The Joys of Knowing God - Much Better Then Anything Else

Recently, I have been going through a “weird” season of life where God has really been showing me some stuff. The most important thing that I think God has shown me, is that in comparison to pursuing Him, everything else means nothing! Now, are there things in life that are good things? Heck ya. Does God receive glorify in our careers and relationships and talents? Absolutely. But I finally realized that if nothing for the rest of my life worked out the way I would have hoped, it wouldn’t matter because I still had God. And I had to ask myself, would I be okay with that? Would I be okay with serving God and receiving the joys of pursuing Him, even if He didn't give me some of the things I desired? And I honestly decided that pursuing God was enough for me.

Now I definitely do desire many things. I desire to have a good career, a working car (which is a rare thing to come by these days in the Bendinelli house!), a relationship, and many other “good” things. But if God is the sole priority of my life, then there is "peace" about life. There is a "calmness" about it. There is such a "joy" about knowing that if nothing in this life ever works out how I expect, I still have the greatest thing, and that is God Himself. God showed me that He wants me...100%. If I give Him 100% then He'll "take care of the rest." God Himself wants my whole attention. He doesn't want me to focus on any career or any girl or anything else. He wants ME – ALL OF ME. HE IS A JEALOUS GOD. Once I give Him my all, then the rest is up to Him. In a sense, this makes things easy :) All I have to do is serve God and follow His promptings on my life, and then He will orchestrate the rest perfectly according to His plan...and He is God, so He knows best and the things He has planned for my life will be the most amazing things that I could ever fathom in my craziest and wildest dreams.

There are things that I desire that are amazing to me. But they are not everything to me. I know that if God wants me to have any of these things, then in the end of the day I will receive them. Now does that mean I can just sit back and do nothing? Heck no. God still calls us to follow His promptings and act upon them. I feel so deeply that He has called me to pursue certain things in life and so I must be faithful to do so. Even though sometimes it is pretty dang hard. Recently I have had to do some pretty hard things! But God has put it on my heart to do so. What better position could I be in!!!? The Lord of the Universe called me to do things out of my comfort zone. Things “the world” would call crazy and un-doable. Friends shot it down. My classmates shot it down. My coworkers shot it down. BUT God said otherwise. GOD SAID OTHERWISE. Therefore, I have nothing to lose. The world can doubt, but God uses the most impossible situations to show His glory. He wants to make those "un-doable" situations do-able. He wants to make those "impossible" situations possible. He wants to make "doubters" believe. He wants to show us that He is God. And at the end of the day, if it doesn't work out, guess what? I still have God. And that's all that matters. So if that is the truth about God, then I can make a fool out of myself all day long because He knows what is best.

There is a thing, however, about following God's leading. Does it mean that if we follow what God calls us to do, the outcome we expect is gonna happen? Not necessarily. I do feel that God has called me to be faithful to pursue certain things and do certain things. I have felt His presence and His calling and His will concerning that. However, that doesn't necessarily mean I will end up ending up where I feel He may want me to end up. He may be calling me to pursue these things for a different outcome. He may be calling me to these things to build my faith, or to build my trust, or to build my love...but not necessarily for me to end where I feel I may end up. At this point, I am going full-force. But I also need to realize that His plans in the end may be different and if something that I feel is unexpected does happen, I need to trust Him that He is fully sovereign over the situation. Is God calling me to pursue certain things? I believe so. Will I end up being or having exactly what I would like? Not necessarily, but there’s only way to find out :)

Psalm 3:5-6 says:

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.”

In terms of this verse, I think God calls us to LEAN ON HIM...TRUST HIM...LOVE HIM...and not on our own understanding. He wants us not to make decisions based on what WE THINK IS BEST or based on WHAT MAKES SENSE TO US. But to the contrary, He wants us to throw our faith in Him and throw 100% of our joy in Him. If we do this then He will reveal Himself to us. He will reveal His will to us. He will reveal to us what He wants us to do. What decisions He wants us to make. What things He wants us to pursue. And when this happens, we need to DIVE in and live the fire for Him. Sometimes the things God calls us to do won't always make sense and they definitely may not be easy. But that is why He calls us to lean NOT on our own understanding. Don't do things based on what makes sense to US but do things based on what the Lord Himself leads us to do. Our job is to not focus on our goals or jobs or relationships or finances or anything else. But we must FOCUS ON GOD...100%. If we do this, He will make everything else perfect. He will "take care of everything else" and it will be beautiful. Live the fire my friends. Live the fire for God.

Much Love,
RB

The Fiiiney Assigney!

Today is a great day...In fact, today may be one of the greatest days ever! As I look back over my life, I think that there may be only a few days that rank higher, such as:


(1) The day I was saved in Christ.
(2) The days my daughters Stitch, Sonni, and Leanitis were born (gotta love my doggies :)
(3) And the day I was able to eat two Chocolate Molten cakes from Chilis


However, apart from those days, this day is the one to remember...actually, this hour is the hour to remember. For I, Ryan Bendinelli, have just completed my final pharmacy school assignment! Ever!

The Fiiiney Assigney :)

Yah, yah, yah, I know a few more weeks of rotations are at hand. And following that the board exams must come. But for now, I will relish in this moment. And I will forever remember this moment as the moment that was almost as great as when I got to eat two Moltens...almost as great :)



much love you ya'll,
Ryan

The Pueblo Slopper...Should This Thing Be Illegal?

So Pueblo has come...My sis Natalie told me the transition from Aussie during the summertime to Pueblo during the wintertime would be a rough one, but sadly I did not know it would be this rough! The 'BLO, as the locals call it, is not nearly as magnificent as the land of OZ. In fact, it is very similar to my previous Alamosa rotation in the sense that Wal-Mart is the most exciting place to be in this town :) I have had one exciting (or should I say nasty) experience, however. When thinking back over this experience, I really do not have much to say...except that I am thoroughly disgusted with myself after eating a "Pueblo Slopper". The Slopper should be illegal! This thing has to be killing people all over Pueblo!!! But they say a picture is a thousand words so I will leave ya'll now to your imaginations. I introduce to you The Pueblo Slopper :)

Fearfully And Wonderfully Made

And to Australia I now must bid farewell. The time that God has given me here has been full of just about alittle bit of everything...Fifteen hours in first-class definitely kicked this trip off with a bang and now a fifteen-hour flight will return us back to our homeland (although the return flight will prolly feel more like 20 hours because it will not be first class this time haha). In between, I have experienced sooo many things. I have been able to explore the beautiful city of Melbourne, of which I am still convinced is the most magnificent city in the world. I've made my way down to the stunning city of Sydney and have seen for myself that the beauty of the Opera House overlooking the Sydney Harbor is definitely not over-hyped. I've strolled across the tiles lining the capital building floor and have discovered that although different governing systems stand in place in differernt countries, they all are designed to lead and protect the people of that country. I've sailed the seas, ridden out the waves, and have been able to grace some of the most beautiful waters and beaches I can ever even imagine. I have dove with the most colorful of fishes alongside some of the most dangerous and poisonous creatures. I have thoroughly been amazed by these creatures but have grown to respect them in the abilities that God has given them. Additonally, I have now come to know penguins as my new favorite animals and think that they should be considered the new Kings of the Jungle :) I have played in the whitest sand...relaxed under the biggest trees...and walked through the pouring rain. And through all of this, this country has made its way into my heart as my new home-away-from-home. However, this experience has also shown me how much I love and miss my Momma and Daddio, my brother Jordo and seeeeestirs Kerr, Britt, Natalie, and LMNOP Marie, my cuz Julian, and of course all of my AWESOME friendies. I leave you now with one of my favorite songs that the Lord has used many times in my life to point me back to Himself. It is simply called...Fearfully and Wonderfully Made (by Matt Redman). The lyrics speak as follows:

So fearfully and wonderfully made...How could they say, "There is no God?"

Reminded every breath that I take...its by your hand I have been formed

So what am I gonna do with this life you gave me?

What could I do but live for your praise?

You gave me this breath and you gave me this strength...and everyday I live to obey you

With all of my heart...with all of my soul...let every breath I breath in display you God

Oh, theres elegance in all you create...your grand designs leave us amazed

The wonders of the way we've been made speak of your power...tell of your grace

So what am I gonna do with this life you gave me?

What can I do but live for your praise

So, once again I bid farewell to the country that has housed me for the past month-and-a-half...I bid farewell to the country of OZ. Much love. RB

Refreshed And Ready To Go

Since my last post, we have arrived back to Melbourne. Boy does it feel good being back in my Australian home-sweet-home :) After traveling up the entire eastern coast of Australia, we returned back "home" just in time to catch the Super Bowl (of which we all know the mighty BURGH won). Being back in Melbourne has been extremely nice. Since we had previously "devoured" the entire city before we left on our travels up the coast, we have been able to keep it quite low-key for about 5 days now and this has definitely rejuvinated our traveling spirits. So with a new refreshed vigor, we have packed up the backpacks once again and the travels are to be continued tomorrow. Before we launch onto our next excursion, however, I think I should provide ya'll with some pics of our last expeditions. Check 'em out below.

Airlie Beach - Prosperpine, OZ

Getting ready to sail to the Whitsunday Islands.

Our majestic voyager.


This water was incredible blueish-greenish. You can see Whitehaven beach in the distance. It is called Whitehaven for the sand that is perfectly white.



The color of the water against the brightness and purity of the sand was just incredible.



Whitehaven Beach




Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef. In addition to snorkeling, we had to wear these "stinger suits" anytime we got in the water because it is stinger seasone here. The Box Jellyfish becomes in abundance this time of year and it is in the top 10 most poisonous creatures on the planet.





Approaching Long Island where Brian and I stayed for 2 nights. You can barely see the lodges we stayed in, but as you can see they are literally right on the water.

Just relaxing on Long Island

Brian and I layed in these hammocks that lined the beach one night for a couple of hours and just watched the sunset while we listened to music. It was one of the most peaceful times of my life where I was just able to contemplate life and "chat" with God for a couple of hours.

The next day we took a hike through the rainforest.

Determined to touch this shark in a lake on the island. This is the weirdest-looking shark I have ever seen.

Let me tell you...The bugs on this island were MONSTERS!

These are Wallabies. They are relatives of the kangaroo but are much smaller. They ran around everywhere on Long Island.

This Wallaby has a little baby in its pouch.

Preparing to make the trek from Prosperine to Cairns (or Cans as the locals say). The buse ride was suppose to be 9 hours and 50 minutes but due to severe flooding it took us 13 hours. At one point all the roads heading into Cairns closed down!

This was a funny moment. I was listening to my iPod and it started to downpour rain. Then I looked down and the song that came on was "Let it Rain" by Yanni (yes...I did just confess I was listening to Yanni :)

This is in Cape Tribulation (where the Daintree rainforest and Great Barrier Reef meet). We were on a skipper boat looking for Crocs, which are commonly swimming up and down this river.

I don't think I even have to say anything about this picture. But as you can see, the spiders in Cairns are ridiculously big. This spider was just hanging in the middle of a boardwalk in the rainforest. We almost walked right into his/her web. Did I mention that I am not a fan of spiders in the least!?

A bannana tree.

Another man-eating spider.

This moth is literally called the Goliath Moth. Up close it looked like a bird.

The rainforest overlooking the ocean.

This is the Mossman Gorge. It was AWESOME. It was in the middle of the rainforest and the water (although it does look green) was perfectly clear. Although a bit cold, it was an awesome place to swim.

The sunset from Port Douglass.

So there ya have it. Just wanted to let ya'll see what's been going on in my life and travels. Tomorrow Brian, John (who we met up with us two days ago) and I are renting a car and driving down the Great Ocean Road. It should be interesting because the steering wheel is on the opposite site! It will take us about 3 days to drive it so should be pretty fun. We decided that it would cost to much to find housing along the way so we are gonna be sleeping in the car every night...so it should be quite a cozzie fit! But it will be memorable and fun. When we return we will be backing up all our belongings (and gifts! Oh my goodness, Natalie, you are gonna love your gift :) and will be making the trip back to the US. Hate to see this trip come to an end, but we'll just have to go out with a bang. Much love to you all.

RB

Undercover cops checking passes on the tram...Are you kidding me?

Getting arrested and publicly humiliated by an undercover cop on the tram for not having a pass? Check.


After over 2 weeks of riding the trams in Melbourne for free, we have come to realize that they actually do check passes to ride...We just didn't realize that they used undercover agents to do the checking! I thought that those undercover guys were only used for big jobs, like stopping a drug ring or possibly to protect the president. But now from personal experience, if you don't have any money and you ride the trams in Melbourne, keep an eye out for the Undercovies (as Natalie and i like to call them). After flying back into Melbourne from Cairns, B and I decided to venture into the city to find a place that sold the Star Wars Trilogy...and I won't go into much detail about why we were doing this, but let's just say Brian has never seen Star Wars! The poor boy! Once finding this out I took it upon myself to introduce him to some of the greatest movies ever. But while riding the tram into the city, 2 large men approached us and whipped out badges...just like they do in the movies! But it wasn't a movie and the men definitely felt the need to show their manliness. They asked us where we were headed and thankfully I decided to leave the Star Wars part out of my answer. But we told them we were from the states and were sorry for the misunderstanding. They were not happy with our answer at all and told us it was a "serious offense" to ride the trams without a pass and they were going to "discuss what to do with us". I'm not gonna lie, it was kinda exciting. Meanwhile, however, there was about 30 other people on the tram that were staring at us...the 10 minute ride with the manly cops and the 30 pedestrians staring was a bit uncomfortable. Good news is I am not in an Aussie jail - I told the officers I was Barack Obama's brother and they decided to drop all charges :)


Much love,
Ryan


PS - We did immediately go to the nearest 7-11 and purchase a week tram pass. It set us back 29 dollars but it is good to know we won't be brushing shoulders with the Undercovies anymore :)

Sailing Heaven-On-Earth, Then 13 Hours to Cairnatalies

After last leaving the beautiful (but somewhat small and boring) capital city of Cranberra, I have jumped to the opposite end of the excitement spectrum. We flew from Canberra into Brisbane (~ 2 hours) and then from Brisbane to Proserpine (~ another 2 hours) where we stayed the night in a hostel on Airlie Beach. To our gratitude, we got to stay in a room with just two beds. In the hostel world, this is quite a luxury. Early the next morning we hopped on another bus that took us down to the peir where we boarded a boat named Camira. Getting on this boat almost gave both Brian and I heart-attacks because we had accidently wrote down the boat name as Camilla. When we approached the man monitoring who gets on the boat and asked him "...where can we find the Camilla dock?" the man gave us a dumbfounded look and told us "No boat with that name exists...Never heard of it EVER. You'll have to go back to the city and talk to someone else." Is Camilla and Camira really that different that he couldn't put 2-and-2 together? :) But we eventually straightened things out and set off to Whitehaven Beach. Whitehaven Beach was by far the most absolute fantasticly beatuful place I have ever seen. As I try to imagine what heaven will be like one day, I have to say that this beach is the "heaven" of this earth. It was stunning. It took us about 3 hours sailing to reach the shore, and the sailing alone was great. The boat, CamiRA (not Camilla!) had two large net-like structures stretching across its front end. I can't really describe this structure very well so just take a look at the pics below. As we coasted along, we were able to lay on the "net" almost like a hammock hovering above the water. As the boat would sail along, air would rush underneath it and come up through the holes in the net, giving us a feel almost as if we were laying on an air-hockey table as the air came up through the hundreds of little holes. Every now and again it would rain (and being out in the middle of the ocean I'm talking downpour). When this happened, everyone on the boat (there were about 30 people in all that were with us) would go inside the cabin. Brian and I took this time to soak up the beauty, as we layed on the net and had the entire outside boat to ourselves. After getting to Whitehaven Beach, we swam in the water for about 2 hours. We had to wear wetsuits because it is jelly fish season in Aussie and some of the stingers can be quite fatal. In fact, the Box jelly fish is among the top ten most poisonous creatures in the world. But being protected with wetsuits, the water was SOOOO warm. At one point it started to rain fairly hard while we were swimming around and it was almost a surreal experience. As you looked around, we were completely surrounded by blue ocean, apart from the one stretch of beach that we were on and the faint mountains in the far off distance. As we swam around, the pouring rain created an amazing sight against the water...it was truly incredible (and romantic! although, I was with Brian so that took away alittle from the romantic aspect :) We also walked along the coast for some time through the whitest sand I have ever seen, hence the name Whitehaven Beach. After awhile we left the beach and continued to sail to another point where we jumped overboard and snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef. Because it is jelly fish season, there were literally thousands of jelly fish. When I first looked under water I was completely startled because there were at least 20-30 jelly fish touching me at all times...they were EVERYWHERE! It was an incredbile sight and the rest of the reef was just as incredbile. Brian and I were able to see a stingray and were within just a couple of feet from it. Boy those things can swim fast when they want to. After getting pretty close to it, we must have startled it because it bolted off. But in all, the reef was amazing. While I was snorkeling it, I was really struck by God's creation and His creativity. There was a moment where I was swimming around and seeing various things and was just completely awwwed by God. It was striking how incredibly AWESOME God's creation truly is and how this awesome creation really reflects on how powerful and glorious a god He truly is. I was truly thankful that He used that time to point me back to His glory. After we finished up we sailed to Long Island where Britt and I stayed for the next 2 days. If I had to describe Long Island to you in the shortest amount of time possible, I would simply say..."Jurrasic Park" This place was crawling with creatures, and it had its fair share of weird ones at that. Kangaroos were walking around everywhere, parrots were flying around, bats were hanging in the trees, geckos, spiders, lizards, toads, etc etc etc...you name it and it was there. We were joking that we were just waiting for the dinosaurs to come out and try to eat us. After having our fill of Long Island for 2 days, we took a boat back to Proserpine where we quickly jumped onto a bus that drove overnight to Cairns. The bust trip was originally suppose to take just under 10 hours, but due to floading on the roads it took us 13. The floading was so bad at one point that we had to pull the bus over because the roads had been closed. But through it all we arrived safely in Cairns and I have finally been able to settle down at a computer at the hostel. Tomorrow we will be leaving for Cape Tribulation to see the rainforest and also take a trip to the outer Great Barrier Reef. Much love to you all.

PS My computer is not working very well so I can't post pics...will get them up ASAP.