So West coast is now in the past and Ive moved back to Bali for a short time. I finished off New Zealand with some good times and some tough times. Both with many reunions and all my outreach team getting back together and seeing each other only 6 months after we arrived back from Jakarta. So that was amazing. Clare & JP finally got married down in the snowy queenstown. We even got a steam boat across the lake to the reception. I even got a nice 6 hour road trip down over night to queenstown with Sammy. Sam has come back after 6 months in in the US back to NZ for the next snowboarders and i got him in the car for 6 hours of catch up time & also we managed to have some fun by destroying to innocent little defenseless bunnies on the road. Its there fault though they ran in front of my car. Then back up to Christchurch for the celebration of James' mothers life, Clare who passed away on Wednesday morning.

Now im moving onto Bali, Indonesia to meet Debs & Ross for a couple fo weeks. Then ill go meet up with & visit all my friends in Jakarta for a brief spell.

The Greatest Commandment

This is my sixth week down on the West Coast of New Zealand. I've got a bit more than two weeks until I move on from here. Buts being down in this very small rural town has been another time of resting in the Lord while working and getting some cash. Some weeks have there fare share of rain with sometimes 600mm pouring down in one day, Which is a butt load of rain. With not much todo around in evenings aswell its been a great time free from the madness of life at times and the distractions that can grab all of my attention. Having Jonny around aswell has been so much fun. The poor chap has been stuck with me prity much 24/7 for the past 6 weeks. But we've had some unbelievable laughs, some of which ive had to put up on you tube. From Glacier swimming, sinking sand chicken, our fare share of Pool down at our local the cooks saddle for a Macs dark beer & some pool, Walking 15km to the Lake Mattheson, Hunting for glow worms late at night in the rainforest, Phil & Mackenzie's & some other ywamers weekend trip down here. jonnys birthday when we baked a jumper inside of his birthday cake in true father ted fashion and plenty other laughs.
One of the most recent things that Gods been guiding me through is “ The Greatest Commandment” I had a dream about it one night. I was back in Dec one sunday morning and Jeff came up to me and was like so Pete have you got your sermon ready for this morning? And I was like eeehhh come again what? The service had already started and I remembered but I had completely forgotten. So I ran out and started to prepare something haha. I was praying and asking God what to speak on. Then I felt God saying the Greatest commandment is Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, second is to Love your neighbor as yourself. And then I Felt God saying speak about what your being taught right now because thats what is relevant to you. So I woke up and wrote my dream down and then realized that what I was learning these days was about the greatest commandment.

Over the past 6 months, since I finished my DTS and ive been traveling and then seeking God alone and then now as im working, Ive been learning and living out how to Love the Lord with EVERYTHING. God has been bringing me closer each day but putting a grace on me to seek him and walk with him. Stripping everything else away from my mind so that everything is him. Putting a grace over me so that its the most enjoyable, joyful experience which im anticipating every morning and throughout each day just wondering what's around each corner. But also importantly embedding this into my character that the first thing should always be loving God with everything. In the beginning of the year when I was praying about what was going on this year I felt God talking about principles. How its important for young peeps like myself to establish principles in their lives. Developing themselves for each day and also for the future, for when things get tough what will you be able todo unless your up to the task. And one thing I want todo is make sure that at this young age when I have the freedom and flexibility, I want to enwrap myself in devotion to the Lord so that everything I am is in him. Getting so close and intimate with him so that I become dependent on him and can't live without him, needing him and making it so life without him isn't not an option. Because to think of how so many people can as the years go on they get drawn away from jesus by so many different things that take up their time, their joy their schedules. My fear is that one day one day I would walk away or fall away or turn away from the the very source of all my Joy and Happiness.
Then the second commandment of Loving your neighbor as yourself. How this needs to be the reason for everything. The reason jesus would go around healing people, delivering people, preaching to people providing for people was because he loved them because the father loved them. It was never about showing the power of God it was about showing the compassion that Jesus had for his people. This Love was unconditional, completely selfless & sacrificial. Loving your friends & family is all good but being put in a situation where you might have to love the people that seem to be unlovable. Im trying to find how this is possible and how Jesus did it. How did steven ask god to forgive the people stoning him! Ive so much more to learn and experience about this.

These two commandments are principles I want to build into myself, I want them to be the foundation of everything I do and from which everything else overflows from. Wherever I go whatever I do I want these two things to stay put and to be priority.

“Obedience is an outward expression of your love for God” Ive always struggled with obeying God. As in over the past 6 years its always been a tough one. Trying to get over hills that Gods trying to direct me through has been tough. Something about having the determination and desire to go against the difficulties and just break free and go for it. Then I read that line from a book and it was followed shortly “ If you have an obedience problem you have a love problem.” Now when I feel God's saying something or when I have a decision to obey and follow him or to disobey and rebel against him, my mind is saying Peter do you love him? Then obey him. This has made obedience a lot easier because like Simon Peter I want Jesus to know I love him, So when the revelation of me not obeying him is me disobeying and rebelling and not loving him.
Another very cool thing is God showing me how he's loves us and how he looks after us. And he knows everything that is going on with us, when we live with him and are walking with him, and so when things are rough or tough he'll come through and look after us. So something which only myself and him know he used two other people randomly to speak to me over the past 7 days. Two people who know nothing about my daily life or whats going on with me were led by the spirit to bless & speak to me. Its just overwhelming when God uses others to bless you and show that he cares and that he's got your back and that he is so very faithful and trust worthy.