Entries from December 2007 ↓

I took a widget off my sidebar this week.

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Gabe Lyons, author of the new book unchristian says, “Just be there.” That’s right. Show up and participate in the culture. Be in the world, not of it. Get out of the cocoon, and make friends with Hollywood, Broadway, and Fifth Avenue.

Update: Thanks to L.L. for catching my ridiculous stupid typo in the headline. “Gage” for “gauge.”

For Christmas, the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Folks are featuring the second issue of the ezine Wayfarer’s Journal. The journal has had a bit of a slow start, only publishing two issues last year, but there are a few stories and poems to browse through.

My favorite elements of the site are nonfiction. For example, Brandon Barr’s discussion of Christian themes in Cordwainer Smith or Terri Main’s article on Luke Skywalker vs. St. Luke (great title). Terri Main concludes, “In all literature a character’s Christianity should set him or her apart from non-Christian characters. They must not only believe differently, they must also act differently. That means that they cannot use carnal weapons, either figuratively or literally, to win a spiritual war. They cannot confuse the agents of the enemy for the enemy himself.”

Now, that makes me think. I agree with the sentiment, but I wonder what kind of advice that becomes for someone who is sitting down to tell a ripping good yarn.

On their home page, Wayfarer’s Journal states that their mission is to “publish and review science fiction with a spiritual dimension.” Although that mission only implies that they are looking for ripping good yarns, focusing on the spiritual dimension is still a worthy, ambitious goal.

And it raises an important question for writers of Christian science fiction–or Christian fantasy, Christian fiction, Christian poetry, Christian drama, even good old fashioned Christian nonfiction.

What makes something spiritual?

(Keep reading, and I promise I’ll get to the picture of the fishheads.)

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Yes, our youngest wunderkind is three this Christmas. I’ve posted a lot about our daughter, but not as much about our son. His age this season means he understands all of the hullabaloo for the first time.

Santa is new–and has never come before in his memory. Trees are new. Presents are new–at least the Christmas version of presents. Every Christmas cookie is a new flavor to a three-year-old. Ours loves ginger bread cookies, and not just because they might jump off the plate and start running around the room.

Here are some other little gems my wife and I have noticed this season from our three-year-old.

You know you’re celebrating Christmas with a 3-year-old when…

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My good friend, L.L., is coining a new term and using Blogger in an interesting way to build community for her upcoming book: Stone Crossings. I haven’t read the book yet (because it doesn’t come out until April 2008), but I’m excited about the premise.

L.L. first posted about her wog concept at Seedlings In Stone a few weeks ago.

Pretty quickly, several friends pointed out a problem with the word she coined.

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High Calling Bloggers, Rob and David have a very moving post over at Red Letter Believers about two recent shootings in Colorado. At the end of the post, they ask if the YWAM director extends forgiveness too quickly. My response here began as a comment that quickly turned into this post.

Can people forgive too quickly? What a question! Of course, we can’t answer that question in this specific context without questioning the director’s motives–his relationship to the victims, his relationship to the victims’ family. But that doesn’t make the underlying question any less valid: Can a person ever be too quick to forgive?

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There’s been a lot of talk and some fear in Christian circles about the new atheist fantasy for kids. As usual, the critics agree we’ve made much ado about nothing.

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