Sunset encounters

Just the other night, myself, the other gappies and a few of the teachers travelled down to the beach to watch the sunset. It was magnificent, the beach was crowded with tourists, the sounds of the market drifted over us and watching the sun sink into the ocean was definitely worth the drive.

As we were standing on the sand watching the sun disappear, I happened to glance over to my left, only to see a familiar face from Melbourne. I did a bit of a double take, not really believing my eyes, and sure enough it was a friend from one of my old congregations, who is now a minister. It was such a coincidence! Him being a minister and all, we had a really good, inspiring conversation :) It was a really affirming and encouraging moment for me, to know that even in a city on the other side of the country, where I feel like my whole world is completely upside down, home can still reach me! It actually made me realise that no matter how lost I might feel (although I certainly don't feel lost), God always has a way of moving people and giving you little signs that He's got things under control. From my point of view, Darwin seems a long way from home, but from God's point of view, the world's quite small. It's pretty good knowing that I've got God taking care of me. He's so much bigger then I can comprehend, and there are patterns and rhythms that He has that I can't even see. But small instances like the other day really show me that I don't have to worry or stress about where I'm going or what I'm doing. I suppose there are probably a lot of times where I miss these signs or ignore them, but once you acknowledge things like that, you start to sense God being present in the things around you in a very tangible way.