Byron Bay and Jazz

Well....I havn't blogged in a while, and I apologize, but life has been super fun and exciting :)

I will start with last Monday. On Monday I went with my friends Alex, Molly, Ashley, Drake, and Joe to Byron Bay. Byron Bay is a small beach town about an hour south of the Gold Coast. We rented out a beach house, that was literally a house on the beach, our backyard was the ocean. It was glorious.

After being there for less than 15 minutes, we were already on the beach in our togs (swim suits)and surfing. And let me tell you surfing is a blast. Seriously. I love it.

It took me a couple of tries to get up, but I finally got it down. And man it is addicting. First all your effort is just to catch a wave, then to stand, then to stand longer, and it is the time of your life. I felt like a kid again. Surfing. Feeling the saltiness of the water on my skin and the sand in my hair. beach hair is by far my favorite by the way.

Later that night we decided to go to the beach and look at the stars. It was beautiful. Seeing stars from the southern hemisphere is so different. It is like a whole new world. The coolness of the ocean breeze, the rushing waves, the stars, and glowing sand....Thats right. Little speaks of sand would glow when you stepped on them, like fairy dust, our nature guide told us it was from phospherous washing up in the tide from the ocean, but it is more fun to think that the beach holds a little magic.

On Tuesday we went on a tour of nature, and saw Koalas in their natural habitat, and ginormous lizards, and the second fastest bird in the world, a falcon of some sort. We saw it on an overlook of a waterfall that fell over 100 metres to a subtropical rainforest. I was the last one to get back on the bus. I stood there feeling so small, and yet with a world created with this much beauty and vastness, and Glory, God called me to be his Chosen One. Me, because he says I am worth it. it was a Psalm 139 moment.

Wow.

Then we rode home on the bus back through the hills, mountains, and rainforest that we drove up to get to the top of the waterfall. it was so beautiful. That afternoon we surfed, and again that night we went to the beach to sit, be still, and soak in beauty. Only the second night over the ocean there was a storm, and the lightening would illuminate the ocean. The storm was so far away, yet the lightening could bring light to the beach. wow

Then Wednesday we surfed and played on the beach from 8 am to 4 pm. Everyone else went in and I stayed on the beach, I ended up going for a prayer walk, and I felt God being as close and as real to me as the mist of the ocean on my face. It was spectacular.

Since I have been home from Byron bay life has been pretty chill. I have hung out with Kristen alot, yesterday we went to the beach, today we went for a watch to the bay to eat the best fish and chips of your life .......yummy yummy yummy fresh fish :), and I have been working on my school assignments. Life is good.

I am getting a little home sick though. I feel I have been here for a long time, and I am about ready for a Nav night, or church at the village, or to chill out at Camilles with my mom, or Espresso Art with Jesus. I am not ready to come home, my heart is just feeling this longing, to be in a safe place, to be known....if you could pray for that it would be rich.

I love Kristen but it is hard for me to connect on a deeper level with her. Molly ( a non-Christian girl from Ohio) is super sweet, and I feel close to her, and she makes me feel loved and safe. I am praying I could share Jesus with her, and see her life transformed. that is another good thing to pray.

Next Monday I leave for Melbourne, and there I will go to Fraser Island to see the penguin march, and I will go on a day trip on the Great Ocean Road to see the 12 Apostles, they are rock formations in the ocean, names after Jesus' 12 apostles. How sweet huh?

Thanks for reading. and praying, and loving me from so far away.