This is my eighth journal entry as part of the OCC Volunteer Discovery Trip. The material relates to the fifth day of actual journalling but publication here will not align to that actual day/date.

The other articles available for this series are:

1. Samaritan’s Purse Discovery Trip #1: Introduction
2. Samaritan’s Purse Discovery Trip #2: God First
3. Samaritan’s Purse Discovery Trip #3: 7 Days Before You Depart
4. Samaritan’s Purse Discovery Trip #4: 6 Days Before You Go 
5. Samaritan’s Purse Discovery Trip #5: 5 Days and Counting 
6. Samaritan’s Purse Discovery Trip #6: 4 Days – Not Long Now
7. Samaritan’s Purse Discovery Trip #7: 3 Days Left
8. Samaritan’s Purse Discovery Trip #8: Less Than 48 Hours! [this article]

Journal Guide

How has God been preparing you this week? Write in your journal things that God has taught you during your devotional time.

READ HEBREWS 12:1-2

God’s Discipline Proves His Love

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Perhaps you are coming on this trip with some heavy baggage in your life. Maybe you have had a disagreement with one of your parents, an ungodly (not what God expects from us) relationship that has you in its grip, a habit that you should not have, or a way in which you are deceiving your self or others. Maybe you did not even realize it was going on, but God revealed the truth to you. God’s light has a way of revealing truth.

READ 1 PETER 2:1-3

1 So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. 2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, 3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.

Write down what things “you need to lay aside – things that could be hindering” you to experience God’s blessing in your life.

Close your personal devotion time in prayer by asking God to guide you in how to deal with what you are facing and to help you draw on His strength in following His guidance. Thank Him for His light and what it reveals. Remember God is going to do something amazing in you during this Discovery Trip!

Journal Write-Up

The way that God has prepared me during this week leading up to the Discovery Trip has been a continuation of the way I connect with Him. It reflects in the way I worship God and the styles that the Sacred Pathways methodology has me classified – as an activist, caregiver and intellectual. As a result, God has infused my daily walk in the various activities that have filled my time – in the office at work, or at the Australian Open on Australia Day, with my life group or other brothers and sisters in Christ.

There has been a shift in the last two days where my journal devotion time has shifted from morning/start of the day, to evening/end of the day. Today, I spent the morning taking care of a few chores, some relating to getting ready for our Discovery Trip – in the tangible and physical sense – picking up clothes that had been dropped off for alteration. Over the lunch and afternoon, a relaxing time of networking with the newest addition/generation of believers transitioning from university to working lives was an event that finally came to fruition after some two months of planning. The food was delicious, having been contributed by each of us leaders to create a wonder assortment carefully tuned to avoid duplication. The conversations were just as meaningful, enriching and encouraging for all. The main purpose of the event was to bring both groups of people together, so that the incoming young adults would be more comfortable as they visited each of the life groups, knowing that they already knew a few different people within them. I find that being able to communicate and explain the purpose of the Discovery Trip, and the ability to recall the various themes from this week of devotion, in itself, is part of how I ensure I learn these days. What better way to learn than to “teach” others and bring them along the journey.

Reading the bible passage above from Hebrews reminds me that this challenge is to constantly keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. I have been wonderfully blessed in this last week, that I have not had any issues or heavy baggage to deal with in this lead-up to the Discovery Trip. Whilst I have been cruising personally, it is not to say that there have not been issues existing in the periphery. I call it the periphery because, some of the dramas and issues are shared with and made known to me by others. Since these issues do not affect me directly or personally, I have the ability to separate myself from them. God has actually helped me to develop this ability/skill to separate myself from almost anything. In the midst of conflict or stress, I have this ability to step back, occasionally during the heated moments of stress to gain perspective and apply compartmentalisation. It may have been a skill that I have had for a longer time, but it has only been in the last year that I have become consciously aware of it, particularly in the workplace. I think compartmentalisation has helped me to retain a solid connection and focus on Jesus as the source of light and truth in this crazy and messy world we live. It is through His strength and wisdom that I can face tomorrow, and each day filled with His peace.

As I sign off on this journal entry, I cannot help but include congratulations to Angelique Kerber on her first ever grand slam win over Serena Williams. I do find it interesting that when you see her name spelled out in full, there is another reminder that God can remind me of his presence in this world. Now, I say this without knowing whether or not Angie is a believer, but I like the reference even if the reality is not quite the same. Congratulations to the newest champion of the Australian Open in this tenacious German who is the first to win a grand slam since Steffi Graf in the 1990s.

Tomorrow may be the last day in Melbourne before this Discovery Trip, but I have been preparing, in my mind, to treat tomorrow as the first day. This is because everything about tomorrow is about the mission trip – starting with the church morning service. Both Cambodia missions teams will be commissioned by the church. Most of the steps have been mapped out for tomorrow, so it is just a matter of stepping into the pathway, which is so clearly one that God has anointed. In many ways, whilst some aspects of tomorrow were, for a while fluid and changing, I sensed God was working to make it all come together in this particular way.