Next Phase?

Shall I start at the beginning?

It was towards the end of June and I had just completed my final University exam. Before me stretched out a long and winding road that was completely obscured by the mist of uncertainty. I had no clue what I was doing next in life. Earlier that month I had been denied several job positions, received 10 demerit points on my drivers license and been through a rather severe change in personality (good thing). Now I had graduated, gotten my marks proclaiming my passing (with a Distinction average I think) and yet still... I had no where to head.

So I began to explore my options. I started applying for jobs, asking for help, calling agencies, talking to people. Then one day an interesting conversation caused me to re-think my goals. What was it that I wanted to do in life? What was I CALLED to do? What is my God given destiny and purpose? I have had an idea since early in High School... to start an orphanage in one particular nation, and to become a motivational speaker who would talk to both Christian and Non-Christian youth and young people about a whole range of topics which I believe God wishes to voice in this day and age.

But I was missing something... confidence, assurance... confirmation from the Most High... and what to do at this moment.

So I began to pray... and God confirmed these visions in my heart. He showed me a picture of what this orphanage would look like, an idea of the structure and various other things.

However it was a few days later, when I felt God stirring something within me… why couldn’t I go now? After all I was free, unattached, single and had just graduated. Maybe God had kept a corporate job away from me for a reason. After all, during that time I always had asked him to “Let his will be done,” not once had I thought to ask for the job itself.

So I began to research going to a particular country for the medium term. After all I would be going there for a short term trip in a few weeks, it would be a good time to hear God’s voice on the matter.

Fast forward a few weeks and I had returned. On that trip, God had spoken to me rather specifically. Do not go to a certain city and join up with other people from your church like I had originally intended. It had come across loud and clear… and so I thought it would mean that I would work in Australia for a while, then maybe go over later.

I arrived home on a Sunday morning, around 8 am. Feeling tired, but still missing my friends and my home church, I managed to make it for the 11:15 service, after a decent shower and a good breakfast. That morning one of the pastors asked all those looking for jobs to stand and be prayed over. As I had just decided that I was in this category, I also received prayer.

That evening, after an arvo with my friends, I returned home. I turned on my computer to check for e-mails, and lo I received a MSN message from the Youth Pastor of a Church in Hong Kong, one whom I had met on my trip.

It pretty much went like this “Do you wanna come over and be a Youth Intern of our youth group for 1 year.”

To say that I was shocked was an understatement… but almost immediately a lot of things began to fall into place. God had been preparing me for this, allowing me to be able and willing to take this step. To be perfectly candid I wanted to agree right then... but a verse stuck in my head “plans fail for lack for counsel, but with many advisors they succeed.” Also, I didn’t want to rush into probably the biggest decision of my life so far. I tell you, reading Proverbs every day is a good idea.

So I began to pray, to research, to seek advice and to ask my closest friends and leaders for opinions. Hearing the voice of God comes in six forms, Word, People, Circumstance, Still Soft Voice, Prophecy, and Miraculous. Five of those were telling to go, and it’s not every day that the audible voice of God is heard. So a week later, I had made MY decision.

However there were still a lot of obstacles. The board of Elders were away on holidays with their families. Later there would be concerns about accommodation, budget, Visa and a whole lot of other things. Honestly, if I hadn’t had the childhood that I did… I would be a nervous wreck atm. Thankfully God had prepared me for this. After all, I had left Malaysia with only 3 days warning... it was just the waiting sorta grated.

So now people ask me lots of questions.

WHY are you going?

There are three main reasons.

The first, is that I believe this fits in with the direction and call of God on my life. I want to learn to preach, I want to learn Chinese… both to serve one of the main purposes that I am called to complete. Thus this ties in perfectly.

2ndly, I believe that this is God’s will for my life. Through other people telling me to go for it as they can see me doing really well, through Mottie’s prophecy that God would call me to do something crazy this year, through my strange desire to jot down verses that I could use in sermons even before all of this… God has been speaking to me. He wants me to go, and even if I didn’t see why, that alone would be enough.

3rdly. I want a change in life. This might not seem like a valid reason to some… but trust me, it is. I’m 21, single, male and completely free. I want an adventure, an opportunity to go out and change the world! To SEE the world… to follow my wild heart. Australia’s great, but I was brought here to be born again properly, to be a baby so to speak. Now I need to leave the nest and strengthen my wings, to sharpen my skills and grow my gifts. This is my next step. This is me stepping out in faith.

WHAT will you be doing?

Well my job description is that of a Youth Intern. I could attach the 2 page list of expectations… but I won’t cause this blog is long enough. Suffice to say that I’ll be doing admin, pastoral, preaching, leading and also discipling type things. So in essence, everything from photo copying to preaching to the youth service to running a small group. If you're from CLC... it's pretty much a mix of what any of our Interns are doing (cept I get paid... score) with Ben's job tacked on.

WHERE are you going?

It’s a little church called HKMBC. It’s got an adult congregation of about 400 and a youth group of about 70-90. They have a website. www.hkmbc.org.hk/youth. I don’t know where I personally will be living for the moment, but the church is on the island itself.

HOW will it all work out practically?

Well I will be getting paid, if not that much. D and G (Youth Director and his wife) are currently looking into accommodation for me (which my salary sorta covers). At this point I’m not stressed, cause I know God is looking out for me. However if for some reason you feel lead to donate or help me out… my Asianess finds the idea a bit weird, but this is sort of the beginnings of a ministry, so let me know and we’ll work something out.

As for Visas and Insurance, Banking and Mobiles, Cards, IDs, Taxes, Furnishings and a billion other things that I need to be thinking about… just pray that I don’t forget anything important. That’s really important …

WHEN will all this take place?

Well currently I’m not sure when I’m flying out. I thought I knew… but Visa stuff might need to change that date. It will probably be from Late Sept/Early Oct till Aug08.


Anyway,

That’s my blog for the day. Let me know if you’ve got any questions.