Updates on Visas

These are the last few updates as shared on Facebook (sorry for not adding them here sooner! I keep forgetting about this page!)

May 24

It's an interesting journey, being in a place of waiting (or, as a former colleague of mine put it, living life like a paper bag in the wind).

One job ended. It was always meant to be temporary.
I thought the time was upon us.
It wasn't to be.

Another job landed on my lap and, at the time, I didn't want to take it, but knew that I had to. It was as if our Father was saying, "You're here a while longer." Retrospectively, the resent towards beginning another job disappears, and thankfulness for providence takes its place. It wasn't what I wanted; it was what I needed.

And now, another temporary job ends. Such is the nature of construction. Such is the nature of being taken on, in a temporary role.

So, now what?

We wait, having still heard nothing more on our passports.

We wait, knowing that God will provide. Like He gave Abram a ram for a sacrifice, and like He gave myself more work when it was needed, we know that He will provide. All things come from His good hand.

I'm not going to pretend that this is easy going. The longer this drags out, the less it feels like we will ever get to Lae. The longer it takes, the harder it is to live without a plan.

Yet, we wait on the Lord. It's all we can do.

May 31

What's been happening?

Recently, I posted on Facebook:

It's an interesting journey, being in a place of waiting (or, as a former colleague of mine put it, living life like a paper bag in the wind).

One job ended. It was always meant to be temporary.
I thought the time was upon us.

It wasn't to be.

Another job landed on my lap and, at the time, I didn't want to take it, but knew that I had to. It was as if our Father was saying, "You're here a while longer." Retrospectively, the resent towards beginning another job disappears, and thankfulness for providence takes its place. It wasn't what I wanted; it was what I needed.

And now, another temporary job ends. Such is the nature of construction. Such is the nature of being taken on, in a temporary role.

So, now what?
We wait, having still heard nothing more on our passports.

We wait, knowing that God will provide. Like He gave Abram a ram for a sacrifice, and like He gave myself more work when it was needed, we know that He will provide. All things come from His good hand.
I'm not going to pretend that this is easy going. The longer this drags out, the less it feels like we will ever get to Lae. The longer it takes, the harder it is to live without a plan.

Yet, we wait on the Lord. It's all we can do.
______________________________________________

Since then, some progress has been made.

We discovered that upon being taken into the post office in Moresby to be sent us, our passports were promptly placed on a shelf and forgotten about.

So, they were taken back out of the office, and sent to us by courier. They should arrive soon, at which point we send them off again to be printed.

A recurring question we have had to deal with - and, truthfully, which we have both had to wrestle with, struggle with, and surrender in prayer - is whether maybe these delays are roadblocks from God; signs that we are not meant to travel to Lae. Some days, it seems it would be easiest to throw our hands in the air and give up. Some days, we nearly do.

Then, a sermon Sunday morning: wait on the Lord. Surrender it all to Him. Give up your desire to control. Wait.

A difficult conversation on Monday.

A heavy heart.

A prayer.

An answer.

We might not be there now. And that means we are not meant to be there now. But that does not mean we are not meant to be there ever, only that when we are meant to be, we will be.

I'm beginning to see more clearly, what Pastor Ian (a serving missionary in Lae) meant, all that time ago, when he said he covets the prayers of others, and while it seems somewhat audacious (for someone as self-reliant as myself) to ask for the prayers of others, I must ask.

Please, if you can, remember us in your prayers. Pray that we might get to Lae. Pray for patience. Pray for wisdom. Pray that His Will be done.

July 7

Why are there no updates? Why have you not heard what is happening?

Well, frankly, there is little to tell.

Waiting has become the norm for us, and right now we are OK with it. I say, "right now, we are OK, because there are times where we are not. Times when we need to gather our wits. Times when we need to readjust. Refocus. Take motorcycle rides to quiet places. Visit the Throne Room.

For now, we know we'll get there precisely when we are meant to. We know that we cannot "add a cubit to our stature" through endless worrying.

We pray constantly that we'll get to Lae, and we know that we have a heap of people praying along with us. For that, we are very thankful - and humbled. There have been times though, where this has come close to being the end goal, the final hurdle. Land in Lae, and we would have "arrived". Smooth sailing from there.

Obviously, that is quite a silly way to look at it, and we had to refocus. Yes, we want to get to Lae! But why? What drives us? What is the purpose of traveling there? I guess the Westminster Catechism answers those questions best:
"What is the chief end of man?
To glorify God."

So, we wait. And maybe our chief end is somehow worked into all this. Maybe (and it's not such a big maybe), we can glorify God by waiting on Him. Maybe a pastor of the Baptist kind had it right when he wrote that, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

NOW:

We do not have any news so definite as we had hoped: our passports are in Canberra now (having travelled more in six months than I have in my lifetime), and we expect that the visas should be inserted into them in the very near future, after having all necessary documents redirected to the Canberra office.

In the meantime, we hang on to the only Certainty, and ask for your prayers, especially in the immediate future as we wait to hear the outcome from the powers that be. Dave picks up work where he can, though it is a bit sporadic with the building industry having gone quiet.

Ill leave you with a couple photos Dave took earlier this week:
Madison after she woke up from a Sunday nap, and Calvin and Isaac learning together :)

This little one is not-so-little anymore!
One in less than 2 weeks, has been walking for over a month already,
and loves her brothers to bits (vise versa), is happiest outside, and has a horrible time teething.

sharing the tablet together playing 'Mathseeds' for some extra math practise.