Hooligans with Halos

At first glance, they look like boys your mother would not approve of. There is often sand on their unshod feet, and they like beer and meat and playing video games. They're tan and fit and laugh easily. They have been known to do crazy things that could only be dreamed up and carried out by roguish boys.

Like a tie is just an accessory to a suit, however, you'll find their first impression is just an accessory to their character. These are the sorts of guys you should be praying walk with your sons and daughters wherever they wander. I wandered to Australia, and that is where they found me.

They're real men. They aren't simpering ninnies who don't know what real life is like. They do battle with evil every day on behalf of others. They care for the people in their lives - friends, family, strangers from America. If they are afraid to lead, they don't let it get in the way of getting the job done. They take on responsibility with diligence. They practice hospitality.

Some of them still wear the title of "student" or "in transition", while others don't really have titles. It doesn't matter. They might become great, important men some day, but it won't be because they sought to become great, important men. It will be because they were faithful in a little, and were gradually given more.

If you happen to be in their community group, you will hear them pray. Not small, distracted prayers directed to a vending machine, but heartfelt cries to a God who hears. They take prayer seriously. It's not a ritual used to open and close small group sessions, but a time when the human heart can praise, weep, and rest. They aren't reluctant to share how God is challenging them. And He is, because they're walking closely with Him. Not perfectly, not yet.

Before I came to Australia, I didn't really think about the friends I would make here. I thought about programs I could start or places I could see. I thought about working at a church of older people and living by the beach. Then I got here and realized that SG and I would need some friends. (The amazing Aussie women in my life are flowers for a whole other vase.)

Slowly, we met them, at birthday parties and BBQs and informal worship nights. I began to remember that God does work to make the people who follow Him a family all around the world. That I have brothers I've never met, but when I do, we'll be close because of Jesus, not our genes.

So thankful for the crazy hooligans in my life, for the ways they encourage me to run the race and dare me to do crazy things,

Little Miss Sunshine