Friday night, I went to The Great American Coffee Rosters in Ocala with Jonathan and a friend of mine named Jesse. Jesse is my age, he flies planes and helicopters and has been volunteering here at ITEC for several years. He and I spent a Saturday working together in January and we both helped Jesse do some work on a few different planes so we got to know each other pretty well. We have a lot of similar views and interests, practically and spiritually. Aviation is obviously a topic we speak a lot about. :)
Anyway, we had a great time at the coffee shop, playing games and introducing Jesse to some of my other friends from church. Also, on Friday nights, some of my friends play music there so it was great to see them too.
Saturday we kayaked the Rainbow river. It was a pretty good run, only about 5 or 6 miles I think, but it was really pretty. The water is 72 degrees year round (I went swimming in it on Christmas day) and crystal clear all the way to the bottom. There wasn’t a ton of wildlife, but I am guessing that there would be more if it was summer. We saw some turtles, birds, otters, and obviously fish. I am definitely going to fish next time, I didn’t have my Florida fishing license so I had to do without this time. The otters were really cool to watch. We got pretty close to them, but they were not really interested in hopping aboard so once we got to about 5-10 feet from them, they decided to make themselves scarce. We also saw a bird catch a fish, that was pretty interesting to see. One moment he was on top of the water, the next he was underneath, then the next moment he was on top with a fish in his long throat. I could tell that the fish was almost to big for him, it didn’t want to go down, you could see the birds throat bulging a little more than half way down. The bird was about going crazy after a minute or so of the fish remaining in his throat. Finally he got it down, but I think that the fish was still alive and flopping around inside. The bird at least was still acting weird for a while after the fish had gone down.
We ended going to a restaurant on the river afterwards, it was pretty nice, though we kind of stuck out a little. Jesse and I were soaked, and our hair was everywhere, though at least we were outside on the deck rather than inside.
Church was pretty good the next day. When I went in to the main auditorium I saw Steve’s wife Ginny with Jamie’s wife Jessica, Steve and Jamie were in Birmingham. I had only seen Ginny very briefly since I got back and I hadn’t seen Jessica for about 3 weeks. I ended up sitting with them. Ginny is like my mother down here, we haven’t even spent a lot of time together, but whenever I am around her I just feel taken care of, and loved just like I do when I am around my mom. I told her so right before I left, I thought it was kind of funny that I felt like I was suppose to check in with her before I left on my trip home.
When church ended, I went with Ginny to get all of Jamie’s kids from their classes, I was anxious to see them too. Before we got to the first room to pick up the twins, Lilly and Chloe, a man came up to me and said, “Who are you? Who are you related to” I was so taken aback and his blunt introduction that it took me a minute to answer, but Ginny beat me to it. “He’s related to us” she said (Steve and Ginny used to go to this church, and still come occasionally. Pretty much everyone knows about itec as well.) I was shocked, but glad of course too. While I was helping put Jamie’s kids in the car and saying bye to them, Ginny hugged me and said, “I’m glad one of my sons sat next to me at church today”. I told her that I was glad that I got to sit with my mom. It is amazing what a small act of kindness does for you.
Because of the lifestyle I have been raised in I am used to being part of peoples families, but, when I moved away from the village, I just expected to make it on my own. But I have found family down here, the friends that I have here are becoming like family, I am getting closer to them, and the people that I highly respect here at ITEC are becoming family to me as well. I am able to do crazy things with my friends here like I did at home, and I can talk to men and women here like I did at home. It obviously is not the same as it was in the village, I have only known these people for a few months, but the fact that it is happening is surprising to me.
Those of you at home that are reading this, don’t take this personal. But I was just as anxious to get back to itec as I was to get to the village. I have family here, I spend time with Jamie and Jesse Saint and their families. Jamie and I meet every Friday morning, and Jesse and I workout twice a week. But the time we spend working out has been time of fellowship not just lifting weights, we talk about aviation, and our habits and goals. He gets up at 6 every morning and walks 3 miles on the treadmill and reads his bible or a spiritual book while doing so. That got me to do my runs in the morning and since I am running on taxiways and runways, not a treadmill, I listen to my bible on my iPod.
I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work in full time ministry, and learn to fly, and work alongside Steve Saint. But I am even more grateful that God made them more than just co workers, he has made them family.
God has been so good to me. The trip to TN pretty much wiped out my supply of funds. I had been praying that God show me what to do next, if there was an avenue that I needed to take to raise support or something. I got a letter in the mail today from my mom, Frank, and my sister Hadassah. They had given me $60. Never before have I been so grateful for $60, I immediately thanked God, I was so grateful. I had an emergency fund of cash in my strong box of about $300 I had been putting odds and ends of cash there for when my car needed repair, or my computer died, or something along those lines. And I decided to deposit that in my account so I could keep flying. I figured that if God ended up having someone donate and I didn’t have to use that money from my account, then it was no problem. My computer is going down and I have been looking with Jesse at a few computers anyway so it needed to go into my account.
While I was driving to the bank, my phone dinged, I had an email. When I pulled it up, there was a donation from one of my supporters for $250. I laughed out loud in awe of God’s working hand, He will always be there for me, He knows when we are in need, and He wants to take care of me. God is good all the time, I was able to have a flying lesson this after noon and I had a really good time. I have a stage 1 exam on Thursday, it is a written test that takes about an hour or so, I saw the test today, it is 3 and a half pages, front and back, please pray for me as I study. I love you all very much, and am so grateful for your prayer support as well as your financial support.
Your brother in Christ,
Austin
Anyway, we had a great time at the coffee shop, playing games and introducing Jesse to some of my other friends from church. Also, on Friday nights, some of my friends play music there so it was great to see them too.
Saturday we kayaked the Rainbow river. It was a pretty good run, only about 5 or 6 miles I think, but it was really pretty. The water is 72 degrees year round (I went swimming in it on Christmas day) and crystal clear all the way to the bottom. There wasn’t a ton of wildlife, but I am guessing that there would be more if it was summer. We saw some turtles, birds, otters, and obviously fish. I am definitely going to fish next time, I didn’t have my Florida fishing license so I had to do without this time. The otters were really cool to watch. We got pretty close to them, but they were not really interested in hopping aboard so once we got to about 5-10 feet from them, they decided to make themselves scarce. We also saw a bird catch a fish, that was pretty interesting to see. One moment he was on top of the water, the next he was underneath, then the next moment he was on top with a fish in his long throat. I could tell that the fish was almost to big for him, it didn’t want to go down, you could see the birds throat bulging a little more than half way down. The bird was about going crazy after a minute or so of the fish remaining in his throat. Finally he got it down, but I think that the fish was still alive and flopping around inside. The bird at least was still acting weird for a while after the fish had gone down.
We ended going to a restaurant on the river afterwards, it was pretty nice, though we kind of stuck out a little. Jesse and I were soaked, and our hair was everywhere, though at least we were outside on the deck rather than inside.
Church was pretty good the next day. When I went in to the main auditorium I saw Steve’s wife Ginny with Jamie’s wife Jessica, Steve and Jamie were in Birmingham. I had only seen Ginny very briefly since I got back and I hadn’t seen Jessica for about 3 weeks. I ended up sitting with them. Ginny is like my mother down here, we haven’t even spent a lot of time together, but whenever I am around her I just feel taken care of, and loved just like I do when I am around my mom. I told her so right before I left, I thought it was kind of funny that I felt like I was suppose to check in with her before I left on my trip home.
When church ended, I went with Ginny to get all of Jamie’s kids from their classes, I was anxious to see them too. Before we got to the first room to pick up the twins, Lilly and Chloe, a man came up to me and said, “Who are you? Who are you related to” I was so taken aback and his blunt introduction that it took me a minute to answer, but Ginny beat me to it. “He’s related to us” she said (Steve and Ginny used to go to this church, and still come occasionally. Pretty much everyone knows about itec as well.) I was shocked, but glad of course too. While I was helping put Jamie’s kids in the car and saying bye to them, Ginny hugged me and said, “I’m glad one of my sons sat next to me at church today”. I told her that I was glad that I got to sit with my mom. It is amazing what a small act of kindness does for you.
Because of the lifestyle I have been raised in I am used to being part of peoples families, but, when I moved away from the village, I just expected to make it on my own. But I have found family down here, the friends that I have here are becoming like family, I am getting closer to them, and the people that I highly respect here at ITEC are becoming family to me as well. I am able to do crazy things with my friends here like I did at home, and I can talk to men and women here like I did at home. It obviously is not the same as it was in the village, I have only known these people for a few months, but the fact that it is happening is surprising to me.
Those of you at home that are reading this, don’t take this personal. But I was just as anxious to get back to itec as I was to get to the village. I have family here, I spend time with Jamie and Jesse Saint and their families. Jamie and I meet every Friday morning, and Jesse and I workout twice a week. But the time we spend working out has been time of fellowship not just lifting weights, we talk about aviation, and our habits and goals. He gets up at 6 every morning and walks 3 miles on the treadmill and reads his bible or a spiritual book while doing so. That got me to do my runs in the morning and since I am running on taxiways and runways, not a treadmill, I listen to my bible on my iPod.
I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work in full time ministry, and learn to fly, and work alongside Steve Saint. But I am even more grateful that God made them more than just co workers, he has made them family.
God has been so good to me. The trip to TN pretty much wiped out my supply of funds. I had been praying that God show me what to do next, if there was an avenue that I needed to take to raise support or something. I got a letter in the mail today from my mom, Frank, and my sister Hadassah. They had given me $60. Never before have I been so grateful for $60, I immediately thanked God, I was so grateful. I had an emergency fund of cash in my strong box of about $300 I had been putting odds and ends of cash there for when my car needed repair, or my computer died, or something along those lines. And I decided to deposit that in my account so I could keep flying. I figured that if God ended up having someone donate and I didn’t have to use that money from my account, then it was no problem. My computer is going down and I have been looking with Jesse at a few computers anyway so it needed to go into my account.
While I was driving to the bank, my phone dinged, I had an email. When I pulled it up, there was a donation from one of my supporters for $250. I laughed out loud in awe of God’s working hand, He will always be there for me, He knows when we are in need, and He wants to take care of me. God is good all the time, I was able to have a flying lesson this after noon and I had a really good time. I have a stage 1 exam on Thursday, it is a written test that takes about an hour or so, I saw the test today, it is 3 and a half pages, front and back, please pray for me as I study. I love you all very much, and am so grateful for your prayer support as well as your financial support.
Your brother in Christ,
Austin
Austin God is doing awesome things through your adventures. When I think of how much He used the stories of Nate Saint and the four other men to build us up as a body of people, how they still inspire us to run after God it makes me laugh in wonder that He is now making you (and so, us) "family" with them. And I wonder why I wonder at it... OF COURSE this is what God would do! He is so wonderful to us and I love His thoughts and how He works. He is letting it be a tangible thing, what has long been a true thing that we could not physically touch. Enjoy your new family to the hilt! And tell them we love them too!
ReplyDeleteHey, Austin! I'm not sure how to post a comment, so I hope this works. I'm glad you have a family down there, too. Of course, where the people of God are, they are family. I guess you won't be able to come up for Johnny and 'Natha's wedding. :( That's a bummer. Maybe we'll get to see you in July down there. :) Well, I love ya! Chavvah
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks Chavvah and Beth. great to hear from you. I am not sure, but i wouldn't count on me being at the wedding. Wish i was able to, have a great day:)
ReplyDelete