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It’s hard to measure spiritual maturity. There are certainly markers, and there are actions and behaviours that can identify someone as growing in their faith. However, there are lots of labyrinthine ways people journey closer to Jesus that make it hard to say the effort or grace extended has landed or done a good job when it might take ten to fifteen years to see any fruit. I read a Psalm with a drunk this week, and in a lot of ways that’s the fruit of eight years of patience for this guy to be ready to have a conversation about the Bible. That’s not a cut and dry success tick box for ministry though, and I’m quite familiar living in that ambiguity while purposefully aiming young people on a trajectory towards Jesus.

This past Friday I had my first annual review at church and was able to celebrate some beautiful growth with some of the other leaders at the church. One of the elders, the lead pastor, and the lead youth pastor sat down with me to talk about how I’ve transitioned into this role and what God is doing in the youth ministry here. There was no evaluation of numbers or return on investment for our Easter Camp expenses. Instead, I got to spend time sharing and listening to others celebrate how we can see God at work in the ministry I’m leading. I was excited to sit down with these leaders who have invested in me for the past year to be able to celebrate what I’ve seen God do in and through me.

What a bonus to hear them bring even more details to celebrate that I hadn’t noticed or wouldn’t have highlighted. God is doing some really cool stuff here, and I loved the ebenezer moment to mark what has come before and remember God’s faithfulness in this ministry.

The day before, I’d gotten out to the Spinal Trust across town and meet with the peer support people who have injuries similar to mine. I only had a few minutes with them, but they were so friendly and helpful and offered me free catheters and advice. This kind of support network wasn’t available to me in Europe, and I keep finding new resources available to help me thrive in this setting. In a couple weeks time, I should be getting my ID card to offer me discounted bus and taxi fares.

Because of how my hours were shuffled around this week, I managed to have two different days where I got out to the beach and could just stare at the waves and enjoy God’s presence. I don’t take lightly the chance to enjoy the ocean while living and working in this city.

As I prepared through the week to share some of my story with the youth group on Friday night and got to reflect on living near this incredible landscape, I thought a lot about the winding road that has led me to this place. I’ve always had a strong trajectory towards Jesus, but some days it’s clearer than others. I’ve got one of those “Good Christian Kid” stories growing up, but that didn’t guarantee that I’d end up in ministry, and it definitely isn’t a promise of fruitful and faithful ministry. Friday night, I shared a part of my story that I don’t often, but I felt like it was an important point to help my young people learn about how to grieve and lament well. This morning one of the prayer team members who faithfully prays for youth during a time slot on a Friday night told me that last week she was burdened to pray extra for me – not knowing that I was giving my testimony – and for the young people to hear and receive whatever message was being shared.

I have so many cool stories of God prompting people like that through this past year, and all kinds of other distinct ways I’ve seen God show up. Only the highlights made it into my annual review and even each week onto this blog. I’ve got even more cool stuff from just today that’s such a gift to be a part of. Two of my youth group boys are getting baptised today – one at the 9am service and one at the 6pm. They have unique and beautiful stories of how God brought them to this point, but I celebrate these markers for them in their faith journey. I’ve seen both of them grow in some really cool ways this past year, and it’ll be even more exciting to watch the ongoing journey that winds them through life but ever closer to Jesus.

525,600 minutes goes by so fast, and there are so many ways to measure a year. This is just a drop of what river is running through my life as I get to live and serve in New Zealand.