“…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

All we wanted was a little celebration of the end of just one chapter of the Elijah Ride, and the beginning of a new chapter in our continuous prayer journey.

To our surprise, God sent our friend and worship leader James Rutten all the way from Orange to help us to celebrate this new mile stone. James’ brother, Nic who is a captain in the Australian Army was there too, which was meaningful for us, because the spirit of 800 light horsemen who had captured the city of Beersheba in 1917 was an important part of this ten-week ride.

There on the beach of Casuarina, Darwin, we finished our ten week ride and called up on the name of the Lord, and thanked our wonderful God.

We are deeply thankful that the Lord has led us this far, and helped us to obey his call by completing one part of the Elijah Ride. We have done the task given to us, that is, to do the prayer ride from Port Augusta to Darwin.

In all this, we know we have nothing to boast about ourselves but the grace of God, his covering, and his provision through his people. We just had the privilege of experiencing how real our God was to us, and how his presence followed us all the time, even when we do not see him with our own eyes.

We prayed our deep thankfulness for all He has done and all the people who faithfully prayed for us and financially supported this journey. All those who worked faithfully behind the scenes, all who visited us, and those who helped us by providing what we needed for this journey. We also thanked God for our team members, Glenn, Bradley, Jedong, and myself. We thanked God for the churches of Orange, especially Harvest Church and HisStory Church in Sydney. We thanked God for our families who silently shared our joys and pains throughout journey.

Lord, we keep praying for the healing of our land, unity of the Church, salvation of souls, restoration of families. May all these happen as we worship you and lift your name high above all others! May your presence and your glory fill our land! Amen, amen!

DaeSop YOON

“For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands. How great are your works, O Lord, how profound your thoughts!” (Psalms 92:4-5)

This morning I woke up and worshipped God with the worship song, “Oh Lord my God, when I, in awesome wonder, consider all the works thy hands have made…then sings my soul, my Saviour God to thee, how great thou art…how great thou art…” I did not know that this song, in fact, was about what God was going to show us all day today.

After finding a camp site and putting our horses in the electric fence at 46 kms north of Adelaide River, we drove around this area because we thought it was a very unique place.

Having passed through a place of smoke and fire, we have seen beautiful green new shoots coming out on the black burnt land and black stumps every where. Then God showed several wonders of His creation. Especially the shapes of the ant hills were so special and distinctive. Some of them looked like tombstones on the grave yards.

We thanked God for so many wonders of this great land of the Holy Spirit, which God has presented right in front of our eyes during the last 10 weeks of the journey of this Elijah Ride.

We also talked and prayed about the original care takers of this great land whom we have seen along the way. We all agree that our hearts go out to them when we see them living so poor like alien wonderers of their own land. We want to do something for them to raise up the leaders. That’s one of our prayers for our nation of Australia.

DaeSop YOON

“In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:6)

We thought we would have a short ride of 30 kms today up to the Adelaide River, and prepare our horses for the final ride of 110 kms to Darwin.

But, we discovered this morning that both horses have swollen lumps on their backs. When we touched those parts on the back, they backed up to express their pain. It was probably because of yesterday’s rough rides up and down the steep hills in the heat. The horses can not speak and therefore we need to be discerning about their pain.

The memory of the loss of our faithful horse Billy is still vivid in our mind. We can not keep riding them, even if it’s only a couple of days’ journey to the end. It seems God is forcing us to trust Him until the last moment of the Ride, to teach us that we can’t do anything without His help.

We drove 30 kms to the show ground of Adelaide River, washed the horses and looked after their backs. Glenn looked deeply frustrated and disappointed. After a long conversation we decided to keep riding Picky tomorrow morning and to pray for healing for Moo Moo. So we prayed and we acknowledge our miracle healer, our Lord Jesus. We believed that He would open our paths straight. I expect something good tomorrow morning.

DaeSop YOON

“He was despised and rejected by men……” (Isaiah 53:3) “Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven…” (Luke 6:22-23)

The beauty of the Elijah Ride is that we experience sweet favour of people one day, and then the next day we receive humiliating rejection by men. Today was a day of rejection.

A couple of hours’ ride in the scorching heat made our riders, Glenn and Brad, desperate for a little rest in the cool shade to have a nice cuppa tea. They found a place to get away from the dangers and noises of the highway. There were a few nice trees behind a roadhouse (32 kms north of Pine Creek). A few minutes after we put our horses under the trees, we had to receive humiliating insults from the owner (or manager) of the roadhouse who demanded to leave the place immediately.

It turned out the place was private property. We said we did not know this, but it was no excuse for this angry owner of the property. We had to put the horses in the horse float and drove a short distance to another tree. We prayed for this angry man and enjoyed our little rest, beside the highway.

Next we rode for about 22 kms up to Hayes Creek. Again, it was a camping place, where pets were not allowed. There, I saw a man who was travelling on foot, pulling a his luggage and backpack on a carriage of two wheels. I thought how blessed we were to travel on horse back, even though we had to go further to find a place that we were not rejected because of our horses.

God had already prepared a good place for us and our horses where the campers welcomed us with open arms. There we met a man who had lost his wife some twelve month ago. We invited him to our table of evening tea and Glenn shared the gospel with this lonely old man named Gordon. He kept saying to us, “O I never expected this. I haven’t had a proper meal like this for a long time.” In fact, the meal was just curry and rice. What he really wanted was somebody who sat with him and welcomed him for some fellowship .

God, I pray for your outpouring love for the people of our nation, for all lonely people and for all who harbor bitterness in the souls.

DaeSop YOON

“How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfil my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.” (Psalms 116:12-14)

God’s favor comes through His Body. A lady called Rosemary, who belongs to the community church of Pine Creek, arranged a place for our horses and our camping spot at the backyard of the church building.

When I spoke with her to asked about a yard for our horses, she was on the way to church to hose the lawn. She asked, “Are you riding a horse? Is it for fundraising?” I said we have been riding our horses from Port Agusta to Darwin to pray for our nation” She said, “Oh, it’s good” Then, the Lord obviously spoke to her heart, because she initially had wanted me to ask the permission of the council. But after a few minutes, she changed her mind and said that I didn’t have to even speak to anybody.

Rosemary arranged a nice spot behind the church building. This church is called the Community Church, because the Anglican, Salvos, and people of the Uniting Church worship together and work together as one body. The Catholics also share the same building for their worship. God, how beautiful your body is upon this land, when they are united in one heart, one Spirit, under one Lordship of Jesus! I pray that this unity may happen across Australia.

PS: Moo Moo did fifty kms today. Picky did not pick it up very much. On his way to 15 kms, he lost his front right shoe, and we had to carry him in the horse float all the way to Pine Creek.

Daesop YOON

“How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfil my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.” (Psalms 116:12-14)

Glenn has started earlier this morning at 5:30am on the final leg (hopefully, the final week) of our portion (south-north) of the Elijah Ride towards Darwin. I know the other team will take longer to finish off the journey. However it was long enough even for us.

Last night Glenn was emotional as we talked. He can’t wait to finish. But, it is he and we, who have to do it. It will not be done to us. We have to force ourselves to keep going on this very last leg of our race. It seems easier to start the race than to finish it.

I can understand the emotion of Apostle Paul, when he said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Endurance really is a spiritual fight more severe than any other fight. What I need to keep reminding myself is God’s goodness to us during the journey. We will keep relying on Him and proclaim His salvation. We will fulfil our vows in the presence of all His people.

DaeSop YOON

“… a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. ” (Matthew 26:7)

We found it really hard to continue the ride and walk with our horses because as we come closer to the final destination Darwin, the road gets busier and weather gets hotter day by day.

We know we have to finish our daily ride before 8 or 9 o’clock in the morning, which is practically hard, unless the moon in the sky. There are many road trains passing by at 130 kms/h and MooMoo tries to take off out of fear.

We travelled 40 kms early this morning and had breakfast at 8:30 am. Then we began to look for a place of camp for Sunday rest. We were not very successful today and wasted a couple of hours and petrol. Finally we had to come to the show ground of the town. Everyone of out team was completely exhausted by the time we got to the place of some rest around 12:30 pm.

I felt that the cost for this ride is really high. The truth is that we can not do it, if we think of the cost. Financially it is too expensive. Also, we know that we can not do it, if we think of all the logistics and inconveniences we have to bear with. We can not do this, if we think of the time spent for nothing. It can be considered as a great waste of our precious time.

And yet, we do this because we believe that Jesus accepts our hearts and prayers which we are pouring out onto His body. I am glad that we have a predecessor who poured her precious fragrant oil onto the body of Jesus. It could have been considered as complete waste unless Jesus recognized her devotion and love for Him.

For us, Jesus’ Body is His Church. We are pouring out our precious oil onto His Body, the Church. We love the Church and we want the Church may have beautiful fragrance. It’s our prayer and our humble expression of love for Him.

DaeSop Yoon

“May you be blessed of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth! The heavens are the Lords heavens, but the earth has He given to the children of men.” (Psalms 115:15-16)

After a 90 minute walk with Moo Moo, I put out a chair and slept a power nap for a couple of minutes under a tree in the bush. It was great that we didn’t have any of the flies or mice which had taken all our peace previously.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the most beautiful gum tree of all I have ever seen. It was, in fact, just one of many gum trees, which had been once burnt by a bush fire and the stem was still blackened. So I wondered about what made it so beautiful to my eyes.

It was the sky behind the tree that made it so beautiful in my eyes. It was the crystal clear blue sky that made it look so different from all other trees. Then I imagined with a different perspective the pictures of the whole Elijah Ride- alters that had been built at every hundred kilometers, the horses and the team members, and all who have been praying for us. I saw my mental pictures with a new background of heaven, crystal pure and holy.

When I think of this true reality, I see all my earthly things are really beautiful. They might be just ordinary, but God makes all we do beautiful, when we do things in the way to honour him. I pray for the day when I will be able to see this whole land of Australia with the background of God’s heaven.

DaeSop YOON

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (Psalms 23:5)

Last night we found a safe place of rest for our horses by driving from 20 kms, to around 7 kms east of Mataranka. Many people had warned us about fresh water crocodiles in Mataranka and we had to be careful about finding a safe place.

We followed a sign about a thermal pool, and came to a caravan park. The manager was kind enough to find a horse yard for us, and we camped beside it. Then we realized that we were actually at a well known place for holiday makers. Our camping spot was different from the holiday makers, but yet we were allowed to use the facilities (laundry and toilets and showers) of the caravan park with small payment.

It was a favour from God and the people. We felt like we are staying in a five star hotel at the Hawaiian beach. We delayed our departure this morning to enjoy the favour of God fully and spent time in the 30 degree natural thermal pool. It was fresh water flowing from the hot springs.

As we sat in the nice fresh warm water of the thermal pool located right in the middle of a rain forest, I thought about the fresh water crocodiles, which many people had warned us about. We were in fact very close to the river, where there were many crocodiles. And yet we were safe and enjoying the atmosphere of paradise. Then I praised God with Psalm 23: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies (crocodiles). You anoint my head with oil (fresh warm water) my cup (heart) overflows (with joy and thanksgiving).

I never expected that God would give us such a surprise gift during this long journey. God is our loving father, wanting us to be happy and safe under the protection of His wings.

DaeSop Yoon

“Go to the ant, you sluggard consider its ways and be wise! (Proverbs 6:6)
Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer” (Proverbs 30:25)

There are many ant hills here. At first, I just passed them by. But after having seen so many varieties of them, I began to be drawn them.

Some of the ant hills are really big (higher than Glenn on the big horse, Picky) and some of them are very artistic. They are built by small ants, which are working diligently, together as a team.

While I was enjoying the arts of ant hills, God showed me in my mind the picture the huge buildings of Shanghai and the many people, working day and night in China. Individually, they are poor and weak, but they were making their city the centre of the whole world.

I remember, whenever I was asked about the symbolic image of Australia, I answered it was Koalas, sleeping all the time on the gum trees. They are cute and gentle like many good Aussies. But they are also a symbol of laziness. I pray that Aussies may learn from the ants to be wise and diligent, for God’s kingdom. I pray that we all may be a team working together, to rebuild and restore the walls of His Kingdom in this country.

DaeSop YOON