Upon graduation from college and unsure of a career path to pursue, I moved back in with Mom and Dad. I worked construction during that time, and since I had low overhead, I was able to make tons of progress paying off my college loans. Free of any major responsibilities and feeling adventurous at this point, I decided to start making headway on my lofty goal of visiting every continent.
My folks had taken me to Europe previously, so I could cross that one off the list. I knew that at some point in the future I was more likely to have additional responsibilities (and might have to pay for additional tickets if I were to go traveling), so I determined it would be good to look at the continents that were the most difficult to get to. I really wanted to visit Antarctica, but I figured it would probably be best to get some general travel experience before venturing anywhere near the South Pole. Deciding that it would be nice to go to an English-speaking country, I settled on Australia.
I found an adventure company that did tours all over the world, and they had a few Australian trips coming up. On the agenda for this particular trip was whitewater rafting, hiking and mountain biking in a rainforest, a few days on the Great Barrier Reef, and ocean kayaking out to, then spending a few nights camping on, an island off the Australian coast. I got signed up for a November trip.
While trees are losing leaves and the weather’s getting chilly in North America in November, it’s springtime in the southern hemisphere. Add to that the fact that the area where most of this trip took place was closer to the equator than Jamaica is, and it looked like I was going to have a tan at Thanksgiving.
The trip ended up being a lot of fun, and I had some neat experiences. I’ll cover a few of them in the next couple of posts, but for now it’s important to remember that even if you ride in a plane to the other side of the world almost 10,000 miles away, God’s still the same God He was before you left.
Whether you’re having a “Jonah” moment and are trying to run away, or are homesick, afraid, and want to see something familiar, God’s still God no matter where you go.
7Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
11If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”
12Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.
Psalm 139:7-12