The adventures continue: Mission trip #2

Tomorrow I start my second mission trip for the summer!

It is a tradition for many Australian families to go camping by the beach for a week or two every summer. Many go back to the same place every year, some even keep taking their kids where they went when they were a child. Beach mission programs like the one I am involved in reach out to children and families at these holiday destinations by running programs that are fun but also give the children and teens participating a chance to learn about the gospel. I'm working with teenagers.

This is my first time being involved in a program like this. I'm excited but a little nervous. I would really appreciate your prayers as I participate. Things to pray for include safety (particularly to do with the large amounts of driving I have to do in a car I'm not used to), that we would be able to effectively reach out to the children and teens who come along, good health and that relationships among the team would remain positive despite the intensity of the program.

I'll be keeping pretty busy on mission so probably won't be blogging. I might also be a bit slower at replying to comments but I do love hearing from you. Normal blogging will resume sometime after my return on 5th January.

Book review: Carolyn Weber- Surprised by Oxford

Surprised by Oxford
Carolyn Weber
Buy this book


In Surprised by Oxford, Carolyn Weber tells the story of how she found love and faith while a studying literature at Oxford University.

Surprised by Oxford is a really well written book. Carolyn has an incredible gift for describing people, places and situations in a way that is beautiful and draws you into the story. Her descriptions of Oxford made me wish I could go there! Her deep love for literature is shown through her brilliant turns of phrase and extensive but not gratuitous quotations from many books and poets.

The book is not just great style but has impressive substance too. Arriving at Oxford a non-believer, experiences she had while at university caused her to wrestle with questions of faith and eventually become a Christian. She shares much of that journey in the book, including some of the influential conversations she had in the process of coming to faith. She works through an impressive breadth and depth of topics. She also shares about her trials and progress as a young Christian trying to make sense of newly discovered realities, something I found quite moving. Woven throughout the book is also the lovely story of how she fell in love with a man she met at Oxford.

Surprised by Oxford has been one of my favourite books that I have read this year, both due to the beautiful writing and its profound reflections on faith.

Review copy provided by Book Sneeze

Book review: Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira- Grumble Hallelujah

Grumble Hallelujah
Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira

In Grumble Hallelujah, Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira shares what she has learned about worshipping God and loving life even when disappointing or frustrating things happen.

This is one of those books that left me wondering if she had somehow been listening to how I think and pray sometimes! What she said about facing disappointment as a Christian certainly rang true. In the book is brutally honest about her struggles to deal with disappointment. She goes onto talk about how to handle disappointment well. I appreciated that she didn’t advocate possitive thinking influenced attempts to pretend things don’t hurt, instead she acknowledged the legitimacy of feeling and expressing disappointment. Nor does the book veer off the other side of spectrum into a pity party. She gives some good advice on dealing with issues like jealousy, doubt, shame and bad attitudes towards God. I also found some of the prayers at the end of each chapter helpful in starting to pray about things I’d felt but hadn’t quite had the words to articulate.

I’ve tended to think that in the Christian community we often don’t have a clear idea of how to go about dealing helpfully with circumstances that aren’t in the realm of tragedy or serious suffering but are nonetheless disappointing. I think this book does a good job at addressing that gap in our understanding of the Christian life. It is definitely a book I will be coming back to.


Review copy courtesy of Tyndale Publishers

What I learned talking to strangers + summer adventures update

A few weeks ago I blogged about the crazy assortment of things I was about to embark on. I figured I should check back in to report on progress. I finished my thesis, survived moving house and managed to pass my driving test, something I suspect involved divine intervention. In the last two and a half weeks I have presented at an academic conference, attended a Christian conference and gone on a mission trip. I considered doing the maths on the number of talks I heard between the three activities but decided working that out would probably make my head hurt! There is so much I could say about it all. God was very gracious in making all the logistical stuff come together even better than I originally planned. I plan to post a bit more reflecting on what I learned and how I've seen God at work in the coming weeks. Hopefully the talks from National Training Event (the Christian conference) will be online soon and I will be able to share them with you.

One thing that stood out to me, particularly in the ministry activities, was the stories I heard. I heard some at mission but even more at the Christian conference. The conference dining hall was very large so most of the time you would end up sitting and talking with strangers rather than friends. People would also strike up conversations while waiting for sessions to start and a few were given the chance to share in sessions. Something about the conference environment got people asking good questions and telling good stories. I heard so many interesting stories- stories of how God led people to faith using all sorts of means and circumstances , stories about the trials and joys of different sorts of ministry, stories about the challenges of growing in faith and reaching out in places as diverse as Tonga, Japan, Sydney and Slovenia. It seemed like pretty much everyone had an interesting story to tell of something big or small God was doing. It was so encouraging.

Hearing all these stories made me wonder what we are missing in our churches and communities by not hearing that many stories of God at work. I don't just mean stories of how people got saved (although those are fantastic), but stories of how God is at work right now and what people are learning. I wonder what we are missing out on by assuming we know peoples stories or never bothering to ask? I wonder what we would learn or how we would be encouraged if we made a habit of taking an active interest in what God is doing in peoples lives? What fascinating stories might people tell if only we would ask?

Next up is my second mission trip for the month, starting just after Christmas. It is longer and probably more intense than the mission trips I've done before. It will also have me working with teenagers, a group I don't have much experience with. It is exciting but a bit a bit intimidating. I plan to write a bit more about that before I go.