2

It was our last night before jumping on the plane to head back to the North Island.  My time with God had been the best time of my life and some of the things I got to see really made me believe even more so. But the Honeymoon wasn’t finished yet, the best part was ahead; clarity!

The road into Christchurch was amazing, and so much scenery to take in.  It wasn’t until we got into the city that we began to see the destruction of the 2011 earthquake.  I didn’t realize how bad it was until we took a stroll to the city center.  What looked like it use to be one of the most beautiful cities in all of New Zealand, was in total ruins.  Overnight the creation of man was destroyed by one earthquake.

I think God was showing me not to take stock in things of this world because they come and go, but to put all my eggs in His basket because they will never diminish.  So moving forward I decided to just jump in the car and drive until I hit the beach.  I ended up at the New Brighton pier, which was really nice but windy.  Just out front they had a small carnival and few little rides.  The town itself was really desolate but a few stragglers still walking around.

That night I went out to the beach to get some pictures of the pier with the Milkyway shining in the background.  I setup my camera for some timelapse and then walked away looking into the sky in total awe of how massive the universe is, yet God holds it all in His hands.  All I could do is just pray and thank Him for His creation.  As I prayed I started to seek out advice in where and what He wanted me to do next.

Out of the blue, I felt him say..

“Trav, why do you worry about the little things? Do you love me?”

I replied “I do love you God”.

He said “Then Feed my sheep.”

I thought that was kind of odd, why would he want me to feed his sheep?

Again He asked me “Do you love me?”

I replied again “I do love you Lord”.

He said “Then feed my sheep.”

Really confused at what He was trying to tell me, I just smile and said God your a goof!

But then He asked me one more time, “Do you love me?”

I just said “God you know I love you!”

He said “Then feed my sheep!”

I just paused at this point because it totally made sense.  New Zealand had over 40 million sheep which by far surpassed the humans.  God was giving me final confirmation to serve the people of New Zealand through this conversation of feeding His sheep.  The journey ahead would require me to shepherd a flock of sheep.  Did that mean to become a farmer? Nope, I believe Jesus gave that analogy to Peter in the context of spiritually feeding the people.

It all started to come together, at the beginning of the year I felt God was telling me to GO2014 and make disciples.  On the beach God confirmed this and opened the door for me to fulfill this vision at All Nations City Church in Auckland.  I couldn’t help but giggle and do a Kim Walker laugh, HaHAaa, after seeing what God had been doing this whole time.

Then, if that wasn’t enough…  I was speaking that Sunday at church and didn’t have time to prepare as much as I like.  But the Holy Spirit started to flow out words on what to say for the Sunday service.  My praise and worship just started to be filled with His words on my lips and I couldn’t stop myself from giving the full sermon to the God, the ocean and any onlookers.  I was getting pretty animated so I am sure it was pretty funny to those onlookers.  I am sure they were thinking free entertainment!!  At a certain point I couldn’t help but sing and even freestyle a little bit!  Crazy White Folk From MERICA!

The night came to an end and I found a hostel right by the beach.  On the entry there were two guys outside drinking and smoking that seemed kinda shady.  As I walked into the room, there was a pile of alcohol boxes, so my first thought was this is going to be a long night!  So put my stuff down on an empty bed, went to the bathroom to freshen up.  When I came back my stuff was moved and there were two girls that had come in got, cozy and took over the room.  They seemed to have been settling down so I was ok with that.  Hopefully in numbers, we could take away the party mentality and enjoy a good nights rest.

So I introduced myself to the girls and started talking.  They were actually really nice and had amazing English accents.  So I just wanted to keep talking to hear them speak.  Come to find out that they were heading to Australia while I was going to be out there.  So we got each others contact information and sense they had an early flight we all crashed out. (this will all come around when I talk about what happened in Australia)

The next day was the final story before heading back to the North Island.  As I checked out I was sitting in the car praying about what to do before heading to the airport.  I look over and there was a guy that started looking at the front of the car, then walked around to the back.  Confused I rolled down my window and asked him if everything was ok.  He asked if I was a taxi and could give him a ride.  I didn’t think the car looked like a taxi or that I looked like a taxi driver.  But I said  jump in I can give you a ride.

I didn’t have anything else to do, so why not?  He said he just missed the city bus to his greyhound bus which was going to take him across the country and he had 15 minutes to get there.  I said don’t worry we will make it, I am from the states and we have Mario Andretti.

We just made it in time just before the bus was going to take off.  He was really thankful and offered some of his leftover food, I kindly denied it because I am not a fan of left overs.  He said can I give you some money?  I told him it wasn’t necessary, I just wanted to bless him in the name of Jesus.  I pulled out the gospel of John and said “I have a gift for you”.  It’s a book that changed my life.  He looked at it and said “thanks, its a long drive and I didn’t bring anything to read.”

That started my day off right and I pray for him to be transformed by the reading of Scriptures.  My trip was up, time with God had been amazing and I had learned so much through spending time with Him.  I have seen him open the skies to show me his amazing creation.  I have heard his calling for the next year.  I have even had a great laugh and seen God’s sense of humor.

Even though it has been an amazing 2000km trip, life doesn’t stop.  The honeymoon is over, but it won’t be the last.  I heard God’s promises and know that He is faithful.  I really want to encourage you to get away from your daily trek and go spend time with God.  When we make God our priority, everything else falls into place.  Thanks for taking this journey with me and I hope you have been encouraged to seek after Christ with your everything.  You won’t be disappointed!