Psalm 32: Prayer Reflection  In the past few weeks, as interns, we have been diving into the topic of prayer. We've looked at the different types of prayers and when to use them. We’ve also been learning how Scripture can help to inform our prayers. To help us put this into practice, we were all assigned a Psalm to turn into a congregational prayer. I was assigned Psalm 34, which I had read before but was not completely familiar with.   To start off, I read through the Psalm to become familiar with its content. I then filled out the P.R.A.Y model (praise, repent, ask, yield) and placed verses of the Psalm into each section. From there, I wrote each section as full sentences and shaped it into something that could be prayed aloud to a congregation.   I found it

Idolatry: Not Giving Up  In a recent conversation I had with one of our youths, they shared how the more time they spent around the things of God, the less they wanted to spend time in other things. They shared how their mind felt so much clearer after listening to worship music and how their outlook on life was more positive after spending time in God’s Word. This has drastically changed the way they live. Perhaps you’ve experienced this, too?  In my last blog post, I wrote on the issue of idolatry and how it is the turning of good things into god things. I pointed out how it is something we are all prone to do. Contemplating such things can be rather demoralising. How can we change? Especially when we know that we’ll only get dragged back into the idolatry

God’s Loving Wrath    If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably also struggled to reconcile God’s wrath with what you thought you knew to be true about Him. His wrath is confronting, especially throughout the Old Testament – He is merciful and gracious, yet he orders the killing of all male Midianite children in Numbers 31; He is slow to anger, yet He ordains the slaughter of “anything that breathes” in Deuteronomy 20; He is abounding in steadfast love, yet He instructs “men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys” to be put to the sword in Joshua 6. And those are just the first three examples I could find. So how can this be? How can our merciful, gracious and loving God also be a God of what seems like such cold justice and intense wrath? 

Seasons of waiting  I love Autumn! The shorter days, the changing colours in my garden, the cool breeze, the amazing sunsets. But Autumn seems to get shorter every year and I know it won’t be long before the cold of winter sets in.   In my garden, winter seems to be a season of quiet, a season of waiting. The colour and fun of summer is over. The plant growth slows down. There’s less sunlight. Nature seems to be dormant, sleeping. All is still. You could be forgiven for thinking nothing is happening.  But of course, as any gardener will tell you, this is not the case. Under the ground, root growth is in full swing, preparing to take up water and nutrients when the time comes. Flower buds sit fully formed, ready to blossom, just waiting for the warmth. We may not see it, but nature is making preparations for brighter days, warmer weather and plentiful growth.  I can’t help but see a connection between winter in

Amazing Grace At the heart of the gospel is grace. Grace beautifully describes the event that is the most significant event since the world began. At Calvary, Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins that he did not commit, our sins. Furthermore, he gave us his own righteousness instead of our own. The prophet Isaiah said “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags…” (Isaiah 64:6). That is grace. This event has changed my whole life. Yet I must confess that I have much to learn about grace. It is a nebulous concept, intangible, almost mysterious. I tend to understand things in a black and white way, and I have difficulty in seeing things outside the box as it were. I

At the end of 2025, Stephen, the Youth Pastor here at Oasis and my Life Group leader, asked me, along with others in our Life Group, if we would be interested in participating in the church’s internship program in 2026. I was not sure whether this would work for me. I have a part-time job, study full-time at Uni, and I still want to see friends, spend time with my girlfriend, and spend time with God. I just did not know if I could make it work. However, after seeing a few of the people in my Life Group say yes, I thought, "Why not?” So, I said yes, and then he asked if I would like to do an extra internship day, where I could choose a focus

Idolatry: Turning Good Things Into God Things   Idolatry is the giving of worship, love, adoration, or trust that belongs to God to anything or anyone other than God.  To put it simply, idolatry is taking a good thing and making it a god thing.  The first two of the 10 Commandments address the issue of idolatry.  In Exodus 20:3-5a, God says to the Israelites: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them;”  Some idols are pretty obvious.  People make things that are meant to represent a god.  The Israelites made a golden calf.   Hindus have images of gods they worship.  Now, you might be like, “Well, I don’t have any