A Big "Wings As Eagles" Thankyou

On 20 May 11 our Wings As Eagles website had its 5,000^thvisitor. A big thank-you to all of you who have visited our site at least once, with particular thanks to our returning visitors.

Established on 03 April 08, over a three year period these 5,000 visitors have accessed in excess of 17,000 page views.

Modern technology can tell us not only that these visitors have accessed our site from 96 countries worldwide, but from which particular cities and suburbs in those countries, and on what days.  

What these figures cannot tell us though is whether these visitors are mature Christians, those who are actively seeking Christ, those curious about the Christian faith, or those who simply stumbled upon our website by accident.

Of course it doesn’t matter to us what the reason as long as God is directing people to our site, and that they are leaving hopefully having taken something from it.

This could be in the form of a chuckle at God’s Sense of Humour, being spiritually fed from Food For Thought, or any of the more personal aspects of our walk.

Whilst teaching English at Shantou University Medical College in China for four years, Wings As Eagles were truly blessed in being able to bring people to Christ through our Bible studies. Through these classes we baptised a number of our students, and set many more on the path to Christ.

The numbers are not important to us, as God alone only knows. But what amazed and inspired us was that God actually used us in a communist country, where Christians are often persecuted for their faith.

Since returning to Australia in August 09 we have not had the same opportunities to actively witness for Christ during our travels around Australia, in fact we have actually met opposition on some occasions when we have tried to do so.

Recently we volunteer tutored in an Aboriginal school in remote central Australia for five months. Because of my military background, in the week leading up to ANZAC day on 25 April I was asked if I would give an ANZAC Day address to the school children in the days prior to the long weekend.  

I gladly accepted, and chose as my message the role of their indigenous forefathers during World War 1; particularly at Gallipoli where the spirit of ANZAC was founded.

It just so happened that ANZAC Day fell on Easter Monday of the Easter long weekend, and when I asked if I could also speak briefly about the message of Easter my request was denied – disappointing in a so called “Christian” country.

It seems as though we can all take holidays at Christmas (the birth of Christ) and Easter (the death and resurrection of Christ), or earn lots of overtime in lieu, but don’t dare teach our children about the true meaning of these two most important events in the Christian calendar.

In spite of this it is encouraging to us at Wings As Eagles to know that whatever country we happen to be living in or passing through at any time, God still reveals His Word through our website to those who seek it.

Ray Dousset

Posted 21Jun11

Updated24Aug11