I’m writing this filled with gratitude.
Today (as I write this) marks 19 years of working with Adventist Record. It seems like forever, almost half my life, yet it also feels like yesterday. It was February 5, 2007. I was barely 21, newly graduated from Avondale College (now University), I got a haircut and a real job, moving from Adelaide where I grew up, to the tiny (but very beautiful) town of Warburton in the Yarra Valley, Victoria. The coldest place I have ever lived.
In the lead up to graduation I was nervous. Where would I work? What would I do with my life after college? College was great. I learned useful things, the friends I made were amazing, but I was getting that feeling of trepidation growing in my chest.
Then I got a phone call that changed my life. It was then Record editor Nathan Brown, saying that there was a job opening and that I should apply. It was made clear to me that there was no guarantees but I was excited to even get the opportunity. An answer to prayer and also, looking back, clearly God leading in my life. I had my first job interview on the phone, sitting on the lawn next to a BP service station where I had pulled over on the way to Sydney Airport from Cooranbong. The rest is history.
Since then, I’ve worked on Adventist Record, Signs of the Times and alongside other projects and products that have come out of Adventist Media. There have been ups and downs, times of uncertainty and change (like when the editorial department moved to Sydney)*, and I’ve been far less than perfect. Yet I’m grateful. God has been good, has led through each mountain-top experience and every dark valley. I’m filled with gratitude because I’ve been able to do one of my favourite things—write (and a good deal of reading, one of my other favourite things). I love my faith, my church and talking about the God of the Bible. I’ve worked with wonderful people, been able to travel the Pacific and been inspired by the people I’ve met working for God there, their stories and their faith.
God has been so good to me.
For the past few years I’ve also had the privilege of being editor of Signs—a wonderful and flagship evangelistic product for the Church here in the South Pacific. I’ve loved the challenge of communicating with an audience outside the Church. The opportunity to take our precious faith and describe it in ways that are easy to understand and invitational for those who don’t share it. Signs turns 140 years young this year and is still making an impact in our communities.
And now, as you may have read online or in print, I have been asked to serve the General Conference communication department, sharing Adventist news from right around the world. God is “doing a new thing” (Isaiah 43:19) and as we have always done, we are answering the call. It is big and scary and largely unknown. But my wife and I have been here before. God’s plan for your life often seems hard at first and pushes you out of your comfort zone. Yet it (in my experience) ends up being worth it.
So why do I share these rememberings with you? A few reasons. First, I am passionate about the power of stories, specifically our God stories and how, when God moves in our lives, those stories can inspire others too—if we share them. Secondly, to encourage you. When God is leading in your life, it is not always easy but you can see His hand when you look back, every place He has led or carried you. Maybe you’re like I was and not sure what you want to do. God can use you and cares for you. There is always a way He can guide and lead you, if you are willing to surrender and follow.
May God continue to bless you as you follow the path He has set before you and may you find your calling in His plan and purpose for your life.
*Yes, the editorial department has been in Sydney since 2010, while the magazines are still printed at Warburton.
