receiving encouragement

I'm a person who likes giving encouragement. I especially like encouraging people to stretch themselves, to try new things and to grow. This is especially true when it comes to their relationship with God and the way that they serve Him. I guess that's part of why I like my job so much. I get to do this a lot. I get to help people think through topics and ideas. I get to be on their journey with them as the mature and grow.

Sometimes the shoe is on the other foot, which is what I want to talk about today. In the mail a couple of weeks ago I received a lovely letter from the lovely women in ES (Evangelical Students, ES, is the IFES group at universities in Adelaide). It was such a surprise to be recieving a letter with the sender address as Flinders ES. I had no idea what it was, and was so touched to read what was written. It's such a blessing to know that people back in Aus are thinking of me and praying not only for me, but also for the ministry that I'm doing here in NL. Almost any time is a great time for encouragement, but for me it was really great timing, and just what I wanted to hear, so thanks girls!

How are you going to encourage the people in your life this week?

showing friendship

Since moving away from Australia, I've been thinking a lot about friendship. I've moved a lot in my life and made many friends along the way, but leaving a place is always hard. It makes being a friend to those you've left behind a difficult situation. When living in the same city as a friend I love being able to spend time with them, attend special occassions and basically just live life with them. This is, for obvious reasons, not possible when you don't live in the same city, let alone the same country. On my holidays in Aust, I would try to visit friends that I haven't seen in a while. It's part of keeping up with them, because I believe that friendships blossom when you can actually spend face-to-face time with someone. These days the internet has made it easier to keep in contact, but I think it's also decreasing our quality of friendship, but that's a story for another time.

Since living in NL, I've been trying to work out how to best be friends with people back in Aust. It's one thing to remember their birthday, when Facebook reminds you, yet I believe friendship is so much more than that. In the 9 months that I've been living here in NL, I've missed the weddings of about 6 couples that I've been good friends with. And it's almost killed me. Such an important milestone in their lives, and I couldn't be there with them to celebrate. So I've been wondering how to be a friend from afar. Is it enough to have Facebook chats once in a while, or send letters/emails/cards? Is a phone call or a Skype chat enough?

I'd love your thoughts and ideas on the subject. Is there something that you do to stay in touch with friends, or some way that you show them that you're thinking of them when you can't be with them?

when people really know you

In some of my earlier posts I've been talking about how I'm missing the company of people who really know me. I've moved around a lot in my life, roughly every 3-4 years I've moved to a new town/city. It's made making friends easier, but I've always wondered what it would be like to have a friend that's been your friend for ever. I think I have a bit of that with my friends in Adelaide. That's the place I've lived for the longest amount of time consecutively- 5 and a half years. I know that doesn't sound like long, but it is for me.

I was reminded today of how good friends are that know so much about you. They know what you're thinking about, how you're feeling, what are the important occasions in your life and they've been there with you through those previous times.. I know that this doesn't stop me from making more great friends, but sometimes it's just easier to not have to explain things every time you do something, or you're thinking about something. Let me try to explain.

Today is ANZAC Day. To the Aussies and anyone who knows anything about Australian history, you might know what this means. To everyone else, I need to explain it. It's a day of rememberance for those who fought, and especially those who died, in World War II. We especially remember the landing at Gallipoli. It's also a day to remember those from other wars and those currently serving. It's a public holiday in Australia. So that's not really something that is only relating to me, but it's one part of the story that I would need to explain. Ok, so second part is that there's a game of Aussie Rules Football that is played by the same two teams every year on this day. Those teams are Collingwood and Essendon. I would have to explain this to anyone who doesn't care about footy, or about those teams. I go for Collingwood- something else to explain. If I was really in an explaining mood, I could also explain the game of footy, as most people in NL don't know a thing about it! Anyway, the next thing to explain is that, apart for the last couple of years, my family and I have been going to this game since about 2000. Half of my family is Collingwood (my Dad, one of my brothers, and I) and the other half is Essendon (my Mum and my other brother). For me it's an important day/few days that I get to catch up with my brothers and their families (who live interstate) and to spend some quality time with them doing something that we all love. So that's what I would have to explain. I guess it's not that much, and if someone was interested, it would be great to explain it to them. But what I'm trying to say is that it's refreshing to have a friend say 'so did you find somewhere to watch the game or was it too sad not being there?'. There was no need to explain which game, or how I might be feeling about being away from Aust when the game was on. As I said, refreshing.

Anyway, so this was just one little story of how it's nice to know that you have friends that know you so well and remember things about you that are important to you. Do you have friends like that? I hope that you do, even if you're not currently with them, like me. Please cherish your friends and don't take them for granted!