Holiday theology!

Well, here we are, in the Vendée region of France where we are enjoying good weather and temperatures up to 30C+. The site is superb – good swimming pool; large pitches; high-ampage electricity; convenient water supply; and staff who (being Dutch) speak about eight languages between them!

The first week of our holiday has seen us travel some 1400 miles, and we have visited two GLO families – the Olliviers in Quimper, and the Irwins in Nantes. We were made more than welcome in both homes, and it is good to now be praying for real people, instead of just names in a Prayer Bulletin.

I have also finished reading a book entitled “The Shack” (William P. Young; Hodder & Stoughton; 2008). It’s a work of fiction but, unlike another well-publicised (although already mostly forgotten) fiction – The da Vinci Code – it’s one that draws the reader closer to God, rather than try to destroy the reader's faith. Indeed, although written as a novel, it is really something of a book on theology – especially on the doctrine of the Trinity; on where God is in the suffering that is part of our fallen world; and even on the dual nature of the Christ. As I read it, I had a lot of my own perceptions challenged – and some, perhaps, changed! I don’t want to give anything away, but it is a book that I will read again, and one that I would recommend to others.

It’s also a book that is full of little nuggets of wisdom. Of course, it is one man’s thinking, but I found myself agreeing with much that he says through the book’s characters – even ’though there were also parts that have left me questioning! As a taster, here are some quotations from the book, that I found to be particularly helpful:

“Grace doesn’t depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colours.”

“The God Who is – the I am Who I am – cannot act apart from love.”

“… evil is a word we use to describe the absence of Good, just as we use the word darkness to describe the absence of Light, or death to describe the absence of Life.”

So, a book recommendation for anyone who needs some worthwhile summer (or winter for my Antipodean friends!!) reading. I trust that you will get as much out of it as I have!

Keep checking – I might manage another post before we leave Le Colombier!!