The Road Not Taken

"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it." (Jeremiah 6:16)

Life is a road that God builds infront of you one brick at a time. You take a step of faith and the road extends before you. Sometimes God will mark the road with hints of where He is going to take you but ultimately, it's His road and He will choose the destination. To walk on this road means that you allow God to be Himself. He is wild and unpredictable and to trust Him means to let Him be wild and untamed in your life.

Few take the road of total trust and abandon to God and that is where my experience with YWAM had led me. Most of us are out there building our own roads to our own destinations. The reason we do so is because there is far more risk in letting God lead us down a road where we don't know the destination, where we're not in control.

During my last week at Perth, I walked into our old familiar classroom and written on one of the whiteboards was this statement: "Don't be afraid to trust the unknown to an all knowing God." I thought that statement really summed up my experiences in trusting God with coming to Perth. Before I came I didn't have a clue about what I could do for a career. I had thoughts about doing something outside of ministry but I didn't feel God's peace about these choices.

Through my experience during DTS and Outreach I believe God is leading me into a career as a Missions Pastor. It seems really to fit me and my strenghts that I discovered on Outreach, such as the ability to teach others. During my Outreach I was able to preach six times and through affirmations of other people on my team I realized that teaching is a really important part to what I need to do. Also, I realized that God has made really flexible and he uses me as an example to others. People saw me as a leader and affirmed it a number of times during DTS and Outreach. I also realized that my heart is for mobilizing the church to do missions. It's not accident I ended up on the Missions Mobilization Team of Saddleback Church where I worked for Rick Warren for five and a half years. It's not accident that God led me to YWAM and to gain the teaching of the DTS. The more I think about it, the more it seems that God has chained these experiences in my life to shape me into a missions pastor. Sure, I could do something else. But everytime I take a job outside of ministry, I feel like a fish out of water.

One of the biggest lessons that I learned from trusting God is learning how to feed from God's hand. What I mean by this is that we position ourselves in such a way that we look to God for our needs or when there is a desire in our heart for something. You see God wants to give the desire of our hearts and take care of us. In my case it would be a house and a steady income to provide for a family. But rather than seeking to achieve these things on our own God wants us to turn to Him so that He can tie these things back into a relationship of dependency with Himself. When we seek things by our own plans and schemes we cut God out of that part of our life and once that is done it's easy to let these things like having a home and security become idols. That is why I had to surrender my finances and my comforts to Him so that I could allow Him to give me things in His own way.

I realize that my calling as a Missions Pastor is partly an act of faith. It came to me one day after one of my quiet times in Ethiopia that I could really be a missions pastor. I think God did something in me during DTS and Outreach that enabled me to go on to the next step which would be to move into this calling. It's an act of faith because in some ways I feel incalpable of doing this. I don't have 100% confidence that I could do all the things that a Missions Pastor requires. But, just like when I sensed God was leading me to do a six-month mission, I sense that God is leading me into this. I feel peace about this decision and see how it really fits me, who I am, and my past experiences. Reagardless of any doubts or even insecurities or whether I could perform this role, I must acknowledge my calling. A calling I couldn't have recognized without YWAM.

I left home, six-months ago, to go seek God and to find Him. I come home doing the same. I have come to seek Him and find Him again and again and again as long as I will live and to learn to completely trust and abandon myself to Him. That is the Road Not Taken.

Much thanks goes to all of those of you who read my story of my journey. I appreciate all your support and prayers.

Full Circle

We returned to Perth about a week ago. I only had about 4 hours of sleep on the plane before we landed. Before I came to Perth I caught a bug in Indonesia. I had a mild fever for a couple of days which turned into this cough that I've had until now. I think that coming back from such a different climate has made my throat and lungs worse and a quarter of our school seems to have caught the same thing.

All of us have come back to the Base. We've spent our last remaining days hanging out, going to places we've never been before here in Perth, and reporting back to the Base and the current schools of what God did while we were away. Everyday now friends of ours are leaving. It's sad to watch everyone slowly leave and head out on in a van for the airport and go home. I, myself, am leaving in a couple of days. It hits everyone different. I feel the lost but I'm not inclined to get really emotional. But some people, mainly the girls, cry as their friends leave them one by one. Today I had to say Goodbye to Paul, Mariana, and Laura. Yesterday Melissa left. By the time I leave in a couple of days most of my team will have left.

It seems odd that only in a few day I'll be coming back home. It only seems like yesterday that I was sitting next to my friend Jay, drinking Frappachinos, the day I left on my trip. Yet, when I think about my classes here in Perth only three months ago, it seems like it happened an eternity ago.

I know is that I'm ready to go back home. Six-months has been a long time being away. I've missed most of the major holidays and many birthdays being gone and as I sat in our last class on Thursday, I wrote down the things I'll be looking forward to when I come back: good food, my own bed, being close to my family, working out, line dancing, and just having more time to myself. I don't know what it'll be like waking up and not living with fifteen or for that matter fifty people anymore. I suppose it will be easier but at the same time, I won't hear those same familiar voices anymore. I won't go shopping in the city anymore with Stefan. I won't be playing board games with Paul. And I won't be having long chats with Campy anymore.

For those of who have been keeping up with my blogs, I have one more to write to sum up what this experience has been for me.

Leaving Indonesia and Saying Goodbye

This is our last week in City-J. We had to say goodbye to all the prison inmates who are part of our English classes today. It was actually a bit sad for us. Normally during our lesson we break into smaller groups of 4-6 men to practice what we learned. In that time you stay with the same group of guys and get to know them. I was actually able to speak through a translator with some of the guys that I help with and ask them questions like, what are your plans when you get out and do you have any families or children? They asked me similar questions like what I'll be doing when I get home.

I've been thinking of that question more and more. I know I'll probably take a temp-job soon after I get back to California. There's also a girl that I was getting to know before I came to Perth Australia and we've talked about seeing each other more when I come back. I'll be reconnecting with friends and family. In terms of a career there has been something on my mind lately. I want to think and pray about it more before I announce it to anybody but I feel excited about it.

This Saturday we'll be having a party for all of those people who worked with us during our stay here. It is a very diverse group of people that include pastors, church staff workers, translators, and non-Christian contacts like our friend from the prison that we work with. We'll be using this Sunday to pack and tonight we're all actually going to a burger joint to celebrate another team mate's birthday. The best thing about this restaraunt is kareoke! Some of us took the night of our freeday to go to this place and sang an hour and a half worth of songs.

This will be my last entry from Indonesia. Next stop Australia!

Catching Up

Hello everyone! Well after a month or so of silence I've finally been able to come back and update my blog. Below are three entries that I've written in the last few days, two of them about my trip to Ethiopia. Thanks everyone for keeping up with me and continue praying for me. Three more weeks until I come back!

Back Here in City-J

We've been back in City-J for now about two and a half weeks. Things have begun to wind down as we only have less than two weeks left here and one more week of debriefing in Perth. We're all relieved to be back, for the most part. I think that a few of my team mates are dealing with the difficulty of our setting: the culture, the environment, and the food.

I, myself, am happy to be back here. Every Monday we have our free day which normally we use to go to one of the large local malls. You can't imagine how we look forward to our free days. The guys usually get together and eat all the junk food we can get: A&W, crepe-ice cream cones, donuts, nachos and candy at the movie theaters. Our day usually looks like this: get lunch and ice cream, shop, spend an hour or so in the local arcade, see a movie (these theaters are nice and cheap. only $2 a ticket), get dinner and relax back at home for the rest of the evening.

We also have our new house to look forward to. As some of you may have read we were first living in an apartment inside a auto repair shop. Since we came back from Ethiopia, we now live in a two-story house in a gated community (and when I say gated I mean that there's just a large gate that locks in front of our neighborhood). The house is fairly nice and big compared to the tiny apartment we were first in. So, it's been a huge blessing to us. The only problem is that the taxi drivers have been having a hard time finding it and we've run into a couple of times where we've spent the better part of an hour trying to get to our new home.

We also have added one member to our team, Clara from Germany. Clara and I were good friends during our school and I speak to her in German sometimes. She'll be staying with us until we leave.

Most of our ministry has been going to churches, preaching, giving testimonies and performing our drama. We've also had the opportunity to teach English at a local prison here. I explained months ago that this opportunity was totally provided by God. We're on such good terms with our contact who works in the prison that he just invited us to his wedding this Sunday.

Mountaintop Evangelism

We were all shocked and surprised when they told us we would be staying in Ethiopia another week. The original plan had been that after spending three and a half weeks in Ethiopia our team would split. Both teams flying to the country of Djibouti and one of the teams continuing on to the country of Eritrea. I had been on the team that was to continue on to Eritrea; however, due to the continued violence occurring now in East Africa (Sudan, Chad, and Kenya) not to mention the Cold War that is now between Eritrea and Ethiopia the Base leaders made a decision that would change our plans completely. The other team would go on to Djibouti while we stayed in Ethiopia another week and a half.

My team was solemn and downcast that day. It was the night before all of were to leave for the airport and we had all packed our bags in preparation. I, myself, was indifferent to the change. I think the difference between me and the others was that I had no personal feelings or desire of wanting to go into Eritrea and there had always been uncertainty of whether or not we were even going to be allowed into the country considering the tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The change in plans was worth the experience that followed. We were to leave on a Monday and on the weekend when we should have been in Eritrea, the leader of the Base in Addis Abbaba took us to a small village outside the capital.

Two crucial events happened that Saturday as we drove to this mountain village. First, after driving an hour I was gazing out the back window of our van. The seven of us were piled into a van with our bags which made the ride very uncomfortable. But as I looked out the window I saw as we passed a bulldozer topple of the semi-truck that had brought out to the road we were now on. The bulldozer had actually fallen on the man driving inside of it and as we leapt from the van doors to help we could see that the top of the dozer had tore through the man's leg and simultaneously trapping him. Men scrambled to try to life the heavy dozer to no avail until one of our team members quickly ordered the men to use a nearby tree limb to use as leverage. Ten men grabbed their hands onto the branch which was thick enough to support the weight of the top of the dozer and allowed to other men to scoop the one whose leg was caught out. They carried the man to a nearby waiting truck and rushed him to the hospital. (We would later find out that the man, though had lost much blood, did not break his legs and would only need some patching up. It's a miracle this man kept both his legs which had not been crushed by the top of the bulldozer)

Finally, we reached our destination. A mountain several hours away from the capital city. The van drove us up a quarter mile off the road to a nearby house and there we met an evangelism team from a local church. There were seven of us and about twelve of them. We started our ascent up the mountain all along talking to the evangelists who were curious about our lives back home. When we reached the top we claimed the top of the mountain in prayer. This particular mountain is a place of witchcraft that the local villagers engage in. We then broke up into smaller groups and headed into the village homes. These homes were the traditionally-made mud huts. The top of them are rounded and pointed at the top made from hay and the walls and foundation are made of earth and clay.

I myself went with my team mate Josh to the actual place of witchcraft and we accompanied by three of the evangelists including the Base leader, Adesa. We met several families and they each invited us in to their homes. We did not enter the place of idol worship but we did enter into these families homes who worshiped the sun, trees, and rivers. We spoke to them about Jesus and we all had turns to share something. I personally shared my testimony with this family, speaking to them about how I knew how God answers prayers, through the testimony of my Chinese grandmother Nana and how she had told me that she had prayed everyday that my mother and father who previously were divorced, would reconcile and take me to church. Both of these things happened and helped me to believe that God not only existed but that he interacted with us.

These people who we spoke to had heard nothing about Jesus Christ and His sacrifice. We invited them to accept Jesus but they replied that they were interested in hearing more but would have to wait. Many in the village fear that the spirits whom their ancestors worshiped will come and destroy them if they turn away from their religion. Others claimed that if they received only a bible they would not only turn to Jesus Christ but teach about Him to others. This trip had been a great encouragement to the church who had sent the evangelism team. They had been considering disbanding the evangelism ministry but we think that this experience really encouraged them and they would continue sending others into these villages.

Escorted Out of A University

I looked up and suddenly I was surrounded by a large group of Ethiopians. A conversation of four to five people had quickly turned into a crowd of twenty five to thirty. Our team had visited this University before in the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Abbaba. The past couple of times we had visited I had only had a chance to speak to no more than a handful of people together about their lives and what did they think of Jesus Christ but here I was surrounded on all sides by curious college students wanting to hear why I had visited their country.

I realized that this was my opportunity, when one of them asked me the nature of my visit and what I thought of his country. As I began speaking about our desire to help the poor and to help people understand what a relationship with Jesus Christ looked like, another one of them began to object. "We have many religions here," he began. "Protestant, Muslim, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox...everone has their own religion here. We do not need relgious teaching. We have plenty of that. If you would like to teach on maybe Economics and give us some technology to make our country better we will be willing to listen to you."

I had never been in this situation where I was publicly preaching like this so I took my time to answer. A number of questions and objections to my coming came up but I really felt that God was leading my answers. Many in the crowd who objected most were actually Eastern Orthodox. They knew I was a Protestant trying to infiltrate their country with my Protestant teaching. In Ethiopia, especially the capital, the Eastern Orthodox church has much of the power and influence. They see Protestantism as a threat and are very stubbornly opposed to anything we say, even though we were simply teaching on the basic principles of having a relationship with God. They continued to try to change the subject of our discussion to Economics but really having money. One of them made it quite clear. "Money is everything!," he objected, after my many attempts to convince them that money and finances were the issue for Africa and Ethiopia.

I spoke pretty boldly but I was careful not to be offensive. I looked around at all the faces that were staring and me and declared, "The Western nations had given billions of dollars to Africa and Africa is worse because of it! You have many religions it's true, but there are African countries right now like in Kenya where Christians are killing one another! It is not relgion that God wants it is relationship! Finances and technology will not help change the heart of Africa! You will only cause your country to become dependent on the more advanced nations like Europe and America. Even today everytime I leave my house here, people beg from me. The only English that some children in your country know is 'give me money!' Money is not going to change poverty here in your country. Poverty is not just an economic problem, it is a spiritual problem!"


Finally one of them looked at me. He had gentle eyes and genuinely wanted to understand more but he was Eastern Orthodox and he was trying to make sense with his beliefs and what I was trying to say. "If this is true then what do the people need?" I bent down. He was sitting on the steps of the school flag pole infront of me and I looked right into his eyes. "They need the love of Jesus." "But people know about that," he was quick to point out. "People know it," I pointed to my head, "but people don't know it," I then pointed to my heart.

Soon after my last conversation I walked away from the flag pole. There were still thirty or forty people standing there but I had been speaking for forty minutes and I was tired. As I spoke to an actual Christian believer who had come up beside me to encourage me to continue preaching a security guard of the University came up to us. He spoke in Amharic, the local language, "The foreigners must leave. They can not be preaching like this." We were all escorted out of the University but we left in triumph, knowing that we had made a couple individuals really think.