My heart has broken. Well and truly gut wrenchingly, utterly shattered, and broken so much that the usual cure of sticky tape and super glue will not do. My eyes have laid witness to a dispair, a hurt, a brokeness that run so deep it was bred into the very blood of generation. It was a sight I never would have believed in a nation so beautiful and similar and "civilised" as ours, but my eyes did not deceive me, what I saw was true.

But no matter how deep my grief, God's is deeper. No matter how badly my heart breaks, God's breaks more. In the places and people I see brokeness, despair and pain, God sees HOPE.

Four of us from Invercargill joined with the guys from Highway Christian Church in Ulladulla (Australia) to help at REACH 08 - a conference with a complete missions focus and a desire to see God to move in a new way. We were equipped as the army of God to go into the community and show love as Chst loved us in a real and practical way.

Bourke, NSW Australia is a beautiful outback town and to look at it I really wondered if what I had been told was as bad as what I had been led to believe. But closer inspection showed me a deep level of dysfunction and hurt. Almost every house in town was surrounded by high metal fences, with an almost as big dog, the main street at night looked like an industrial area with big garage doors and windows barred and then in the Aboriginal "missions" the houses were nice and normal but then you saw the smashed glass and boarded up windows.

And the kids. The beautiful children who knew no different from what they lived in everyday. 3, 4, and 5 year old children who are on the streets at all times of the night, abused and taking drugs and alcohol like they were lollies, whose idea of a good time was stealing cars and then burning them.

But despite it all, God is in that place.

You could see Him in the smiles of the children, in the fresh greening of the ground that had been drought-stricken for years, in the passion and perserverence and faith of the Christians in Bourke who had been faithfully praying for and serving in their community.

God was seen on the lives of young children, as small as 4,5 and 6 years old, as they stood silent and still in His presence. He was there in the midst as 200+ young people from throughout New South Wales, wider Australia and New Zealand stood and worshiped Him freely, separated not by race or circumstances but united in love as the whanau of God.

God was in the riverbed as the drunked, just released from prison, wandered aimlessly with his bottle of booze. He was there when he was struck by the power of the Holy Spirit and set free from his sin and pain, and came into the Kingsom of Heaven.

My time in Bourke has shown me a fraction of the heartbeat of God. Jesus died for these people, each and everyone of them, of us, saved or unsaved, black or white, male or female, old or young. We are not different. We are all seen the same through the eyes of God - His children.

I am still processing what I saw, what God has done and is doing in Bourke, and in me. It is beyond our comprehension to know how deeply God mourns over the blood shed there in the name of "civilised people" and government policy. How His heart aches for the children of Bourke, many who have never known a fathers love, a tender touch or a kind word.

But God IS in that place. And He is moving. Heaven linked with earth during the time Reach 08 was in Bourke, and even though we have left there, God hasn't.

Heaven hasn't.

Hope hasn't.

God is in that place, and He is moving. It begins with HOPE........

Like to get a little crazy? Keen to be random and on the edge and hang with other like-minded crazy cats?

Are you passionate about coffee, fun times and Jesus?

Want to get involved in a pumping and exciting local church?

Well its that time - time to leave lazy days in the sun, sand and surf behind and hit the study wahoo!!
The other great thing about this time of year? Resonate is up and pumping and waiting for you!!

If you are around the SIT campus this O'week look out for us at the Lifestyle Options and free BBQ at the Otepuni on Thursday. Come hang at a service at the Christian Centre and let us get you a coffee (fantastic coffee!). New to town and need friends/flatting stuff/ info etc then get in touch and we will what we can do

All the best for the study and see you round campus!

2008!! Wahoo!! I am so excited about this yeaR!

The new year brings a whole heap of changes - people leaving, new ones coming along, new adventures and craziness! Exciting times

Resonate has some awesome stuff lined up for the year. Of course, we are starting off next Tuesday night (thats the 15th) with a bbq and of course, come Feb and the arrival of the students we have our usual O'Week antics - Good times.

Something that is REALLY exciting is in April there is an 18yrs+ mission trip to Bourke, Australia. We are going to be joining the crazy crew from Ulladalla and helping with the Liberty concert there. This is going to be pretty hard out - Its 2 days straight driving through the Outback to get to Bourke and thenm another 2 back. Tentative dates for this are leave April 10 and back on the 22 but more details will be finalised soon. If you are keen, let me know asap so we can get on to the finer details. All going well we will try for some fundraising, but that depends on time and stuff.

If Bourke isn't your thing, or it doens't work with tech/work etc then listen out for the youth India trip that will also be happening later on

So get ready to be stretched, challenged and to grow this year! Awesome things are happening!!

Bless ya,

The RESONATE Team