a few years before I came to PNG, my wife and I took the kids to Disneyland for the first time. It was a hot day, we were in line for the Jungle Cruise, and I thought 'man I could use a shade hat'. I'm not a hat person. I don't wear baseball caps, I've never worn a fedora, nor a cowboy hat. But for some reason I wanted shade.
With permission from my wife I jetted across to the little trade store they had there, and quickly grabbed a hat that would fit. It was affordable, it fit, and I grabbed it. I gave little thought to the style, or anything because I was trying to get back before I missed out on the ride with the family.
As I bought it the lady at the register was a bit chit chatty, and said, 'Good choice sir, this is our most popular hat that we sell here at this store!, it's only available in this store at Disneyland, how did you know to come here?'
I replied "I'm in a bit of a hurry, I just grabbed any old hat."
"well" she replied, "you chose wisely."
I donned the hat, and didn't think anything of it. But, I wonder if God looked down, on me in that hat, on the jungle cruise and laughed at the foreshadowing of it all.
Here I am today with that same hat. I've gotten several comments about it 'wow, nice hat, where did you get that hat, it breathes well,' I've seen other people trapsing through the jungle with the same hat. I even.... I EVEN saw another Chad, in Papua New Guinea, wearing the exact same hat. None of them had bought theirs at Disneyland.
I take this hat with me, whenever I go into the village, or down to the coast. It gives good shade, it's packable in luggage, and it allows my scalp to breath, plus it won't get blown away in the wind.
But that's not why I like the hat.
I've caught fireflies in it, I've killed wasps with it, I've swam with it.
But that's not why I like the hat.
A relationship with Christ is a personal thing. God knows I like intricacy. I like several strands of story twisting together to reveal a magnificent and complicated tapestry that prove only a master craftsman could have conceptualized and created the thing.
So when I wear this hat, in the middle of the jungles of East New Britain, I think to myself that God knew that the first time I wore this hat, would be in a mock jungle. Almost as if he was saying 'Chad, one day you're going to see the real jungle, and I've been preparing you for it for a very long time. This hat is only one of the many ways I've equipped you to handle what I'm asking you to do.'
I like the hat because it is a symbol of the preparation that God gives us for the time He asks us to do a thing.
Now, let me tell you about this paperclip I have (-; .... perhaps another time.
