Books!

Yes! I am very proud of my achievement. 3 books read and a book report written on them all in less than 12 weeks. Pretty good going for me especially with all the busyness! (For those of you who don't know...I'm not much of a reader! In fact I try to avoid books as much as possible. The most fun thing I find about libraries is the machine that you use to check books in and out. Although I do like some novels.) Anyways getting sidetracked! 

Btw they weren't picture books or short books either! 

They were all interesting books 

1) 'God in a brothel' - by Daniel Walker - was about an investigators story of rescuing victims of sex trafficking around the world. Its the story of young girls and women being rescued and freed from oppression and darkness. But it's also the story of the despair and trauma of those left still in these situations. It's also great because it puts the challenge to us Christians to join in the fight against human trafficking across the world. 

2) 'Good News About Injustice' by Gary Haugen from the charity International Justice Mission. This book looks into the all to common and often crippling questions raised when we as Christians face issues of injustice; what can we possibly do in response? Can ordinary Christians make a difference? And where is the God of justice? It also does three main things; challenges the reader and the church to be part of the fight against injustice, it instils hope in the God of justice,the God of compassion, the God of moral clarity and the God of rescue and it takes a look at tools aiding the rescue of the oppressed. 

3) 'Foreign to Familiar' by Sarah Lanier is a good book preparing for outreach in another country. Looking at cultural differences and how to be prepared to go into those places respecting the culture your entering into. It looks at hot-climate cultures and cold-climate cultures. Concepts of time, planning, formal, informal and hospitality. Knowing that were going into  hot-climate cultures for outreach some of the things we need to be prepared to run with and be sensitive to are...

a) being more relaxed and less structured - will present the need to be flexible and just go with the flow!

b) high-climate culture will mean they're more of a high context culture - which will mean they're more established in traditions etc and they're more formal -  some of the things we'll need to be aware of and sensitive to are: respect for elders, dressing smartly and respectfully, and being careful to follow protocol in eating, greetings, table manners etc.

c) Hospitality is another concept to be aware of. Hospitality in hot-climate cultures is the context for relationship - so is very important! It is important in hot climate cultures to consider the personal aspect of hospitality. This will be important where we go in terms of how we accept hospitality. As its seen in this way - we will need to be careful and sensitive to respond to hospitality with gratefulness and acceptance knowing that it isn't just an offer of food it's an offer of friendship.

So maybe there is hope for me yet as an avid book reader!