Five months, eight thousand kilometres and one life-time ago Nathan Brown was wondering what life was like for persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Now he knows.
Back in Sydney, one half of the Motor Mission team is putting his weight behind charity work as he considers the implications of a journey that took him and biker friend Julian Price from southern India to sandy Syria.
How ignorant would Nathan say he was of the dangers ahead?
"We were a bit cocky," he says, laughing. "Nothing prepares your for the road like the road."
"When we landed and saw the Indian traffic, the reality of death on the roads really hit home.
Mr Brown left with his motorcycle learner's permit, and only received his P-plates the weekend he got back.
"The first time I doubled Julian, I couldn’t work out if he was more sick or stressed," he grins.
"But people, missionaries, live it and so it became our normal life as well."
The goal of the journey that would take them the same distance as three quarters of the way around the planet was to visit as many Christians as possible and encourage them in their struggle.
"I thought missionaries were a special breed but they're you and me," says Nathan reflecting on the believers they managed to meet.
The pair visited Christian workers in India, Kashmir, Pakistan, Iran, Syria and Lebanon before Mr Brown had to finish his part of this epic journey.
"There is so much good stuff going on in India," Nathan reflected over a coffee in Kingsgrove.
However, he says the persecution for faith in Jesus ramped up once they crossed the border for Pakistan and beyond.
"Going into Pakistan I thought we might have to change our ways, be less "open' but Julian disagreed. He said we really needed to stand up for our faith," Nathan remembers.
"The only time we were really careful was around missos because they were there long-term. In Iran the government knew we were there and people we met were occasionally pulled in for questioning," he says.
Understandably, the first-hand experience with persecution in the Middle East has altered Mr Brown's perspective on the Kingdom of God.
"Because it’s more of a life and death situation, people really go for it. They have a real sense the Kingdom over there."
Back in Australia, Nathan says the real danger is slipping back into "normal life'.
"My responsibility now is, having seen the work there, to pray for it and tell people what we’ve seen," he says.
"There’s certainly a challenge because we met people who said ‘there is a need here'."
Today he is assisting Mission Aid Group (MAG) load a container with much needed clothes, manchester and type-writers for the Diocese of Morogoro, in Tanzania.
MAG relies on the efforts of volunteers like Nathan and seven other friends from his Glenbrook Anglican parish to send up to three containers to Africa each year.
Mr Brown is now considering doing a year of Bible college, and there are already rumours of another Motor Mission.
"There’s been some talk of Africa," he says, looking down to stir his tea.
It seems workers in the Middle East won't be the only one's benefiting from this man's passion for missionary work.
