out of this world

so I had decided to not continue my university studies
didn't want to move back to Sale
my previous place of residence
where i grew up a fare bit
i couldn't really see anything for me there
and i had some really good friends in Ballarat
i also figured God had wanted to send me there for more than one year
so i had to find a place to live
and a job too
i stayed at the bachpad for a bit
before finding a spare room at an ex-bachpader's place
so i moved in with Russ and Nick two good Christian guys
who i knew through different people
so my time at 1114 Lydiard street began
and a good time it was
i had two great postive influences right there every day
two guys who loved God and including me there was three
i was looking for a job
with not much luck though
i had only ever had a summer job between yr12 and uni
i was a kitchen hand (dishey)
that work didn't really meet what i was after
as i had other commitments in the youth ministry at my church
and also had decided to do a couple of subjects
with Harvest Bible College
i was studying youth ministry in a traditional church setting
youth ministry1 and youth ministry 2
completing one a semester
so i had my involvement with the youth ministry
going to church
my studying youth ministry
hanging out with my friends from church
as i had lost pretty much all contact with my uni residence friends
going to prayer meetings
and hanging at home with my two christian housemates
now the youth ministry studying
was an amazing time
i was doing this online
me and three girls
meeting once a week in a room in the church building
streaming the audio from an online study site
i must say that these three girls who had been best friends for years
changed my life that year
i dunno how to explain it
but they kinda just made me one of their best friends
and now they really are my best friends
Tab, Kelly and Heather
loved each other alot and they showed it every week
we pretty much hung out together every weekend
and if it wasn't all four of us
i was at least hanging out with Tab
we became really good friends
and now to me she is like my own sister
so pretty much my life consisted of
all "christian" things/people
my whole world revolved around church things
going to church services twice a Sunday
oh i was a very good Christian
or so it may have seemed to some
i mean hey i did devote all my time
to serving God inside the church
but see i had one real big problem
all of my week by week interaction
was with poeple who knew God
apart from the checkout chicks at supermarkets
not that i knew any of them personally
so this went on pretty much most of the year
until in about september i got a offer from centrelink
to do some job search training as i had no job
so partly just to fill in time
and to actually learn some stuff about getting a job of course
i went along to my interview at BEST
and started the two week training course or was it four?
so for pretty much everyday i think
for two, three weeks or something
i was stuck in a room with four other people
each who had no real connection with God at all
they were in a way the best weeks of that year
i had some kind of what seemed like a weird joy that week
for some reason i didn't quite understand
but was beginning to
i really enjoyed being around these people
and the only thing we had in common was we were all un-employed
except the guy doing the training of course
see here i was a follower of Jesus
the guy who told his followers to go and make disciples
to go into the world
to find people who don't know him
and to reach them with his love and for most of the year
i had barely spent a moment with anyone who didn't know Jesus
hold on i was a follower of Jesus???
not following Jesus???
now here comes all the interesting questions
could i infact be a follower of Jesus if i wasn't doing
one of the greatest things he did
and asked his followers to do??
(matt 28:19-20, mark 12:31, acts 1:8, matt 9:10, luke 5:30)
i mean i did do some other important things in following Jesus every day
pretty much what i learnt from that year was
not to immerse yourself in church "stuff"
so you have no meaningful contact and with the real world
that their is a real joy
in being Jesus with skin on to those who don't know him
and that it doesn't really matter
if you live with people who are christians or not
as long as you are not
out of this world
just like i was that year
for most of it anyways