Trekking

A good friend of mine...Dave Carnell, and two of his mates are walking 2000 klms from Cairns to Stanthorpe to raise awareness of the 2000 languages that still dont have a single word of written Scripture.

It's an incredible undertaking, has been well organised and promoted, and I'm rooting for them all the way! Their website www.the2000walk.com is great for a visit and to track how they are going.

All this walking has inspired me, so tomorrow I'm going trekking with Ben McIntyre, my best mate James' older brother. We're gonna go climb a string of the volcanic plugs that line the coastal flatlands between Rocky and Yeppoon, camping overnight on top of one of them and heading out again Sunday morning to be picked up by his wife Camille when we get to Lake Mary. I'm gonna enjoy it so much, but I'l be totally stuffed afterward!

We're supposed to be travelling light, but my backpack feels like a lump pf lead!! Here's what I stuffed into it.

• Matches & lighter
• Newspaper (for fire kindling)
• Two party horns for if we lose each other
• 15m rope
• 2 cans fruit salad
• 2 cans Chunky soup
• Soup cooking mug
• 6 apples
• 1 small meatloaf
• 2 cobs corn
• 5 litres water
• insect repellent
• sunscreen
• long handle tongs for fire cooking
• spare undies...lolz just in case
• toilet paper
• phone
• camera
• Bible

I'll also be wearing a hunting knife and a couple of torches, dressed up in a beanie and broad-brim hat, red necktie, long sleeve shirt and undershirt, army pants with broad belt, long woolen socks, cross-trainers and boot protectors.

Sure it's all a bit too much...maybe. But I dont want to go unprepared. :) And trekking is thirsty hungry work. Ben and I are gonna be on our own for the entire trek, so we're gonna have to depend on each other and conserve our strength.

I cant wait, it's gonna be heaps of fun!

Stacey's mission blog

A good friend of mine and a fellow redhead, CQU lifelong student, and Student Lifer is off to Japan for the third time for a mission trip. She's been with Operation Mobilisation (OM), Student Life (SL), and now she is going back with School of Youth Ministries in English (SYME). Sometimes it seems to me that she is a bit static. She's always there, quite dependable, can get almost anything organised and done in no time at all. But I've never seen her get really excited about stuff to do with Jesus or her faith. Yet she continues to be faithfully active in Christian uni and young adult groups, serving in her church, and she keeps on going on missions overseas!

So I've had to wonder about some other friends of mine who are always going on about how awesome Jesus is and what a difference He makes in their life. You hear all about it, but you never see them actually being faithful in things that matter. They are like great big noisy horns that everyone looks at and goes either WOW! or OW!

Now I'm not knocking excitement and being keyed up for Jesus...that's great! But it's not essential, and sometimes the quiet worker can have far more impact than the popular trumpet.

I think the key is to find your God-given role, and then DO IT! Do the very best you can for Jesus where you are, while you are.

Lord help me walk my talk :)

Stacey's mission blog is...http://stacey-syme.blogspot.com/