Holy Spirit Power in this years Halfway Camp!

Just a few weeks back i headed down to Port Macdonnell for our annual Halfway Hardcore Camp with my Christian surfer brothers and sisters in the region and in Victoria. This camp is definitely not for the faint hearted as it is freezing cold, wintery, we camp in tents and the water is like jumping into an esky full of ice. However the crew that come are always stoked and this years was no different.


Arriving down to the Mount Dave and i were frantic getting all the things together and were certainly blessed along the way. I had to pray for a miracle with Rent and somehow once again it all came in in time. PRAISE GOD! This is never easy to get used too, but it does remind us time and time again that God is our provider and no one else. Once that miracle happened we then ventured to our block of land right on the beach front in Cape Douglas. Beach front normally is the place to be, but when its winter and you have gale force winds you certainly are exposed to the elements. Needless to say it was such a blessing once again and made even more so with a onsite toilet and hot shower and the neighbour giving us use of his power (generosity, and he wasn't even a Jesus man yet). Suddenly Halfway camp was getting a little less hard core until the rain came on cue to put up tents, but it was no match for the committed soldiers of the South east mission and we had soon erected a sick set up. It so cool to bind together and work together in the face of adversity. Real community is certainly built on this stuff.


Anyway lets fast forward 6 hours, leaving us at 3:00am in the morning and the Adelaide crew arrived. Once again on cue God presented us a challenge of building tents under other tents just to avoid the constant rain that was pouring down. It was all a bit fun, and once we were set up up we were ready for a massive 3 hours sleep before getting up for the dawny. i told you surfers were a different breed.


Next morning we awoke to absolutely massive swell and so the numerous sweet little reef breaks were just closing out. the decision was to hit up a session at a local beach break and we were not let down. For 3 hours we braved the near freezing conditions, actually the coldest water i have ever surfed in and had an epic time. everyone is was going off and the atmosphere in the water was simply electric. Joel and Davo the stand outs for sure!


The arvo got a bit wild as a westerly change moved in and so we were losing options. some opted for a bit of catch up on the z;'s, some watched an entertaining duel between Dog and Cow! was pretty funny! and some braved the crazy conditions at a reef break! it was Hardcore!


As evening broke, i felt God put on my heart a message for the camp. It was a bit fuzzy at first, but as i began to cook up the feast of the century, it became clearer. A few weeks back i had dreamed about God preparing the final banquet in his house and it only seemed fitting that this is what i wanted us to focus on this night. Alex asked to help me in the cooking and i said to him i wanted a bible, which he thought was pretty funny considering i was turning over steaks on the BBQ, but this is what i asked him to find.


Matthew 22:

And again Jesus ^(A)spoke to them in parables, saying, ^2 (B)“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave ^(C)a wedding feast for his son, ³ and ^(D)sent his servants^[a] to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. ^4 (E)Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my ^(F)dinner, ^(G)my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ ⁵ But ^(H)they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, ⁶ while the rest seized his servants, ^(I)treated them shamefully, and ^(J)killed them.⁷ The king was angry, and he sent his troops and ^(K)destroyed those murderers and burned their city. ⁸ Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not ^(L)worthy. ⁹ Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ ¹⁰ And those servants went out into the roads and ^(M)gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there ^(N)a man who had no wedding garment. ¹² And he said to him, ^(O)‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and ^(P)cast him into the outer darkness. In that place ^(Q)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ For many are ^(R)called, but few are ^(S)chosen.”

One of the many things that i brought out of this story was that Jesus lavished a great feast onto those he invited. It was not just sausages, bread and a bit of onion if your lucky. He lavished all on his invited guests. For us it was steak, marinated chicken, sausages, onion, vegetarian options, grilled vegetable and roast ones too, and much more. For Him it was so much more. The amazing thing in this story was that his invited guest didn't even come, they were too busy with life, their businesses, everything except being at the Kings feast. My challenge to the crew at camp was to identify themselves in the story by the way their life was playing out. Was there more attention to the business, leisure or to the King?


The night carried on as we stood around a warm fire we reflected, laughed, even made Jam donuts over the fire. It was a great time of conversations and just being real community on a block in the country. The halfway camp is generally a pretty casual affair. We don't have a written schedule, or a bunch of meetings to attend. so when these things happen out of the movements of the people and God it is so epic! This camp was driven by God and obedience to Him and so when Richard, Craig and Terry got us cranking into a worship session it only seemed a fitting way to finish things up. The coolest thing was when we began to sing a wind came like no other and drowned out our voices and the words to hustling sounds and awe inspiring rumble of God, in fact i thought we were going to take off hanging on the tent we worshipped under. After we finished the wind settled. The crazy this is when the Holy Spirit first bursted onto the scene in Acts 2 it came like a rushing wind! It was so cool to have the presence of his Holy Spirit touching this camp. And as the Holy Spirit does it reminds us of who we are in Jesus. It convicts us, challenges us and encourages us to keep walking the walk. so there was much ministry that happened in the hearts of the campers.


Sunday we arose to crazy weather, wild seas and tiredness and so we decided to call it a day with camp after a big cook up of bacon and eggs! we headed into Mt Gambier for one last coffee together before we would head home. It was such an awesome time and once again will be a highlight for those who came in this years Christian Surfers calendar.


Thanks to all who came and made it so awesome!


Bless ya heaps and there will plenty more stories coming to the Salted life in coming week! so much going on right now that we just need to share!


Love Justin!

the crazy crew that made up this years halfway camp @ Port Macdonnell, SA

Harvest Time!

Hey faithful supporters, 

Its amazing how time fly's when your focused on being used by God in the daily routine, especially when you wake each day awaiting what the plans are going to be. The only thing that i new in the last 6 weeks is that i was based down in Goolwa beach on the south coast and that i would be dropping Liana off at her teaching practicum at 8am and picking her up at 4pm. The time in between on most days was a blank canvas. That was the really cool thing about it though because when you are in that place you approach life with expectation and wonder as your day unfolds before your eyes. Each day in the last 6 weeks i have encountered new people, old friends and many others in which God has given me the opportunity to get alongside, to hear their hearts and to find the connection point between them and their creator. Now for me this is what makes the blood pump, it's the thing that gets me excited and enables me to believe the words of John 10:10 about Jesus coming to give life in abundance.

I have learned that "i love sharing Jesus through my life and my words" and the even cooler thing is that a lot of the people i have met love me sharing it too. Now that may sound strange and not the common response to those sharing Jesus, but that has been my experience in this time on the south coast. Whether it has been on the phone, or in the surf or just in my travels and duties i have encountered time and time again divine set ups by God in which he has used a few words that have come out of mouth that have made a difference in a person or peoples lives. I certainly can't take the credit for it. the only thing i can take credit for is that i have positioned myself in places in order to see what God is doing in the lives around me. Honestly if was to reflect on the last 6 weeks of divine moments all i could say is that when you step aside and rest in Him, He then uses you in ways that you couldn't even imagine. The advantage of this place of absolute assurance of rest in Him, is that you walk in the confidence of Him and nothing or no one can get in the way of Jesus being the only thing. 

For me and what i have learnt in the last 6 weeks is that when He is the only thing, He is the focus, He is one you live for nothing can distract from the joy that comes from living for Him. And when you have this as your direction you actually become your most authentic, most loving self you can be. The world that we live in needs us to be our most authentic self. if we are truly honest with ourselves our most authentic self is one that is totally in union with Jesus. This kind of you without effort will impact your friend, your family and the people you live life with. I heard it said that "a fruit tree doesn't need to try to bear good fruit, it just does cos its a fruit tree." A quite profound statement yet is so true. In Matthew 7:18 Jesus alludes to this and says that a good tree cannot bear bad fruit if its good and because of what Jesus did on that tree of calvary we are good trees. Thats how God, your creator sees you, a good tree that is incapable of producing bad fruit. This is the true reality and this is where Life is truly found. As a tree that doesn't have to try to be a tree, but just is. 

I hope that you are encouraged by the way that your prayers, financial support and other support has enable this last 6 weeks to a season i would describe as "harvest time." Thats an exciting time and i believe is time that approaching all of us faster than we think. So be consumed by Him and let him flow out of you as He wants to.

Whats practically happening?

Biggest news is that Liana has climbed her Everest and as i write has one day of her final teaching practical to go. She found out a few days ago that she passed her practical and that the people responsible were impressed with Liana's improvement and confidence that had developed over the time of her practical. I am so proud of her and it brings me so much joy to see her fly like the eagle that she was created to be. She has just 2 assignments to go and it's party time! So thanks for all the prayers and support show to her in this time. she has certainly be lifted up by all of you to achieve such a feat.

A picture of absolute surrender! Well done Liana

The other news is that we are heading back our home at Christies Beach next week and so back to living in community with Kris and the girls. For me this is exciting, but also sad as i have to say goodbye to surf beaches being just a stones throw away. My 23 surfing times in the last 25 days has been such a joy for me and a reminder that i love surfing and most of all i love the surfers. I hope that i can continue to be disciplined in getting in the water as this has been where a lot of the harvest has come from. its so cool that God allows our passions to come together with Him.

I will continue to work at Cutloose Surf and hope to bring blessing to the people there as it winds down. Yes that right the surf shop i work for will cease to exist in a few months. It has been an awesome time, in which i have gained experience, impacted new crew and sold heaps of surf stuff. What is around the corner who knows. What i do know is i need not to worry cos today is what i have been given. The next job i'm sure will come and i'm sure it will be just the right place.

I know had a lot to share and just hope that you are encouraged, inspired and challenged by what your support has enabled Liana and myself to do.

Bless ya heaps and we love you eternally.

Justin and Liana.

The call for us all! to Represent the King Here in this world.

Changed lives.

tucking in at beautiful parsons beach!

Hey all, just wanted to share a story!

As some might know i work as a surf coach as well as lead CS. And a few weeks ago i did a surf coaching trip over to Yorke peninsula. Little did i know that in the next 3 days God would invite me to partner with him in the lives of the two coaches i was working with, particularly one of them. 

After the first day i was chatting with one of the coaches and he shared with me that he had severe back pain and that he had been suffering a little bit of depression and it had impacted his life a number of times. I really felt that God wanted me to address this and so i said to him "i believe that you do not have to deal with this because God wants to heal you." A bold statement, but when your a passenger to when God takes over its amazing what comes out of your mouth. Any way this lead to a great conversation and then an opportunity to ask if i could pray for him over the next few days. He said he would really appreciate that.

Next morning i was praying and worshipping and the Lord lead me to a passage in John.

John 14:27
27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.(NLT)

This passage was the wisdom that this surf coach needed to hear. and the next morning on the wednesday 2nd May 2012 i shared this with him. He responded in the only way someone would respond when a word pierces your heart. And in this moment i was able to pray from him and particularly over his back which he was experiencing large amounts of pain. I felt the Lord speak healing over his mind and as a result he was healed. the rest of the day he ran out a full vigorous session of coaching and he is almost 50 so thats impressive and most of all he had no pain.

A week later i caught up with him and spoke to him and asked the question of how he was going since i had prayed over him. He replied "that since i have prayed he has had no back pain and his depression has ceased."

To God be the glory is all i can say and encourage you all that its amazing what can happen when you become the conduit for what God might want to be doing in a life you connect with. So be bold and believe that God can do these things through you too.


New Roomies.
Also just one last update. For the past 3 months Liana opened up our home to a single Dad and his 2 daughters of 5 and 7. It has been a journey that has been a growing one, but overall it has seen this young family experience freedom and healing from their previously bad living situation. Keep praying for us as we continue in this journey. Below is a pic of Kris, Maddi and Chelsea so you know who we are living with.

Kris, Maddi (Left), Chelsea (Right)

God Bless, 

Justin & Liana.

Set Free!

Hey Faithful supporters,

Here's just a real quick update on whats happening with Liana and I as we serve as Kingdom workers in our lives.

2012 has kicked off with a bang and our lives are showing that we are completely consumed by an amazing God that calls us serve Him. God has revealed to us that our ministry work extends beyond the title of Regional Coordinators for SA, but is actually our whole life. Every week, every day, every moment is an opportunity for us to be an instrument in any situation.

Between Liana and I in the past month we have Sold ice creams for STREETS at Clipsal 500 and Womad, Surf coached, cooked BBQ at various functions, Teaching at schools in Blackwood and Goolwa, Christian surfers travel and work, had a single dad and 2 daughters move in and there is much more. Given this variety of the past month we realise that we serve in a LIFE capacity, not a title capacity.

Why are we Set Free? well because when you rid yourselves of the things that take Life away from you, you realise that you are created to do the things that bring life. And when this happens you become the recklessly abandoned Jesus radical that he wants you to be. Both Liana and i are stoked and are looking forward to how together we will continue our journey as Kingdom workers for a mighty King.

I have a small clip that explains it all! (technical difficulties, but coming soon).

Bless ya heaps!

A New year Begins!

Hey All our Faithful supporters!

Well its been awhile since i posted on here! The reason is because of the crazy schedule that happened towards the end of 2011. Kangaroo Island pretty much dominated my life. I spent large amount of time over there working on the big KI Surfing and Music event. Unfortunately this event has copped a lot of bad press in media and other forums. The great thing that happened out of this event has got much air time and that is that Christian Surfers Volunteers served with all their heart and soul to make the event a great success. 78 volunteers worked up to 12 hours a day and wore their Jesus hearts on their sleeves. As the leader i was so proud of my team. See attached pic!

So anyway post KI Liana and i have settled into our new house with fresh vision and super excited about where God is taking us. We received our house via a miracle (as me some time) and since then have had a real opportunity to build a great home and God has blessed us amazingly filling our home with all that is needed to be a house of hospitality. We are sure to have many stories that will come from this next journey.

After 2011 i was needing a long break and so over the time of December and early January i took some sabbath time. It was a hard journey of searching God's heart and looking for the renewing of mine. I was completely exhausted and needed some REST. What i discovered was that i needed the kind of REST that i actually hadn't had for quite some time (3 years). In this journey i was able to spend some great time in my marriage rediscovering the fun of being able to do life with your best friend. I was able to Surrender all that i have and all that i am to God afresh. In fact even was on the verge of moving on from ministry completely. But as God does when you find REST in him he reveals the true plans of the path. OBEDIENCE is the key and is all he asks for. So OBEDIENCE is what we did.

This Obedience has seen Liana and I begin another year leading Christian Surfers in SA. Its been a journey of many deserts, but this is where God has lead us. We look forward to an exciting year ahead and the move in the spiritual realm which is of massive proportions that is coming. Jesus has been so faithful to us and he continues to be so. He is the only Lord that we want to follow and so as the year rolls on we are in anticipation as to where he might move us to, what people He has has ministering too and the adventures that lie ahead.

This weekend i will be firing up the crew of South Oz for our annual leaders retreat. We appreciate you prayers over this time.

We would like to say a massive thank you to all of you that make it possible for us to be OBEDIENT to our King. Your partnership is invaluable and prayers are invaluable. we look forward to sharing many more stories in 2012. (there is short clip of our new home of Christies beach)

Bless ya heaps!

He is writing our life story!

Liana here, hello!

I've finally worked out how to use this blog thingo so now you can hear from me too! And get a wifely perspective of the journey of serving in ministry, always putting others first and releasing my husband to work for the kingdom. This means life gets tough. Add in the challenging journey of doing faith and finances and you have a hard road but a very blessed and worthwhile road because it is good to be in the will of God!

This year has been a long and painful lesson in surrender. God often tries to teach us to surrender our lives to him. He wants us to walk light, and place everything at the foot of the cross. (Matthew 11:30) He wants to align our desires with his and our soul with his. I have also been learning how sometimes God has other plans for us then we had for ourselves.

Surrendering all areas of our life to God means giving up control (or the myth that we are in control) as justin said in the last blog. God wants us to unclench our heart and our hands around areas of our life that we are trying desperately to keep to ourselves and do in our own strength...generally because we have trouble trusting God with our life. This could be our career, our finances, our relationships or simply our future plans.  So he brings up the area so we can surrender it. And he wants us to trust him and 'give all of our worries to him for he cares for us' (1 Peter 5:7)

This is because he has good plans for us and what he has been speaking to me about is that he is the one writing our life story and he is the greatest author of all.  Jeremiah 29:11

Hope this blesses you!

The Myth of Independence!

I have been thinking a lot lately. Its been awhile since i got my thoughts on a page. Its funny how when you go through deep pits of despair you find it hard to share with people and you guys who read this. Maybe there is lot in that! often when the chips are down we strive to become more independent in thinking rather than dependent. It's this whole concept that has me intrigued and as i sit here i really feel that God is speaking to me about this.

Independence is what we are taught from a young age! our parents, mentors and people we look up too preach a message of independence. And this is a message that is certainly one held by our society and our world. Independence is the effort to take control of things in your life. It might be how much money you can earn, or maybe the house you want, or maybe the job you want to keep. All these things we believe we have control over but the reality is we don't know what tomorrow holds. It was just a few days ago that i was watching TV and saw a tragedy at an American air show, when a plane literally fell out of the sky, crashing into a stand packed full of people. (my prayers to those affected) I reckon a lot of those people would have felt like they were going to have control over the events of that day. It ordinarily would have been a great day to watch guys pushing the limits of aero dynamics. Unfortunately there were events that wouldn't have been in any body's minds.

To strive for independence is seen as a good thing in our society, but my question is it a God thing? I think it all stems way back to the beginning when Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden (Genesis 2 - 3). God creates the garden for his creation to dwell in, to live in harmony with God and depend on. But what happens is Adam and Eve are wooed into a path of independence. This pattern emerged early and since then has followed ever since for generations and even to this day. It has moved as i said from a bad thing to now a very good thing to strive for. Now God could have done away with us long ago, but he loves us his creation and will never give up on us. He will always try to correct our ways and help us to realign with him in his plans of dependence! In John's gospel Jesus gives his listeners a very real illustration of what dependence is suppose to look like. He likens us to be like the branches connecting with the vine and therefore the source of growth, stability and life. In verse 5 Jesus says "Those who remain in me and i in them will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." There is a lot of truth in these words. And ultimately this is where life is found and being dependent on the vine is truth. Actually the more i think about it our striving for independence is actually a myth. For whether you believe in God or not, we actually are all dependent on something. it just what you choose to be dependent on.

I know that this lesson of dependence is something that i have been wrestling with for the past few months as i serve in my role in Christian Surfers. And more that i couldn't control factors in my life the more independent i tried to become. As i sit here writing it strikes me that trying to be independent and follow God's calling is hard, actually it is impossible. The reason is that independence is not even a reality its a myth. Dependence is the way to go! for life living in isolation lacks meaning and doesn't give the people the chance to discover a very God character trait within them. I challenge you whether you know Jesus or not to steer your life not to independence but to dependence. Dependence restores the order of what was supposed to happen! What are you dependent on and more importantly who?

Bless ya heaps!

Justin