so i almost forgot to tell about maybe one of the coolest things that has happened so far. ok. on the way back from the infamous 'big night out' in Queenstown, to which i arrived late and left early... i am walking back by myself at around 1:30ish am in the dark through the wharf area by the water and i here this random voice inquire from the shadows beneath some trees... "do you have a smoke?" i turned, slightly startled, and answered the voice that i did not have a smoke and it wasnt an activity that i participated in. a young man with dark skin of a nationality i could not identify, not a couple years older than me, was approaching out of the shadows by this point... and he said 'good for you.' he asked me what i was up to and i told him i was coming back from hanging with my 'mates' (trying to sound offical of course). so our conversation began. he didnt have anything else to do so i invited him to walk with me on my way back to the hostile. ended up having an extremely fasinating conversation, and in my view, a devine appointment. he was from brazil and had been working in new zealand for a better part of a year. his name was jules and it took me a long time to figure out what type of guy he was. an odd character for sure. he seemed like a nice enough kind of guy but i still couldnt get over the creepy question in the dark about a smoke. we talked about topics all over the board... family, politics, faith, life in brazil, life in the u.s. his background and aspirations, etc. he was most interested in U.S. politics and immigration. he complained it is entirely too difficult to get into the U.S. and get citizenship... apparently he had friends that had tried many times and not gotten through. he seemed fairly well informed on the recent happenings in congress and president obama's dealings. its sad. sometimes i think these foreigners know more things about what is going on in our country than many americans do. and sadly i cant count myself out of the 'lame americans' bunch much of the time. anywho, back to the dude. so i ask the question: what is going to happen to you when you die? and he preceeds to make me think he doesnt have an opinion. so asks me what i think... i begin to explain what i believe... simplfied version... in a Creator God who made man, man separated himself through sin/wrong doing, God desired to redeem the relationship with man so he sent his son, Christ, who took the punishment of sin in order for a just and holy God to be reconciled with sinful man, and whoever should give his life to Christ is therefore re-connected with the Father... by grace through faith... and its through the gift of Christ and Christ alone that I will be able to experience the King of Kings here in this life and also forever in eternity. long story short he is a member of the baptist church and was witholding information just to see where the conversation would go, what i would say. at one point he laughed and said 'i cant believe we are having this conversation'... i didnt understand at that point why he thought it was so funny but looking back i understand. come to find out he had very good knowledge of the scripture and it was his goal to go study theology in canada in the next four months and ultimately do missionary work. we had very interesting conversations of the struggles of knowing the truth and trying to express it to others... wanting so badly for others to know the hope that you know but standing helpless when it comes to their decision that THEY must make. and it becoming especially difficult when they even know it is the right way... yet choose to be apathetic about it or continue to deny it in their life. not that i am saying i am much different... there are many times in my own life, too many to count in even a single day, where i KNOW what is right and true yet i still fail to act on that knowledge. but just because we all struggle in this same way... failing to seek the truth or act on it is not ok, acceptable, or easy to watch/experience. i walked away thinking about this paradox, as well as being completely amazed at what i just encountered. WOW. what a crazy turn of events. some creep in the dark ends up being completely different than i expected. conversation was mind blowing. to find another dude that loves Jesus... when so many that i have met on this trip have little care or knowledge of Him... was SO encouraging. it reminded me of the power of the church meeting together... being in fellowship together regularly... it just encourages you, keeps you accountable, keeps you going in the right direction, reminds you of the path you are seeking to travel and why you are on that path. such good stuff. we ended the conversation in a joyful embrace and wished each other well... probably never to see each other again in this life, but with all hope in the next.
oh and earthquake in christchurch... how could i forget that? it happened while i was in milford sound oddly enough, and the prime minister has called it one of new zealand's darkest days. its was all over national and local news... paper, radio, TV the whole works for days. reminded me somberly of 9/11. lots of these crazy stories from all these different people who went through it. your heart just breaks for the people that lost loved ones, homes, etc. tough stuff no doubt. the hostile we were going to be at was in the heart of the mess. it happened on a tuesday and we were scheduled to stay in christchurch on friday night. just a few days different and things could have turned out a lot differently for me. i am very grateful. so if you reading this in a stable part of the world and are having discouraging, frustrating, or bitter thoughts today, let us count one blessing that you were not in any earthquakes or tsunamis.
