Expat Tales

An article was recently published about me on Stuff...

 The 'Expat Tales' series has an open invitation for Kiwis living overseas to share their stories. There was no harm in me writing in to share my own - and it might make a change from 'I went to London for my OE'.

The Stuff writer got back to me the very next day with a set of questions, and seemed genuinely interested to hear from me. So I responded to each one, determined not to shy away from talking openly about God, Jesus, and Christianity!

Several weeks passed and I wondered if it was going to be published. Then one Sunday morning, my email was running hot and my phone was pinging.

'Would you look at what I see as I browsed Stuff this morning...!'

'Great article and photos in Stuff!'

'I read your stuff article and liked it a lot'

'Famous in NZ, aye'

'What a wonderful article on Stuff! Who knows how the Lord will use it in the lives of the readers and beyond!'

'Good job!'

I was interested to see how much the article had been edited, and to my surprise and delight, it was mostly just formatting. There was only one sentence referring to Jesus' parable about seeking the lost sheep that was removed.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to write about Christian mission work and for it to have been published in a secular arena. So often, we think we can't talk about our faith for fear of offending someone. But if other people can rave about how their lives have been transformed by meditation / yoga / a vegan diet etc., why shouldn't we be able to talk about Jesus in normal, everyday conversation? Especially if the question is 'What inspired you to do this?'