Almost There

For those keeping track, I have a major update on our sojurn to Australia.

After many trials and tribulations, horrors and abominations, hurdles, obstacles, problems, irritations, smack, dirt, pain, and, in short, a long time ... we are finally coming on the date of departure. March 13th, we ship out on a United flight to Melbourne, Australia. While the flight isn't quite as direct as I'd like - we have a 22 hour layover in LA - we're going, and we have 2 weeks left.

I find myself finally at peace with our decision to book the tickets. It was about two weeks of agony, the indecision of "God, can I do it yet?" and only silence to greet my pleas. Sounds a bit over dramatic, sure, but it sure feels like it. But of course, there's always a catch: when God said "yep, go ahead", we didn't have our visas yet. And funny thing, we still don't - because of one piece of x-ray paper that is in Washington when it's supposed to be in Sydney.

But we're working on that.

As I said, I'm at peace with the whole thing, and now we have but to get ready: pack suitcases and move beds to their storage spot for the next year. And pray that the x-ray chart gets to Sydney in a few days so that the people in Hobart can give us our visas and we enter the country legally.

Pray for us. Please? We're almost there.

Initiative

“If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more?” [1 Corinthians 9:11]

I’m in a dark place right now. A door somewhere between me and the end of the tunnel where the light of the freedom of completion shines brightly has slammed shut in my face. And in my panic, I don’t know what to do. I feel isolated; confused; wasted. My emotions turn from one dark thought to the next, cursing alternately the Australian visa laws and the people who keep conveniently forgetting to tell us about them.

“But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.” [1 Corinthians 9:11]

I am reminded of my charge; a missionary first, an American citizen second, and always a child of God. I can’t help but wonder why I’ve been given this responsibility, one that I have not, in particular, asked for. I’m not good at this at all, and often enough, I feel like the hell I’m going through to get to Australia is not worth what may or may not happen when we get there. God’s got people there, why can’t he just tell them to plant a church? Or maybe revive the ones that they’ve already got? Am I that important? I know I’m not. And so I remain confused.

“I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast. For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I have reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.” [1 Corinthians 9:15-17]

And so I choose to keep going. Not because I have to, but because I know that there is more to the picture than meets the eye. It is by choosing it that the mission has its rewards.

“What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not misuse my rights as a preacher of the gospel.” [1 Corinthians 9:18]

Not earthly rewards, but treasures in heaven. And in some ways, my reward is simply the gift of the gospel to others. In the kingdom of heaven, things are always a paradox; by serving, we are rewarded, and the reward is the serving itself. Others benefit by our very existence, in our choices. Benefit – or hurt. Our responsibility is to make the choices and then see them through. God does the rest.

Like Rabbits

So I have a new blog. I know, they tend to multiply like rabbits, but this one is for a specific purpose. For those of you that haven't yet figured it out, my wife and I are in the process of packing up to leave for Australia. We've contracted for one year with Global Partners to plant a church in the city of Melbourne. The new blog is sort of our journal for the trip, a way to update our donors (some of you are reading this right now, so you should bookmark this site and read it regularly if you're interested), and a way for us to chronical our trip, tell the stories of the people we meet, and mostly just because I love to write. I thought that I'd give you the first post (well, second technically) here and then you can have the site bookmarked. It is:

http://chrisandlizlogan.blogspot.com

Enjoy.

Greetings to all of you. I know we're not actually in Melbourne yet, but I thought, what the heck, I've got a few minutes, why not update you (assuming you get to read this) on our current status.

First and foremost, thank you all for your support, either prayerfully, emotionally, financially, or perhaps in other ways (and I know there are a few of you that are).At the moment, I'm in Noblesville, IN, at the Go-Net Missions Training session. It's been an intense week, fitting about a semester worth of material into five days. We've learned everything from signs of culture shock to missiology to theology to what to do if we're taken hostage. We've run the gamut, and it's not done till 3pm tomorrow. Our brains are fried, having absorbed so much information, but it's fascinating stuff.

The good news: we have the ability to buy plane tickets now, as one of our donors (a couple, actually) has a rather large number of frequent flier miles, and they offered to use some of them to buy our tickets. Thanks you guys! While this is awesome, we still don't have a date of departure yet becuase our visas are still in-process, and it's looking like it will be another 28 days or so (4 weeks) at least. On the plus side, there's a very good chance that our budget is going to be reduced, so we'll have less to fundraise. At the moment, due to a number of new factors, we're at 79%!

In other news, Ruth and Colin (and the kids) have found a house in Melbourne! This is good; it means that a) they have a place to live, and b) we'll have a place to stay when we first arrive there ...

Prayer requests to those of you with the gift of prayer (or if you just like to talk to God):

1) Our visas: we're a bit nervous about them at present, and would be grateful for you to ask God that the visas would be approved quickly.

2) Our funds: while we're getting much closer to our goal (praise God), we still have a little ways to go. If you'd pray that God would show us the donors He's chosen ...

3) Our hearts: that God would prepare our (me and Liz) hearts for the ministry He's provided for us; a clear vision and mission, open minds and souls, and that he'd already be working in the hearts of those we're to minister to while we're there.

4) Our bodies: we've had a very trying week, and we've got a long drive ahead of us.

My heartfelt thanks to all of you. Grace and Peace be with you all.