More than Survival.

The past ten days have been the craziest of my life. I have started class twice at two different universities, survived an earthquake and the succeeding aftershocks, moved cities multiple times, and am preparing to embark on a homestay. Through it all, I have been away from my closest friends and family.

I am surviving.

I desire to be truthful and will admit this has been one of the most challenging periods of my life. I find myself frequently overwhelmed. No one thing if especially incapacitating, but instead the combined effects of the natural disaster and the sudden transfer to the University Auckland have made me more emotional.

In the lectures I was able to attend this week after registering Thursday, I was thrown back to the beginning days as a first-year at Gustavus. Sitting in a lecture hall, especially one filled with hordes of unknown faces, can be incredibly lonely.

The feel of the city is very different from that of Christchurch. It is much larger and very international. Everyone and everything seems to be constantly darting about quickly. Skyscrapers tower above the campus and crossing the street is a somewhat controlled chaos.

While here in Auckland, I have decided to live in a homestay. This involves vacating my current flat with those from my program and moving into a house across the city. The move will happen tomorrow afternoon. It will hopefully be a wonderful opportunity to experience authentic kiwi life and form meaningful relationships with those I am staying with. We shall see.

All of the aforementioned information sounds a bit depressing, but I am incredibly excited to learn more about Auckland and the events, trips, and sites available here. It is a wonderful city filled with a diverse population and a university who has been willing to accept all of us on such short notice. I am blessed in that department.

As I took the fifteen minute bus ride into the city from my accommodations, I was struck by the beauty of the Auckland skyline with the Sky Tower. While gazing at the buildings and attempting to organize my day, the theme verses from camp this summer began to scroll through my head. Psalm 62:1-2 reads:

My soul finds rest in God alone;

my salvation comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation;

he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

The words circled my brain and I began to realize that I truly am held and loved by an amazing God. Whether I ever figure out my classes (or my life, for that matter), catch up on missed schoolwork, find difficult classrooms, or interact with my roommates, I must acknowledge the ultimate truth: God has a plan. He desires me to be shaped. It hurts, it's difficult, and it's inconvenient, but I trust that God has a wonderful plan when I finish.

In the upcoming weeks, I will hopefully be getting settled. My goal is this: to do more than simply survive. I desire to live expansively. I desire to see as much of Auckland and New Zealand as I can. I desire to appreciate the many blessings I have received. God has given us life and life to the full. I intend to use it for His glory here in Auckland.