Culture Shock!

A major misconception of Americans is that Australia, being English speaking, is very similar to America.  There is an idea that we are perfectly compatible culturally.  I am still only beginning to see the nuances and subtleties which make the cultural expanse so wide, perhaps as wide as the Pacific Ocean.  This is a distance that cannot be spanned except through the power of the Holy Spirit and God's grace.

The Landman family and I have been visiting Sonja in the hospital for about a week now nearly every day.  The hospital is very clean, modern, and the staff is highly professional.  But I saw something yesterday in the medical offices that would never fly in a San Diego hospital!  In the ward where Sonja is staying, there sits a wheelbarrow filled with alcohol:  beer, rum, wine coolers and other miscellaneous alcoholic beverages.  You don't believe me?  But there it is, covered with a net so recovering patients don't help themselves in passing.  I joked with Louis that the state-run hospital is making sure they have future visitors, or at least returning ones!

It turns out that this "Wheelbarrow of Goodies" can be obtained through purchasing raffle tickets.  To me, the entire concept is unthinkable and counter-intuitive.  The negative side-effects of binge drinking is common knowledge, yet here is a hospital supplying a wheelbarrow full of alcohol!  Since it is for a good cause, perhaps the end justifies the means.  I'm seeing the same confusing message among churches here as well.  In talking to a Aussie brother the hyper-Pentecostal movement did much damage in the church and the residual effects are still seen everywhere.

The Aussies do not have the Christian heritage and background that Americans do.  Louis told me about an article he read that reported on the discounts senior citizens can obtain in Australian brothels!  I do not relate these things to say that Australia is wrong and America is right.  To the contrary:  there is no country in the world that has had so much light of the Gospel shone into it as America.  But we have largely failed to allow our light to shine in our Jerusalem and to the ends of the earth.  A lost person is lost.  There are no degrees of salvation.  Had the light from Jesus Christ revealed in America shined with the same luster and brightness in Australia, Australia would no doubt be a different world!

The people of America, Australia, and all the nations of the earth need the salvation wrought only through faith in Jesus Christ.  My prayer is that Australia would be freed from the power of the "Rainbow Serpent" whom the Aboriginal people worship to this day, and be drawn to Jesus Christ through sound doctrine.  May God loose the chains of legalism, crush the head of humanism, and deliver people from the emotionalism that has left people embittered, embattled, and confused.  May Matthew 11:5-6 be fulfilled in this place even now:  "The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. [6] And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."  Instead of being offended by those who do not know Christ, let us reach out to them.  The cultures of the world are all different, but we all have the same need:  we all need forgiveness, salvation, and righteousness, which are only found in the shed blood of Jesus Christ received through faith.

Biblical Prayers

I'm the kind of person who does not mark in the Bible.  I do not condemn any who feel free to do so, but I don't desire to place any of my commentary or thoughts on the same page as God's Word.  Every time I crack open the pure Word I seek to gather the fresh manna that can only come from above.  I refuse to be chained to only one point in a passage.  The people did not eat manna in only one fashion:  the scriptures say they "ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it..." (Num. 11:8).  The tragedy was that the children of Israel did so because they grew tired of it.  May that never be said of us, that we would desire the cucumbers, melons, and leeks of Egypt when God has provided of His personal stores manna for us to be spiritually sustained.  Manna after a day would stink and breed worms, and yesterday's portion is inadequate for today's lessons.

I have made an exception, however.  In the back of my Bible there are many blank pages on which I have begun a couple of lists.  On one page I list all verses that confirm the divinity of the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Thought the word "Trinity" is not found in scripture, the concept is clearly taught throughout.  Words are inadequate to describe God (since the summation of God is not possible being infinite in nature), but sometimes a single word can be used to sum up a paragraph of thought.  John said that if the deeds of Christ were recorded in books the world itself could not contain them (John 21:25).  Another list that I have recently begun is prayers in the Bible.  How wonderful it is to pray the truth of God's Word back to Him!

This is a prayer that I found during my daily reading today in Col. 4:12 that I am praying for myself:  "Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God."  How often do we labor to pray, not labor in prayer!  There is a difference!  Epaphras was a slave of Christ and his devotion was observed in his fervent laborious intercession on behalf of the Colossian church.  The summation of his prayer was that the followers of Christ "may stand perfect and complete in the will of God."  They were followers of Christ not through their efforts, but by the will of God.  They were to find their completion in Jesus Christ, not through the keeping of man's tradition.  The zeal of Epaphras for the Body of Christ was revealed through his fervent prayers.

I want to stand perfect and complete in the will of God.  There are those "realists" in the church who will decry this as wishful thinking, but I believe this is God's will for all who follow Christ.  We are to put on the whole armor of God and having done all stand girded and ready for battle (Eph. 6:11-13).  This can be done in us through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us without measure - without measure!  Elisha had a double-portion of Elijah's spirit, which was a hard thing, and we have been granted through rebirth in Christ the same Spirit without measure!  We are complete in Christ, needing nothing in addition to Him.  This is not to say that we can do our own thing by ourselves, for we are part of the Body of Christ.  Col. 2:8-10 says, "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. [9] For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; [10] and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power."

Refuse to be cheated from your God-ordained birthright in Christ.  May we stand perfect and complete in Him, and gather the fresh manna as Ruth gleaned after the reapers in the field.  Boaz saw her, loved her and told the reapers to leave some extra behind.  Have we not benefited in the same fashion since our Savior openly dotes upon us?  It may be that God will have mercy on us and open our blind eyes and deaf ears to the end we might glorify Him more!  He has raised us from spiritual death:  shall we not through Jesus enter into abundant fullness of life?  John 10:10 says, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."  The deeper life in Christ is available to all who seek it in faith.  When Jesus is lifted up, He draws all men unto Himself.

I'm Thanking God

I have been praising God for His provision as I wait upon Him in OZ.  Staying at the Landman home has been a real pleasure, and has afforded me many great opportunities.  With a private area and internet access, I have been able to keep posting on the blog, sending correspondence, connecting to my family at home with Skype, and even prepared a sermon yesterday!  For the time being whoever reads this blog is my "congregation," because the opportunity to preach has not yet afforded itself.  In God's perfect time and manner, His will shall be accomplished.  Louis, Sonja, Louise, and Johan have been so hospitable and kind.

I have also been able to do some little projects around the house.  Today I installed a recessed light outside, vacuumed the carpets, hung out the washing ("laundry" is called "washing" here, and pretty much everyone that I've seen hangs their clothes to dry outside), and cooked up some syrup for tomorrow's breakfast.  I'm going to make pancakes tomorrow and hopefully they will be a big hit.  Johan tells me he likes to put cheese on his.  I'm going to stick with syrup and hold the cheese.

Another blessing is all the experience I'm having behind the wheel.  Louis has me drive almost every time we go out, and it has become so familiar that I have even dreamt of driving on the other side of the road.  Ever so often I'll still indicate with my windshield wipers (very ineffective I'll add) because the indicator is on the right side of the steering wheel.  The rear view mirror is still a misplaced object and it takes me a while to focus on the reflection and not the mirror itself.  Wednesdays we buy petrol (gasoline, and "gas" is propane) because on Thursdays the price shoots up a minimum of 10 cents per liter as if on schedule, and Thursday we typically buy all the food for the week.  Coles, Woolies (Woolworth's), and Aldi are our prime targets as Louis and Sonja hit all the specials (sales).  There's a great deal of words that are defined differently, like "boot" is the term for the trunk of the car, "trolley" is the grocery cart you push at a store.  Many of the trolleys here require a token purchased for one or two dollars, and when finished the trolley literally locks into the one it slides into.  This keeps the trolleys all in the correct bin.

I praise God for the Landman family and all those who have been so supportive on both sides of the Pacific.  There are a lot of changes going on in the Harvest Christian Fellowship Brisbane South, and when more information becomes available I will pass it along.  I am blessed whether or not anyone reads these words, but is a double blessing if God uses them to minister to you in any way.  Keep me in your prayers as you are in mine, and remember to thank the LORD today because He is good.

The Upward Call

A couple months before I left home for Australia, I purchased a new pair of running shoes.  I started running for exercise since preaching for me does not provide much aerobic benefit!  It has been good to begin a routine of  regular exercise, not because I like exercise in itself, but because of the obvious health benefits.  I have found running benefits my mental focus, digestion, endurance, lowered my cholesterol, and added 15 yards to my golf game!

I have to admit, I'm not a health freak.  I admit I'm not even that "health conscious."  I am not seeking rock-hard abs or interested in how much I can bench press.  But one day I looked at myself in the mirror and exclaimed, "Self, you're getting sloppy!"  My pants were starting to fit a little tight and I'm too tight to buy new pants!  Some people are not content to see an ounce of fat on their bodies.  They starve themselves, eat the equivalent of cardboard and sticks, and still work out for hours a day!  They cut out all soda and red meats, buy raw foods and follow a carefully monitored diet.  That's not for me, but I'm glad there are health-conscious people out there.  If only we were as spiritually conscious as some are health conscious!  We must guard our eyes, ears, hearts, and thoughts with the vigilance of a person who avoids saturated fats, sugar substitutes, or high fructose corn syrup.

Nearly every day since my arrival, I have headed out for a morning or evening run.  The main difference between this neighborhood and mine is that it is hard to find anywhere flat to run!  The home where I am staying is situated in such a way that I always have to run uphill to go home.  I like to mix in some hills from time to time, but here I have had a steady diet of them here.  As I was laboring towards the finish yesterday, I thought about the verse in  Philippians 3:14:  "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  Our call is an upward call.  It is an upward battle.  We will never on this earth be able to spiritually say that we're "over the hill" because our goal is in the heavens.  It is a race that will tax us, make us want to quit, leave us dizzy, wheezing, and even puking.  But home for us always is uphill.  It's not a home that we've paid for or picked out for ourselves, but one in heaven that God has prepared for us.  It is not our sweat or tears that earn us a heavenly home, but only the blood of the Lamb of God applied to our hearts in faith.

Paul pressed forward with the urgency of a world-class marathon runner.  We have to lose the idea that speed is important in a spiritual race.  Time presses on whether you jog or sit on the couch.  Your spiritual race is being run whether you are active or negligent in spiritual pursuits.  Men have died working out in the gym and others while eating a burger and drinking a milkshake.  We Christians are followers of Jesus Christ, so close that we can draft like a NASCAR driver.  This upward call is offered to all who will follow.  The word "call" here is "an invitation."  Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."  We find rest in Christ, but there is labor to be done with Him as we remain on earth.  There is a difference between "rest" and "ease."  Ease is akin to sloth, and we ought not to ease up to the finish line spiritually.  God supplies the strength and power, and we are to take Christ's yoke upon us as willing slaves.

Don't allow the hills and valleys to bring discouragement as you press on to the upward call of Jesus Christ.  Every time that I have gone out for a run, by God's grace I've always made it home.  Jesus knows every one of His sheep and will bring every last one home to heaven.  Jesus says in John 10:27-28:  "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. [28] And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."  Run your race with joyful endurance in the strength God provides.  He will grant spiritual benefits that will enable you to serve God better.  Run Christian, run!