The first HighCallingBlogs.com meme is spreading around the net. We’ve got people reflecting on lessons from some really odd jobs - a BBQ busboy, a Venus Fry Cook (not really), a sorter of phone cords (phones have cords?), and one really frightening picture of gas masks.
Drop by our main page to read some of these fun articles and insights.
And if you’ve ever had an odd job, write about it! Then shoot me an email so I can include you in the group. My Editor-in-Chief for TheHighCalling.org has tentatively agreed to let us publish the best meme entry on TheHighCalling.org. It could be you!
I’ve heard some folks asking what it looks like when Christian writers weave their faith into novels as a theme.
So often, we are clumsy about this. Very clumsy. We try too hard. Protest too much. Just to moments of conversion and theology without having an organic reason to do so. In short, we cheat. We twist the story and the characters to have our moment of moral parable.
Flannery O’Connor doesn’t do this. Tolkein doesn’t do this. Lewis does a bit, but we forgive him because Narnia is so cool. So when did we lose confidence in the power of stories and characters to express truth with integrity?
All of this talk about writing is fine and dandy, but ultimately unhelpful without any examples. What does it look like when a master craftsman integrates faith seamlessly into a novel? Look no further than Michael Flynn’s recent literary scifi masterpiece Eifelheim.
NOTE: This post is part of a group writing project for HighCallingBlogs.com called Lessons from Odd Jobs. Visit our main page to read more Lessons from Odd Jobs.
Once upon a time, I was a guinea pig.
That’s right. In college, I was part of an ergonomic* study to measure the long-term effects of standing. Basically, that means I went to work every night and just stood around for several hours.
Officially, I stood four hours. We couldn’t move our legs. We couldn’t shift our weight. We didn’t walk around. We took no breaks.
Or else the entire shift was a break. It depends on your perspective, I suppose.
Here’s the poem I worked on last week. It’s just 8 lines–technically an octave–so it may be an incomplete sonnet. (Sonnets are one octave, followed by a sestet to make a total of 14 lines.)
I can’t decide if this one has more to say or not. Amy says it’s done. At the risk of writing poetry by committee, what do you think? Continue reading →
I’ll be curious to check in with the other Mt. Hermon folks to hear how their trips went. Me? I’m still back in California. I got diverted to San Diego, then stuck here for 40 hours. No Internet access. Hopefully, I’ll make it home tonight.
The conference was worth it… but this delay has been rough. I’ll check in with comments and such as soon as I can.
I have a stack of business cards to enter, pages of notes on what I’m learning, stories of late night chats with Steve Laube and Randy Ingermanson, but less inclination to blog away the time while I’m here.
I’ll post more soon. In the meantime, here are some pictures that I took with my Palm Centro phone.
Someone told me to walk in the red woods, so I went looking for the nature trail before breakfast. The signs were clear. I followed the arrows and found myself brushing against swordferns, peeking into old hollowed sequoias, walking through an honest to gosh forest.
In Texas the trees are only five feet tall, so our forests feel very different from most forests.
I’ve heard some folks asking what it looks like when Christian writers weave their faith into novels as a 
NOTE: This post is part of a group writing project for 
If you read nothing else from Day 2, read this. It’s my story of the day for March 14, 2008, of the 
