I assumed when I began reading Wonderland Creek that Alice, the main character, was not a Christian and I thought the story was going to be about how she became a Christian. This was not the case. It turns out she did actually have a faith but only a very childish faith, perhaps best described as a Sunday School faith. One of the challenges Christian parents face is how to teach their children to own their own faith and in a sense this story gives us a partial answer.
Alice unexpectedly loses her job and her boyfriend but an opportunity arises for her to spend two weeks helping out in a library in an isolated community. With little else to do Alice decides to go and this is exactly what she needs – an opportunity for some independence and decision making where her faith is stretched. So often we don’t encourage our teenage children to take these kinds of opportunities. We worry about their safety and naiveté. However they are going to leave home at some point and if we can give them small doses of independence in a controlled environment we have given our children invaluable lessons. Alice’s parents were reluctant to give their permission and if they had known the true situation they would never have let her go. Nevertheless Alice rises to the challenge and learns a great deal about herself and her faith in the process.
