Revelations

So tonight I had an interesting night.

I had work, but after work I went and hung out with one of my best friends, John. He's getting married on Sunday, so I really wanted to just hang out with him before it all happens.
In the end we did what we usually do, sit around and play records. This time though, because John had just moved house, he'd found all these random old 7" records that we used to listen to. We sat back, discussing why we liked them, why we didn't like any of the newer stuff by those bands, what made them change, the concerts we'd been to involving those bands and all the kinds of random things you talk about.
Because I'd been so busy, I hadn't thought about the fact that this would be the last real time John and I could just sit around doing this before there would be someone else in his life/house who would be around when we wanted to hang out. I got pretty sad when I left to go home. Either I was good at holding back tears or John pretended not to notice.
It's always a weird feeling for me when things like this change. I dunno about John, but for me sitting around just listening to records and having someone else who actually likes them too had been a pretty important thing for me that I've really enjoyed doing. It makes me feel normal knowing that yes there is someone out there that listens to the same music as I do, as opposed to everyone else out there who just doesn't get it, making me feel kind of alienated as "that guy that listens to weird music".
It's not like I'll never see the guy ever again, hopefully now that he's got a house closer to me I'll be able to see him more often, but it's just that things will be different, a state that I really don't handle so well.
I'm excited that he's found someone to spend the rest of his life with, but I'm also shocked at how quickly the wedding has come about and how little I know his wife-to-be. I've only met her in real life 3 times, including the 10 mins I saw her tonight. It feels kinda strange knowing that one of your best friends is getting married to someone you don't really know. I'm sure she's a great gal and I'm looking forward to getting to know her.

I just had a thought. You people out there reading this probably know them and I'll probably see you on Sunday at the wedding. Please come and say hello to me, I probably haven't seen you in a long time.

Upon leaving John's house, he told me to watch out on the drive home (it was 12:30am) because there were lots of deer about. I drove around the first corner and there was this MASSIVE deer with huge antlers standing right in the middle of the road. It was crazy awesome. It also made me drive quite slow for the rest of the trip :p

On the way back, I was keeping a lookout for wildlife, driving nice and slow. I saw: 2x wallabies, 1x wombat, 1x deer. As I was driving, I was also looking around at just the scenery of the Royal National Park (as you need to drive through it to get to his house) and just noticed how peaceful it was in the nightime. It was quiet, animals were out and about, the moon was shining down and the trees were blowing softly in the wind. I thanked the Lord for making such a beautiful place, straight after which I felt compelled to pull over and stop at the park in Audley. I got out and wandered down to the river, sat on a bench and listened.

That's it. Just listened.

It took a while, but after a minute of sitting still and quiet, I started to notice things. You could hear the river slowly sloshing about. That was it. For the minute.

As I sat longer, more things started popping out, slowly at first but ended in a torrent of noise. Ducks up the river quacking, fish in the water, something in the trees behind me (on closer inspection I found some Koalas!), nuts falling off trees, bats flying overhead etc. It was amazing! I thanked the Lord again, and in return he showed me something.

It was only just then, sitting by the river in the dark without any other people around that He really showed me an example of his timing compared to my fragile quick lifespan. He showed me the growth of the land, how without people it still moved and lived. It's perfect balance.
I thought about Genesis and how everything in His creation was perfect, including humans, before 'the fall'. At that same moment, He showed me that without humans around, the world could still operate because He had made it perfect. He showed me how slowly compared to my measily schedule ridden life the world grows and changes. Despite how slowly the world moves, it is just a blip on the scope for Him. Why should I demand things to happen NOW? Why should I expect Him to jump down and do everything I want Him to in such a tiny moment in the short space of time that is my life?

I shouldn't. I should do as He says and wait, be patient, pray, and one day He may if He feels like it should be so.

I thanked Him for everything he just showed me, and he let me sit there outside for a while. Even though it was cold, I did not feel it.

I walked around a bit, followed my ears and found the Koalas (there were two of them) and after a while I asked the Lord to let me know when He thinks I should leave. Straight after saying that He sent me a kangaroo OUT OF NOWHERE that almost ran into me, scared the life out of me, chased me back to my car and disappeared as quick as it arrived. Thanks!

The trip home was spent driving slow (by this time it was 2:15am) and just looking around at God's creation, admiring it, and seeing how we'd flattened it to put roads and houses on.