The Light Between Oceans

I read a wonderful novel over the Easter weekend.  I was hooked by the end of the first page.  A third of the way through I was racing though and I just couldn't put it down.  By two thirds of the way through I'd slowed the pace right down because I didn't want it to end.  It joins the genre that I've called the "gentle page turner" which has been defined elsewhere on this blog.

A book that moves along slowly and yet is a page turner.
A book that is quiet and gentle but not light weight by any stretch of the imagination.
Full of peace, compassion, deep love, honour and loyalty portrayed through clean, beautiful writing.
That is a gentle page turner.

It's the genre which includes Gilead, Crossing to Safety and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

This latest discovery tells of life after World War One - what it was like for those who didn't go away to war and what it was like for those who returned from the fighting to try and resume normal life.  It tells of the life of those brave men and women who were lighthouse keepers before it all became automated.  It's the story of a returned service man, his new bride and their new life as the lighthouse keeper and wife on a tiny island just off the Australian mainland.  And then there is the mystery of the row boat that comes to shore on the island with a dead man and a tiny baby, very much alive.

The Light Between Oceans is the debut novel for ML Stedman.  It gets five stars from me.  And I'd give it some more if there were more to give on the standard star rating.

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And lest you think I LOVE every book I read, after this (and I guess it was always going to be a hard act to follow) I started The Book Thief.  I got about a hundred pages in and have put it aside.  Despite the rave reviews that abound, this is not the book for me, at least at this time.  And so I have gone back to the classics.  North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.  I know every inch of the BBC mini-series.  It's nice to be reading the words now.

The gap is wider than I'd imagined

Conversation # 1

Speaking with a friend from school about church.  I explain what our services look like and about how we have kids' activities at each service.
Says friend, "How much does it cost for the kids' activities and do you have to book in for them?"

Conversation # 2

Friend speaking with another friend about church with kids hanging about the adults listening in.
Kid of friend who doesn't go to church chimes in with, "That sounds like fun.  Can we go this Sunday?"
Says her mum, "I don't think it is the sort of place where you can just rock up."

 

I was amazed, surprised and somewhat in despair to hear these conversations.  But when I think about it, the further we get from the 1950's when going to church was the norm (in Australia), the further we get from people actually knowing how church even works, let alone the content of our time spent together in church.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.  I was born in the late '60s (oh, that is beginning to feel somewhat old...) and even during the '70s and early '80s I was an anomaly amongst my peers spending my Sunday mornings in church.  I've spent most of my life hanging about churches, but most people haven't. 

 

As I said, I was amazed, surprised and somewhat in despair to hear these conversations.  But as I think about it a little more I see that it offers another way into salty conversation with our friends, asking people what they know about church and letting them know that they are most definitely welcome.



Easter Sunday

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were as white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 

 

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
Matthew 28:2-7

 
And the big question for the kids...why were the guards so afraid?

Good Friday

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 
“Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
Matthew 27:57-66

Adventures with the slow cooker

There are various topics that will comprehensively divide the Facebook community.  I did it once when I asked, tongue in cheek, if people thought it was OK for one's four year to drink tea.  (Leave no comments on this matter.  Truly, I have heard them all.)  And then there was the comment I put up at the beginning of January.

So, supposing I was going to suggest to my menfolk that they buy me a slow cooker for my birthday, any advice I should give them on brands, types, things to look for?

Thus began two debates running simultaneously over the merits of slow cookers versus a good cast iron pot (with a few people weighing in with pressure cooker comments as well) and also whether or not a slow cooker was actually an acceptable birthday gift. 

Eventually a brave friend gave me this answer.

Meredith I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to wade into this discussion but I love my slow cooker. I always brown everything first and use it endlessly in winter for curries and casseroles and mass quantities of spaghetti sauce. Would recommend one with low, high and keep warm settings and a heavy ceramic dish. Have heard lots negative about the new ones you can brown in - non stick surfaces that easily damage and leach funny taste/chemicals. Good luck and happy New Year! x

And so armed with that advice, off they went and on THE day I unwrapped one of these.

The irony of this post from Deb, appearing a week after my birthday was not lost on me.

So the new slow cooker sat there for a while and eventually I was ready to give it a go.  The first recipe?  Jane's pulled pork.  I sent a quick message to clarify what sort of BBQ sauce one would require.

Do I just use Masterfoods BBQ sauce? I couldn't see a BBQ marinade in Coles today...but it may be that I have whole new section of the supermarket to explore. What do you suggest?

Says Jane,

I'm sure Masterfoods BBQ sauce would be fine, but I've only used a BBQ marinade from the sauces section of the supermarket. I totally think regular BBQ sauce would work - just make sure you use about 375mls of it. The pork will produce lots of liquid throughout the cooking process as all the fat renders off - just let it drip on a wire rack over the slow cooker for a good five minutes before pulling apart and serving.


OK.  I have everything I need to know so off I go to the shop to find the marinade.  I walk up and down the relevant aisles and eventually I stop right in the middle of one and sigh a deep sigh.  The accompanying son asks what's wrong and I tell him I am about to have to go home and write a really silly email to someone because I can't find a bottle of sauce in a supermarket and therefore I am going to expose myself as a complete goose.

And as the word "goose" leaves my lips I see the marinade.

Anyway, to cut short what is turning into an unnecessarily long story, a few days later (because I needed to recover from the stress of the shopping trip before venturing into new recipe and appliance territory) I made the pulled pork.  And in my excitement with the ensuing aromas I invited people over for dinner.  New recipe.  New cooking method.  Throwing caution to the wind.  Outrageous.

And it was lovely.  If for this one dish only, I am sold.

Since then I have tried a beef dish that came in the recipe section of the instruction manual.  It was OK.  A beef casserole of sorts.  Too much thyme. Not really to our tastes.

Then I did a version of beef stroganoff very close to Jane's recipe.  I think Jane's addition of some tomato paste would seal the deal with this recipe.

And I am looking forward to having a go at this lamb dish - the lamb rival for pulled pork I do believe.

Somewhere along the line I worked out that the slow cooker is really just an electric casserole dish.  You can use it on high and it will cook in the equivalent time it takes to do a casserole in the oven.  And I am a convert to browning everything before placing ingredients in a casserole anyway, so this is no different.  The benefit is to be found in the slow cooking function that turns tough, cheap meat into tender deliciousness over a much longer cooking time.  So I am looking forward to trying out some of my tried and tested casserole dishes in the slow cooker and seeing how they go. 

And I have been told this is THE
slow cooker recipe book to own.

What I'm liking, which is new to my limited cooking skills, is the pulled pork/sticky lamb sort of genre.  So here's the call out.  If you have a great slow cooker recipe that isn't a casserole - I can do them - something really amazing and wonderful, can you please share it with me?  You could email me or leave the recipe in the comments section below and as I try them out I will put them in their very own post.  Complete with scores out of ten from my family if you like.  You could opt out of that last bit if you prefer...they are pretty tough judges, this lot.  Anyway, please, please, PLEASE tell me your "go to/it's not a casserole" slow cooker recipe.

And as for gift suitability, this one worked for me.  I like a practical gift although not so practical as to be a lawn mower, iron or vacuum cleaner. There's a fine line.  They landed on the right side of the line with this one.   

Autumn update - 2014

Tasmanian autumn leaves from last year's amazing holiday

Decided: after I posted the summer update right on the first day of summer that I would wait a bit with future seasonal updates until we were actually into said season.  It does take a while for these seasons to kick in, after all.  And can I say that it was great to have some rain over the weekend.  I was very glad I'd cleaned the gutters earlier in the week. I've heard it reported that we received 19.6mm of rain in March, which happens to be the exact average rainfall for March.  19.6mm is also the total amount of rain that's fallen since 1st November 2013.  So yes, the rain was welcome.  And yes, the gutters did need a good clean before the rain fell.

Celebrated: the change in weather by cooking this soup.  The adults enjoyed it.  It was probably a bit too much to introduce paprika, cumin and lentils to the boys all at the same time.

Became: the manager of a basketball team on the weekend as well.  (It was a big weekend.)  So now I know exactly what constitutes a one pointer, a two pointer and a three pointer, I can find my way around a score sheet (you have to do a whole lot more than just keep a tally of the points it seems) and I can get those points transferred onto the electronic scoreboard.  Piece of cake.  Sort of.  And then after that little triumph they tell me the whole system is going digital half way through the season with iPads and all sorts.  Taking deep breaths.  One step at a time.

Reading: not a great deal at the moment.  But I do have a bookmark in GPS: God's Salvation Plan by Allan Chapple, which I hope to get back to soon.  I can't wait to tell you about this one. 

Keeping up: with my Bible reading plan and loving it.  Every year is richer and better than the one before. 

Philippians Project: is going slowly.  I am eleven verses in and that little amount is pretty shaky (although I do have a chunk of chapter two and a chunk of chapter four under my belt.)  I have an appalling memory but I am not discouraged.  When I do a bit of work on this it is pure joy and I'm not working to a deadline.

Drinking: tea.  Of course.  You knew that.

Eating: an apple slinky.  Prepared for me by my son.  The roles are reversing - he is cutting up my fruit now.  Hilarious. 

Pretty excited: while on the subject of food, to find one of these in the shops on the weekend.  How good is that?  A giant Kit Kat bar.  There is one in my fridge.  Yay.

Thinking through: the notion of the lazy diary.  I still love the idea and it turns out that, despite what I thought with my fairly over-scheduled life, I DO have a lazy diary.  I walked into this year with my time so tightly scheduled that I described my week to one friend as "gridlocked."  But since then some old folks close to my heart have needed some extra time, care and help all of a sudden and while my week is packed, because most of what I do is all voluntary there is capacity to shift and change and move and cancel when needs dictate.  And so there has been plenty of shifting and changing.  And also not much house cleaning.  But maybe that last bit isn't so different from normal...

Consequently: my days really are quite packed now and by evening I am pretty tired.  Blogging may or may not slow down for a while.  I wouldn't want to make a definite call on this.  I've done that in the past and then found myself posting twenty posts in twenty days.  But if it goes quiet (or at least quieter) for a while I am OK, just busy by day and sleeping by night.

Speaking of: the volunteering thing, I filled in a form (make that a veritable swag of forms) to enrol the child who is now able to make his mother an apple slinky into high school next year and on the line that requires me to list my profession what did I say?  Home duties.  Honestly, totally spineless.  In the heat of the moment, I thought the "volunteer" thing was just too I don't know what for my opening foray into a new school. Maybe next time. 

Loving: this little acrostic that turned up on Facebook during the week.  This could be very useful with the school holidays coming up.

Been creative
Outside play
Read a book
Exercise for 20 minutes
Do something useful

Signing off: with the words from Philippians currently spiraling around my head.  Some words to encourage those of you who have so encouraged me here in the blogosphere.  Thank you.

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1:3-11

Caring for missionaries - in conclusion

Having a mind and heart for missionaries:    

Having a mind and heart for missionaries means faithful, sustainable, disciplined care.  A thriving relationship promotes prayer.  Prayerfulness promotes communication and contact - that is, relationship.  It's a cycle.  So to get it going...

Put it on the calendar – Mark when you are going to write personally, as a group or as a church on the calendar .  We don’t naturally write letters or correspond by email these days so we need to book it in.  Plan to do it, plan to do it regularly and then act upon those plans. 

Don’t spread yourself too thinly.  Think about how many missionaries you can feasibly maintain.  A church can cover more than an individual but in all situations keep it sustainable so that it keeps on happening and doesn’t become an overwhelming exercise.

Look after your own spiritual health.  If you are spiritually dry or empty you will have nothing to share.  Keep yourself spiritually fit so that you have plenty to give.

Friends on the mission field.  Used with permission.
 

 

Caring for missionaries #4 - creative encouragement

Creative ways to encourage a missionary

besides finances, prayer and written communication:

Talk with them directly by phone or by Skype.

Donate frequent flyer points to them, if this is appropriate for their situation.  This might be something you can do for them while they are on home assignment or help them to get away to somewhere other than their place of work on some annual leave while they are on location. 

Purchase an iTunes gift card for them.  You can either mail it to them or just email the activation code to them.  Make sure this will actually be of use before you do it.

Make a movie of friends, family, their church family, familiar locations and so on for them and send it or put it on Vimeo or Youtube.  There are secure ways of uploading movies onto the Internet but be very careful if you have a missionary in a secure location.

If your missionary isn’t serving in the middle of the jungle, use the Internet to find a local florist or food outlet and get them something fantastic delivered to the door...goodies from a bakery, pizza delivered to the door, a box of groceries...

Find out what they are really missing or what items are really hard to find in their new country and send something to them.  Be prepared for a big bill at the post office so go ready to be sacrificial at that point.  (Just think of their faces when they open their gift.  That will help with the post office pain.)  That said, you don’t need to send an abundance of something...even just a small offering of some favourite thing will be appreciated.  (No used tea bags!  Did somebody really do that??)

Before sending anything, check with your missionary. Sometimes there are restrictions on sizes of parcels that can be received and it can be an expensive exercise for the missionary to retrieve it from the local authorities if they can retrieve it at all, which rather takes the edge off a gift.  Communicate and work with your missionary on the best way to get things through to them.  In some situations it may be better to send nothing.  Clear communication and clear guidelines make for a better experience all round.

Organise them an Amazon gift voucher.  All electronic and it gives them the joy of choosing.  Check first to see if that is going to be useful and accessible.

Organise a magazine or journal subscription for them.  Again, check with your missionary before you do this for security, content, postal and/or email/Internet access issues.  (Some missionaries are only able to receive very short emails without attachments so check, check, check.)  But if it will work, go for it. 

Get in touch with their family back at home and find out how they are doing.  If they are Christians pray with them and if not, pray for them.  And then report back encouraging news.  If there is something you can do to help a missionary’s family members back at home – mow the lawn for their elderly parents for example – do this.  What a gift to a missionary.

If there are children, remember them.  Stickers, colouring pages, coloured craft paper...these sorts of things are easily popped into letters.  If their location and your budget will allow you to send more, do so.  Send a care package especially for the children.
 

Caring for missionaries #3 - getting the church excited

Promoting missionary care in church:

 

*   Be linked to a missionary and make sure they visit your church when they are on home assignment.  Make their visit an event – interviews, a meal together...hands on.  It’s your event...organise it well.  And be generous with them as they visit you.  Make it an opportunity to care for them as they serve your congregation.

 

*   Take ten minutes from a service four times a year (March – before Easter, July, September and November – before Christmas), hand out A5 paper and pens and write short letters.  In church!  It is amazing how much you can write in ten short minutes.  On Monday morning go to the post office and send off your parcel of encouragement.

 

*   Publish fresh prayer points in the church newsletter every month.  If you have nothing specific that is new and current then work in some of the general prayer points. What is important is to provide people with new, regular prayer points to keep them praying.

 

*   Pray through those prayer points from the front of the church – in its own dedicated spot during the service or during the service prayer time.

*   When a prayer letter arrives from a missionary, don’t just stick one copy up on the pin-up board.  Photocopy it and hand it out with the newsletter for everyone. 

*   Midway through a missionary’s tour, hold an event at your church to refresh everyone’s memory.  Have a national meal, give news, pray, maybe have a Skype link up if you can set it up or even just a live email exchange and spend ten minutes writing letters – or at the very least, send around a card that everyone can sign.

 

Incorporating missions into the children’s programme:

*   During each of the school holidays, run a kids’ mission session with the Sunday School children.  Tell them what the missionary has been up to lately and show photos if some are available, spend some time learning about the country (and try some food from that location if you can), pray for the missionary, write letters and draw pictures. This works especially well if you can link your Sunday School children up with a missionary family.  The children may find this a bit abstract to begin with but if it is done every holidays, and if the missionaries make contact back with the children, a relationship soon forms and it becomes quite a natural thing to do.

*   Take up a “kids’ collection” during Sunday School and direct it to a missionary.

 

Incorporating missions into a Bible study group:

*   Have the missionary’s prayer card on the table each week – a visual reminder.

*   During the prayer time share prayer points for the missionary and make sure they are prayed for each week, alongside the members of your group.

*   Four times a year (or once a month even!!) write a letter – individual ten minute letters on A5 paper or pass around an airletter during the study for people to add a few lines, pass around a computer and add to an email or write a short note in a card.

*   Take up a “spare change” collection (this can add up to quite a sum of money over the course of a year) and save it to give to your missionary for when they are on home assignment for a few luxuries – or direct it to their missionary support.

Caring for missionaries #2 - writing letters

How to write to a missionary:

In the opening letter you write to a missionary, especially if you are unknown to them or have met them only once...

*   Introduce yourself.

*   Explain your connection or how you come to be writing to them.

For all subsequent letters, assume that they then know you. 

Things you can write about...

*   Personal news.

*   News from your church; local, state and federal news; the weather, sports news, political news, the price of things (petrol, housing, bananas...anything you think they might be interested in), new buildings going up in town – the sorts of things of daily life at home.

*   Words of encouragement – how you are specifically encouraged by their ministry, what you are reading in the Bible at the moment and how it is encouraging you, a Bible verse that will encourage them, the fact that you have prayed for them.

*   Encourage them not to feel burdened to reply, so actually tell them they don’t need to write back.  Your letter is a gift...so don’t ask lots and lots of questions, which begs for a response.  This is when your letter is sent as a “ministry of encouragement.”  However if you have developed a close relationship with them that includes regular specific prayer and perhaps even a level of accountability then you must ask questions every time...especially “How can I pray for you at the moment?” and “I was praying about such and such, how is that going now?” and “How are you doing with...?”

And what not to include...

*   Unless you have a very close, mutually prayerful relationship, don’t include a list of your own personal woes.  Letters to missionaries are for their encouragement.  They can’t help you in your difficulties and they may feel frustrated being so far away and unable to assist, which won’t help them to do their work.  Unburden closer to home and send words that build up and encourage offshore.

 Writing to people in secure locations:

Do not include...

*   Christian language – Bible, Christian, Church, congregation, prayer/praying, baptism, converts, Sunday, Christmas, Easter...

*   Bible verses or reference to the Bible.

*   The name of the organisation they work for or the key people who work in it – anything that might be found in an Internet search.

 

 

Dear ____________

 

It is good to be writing to you again.  I wanted to let you know that I have been thinking of you every day.  And the people we meet with every week also keep you in their thoughts.  I was speaking to state head of your company and he said that your work was going very well at every level, that you have many opportunities to do your work and that you feel well supported by the one we love the best.  That is wonderful news.

 

Love _____________

 

You need to keep it very general.  Check it carefully – and get someone else to check it – before you send it because it is easy to slip up.  In some locations it is vital to be this cautious.

Check on the website of the relevant missionary organization for your missionary for further advice, including advice specific to their organisation.
 

Caring for missionaries #1

Last weekend I ran a small workshop on how to care for missionaries over the long haul.  That is, how to pray and care for them for their WHOLE tour of duty and not just when they are fresh out from home assignment, about to return home or at Christmas time.  What follows in this and four more posts is the amalgamation of the words I said and the words I handed out on paper. 

And please know that I was convicted by my own workshop!  I am as erratic at this as the next person.  But if you are interested in loving and caring for missionaries, I hope these posts will be helpful.

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Who are the people easiest to keep in our prayers?  Those in our immediate vicinity, of course.  So that makes praying for missionaries quite tricky for many people, because our missionaries are only in our midst for a few months every three or so years.

And sadly, most missionaries will tell you that the longer they are away from home, the less they hear from people at home.  There are is flurry of contact immediately following home assignment but as the months and years wear on the contact, except from a faithful few, wears thin.

If we pray best for the people with whom we are in closest relationship, then the trick to keeping our missionaries in our prayers is to maintain a close relationship with them – which means regular, faithful, disciplined contact to keep the relationship alive and present. 

What follows (in this and four more posts) is a variety of ways to keep in touch and to keep praying on a regular basis.

Prayers you can pray for every missionary,

even if you are unsure of their specific circumstances:

You can pray for...

*   Opportunities for them to share the gospel, courage to do so and wisdom in doing so.

*   Personal spiritual health – daily prayer and daily personal Bible reading that is encouraging and refreshing.

*   Safety and for good health - physical and psychological.

*   Family life - for a strong marriage and for their children - or for dealing with singleness on the field.  And pray for the missionary’s family left back at home.

*   That they won’t be homesick.

While not specific, time spent praying these things for missionaries will be time well spent for the Kingdom.

Happy birthday Antonio Vivaldi

Today it's Antonio Vivaldi's birthday.  And so to celebrate, a musical treat.  Not so well known as "The Four Seasons" or his "Gloria", this is his "Concerto a due cori con violino discordato" (RV 583) and it is sublime.   If you are stretched for time, go the 5:20 mark and just listen to the Andante. Turn it up and have tissues ready...it includes a minute of possibly the most beautiful music ever composed.  You will know when you get to the right spot.
  

Note to self

Not that we are having any particular issues at the moment, all thanks be to God, but I just wanted to remind myself of the three things that Ross Campbell, in How to Really Love your Child, says makes for happy children, as the year picks up veritable speed.

 

Lots of eye contact - happy eyes, not just the angry eyes.

Lots of physical contact - appropriate, of course.

Lots of focussed attention - not one eye on the child and one eye on the slow cooker/computer/book/TO DO list/________(fill in the blank).

The year is certainly picking up pace, but we are just at the end of a lovely and timely long weekend.  It has been good to remember these things.