Back from Projection

I have been asked to blog about Projection.

Projection came and went so quickly. Before I could blink, it was over.

It some ways, it felt crazier than Schoolies street chaplaincy. At Projection, I was with the same people, day in, day out. About 30 people were on last year's street chaplaincy team and you were hitting the streets with a different combination of four people each night. With Projection, I was with Ian, James, Greg, Michael, Paul, Richard and Sean during the "office hours" times. I picked up people's idiosyncracies within days and I am sure they spotted mine quickly too.

It's Wednesday as I write this. Five days after project has ended. I'm already missing the guys. I miss the endless chats about pop culture and movies and theatre and who knows what else. I miss bursting into musical numbers with them and doing the chicken dance around the office.

I miss them as individuals too. I miss Ian for his wit and cleverness; James for his easy-goingness and his endless capacity to listen; I miss Greg for his caring heart and empathy; I miss Richard for his stimulating conversation and depth; I miss Sean for his realness and honesty; Michael for his level-headedness and gentle humour. Paul was cool too, and so was the lovely Trish, as well as the legends Heather and Cam and the wonderful Christina. I miss four-year-old Welly and seven-month-old Anastasia.

I came to Projection focused on doing work for God's kingdom, and I did. You can find some of my writing at http://www.everystudent.com.au/ - I wrote up a few people's testimonies. The video guys made an amazing video and the web guys did an admirable job upgrading the website.

What I didn't expect was learning so much about myself. I learnt about how I react under pressure, how I react to different personality types, what I really need to work on about myself... I guess being around strangers in an unfamiliar environment really exposes one's flaws. The friends you unknowingly use as a crutch, suddenly aren't around to support you.

I am still processing the experience. Last year, I'd processed the schoolies experience within three days. Could articulate what I'd learnt, how it affected me. I'm not sure if I can cleanly articulate what I learnt on Projection, aside from how to fire a blackpowder cannon, entertain a baby, play the 12 bar blues, user Internet Explorer 7 and explain I.D. It will take some time.

I want to apologise to the guys for the times when I was a grouch; the times when I pulled back and isolated myself when I should have hung out; the times when I should have pulled back and taken some time out between Cat and God; the times when…

I will never be able to think about Projection without envisioning Ian and his camera and Sean and his vaudeville routines and Greg and his morning rounds of chocolate and Richard and his cartooning and Michael and his awe-inspiring card tricks…

Before I went to Projection, I was a little anxious about how God wanted me to serve in the future. Now I can see that God asks people to serve in the way He built them to serve. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which He prepared in advance for us to do. When we serve how we're born to serve, we're happiest.

I am still not clear how I am meant to serve, but I am ready to serve, and to follow.

When I've processed things more, I'll blog again about Projection. But I'll post pics soon.