"The Great Unknown"

I drafted the below blog in late February / early March 2013.

It is now early February 2017 and I've just discovered this draft.

How pertinent it is.










I've never done the whole "just leave everything behind and take a step out in faith" thing before.

And by-golly, was it a breeze.

It was as simple as packing up 22.6kg of stuff (23 kg weight limit, that's right, PRO) into a suitcase the size of a small bedside cabinet, wrapping my laptop up in a myriad of cables and then firmly planting my passport on the check in desk. As I landed in Switzerland, I was overwhelmed. But this was only the beginning.

I've been here for almost a month (on Saturday) and I prepared to feel like I would be wading through my days here, having to keep my eyes on Jesus just to keep going. But it hasn't been like that at all. It's almost as if I'm being gently pushed, nudged and prodded to do crazy things, to pray bold prayers and call upon God's name in every moment. And that, my friends, feels amazing. Yes, there have been nights where I have curled up in my bed, missing my nearest and dearest and wanting to cry, but God was there, in my silence, and He held me in his hand. I have been overwhelmed by people's messages, prayers, encouragements whilst here, and I can't thank you enough if you have been one of those people who has contributed to any of those things. One of the things I did before I left the UK was change my Biblesync settings to receive them in the Message format. This aftenoon, I opened up the email and was blown away.

Psalm 33

The Message (MSG)

33 ^1-3 Good people, cheer God!
    Right-living people sound best when praising.
Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs!
    Play his praise on a grand piano!
Invent your own new song to him;
    give him a trumpet fanfare.

^4-5 For God’s Word is solid to the core;
    everything he makes is sound inside and out.
He loves it when everything fits,
    when his world is in plumb-line true.
Earth is drenched
    in God’s affectionate satisfaction.

^6-7 The skies were made by God’s command;
    he breathed the word and the stars popped out.
He scooped Sea into his jug,
    put Ocean in his keg.

^8-9 Earth-creatures, bow before God;
    world-dwellers—down on your knees!
Here’s why: he spoke and there it was,
    in place the moment he said so.

^10-12 God takes the wind out of Babel pretense,
    he shoots down the world’s power-schemes.
God’s plan for the world stands up,
    all his designs are made to last.
Blessed is the country with God for God;
    blessed are the people he’s put in his will.

^13-15 From high in the skies God looks around,
    he sees all Adam’s brood.
From where he sits
    he overlooks all us earth-dwellers.
He has shaped each person in turn;
    now he watches everything we do.

^16-17 No king succeeds with a big army alone,
    no warrior wins by brute strength.
Horsepower is not the answer;
    no one gets by on muscle alone.

^18-19 Watch this: God’s eye is on those who respect him,
    the ones who are looking for his love.
He’s ready to come to their rescue in bad times;
    in lean times he keeps body and soul together.

^20-22 We’re depending on God;
    he’s everything we need.
What’s more, our hearts brim with joy
    since we’ve taken for our own his holy name.
Love us, God, with all you’ve got—
    that’s what we’re depending on.

Those last two, highlighted passages almost made me weep with sheer joy. What an amazing message indeed.

Not only am I completely depending on God, but we all are.

 He is everything we need.