Why Pain is a Good Thing

What an adventure the last few days have been! Australia is, just as the tails tell, absolutely lovely, so different than I expected and somehow exactly what I needed. The people I have met are rugged and love adventure. They are wide-eyed and observant, they work so very hard and yet will stop anytime to give you their attention for a good chat.

Emma and I bought an old Ute, which is apparently a quintessential Australian vehicle. They say a man wanted a car he could take to church on Sunday and a pickup he could take his pigs to market with on Monday, and so the Ute was born. It really is an ugly piece of machinery, though everyone drives one around here and seems to think it’s an El Camino. In any case, we now have something to use for crashing around the countryside, which is both a blessing and a necessity.

I have resumed my battle with the insect population, as the number of flies in rural Australia are both numerous and aggressive in nature. I would probably be perfectly happy to live in harmony with them, except they insist on trying to climb up my nose and take up residence in my face. I like my face, and therefore have declared war. I have only seen one creepy-crawly creature to date, but I have received a few comforting remarks from the locals such as:

“Go for a walk. But be careful of snakes. ALL of them are poisonous.”

“All you need to be afraid of is snakes and spiders and… well, just about every animal.”

Comforting. So if I see one, I’ll know not to make friends with it. I think I'm becoming paranoid, though. A chicken was exploring in the bush by our porch this morning and scared the heebie-jeebies out of me.

We drove out to the old gold mining town of Clunes yesterday and had an ice cream. We got lost on the way there. It’s very hard not to. You can drive at least half an hour before you figure out you’re going in the complete wrong direction, because everything is so far apart from each other. According to Alistair, you turn left and "go" for while, then turn right at the T-intersection and "go" for a while. Well, “going” in Australian lingo turned out to be around a 45 minute drive, and we were soon befuddled and completely lost and had to ask to borrow a phone. We will learn how to navigate the roads in time, I think. We did, however, meet someone new, which I consider a plus.

Some other lingo for the day:

“How’re you going?” – How are you doing?

“Blowie” – Fly

“Knock off” – Get off work for the day

“Dead Horse” – Ketchup (food for thought)

In all this heat and the madness of exploring a new place, the Lord remains for me a constant place of rest. I’m not going to lie, I absolutely love it here, but Australia is not all that I was expecting it to be. There remains ahead many obstacles to be overcome, many hard times when hope and joy will not come easily into my heart. The newness of adventure will fade, and the frustrations and problems of humanity from which I try to escape I will find in the people I encounter here.

And sometimes, I must admit, I’m afraid of things not going the way I had planned. I realize that despite my protestations otherwise, I am afraid of pain, of lack, of discomfort. I shudder to think of anything that would harm me, throw me off the course I set for myself. I'm afraid of getting a spider bite, of going broke, of washing pig trucks for 12 hours a day.

Isn't that the way it is with us? We are funny creatures, building up walls around ourselves to block out pain and poverty. We build an environment around us that is only for us. This eventually proves to be our spiritual demise, for we ignore the low things of the world, afraid they will hurt us. Though many would skirt the issue and mince words, we are called out of comfort, out of a conventional life, and into a life that seems to the world unstable and irresponsible. And unfortunately, even if we travel far and wide and are put in strange situations, we still hate instability with a passion, whether it’s physical, financial, or emotional.

But it’s not about us. It’s about others. Jesus himself embraced pain so that we could live a free life with Him. He spent time with people who were in pain in situations that were uncomfortable for everyone else because that's what He wants us to do. I think to avoid being lackadaisical and lazy in our pursuit of life abundant, we need to intentionally expose ourselves to pain. We need to look and see the suffering of the world, of the people around us. We need to open our eyes to see the Kingdom of God, which is often uncomfortable indeed.

What kind of a person do you want to be? I want to live without fear. But lack of fear will not come with lack of opportunity, for we can fear for any petty possession or worry in our small universe. Lack of fear comes from embracing discomfort and pain and instability. It comes when you do not know who to trust but you look to the Father and trust that He sees you and knows your every need.

I am uncomfortable. But it’s awesome. It’s character building. And He is becoming more and more my Savior, the One whom I love, the One whom I trust. And really, I said I wanted an adventure. The cool thing about Jesus is that when you ask for an adventure, He'll give you one. 

Live a little unstable today,

Beth