Thinking About the Future

Not having my car around this week has given me lots of time to think about things. There are some hard decisions for me to make in the next year and they commanded a lot of my attention this week. One of the biggest decisions was where I would live after coming back from my first furlough.


I am planning to take a six month furlough in the United States in June of 2009. In April the lease that I have on the house I am currently renting ends. For the last year I have told everyone that I planned to move somewhere closer to the city when I came back in January of 2010. The plan is to live with friends between April and June. Or possibly rent the house on a monthly basis if they would allow me to do so.

There a few reasons why I want to move from my current house. The biggest one is because the area I am staying in is far away from where I minister. I drive forty five minutes both ways to get to church on Sunday mornings. This gets pretty expensive when it takes about $50 to fill up my tank. Thankfully my little car gets excellent gas mil age. The long distance makes it hard for me to spend time with friends because one of us will have to drive a long ways.

There is a positive side to my living in this area though. This is by far the cheapest housing that can be found anywhere. Normally a small house or apartment will cost $250.00 a week for rent. I rent a three bedroom house complete with front and back yard for $185.00 a week! If I do move to a closer location it will mean having to raise more funds. It will probably take at between $200.00 and $300.00 of extra support.

Right now I have two options about my living accommodations. Moving to a new location closer to where I am working. Or stay where I am and saving up money to buy a house. Renting a house for $250.00 a week will end up costing about $1,100.00 a month. That gets pretty close to the payment that you would actually make on mortgage! The problem is the housing market in Australia is worse than it has been in years. Every house is at least $200,000, and the standard interest rate is above 8%.

Right now my heart tells me to stay here in Melton for a few more years until the interest rate goes down (if it ever does!). That time will allow me to save up money for a nice down payment for a small home. But at the same time if my teaching ministry continues to expand I will find myself traveling more and more during the week.


It may seem strange that I am worrying about something that is almost a year away. I have always been the kind of person who likes to look years in advance. I am planning things in my mind that probably won't happen for at least three years (I wrote about it in the article “taking a moment to dream”). I would really appreciate your prayers concerning this situation, I want to make sure that I rely on God's wisdom instead of my own.