Part 3:    The Plan

After returning from India, the group tried doing more free work in Wollongong, Australia.

Robin and Christine were interviewed on a television talk show that showed people their telephone number if they wanted help.

"People telephoned us from all over Australia," says Gary, "but only three or four were from Wollongong. Most of the calls from around the country were just people wanting to know about our beliefs. A few were from church people trying to tell us that there was something wrong with working for free."

The group was starting to feel that they could never wake people up to their spiritual needs.

At 11pm, on Tuesday, April 9, 1985, in the house of a friend in Wollongong, Ross, Robin, and David were talking about the country's spiritual problems, as the other workers were sleeping near them.

"This country needs something like Elijah's competition with the false priests," said David. "Our country is full of people who do not believe in God, but the saddest part is how many of them are in the churches. If we could do something like Elijah did� where both sides had to do more than talk, it could start people thinking seriously about their faith in God."

In the Bible (I Kings 18) a man of God, Elijah, tells the false priests that he will meet with them on a special mountain. Each side was to kill an animal to give it to their God. Both sides were then to pray, asking that fire come down from their God to burn up the dead animal.

Elijah said the other priests could go first. When they had prayed for some time without any fire coming, he started to laugh at them.

"Pray louder!" he shouted. "I think your God is sleeping or away on a trip."

When it was clear that nothing was going to happen, the people turned to Elijah. He asked them to dig a hole around his dead animal and to pour many barrels of water on the animal, so much that it filled the hole. Then, after a short time of praying, the animals exploded in flames. The flames were so hot that they dried up all the water in the hole.

"But if we tried something like that, wouldn't it be forcing God to do a miracle?" asked Ross.

"It could be," answered David. "Elijah wasn't forcing God to do a miracle because he was only doing what God was telling him to do. But it's true that you can't just say God is going to do something and then tell Him to do it. You must be doing something he was telling you to do in the first place."

"That's it!" shouted Robin. "We could ask people to do something that God has asked us to do. For years we've been trying to get people to believe that God will feed them if they will just use their time to work for him. No one believes us, but we see God feeding us and meeting all of our other needs all the time. We can make it a test of faith, because we know that God will feed us."

"Yes, something like a faith walk," Ross added.

"Faith walks are too easy," David argued. "You would need something very big if you wanted the whole country to know that it was a miracle. You know how easy it is to believe it is not God doing it each time he feeds us; and these people would be trying very hard to say that it was not God."

"What about a very long faith walk, like from Sydney to Melbourne?" asked Ross.

"No, it's still too easy. Too many houses. Too many cars. Too many towns. It would have to be far away from people to show that it is God who is helping us and not just people."

Robin shouted: "I know! We can walk across the Nullarbor!"

"Now something like that really could work," David said, as he was turning it over in his head. "But you would want to be very clear that it is what God wants before you try it. It would be a bigger test of our faith than any of our other walks."

"Why not think about it for a few days, and see what happens," Ross said as he jumped into bed.

"Good thinking," agreed the other two.

The week was filled with plans for Boyd and Sheri, who were married on Saturday, April 13. But thinking about a walk across the Nullarbor was never far from the minds of the three planners.

APRIL 14

On Sunday , when all the visitors had left, and the house had been cleaned up, David called a meeting of all the young people who were left. (Boyd and Sheri were away for a few days.)

Together, David, Ross, and Robin filled the others in on what they had been thinking.

Kevin quickly pointed out that when Jesus asked his followers to travel without taking food it was to talk to other people about God. "If you're going to talk to people, you should do it where the people are� not in a place as empty as the Nullarbor."

"A few cars will drive by," Robin pointed out. "We can print up leaflets to give to any that stop. And we can give them to people at the petrol stations. But the way I see it, the people we will really be talking to will be all the people who will read the newspapers if the newspapers report it."

"And what if they don't?" asked Kevin. "Are you willing to go through with it just for the few people living or travelling out there?"

"I am," said Christine. "I've been wanting to go on another faith walk for a long time. Even if no one hears about it, it will still be good for us."

"But a walk this long could take months," said Kevin. "Do we have that much time to spend on it? What about returning to India?"

David opened up, "I've been thinking about how we need to say something to the whole world. Jesus never travelled to India, and he didn't talk to as many people as we have touched through our little books. But he had something that he was ready to die for, and people could see that in him. They can still see it today. He touched the whole world without even leaving Israel. And I think we can do the same if we are ready to put our lives on the line out there on the Nullarbor."

The others listened and agreed with David, but they agreed with Kevin too, that, if they were going to tell newspapers about this walk, it was very important for them to seriously pray about it more before they did. On earlier walks it would not have been a big problem if they had not finished. They were not in a competition. But if they started this one and did not finish, people could use it as a reason to laugh at God.

"And what is it that we're wanting to say through the walk?" asked Kevin, in his job as problem shooter.

"I'd like it to say something about miracles," said Robin. "Half the world doesn't believe in miracles at all, and the other half thinks God has nothing better to do than to jump every time they pray for some entertainment. I want to show people something about how real faith works with or without miracles. I get just as sick listening to Christians ask for miracles without thinking about what God wants, as I do listening to people who don't believe in God argue against him."

"And how are we going to teach people about miracles?" asked Gary.

"By showing them that we are not afraid to do a little work to build up some strength before the walk for one thing," answered Robin. "And by not dropping our plans if it becomes a little rough for another thing. But mostly they'll learn about real faith when God starts feeding us. You know how it was on those other faith walks; even the bottles of soft drink didn't look like they were made in space. It was so down to earth that it was easy to believe that it wasn't coming from God. People want to see a miracle? We'll show them some, so that they can see how easy it is not to believe."

"Yes, I think some of our help will come from people travelling on the road, like happened in the other walks," said Christine.

"Not much," Roland said, remembering the longest walk. "In ten days only three cars stopped."

"The point is that three cars are better than no cars," said Robin. "And God will come up with other ways too. He could help us with rain or with plants and animals on the way. It's not important how he does it. The point is that people will be able to see a miracle close up, and learn for themselves just how easy it is to say it's not a miracle even after seeing it."

"The difference between looking and sounding like you are crazy and looking and sounding like you are boring church people is important to remember when you come in touch with newspaper and television people too," pointed out David. "We have to sound interesting to pull them in. They love to have the last laugh when a crazy religion promises something that it cannot do.

"But if we sound too crazy they won't listen to us at all. They are not interested in really crazy people. You must show them that you are smart and in control of your emotions, but at the same time, that you are strange enough to make an interesting story."

Dave went on: "We will be the ones who paint the picture, and we must paint the right one. If we wear long white robes, it makes an interesting picture. But if we talk on and on about ourselves without listening to the arguments they will give against us, we will sound like know-it-alls. And if robes look too strange, then you can turn up at an interview wearing running clothes, or long pants and shirts to show that you can change for different needs."

"Are we going to do like Elijah, and make the walk a competition with people who don't believe in God?" asked Malcolm.

"I think that's an important part of it," answered David. "We could ask anyone to try the same walk without faith in God. And we could promise that they won't make it."

"I don't know if I have the faith to promise that," said Christine.

"Why not?" asked Malcolm. "If we believe that he wants us to make it a competition, we should have the faith that he's not going to help those who are fighting us."

"But what if someone wants to walk with us? How would people know if they were walking with us or against us?" asked Gary.

"We could say that people who do not believe in God should walk in the opposite direction, from west to east," said Roland.

"I think we're moving too quickly," said Ross. "We should all pray about it a little longer. We can have another meeting in a week and see what people think then. For now, we can start exercising� that way we won't lose too much time if we choose to do the walk."

Ross' plan was carried and they started running and walking twelve miles each day, six days a week. They did a few miles at a time, running at a few different times each day to protect themselves from sores on their feet.

When this was happening, Christine was making robes for the walkers to wear. The robes were planned to meet a few different needs. They would have sayings on them to help people understand the reasons behind the walk; they would make the walkers easier to see, and protect them from being hit by a car; they would all join together with special buttons to make a covering to protect them from the sun or wind at rest stops; and they would be made from two pieces of cloth with openings on the side, so that leaves, papers or any other material could be put inside them to make them like quilts on cold nights.

MONDAY, APRIL 22

The following Monday, running jumped up to fifteen miles a day.

That same day the group had a long and serious meeting about how much each person wanted to be a part of the walk.

After praying about it, David said that he had been very enthusiastic about the walk in general but that he now believed God was telling him to stay out of it, leaving the young people to do it on their own, if that was what they wanted. He and Cherry both believed that they should stay at the house as parents for the boys.

Boyd and Sheri were still not back from their time away after getting married. They had been planning to hand out leaflets in Adelaide before talk of the walk started, so they were dropped from the list too.

Ross and Kevin said they both believed they should stay to work on a dictionary that the group wanted to have ready to take with them when they returned to India. The dictionary would help them to teach English to people of any language. Kevin was making pictures for each word in a 900-word list, and others in the group were using those words to help people understand about 30,000 other English words.

Kevin was painting a picture for a big art competition too, and he wanted to stay back to finish it.

The group agreed that Rachel and Elizabeth should not be part of the walk, because they were only in Australia as visitors. Anything that would bring problems with the government could make it difficult for them to return to Australia in the future.

That left only Gary, Christine, Malcolm, Roland, and Robin. These five were interested, but asked for two more days before telling the newspapers, radio, and television.

At the end of the meeting the group had a "listening time", a time when each person tries to free his or her mind from any understanding or plans that they have, and then wait for God to "say something".

Rachel said she could see God telling her to run down a road. People on both sides were putting their hands out and shouting at her to stop her from running. After talking about this the group agreed with Rachel that God could be telling her (and the others) not worry about what others would say if she went. They agreed to Rachel starting the walk, even if she dropped out after a day or two.

In the same meeting there was talk about what to wear on the walk. Robin had studied the weather on the Nullarbor at that time of year. At night it often drops down to freezing, but in the middle of the day it can become very warm.

Malcolm and Gary believed that they could use plastic bags for blankets at night if the bags were filled with sand and put over the walkers. They wanted to test the plan that night by driving to a mountain and sleeping under sand-filled plastic bags. They did that, and returned the next morning cold and tired, saying that sand would not work, and more clothes would be needed.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24

At Wednesday's meeting the six people on the list reported what they were thinking about the walk. Gary said that he would be happier giving out leaflets to people in big towns, because then he would know that he could talk to many people; but he said he was ready to go with what the others wanted. Roland was just the opposite. He said he believed so strongly that the walk was what God wanted him to do that he was ready to go by himself if others were not interested. Malcolm, Robin, and Christine wanted to go on the walk too, but they still had a few small questions that they believed God would answer in time.

The group did not feel that it was important for all of the walkers to finish the walk. What was important was that someone finish it. Because Gary was not very enthusiastic, Roland was having some problems with his knee, and this was Malcolm's first walk of faith, they believed that Christine and Robin were the strongest in spirit and healthiest in body. Because of this Christine or Robin were the best people to lead the walkers. It was agreed that Christine would act as leader with Robin as her helper.

Christine's first job was to call The News, in Adelaide, saying that four people would walk across the Nullarbor without taking any food or water with them. She did not give any names or say when the walk would start. This was to give the walkers room to change plans over the next few days. They secretly planned to start on May 6, less than two weeks away. They had six people interested in doing the walk (counting Rachel), but they started by saying that only four of them were going to do the walk. This would give room for two walkers to change their mind before the next report to the newspapers.

THURSDAY, APRIL 25

The next day, as they walked around and around the roads where they lived, the group started to go over all the questions that reporters could ask. They each had a turn at playing the part of a reporter and trying to ask difficult questions. This later was a very big help when reporters came trying to trick them with their words.

FRIDAY, APRIL 26

By Friday Malcolm, Gary, Roland, Robin, Rachel, and Christine all believed strongly that the walk was what God wanted them to do. They sent a letter to newspapers, radio stations, and television stations saying that they would meet with them in a park in Sydney the following Tuesday, and at that time they said they would tell what their plans were. That same day, the News report was printed in Adelaide, telling people that a walk was being planned.

The letter about the meeting on Tuesday did not give names. The group believed that what Rachel saw in the "listening time" was a sign from God that people were going to try to stop her from walking. They wanted to wait for as long as they could before saying who they were.

A telephone number was put on the letter to the newspapers, radio, and television, but no house number. The meeting was in a park because they were staying at the house for boys who had problems with the police or with their families, and they did not want the news people to think that the Catholic Church was planning the walk.

SATURDAY, APRIL 27

On Saturday morning, Christine telephoned a reporter from one newspaper in Sydney agreeing for him to be the only reporter to take a picture of the young people running at a park near the boys' house. Christine's first name was the only name to be used by this reporter. The picture in the Sunday newspaper was part of a plan to show the other newspapers, radio stations, and television stations that the strange letter about a meeting on Tuesday was from real people and it was not a trick.

Robin and Roland talked a company into giving a special price for expensive warm under-clothes to be used on the walk. Christine, Malcolm and Roland went to the mountains with the under-clothes on for another test at night. After sleeping on benches at the train station, they reported the next morning that they were very cold, but they were able to get some sleep, and it was not cold enough to be dangerous.

SUNDAY, APRIL 28

On Sunday, the report was printed in the newspaper and the young people received a call from Good Morning Australia, a television talk show that goes all over the country. The show asked if they would come and be on the show on Tuesday morning, just before the meeting at the park. Christine, Malcolm, and Robin agreed to go. This was what they needed to build up interest in the walk.

MONDAY, APRIL 29

Running jumped up to eighteen miles a day. The group asked the Tiger running shoe company in Sydney to give them some strong shoes for the trip. When the company learned that they planned to walk 1,000 miles in the shoes, they said that no shoes were strong enough for a walk as long as that. They agreed to sell their best shoes at half price, but would not agree to give the shoes for free.

TUESDAY, APRIL 30

The interview on Good Morning Australia was very short. But it was long enough for the three walkers to make it clear that their walk was to force people to think about how much faith they had in God. Gordon Elliot, the man asking the questions, did not understand that the walkers were going to follow the road and not cut straight across open country. Through the whole walk many people believed this, and many times people argued that it would be very expensive for the government to go looking for the walkers if they could not find their way through the desert. The truth is that they followed the road all the way, and believed that they could stop a car for help if at any time they were in serious danger. There was not enough time on the show to ask people who disagreed with the walkers to walk in the opposite direction. But at this point, no one was saying that the walk would be easy. The opposite was true. Gordon strongly believed that no one of any faith could make the walk without taking food and water with them, and he promised that they would die.

In the interview, the television camera moved in to show a close look at what the group was going to carry in their pockets: one army knife, two fire starters, a box of toilet paper, a bottle of oil, some tape for sores, six plastic bags, needles and thin string, six pens, six books of writing paper, and six small pocket Bibles. Gordon laughed at these things and promised again that they would die on the Nullarbor if this was all that they were taking. His fears and his promise that they would not finish the trip had the effect that the young people wanted. It surprised the country and forced people to think seriously about what was going to happen. It made people want to hear more about this strange plan.

At the meeting in the park later that same day, an angry reporter pushed a microphone in front of Rachel and said, "Do you understand the dangers that face you in this walk?" Rachel, who was still learning English at that time, looked surprised for a few seconds and then answered, "I know God will protect me."

"It's clear she doesn't understand the dangers," shouted the reporter, who put a half-page report in a paper the next day saying the group was putting Rachel in serious danger and that the walkers should be stopped. Rachel's picture of people trying to stop her was coming true.

That same day, a doctor from Broken Hill called to say the group could use his car to drive from Sydney to Broken Hill on Thursday night.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1

On Wednesday, newspapers around Australia carried reports of the group's plan. It was on the front page in Adelaide. A top church leader in Sydney was asked by one newspaper for his feelings about the walk, and he said that the actions of the young people were "testing God" and "almost showing hate for God". The walkers were surprised that an important leader like this should judge them so quickly and so openly without first trying to learn more about their reasons for making the walk.

All that day radio stations called up for live interviews. The group agreed to protect Rachel from interviews after her first sad meeting with the reporter in the park. But each of the other walkers had a turn at doing an interview. Even without Rachel talking, most reporters questioned how young she was and how dangerous it would be for her.

"If it had not been Rachel, they would have said they were trying to protect me," said Christine, who, at 15, was the next youngest walker.

But even with reporters trying to find something wrong with the walk, the walkers were happy that people were thinking. They had not believed there would be so much interest at the end of the walk and at this point the walk had not even started!

Christine, Robin, and Malcolm were on another Australia-wide television show. This time they were able to say more about the need for faith in God.

A company owner agreed to make leaflets for the walkers to hand out on the trip. This is what they put on the leaflets:

On May 6 we left Port Augusta, South Australia, without any food, water, money, or blankets, and we are trying to walk across the Nullarbor to Norseman, Western Australia.

We are doing this because we believe people in today's world do not have enough faith in God or even in other people. We believe that if people would put God first and do what they can to help others, then God will meet their needs. He often does it through ways that we would not call miracles, but we feel we must take this very serious step to make people see that things like faith and love are just as strong in a place away from the help of others as they are in a very big town.

We pray that our action will help others to think about giving some of what they have to others. For only by doing that can we build a better world.

Thank you for your time. Christians.

FRIDAY, MAY 3

After driving all night from Sydney, the six walkers and David arrived in Broken Hill on Friday morning to leave the car with the doctor who owned it. David had come to drive the car.

In Broken Hill, they joined up with Sheri and Boyd, who had been working in Adelaide handing out leaflets. Boyd and Sheri had a van that was big enough to hold all nine of them on the trip from Broken Hill to Port Augusta, where the walk was to start. They rest that day and started to drive to Port Augusta that night. They stopped beside the road at 10:30pm to try out their clothes in the cold weather of South Australia. They tried sleeping on the ground with just their warm under-clothes, running clothes, green army pants and shirts, and the robes to keep them warm.

Sleeping was no problem for Gary and Rachel, but the others were awake much of the night with freezing hands and feet. Malcolm was so cold that he went for a one-hour walk in the night to try to make his blood move more quickly through his body. In the morning, the walkers rubbed each other's feet to warm them up. Clearly, the weather in South Australia was much colder than the weather in the mountains near Sydney!

SATURDAY, MAY 4

The travellers arrived in Port Augusta at about 8am and went to a hotel that was very close to where they planned to start the walk. They said who they were and the owner said they could use three big rooms for the next two days for free. This kind act encouraged them all.

Emotions were running high for all of them, and being without sleep the night before did not help. Malcolm collapsed when he was in the toilet and was asked to stay in the room and rest when the others went for the morning run.

All of the running in Sydney happened when the town was having some of the wettest weather it had had at any time in the past, so the group did not see much of the sun in their earlier runs. Because of this, some of them were burned by the sun when going on their six mile run that morning.

David called the police in Eucla and a policeman there said that most of the water tanks in Western Australia were dry.

"We'll just have to pray for rain," David answered.