TOURING THE SUNSHINE COAST, AUSTRALIA, April 7, 2012

Isaiah 53:12 He took up the cause of all the black sheep. (The Message)

“As you journey along your life-path with Me, refuse to let the past define you or your expectations of what lies ahead. You may feel as if the road you are on is tiresome or even a dead end. That is because you’re projecting the past into the future. The road-block you are straining to see up ahead is really just an illusion….Stop focusing on obstacles you might encounter,

and concentrate on staying in touch with Me. As you continue taking steps of trust, expect the path before you to open up in refreshing newness” (Young:36).

We ate our bowls of “weeties” with Gen Xer Ronald, who lives upstairs and works as the volunteer gardener. He is a native of Queensland, has hot-crossed buns for breakfast, and is sorry that the Brits didn’t ingrain that tradition into Americans! Then our guesthouse hosts, Bob & Val Thomson, did us the big favor of taking the day off to take us up the East side of the country to what is called the “Sunshine Coast”. He is a retired pastor and she a retired school administrator and teacher trainer. They have four sons and six grandchildren so we had a lot to talk about. They also like to go to General Assemblies so we hope we can connect with them there, too.

We drove by the city of Brisbane, over a bridge that leads toward the airport. Our destination was Mooloolaba on the sandy coast that has always been and still is family friendly. The more famous “Gold Coast” is south of Brisbane and is the hot spot for yuppy nightlife, not quite our fare, but towards the Gold Coast is also Currumbin Park where you can pet Koalas.  THAT would be pretty cool. Wonder what we’re doing Monday…

When we got off the freeway to go to a specialty store, Val spotted a “Garage Sale” sign. We had shared with her that Jon’s mom had put the bug in him for shopping. “Shall we go?” Val asked. “Sure!” we said.  So down and around a lovely residential area we drove.  A spacious home had been sold, so, the seller, Julie Hart, and her brother were selling lots of excellent extra stuff. Val told them that we were Americans at our first Australian garage sale, so Julie picked up a wood carving of an aboriginal hunter and gave it to me as a souvenir!

 When I started admiring the glass jars full of little shells for sale, I told Julie’s brother that we collect them, too, so he called Julie to take me inside to show her shell collection. I was happy to follow her. Jon went, too. Wow! Not only does she have a beautifully organized collection, many she has collected herself as she snorkels. She gave me one of the paper nautilus shells that she picked up from a beach. Her prize shell is a golden cowrie that she bought for $600 several years ago!

When I asked her about the Great Barrier Reef, she said that diving there was probably the most “religious” experience of her life. She teared up. She spoke of God and creation. Then she went to get me something outside – a piece of rock with a small cluster of opal on it. She spoke of how much she was going to miss the house and of her husband who died 17 years ago. As we were thanking her for sharing, Jon asked if I could pray for her. She nodded, and I prayed. She hugged me tightly. It was a very unique encounter. What a garage sale!

We drove back to a shop that specializes in cutting, tumbling, and making jewelry from gorgeous Australian opals. It has cases and cases of exquisite gold & silver jewelry, some of the most expensive I have ever seen. It also sells costume jewelry and Australian souvenirs. We bought a mug and a little koala bear.

We traveled to the beach, and stopped for a “cuppa” before we drove to the off to the Alexandra Headlands, the far North point of the Sunshine Coast, to take pictures of the lovely beaches. We passed a large skate-board park and thought of Joel’s Place (in Fairbanks). We managed to find a good parking place (not easy on this holiday weekend). We went to change clothes to dive into the water of the west edge of the Pacific. Sunshine Beach is a surfer’s beach where the waves roll in with some strength, strong enough to roll Val and me around and throw us down pretty hard. We gave up on “swimming” rather quickly. Jon and Bob were both life-guards and know how to body surf, so they stayed out longer.

Bob, however, stayed out one wave too long and hurt his already sore back. Not good. He limped to the car, but was in pain. We got him more meds, but he was down for the day. We stopped at a fish and chips shop and got cod for our late lunch. We looped north into the “hinterland” they called it, “inland route” would be our name for it, I think. It was a high road with spectacular views across rolling green valleys and hills to the sandy coast and the sea. The road was lined with villages that catered to tourists with bed and breakfasts’, gift shops, cafes and restaurants, all quaint and charming in architecture and decoration. They had honeymooned close to there, so they told some stories. They had eaten ice cream there before, so we had some. =)

We talked about how dementia had affected Bob’s mother, and how it is affecting our lives, too. Bob asked questions about revival in Mozambique and in Africa. We shared stories of outdoor evangelism Rev. Mulate in the North, of reaching family & neighbors in the South with simple acts of love and mercy, of intentional, strategic growth including the training up of leaders for new churches in areas where the church is oldest.

Back on campus, Bob went immediately went upstairs to rest, while we cleared out the car of our sandy stuff and purchases. The music of Easter Saturday sunset was a frenetic chorus of lourakeets (bigger and more colorful than parakeets) and melancholic hoots of two kookaburras. A frog jumped in front of me as we walked to the front of the admin building to sit outside to send yesterday’s blog, and to get onto e-mail. We read that the President of Malawi died today in South Africa. Wow. What will that mean to our loved ones there? Mosquitos were biting us but it was worth it to sit there to send a few Easter greetings. The beautifully sunny day of travel was smudged by Bob’s injury, but it still was a day of mostly happy memories for which we are very thankful.

I laid down, then jumped back up remembering that after 11:00 p.m. was the time to phone my Mom and Aunt, to check in on their health and to wish them “Happy Easter”. It took a while to locate the country code for the USA, then the call went right through. They are both well, praise God, eating Easter eggs and taking pictures with a throw-away camera to send us. All is well….