found small villages along the way to minister to. We gave out CD's with the gospel in Tarahumara. The CD's had testimonies, the Gospel and some worship songs in their native tongue. All who received them were grateful and some had tears in their eyes, as this was the first time they had received such a gift. Some of these CD's will be played over and over and over and shared with their extended families.
We continued through incredibly beautiful landscape - enormous rocks, fir trees and fields of bright green corn. We passed through many rivers and past log cabin villages. We decided to go to a remote town deep in the canyon. We took the 4WD up incredibly steep roads on mountain ridges till we thought we were lost on an old logging trail. Finally we came down into a valley where we could see houses. We had made it! We found a place to stay in the dormitory of the school. I played basketball with the kids and 'hide-and-go-seek' with some of the local boys around the huge magnificent boulders out the back. I had bought school supplies to give out and bubbles.
When ministering to a different culture it is important to consider the impact you may be making. Doing aid work, even being generous like giving a candy or a dollar to the children, can be very damaging to an entire community as they may not have dental services. Children may not go to school when they can earn more than the average daily wage by begging from tourists. Native people around the world are always in danger of losing their traditional culture and we as missionaries need to think 'in what ways will I be impacting and influencing this area'. The traditional dress of these villages is slowly disappearing with the men no longer wearing their "zapetas" (loincloths). The Mexican government is planning to bring hotels into the Copper Canyon to bring the tourists. This will increase employment in the tourist industry and the desire and ability to purchase western products. Coca Cola bottles and cans already littered the road on the way to these remote villages but Coca Cola 
There are different ways of positively impacting different cultures, that don't detract from their God-given uniqueness, around the world and even cultures in our own countries. We need to be very aware of the impact we are making, the assumptions we make about what is good and evil in another culture, and we need to open our eyes to see where the real spiritual warfare is. Lets start to think about how to treasure the uniqueness of other people's cultures and help them deal with modernity that will help maintain their identity in God. Religion, church and Christianity doesn't need to look the same in every culture. Why do we think the way we do it is the way it should be done for everyone else? Maybe we should stop building church buildings that open one hour a week and start building community centers or discipling the Church as the group of sinners called the Body of Christ and think outside the box?
Family Worship is something that needs to be restored, revitalized and treasured. Sometimes our spiritual journeys become so individualized that we are not always aware of what our children believe. This may be because we trust someone else with their spiritual training. Imagine if we taught our children to hear the voice of God, to pray powerfully because of the purity they possess, to enjoy being in the presence of God and to have fun learning about God! Let's pray like we believe in miracles!
We then had some more songs and worship as the sun set. I felt the need to pray for our families to be united in prayer and for us to learn how to bless each other, forgive each other and pray over each other. So we broke up into family groups and spent time encouraging and blessing one another. It was a beautiful time. We then ended the night by watching a family movie out on the lawn and drinking root beer floats. 
All through the day people could enjoy the Prayer Tent that was set up exclusively for the children although it was great to see some dads go through by themselves too! (We need to keep praying that fathers become spiritually strengthened to lead boldly with the Holy Spirits power.) The prayer stations were set up in a real camping tent which was really cute to put together with some of the stations outside as well.
I was asked by the Youth Director, Jesse Seibel to design a prayer tree for the summer camp. YES A PRAYER TREE! Now there is no limit to how creative you can be about prayer stations. There are so many ways to make prayer fun. Prayer journeys, walks, prayer stations, prayer treasure hunts, prayer rooms and fun interactive creative worships. This one was centered around the Tree of Life. The summer camp had a beautiful tree right in the middle so I designed about 15 stations that were attached to or near the tree. This was a very fun experience. A lot of the kids loved praying here in the beauty of the outdoors.
During the summer camp I took a morning off to go down the street to a beach that is known to have dolphins visit in the morning. Unfortunately I missed them but a lady told me to snorkel out to the boey then turn right and I would find a giant rock that was home to up to a dozen green sea turtles. I swam out and found about nine turtles resting and swimming around - this was a beautiful experience - I even cried into my mask... thanking God for giving me such a precious moment to treasure. I then drove to one of our favorite snorkeling spots at electric beach. The power plant pumps warm water through huge pipes out into the ocean and is a haven for the most beautiful fish I have ever seen.
The beauty of Hawaii is breathtaking. At every opportunity I tried to go on a hike. Saturday afternoon was usually a time when friends got together to explore new hikes. Hawaii is full of the most beautiful people I have ever met. If you ever get a chance to experience the islands you will be blessed.