More than just a trip to Cairns

OK, so here it is. Especially for Shannyn, cos I’m sure that since I haven’t been updating as regularly as I used to, my blog readership is suffering drastically. So Shannyn (and anyone else who still visits this page) ... enjoy!

So I’ve been in Cairns for the last few days. Palm Cove to be exact. The flight in was rather smooth. An air stewardess comments on my Thirsty Merc t-shirt and tells me that one of the band members had flown with Virgin Blue recently. I wonder if that’s true. And if there is any way of finding that out.

I reflect on how flying is such a strange phenomenon. To think that you can get inside this little capsule and be hurled through the sky to the other end of the country and come out and feel like it was no real distance that was travelled. I open my drink bottle at mid-flight. When the plane starts to descend, I go to open it again, and I notice that my drink bottle is all crumpled. My mind starts whirring about differences in air pressures and how there is a lower pressure in the bottle at a higher altitude, but then I wonder if cabin pressure would cancel out such altitudinal differences. I conclude apparently not.

Then I land and Chris is there. Chris used to attend my church but moved to Cairns to recover from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. We just talked on Skype the night before so it doesn’t seem like so long since I’ve seen him. We chat away about the last 24 hours and the few days ahead we have to hang out, how his chronic fatigue is going. And I start to realize I’m here and how much I’m hanging out for these next few days with my friend. And I know he will challenge my own walk with the Lord, as I trust I will refresh him.

And, can I just say, not by way of rubbing it in, but by way of thankfulness to God, that I am utterly loving it here. I could put it down to the jogs by the beach, the lazing on the sand to the sound of the waves washing up on the ocean. It might even be the coffees near the water, or the warm temperature (OK, so those things are rubbing it in…I realize that!). But I think most of all it’s the time of refreshment I get with Chris. He really does challenge me to be Christ-like. To live in the fullness of grace. To simply have faith and believe. To learn what it means to be forgiven. To realize the depth of my own sinfulness. To learn what it means to have a contrite heart. We talk about brokenness and how everyone is filled with something…and we talk about being filled with God. We talk about humility and waiting upon the Lord. We speak about loving God with all our heart. We talk about helping others to love God more, and setting others hearts on fire with the love of Christ burning deeply within them. We talk about growing in godliness and forming good habits, and trusting in God. We talk about how people love doctrine but neglect God. I’m challenged to not just love the doctrine of justification, but to love the One Who Justifies. I’m challenged yet again about my own pride and selfishness and need to believe myself dead to sin in Christ. To depend upon Him as dying to sin for me, and to look upon myself as dead to sin in Him. We talk about how we trust Him for salvation, but we trust Him for so little beyond salvation. We talk about how the Lord wounds and also heals. We talk a lot about things that are on my heart at the moment. We talk about God’s sovereignty, how He hurts us where it’s precious to us, so that we will hand over every single area of our life to Him. We talk about giving up precious dreams by faith. We talk about how we don't have to hang onto things if we are in Christ. We talk about how desiring in God actually changes our desires. We talk about how the notion of 'I feel, therefore I am' is such a lie. We talk about prayer and telling God how we feel. And handing all over to the Lord. We talk about abiding in Christ. We talk about the Puritans. And Luther. And Calvin. And Spurgeon. And Romans. And Galatians. And complacent Christians. Above all we talk about being IN CHRIST, the paradigm for my life which I keep coming back to again and again and again.

So yeah, you can see why I love spending time with Chris, and how refreshing it is to be with a brother who sees me through the eyes of Christ, warts and all. A man of God who encourages me to love God more. God bless him!

Too much info Shannyn? :)