Midnight Diner Cover

So now here's the official cover of Coach's Midnight Diner, click the link to check out some short teasers about each story (other great writers such as J. Mark Bertrand, Chris Mikesell, and Suzan Robertson, etc. will be featured). As I mentioned before, this will be my first in-print publication. My story, "The Water Rises," was originally submitted to Relief Journal last spring. The editors at Relief rejected it, but Coach Culbertson, their tech editor, emailed me and said that I should resubmit it for the Diner, a genre anthology he would be opening submissions for in the winter. Well, I submitted it and here we are. It's interesting though, that it's taken an entire year from the initial submission to publication. That's how publishing works, folks.

On another note, I will be announcing my next blogging venture very soon....

Breathtaking

I got up this morning and realized that I have a good life. And I'll grant it that typically the morning is a bad time to ask me how my life is going, but for whatever reason this morning I was thinking about it. Consider this: the sun came up this morning, as it does every morning, and I was still sleeping in my soft, comfortable bed. I woke up, went downstairs, and made a pot of Starbucks coffee. From there I went into the office, where I have a computer with satellite internet access. (Typically this line of action would be interrupted by either one of my siblings or parents, but I'm home alone this morning.) I checked my email. I read my Bible in peace. I played my new guitar.

And I did all of this without any worry about whether people are going to come into my village brandishing assault rifles (like they do in Africa), or I might be arrested for my Christian beliefs (like in a host of countries across the world) or that my electricity might be turned off. And for all of this external American wealth that puts us in the top 1 or 2% of the entire worlds' population as far as wealth goes, we are still hampered by the fall. Instead of poverty of having nothing to eat, we have the poverty of mental illnesses. Instead of losing a parent to a civil war, we lose parents to divorce.

Sure, these things might seem petty by comparison, but they are still real issues. But the fact is that whether our problems are material or mental, God is bigger than they are. I think that our constant forgetfulness of this must either make him chuckle or make him very sad. Think about it, we as Christians have access to the Highest Being, the Master, the All. Yet we so often ignore his voice or the very fact that with prayer he can get us out of our worst predicaments. Look around. He makes our lives good. He made that picture above--which I took last year while standing on the deck of a cruise ship in the Baltic Sea--possible. He made things like sunsets and shade trees and cool breezes simply because he knew that we would enjoy them, and that it would (or should!) point us toward him.

So pause and consider. "I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy." (Psalm 116:1) He is there, and he is listening. And if you so much as look, truly look, you will see that he has already done so much more than we could ever imagine. Just think what all this will be like after it has been restored for the Faithful! Breathtaking.

How Grace Collides With the Fall

One of the most basic beliefs in Christianity is that "all of have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Now exactly what that means is what everyone likes so much to argue over, and I don't really want to go into a Calvinism vs. Armeniesm debate here if I can help it. But I've been pondering a question lately: if we are fallen, and so are subject to sinful desires which go against God's nature (and also are nature as we have been made in God's image), how do we develop Godly desires?

The obvious answer is God's grace, but another thought has been on my mind. It seems like no matter how much I try and understand God and who he is, no matter how much I cultivate that "relationship," those evil desires don't go away. I.e., I'm still prone to saying rather nasty things about people that I don't like. I also know that this is how a fallen world works. But what is a proper way to combat such things when it all, at times, seems pointless? "When I want to do good, evil is right there with me," says Paul. Again, I don't have any problem with the actual delimma here. However, I would indeed like to find the solution.

When a Post-Modern Culture Infiltrates a Classical World

There is a trend in nearly every culture to try and adapt, in its stories and tales, other cultures to their own, for the sake of relevance and interest. In the medieval days, poets and fireside storytellers took legends about a roman commander named Arthur from the dark ages and made them relevant to their own day, speaking of chivalry and knighthood. In the mid-nineteenth century slaves told stories of Moses leading his people to freedom, something they greatly desired themselves; the same is true of twenty-first century western culture, where we, as those before us, twist and shape old stories to fit our own way of viewing things.

However, there is a pivotal difference that separates merely making one’s story relevant, to completely changing the moral of an old story. In many films and novels being written and brought to the screen today, relevance is not so much the issue as is persuasion and politics. I didn’t think much about this until, when, a couple of summers ago I stumbled into the movie theatre to watch a new film by Ridley Scott, prepared to be awed. I was a fan of his previous work, and expected no less from his new film, Kingdom of Heaven. The storyline promised to be of interest to me, a history-buff, being about the medieval crusades to retake the Holy Land from the Muslims of the southeast. The beginning of the film was no less promising than I had thought it would be; showing the massing of the Christian armies preparing for war; all of the costumes looked period-perfect, and an early fight-scene seemed genuinely real. I braced myself for a tale of heroism similar to that found in Gladiator or even Braveheart.

Yet near the film’s ended, a bitter taste filled my mouth. Instead of fighting the heroic and honor-filled battle to the death which a knight of the thirteenth century would not have hesitated to do, Orlando Bloom in all his prettiness, surrendered the city. This in and of itself wasn’t enough to insure my dislike of the film as a whole, but as Bloom’s character stepped back into the city after waving the white flag, the entire city cheered for him like he had won some great victory. But in medieval society, he would have not been some revered hero for giving up, for surrendering; he would have been an outcast.

The foul taste continued hours after the film’s end, as I wondered what went wrong. I later discovered that the talented Mr. Ridley had not required the actors in his film to learn the historical significance of the events portrayed, nor the background of the sort of people who would form the backbone of such a culture. Ridley Scott’s interest had not been to make a film of historical accuracy or legitimacy, but to make a statement about something called tolerance, and finding the safest way out.

I normally have no problem with films or novels which are written in order to make a statement. Many of my favorite stories are explicit in their beliefs; I freely admit that. That is not where I take issue with such a film—my basis for judging a film is not whether the director is a liberal or a conservative. However, Mr. Scott, in causing the hero of the film, a knight of the chivalric era, to abandon everything that knights of the time period stood for, effectively castrated the film. Where is the power in the story of a character who gives up what he believes in?—yet that in and of itself is not the problem—it is when that surrender is celebrated that things get sticky. Kingdom of Heaven could have been a great film about a man who failed; yet Mr. Scott had other things to say. Post-modernity infiltrated a classical culture and as a result the film loses any power that it could have had otherwise.

Another film that poignantly (if less so than Scott’s film) portrays the infiltration of post-modern thought into a different time period is King Arthur, starring Clive Owen and Keira Knightly. The film retells the ancient legend of Arthur and his knights using the original sources of the tale, for the most part, effectively. Arthur is well-played by Owen, who holds to Arthur’s traditionally strong sense of morality, yet the mental makeup of several other important characters—such as Lancelot and Guinevere—are significantly changed to represent the more contemporarily popular attitudes of self-centeredness and feminism. All sorts of ideas float into the picture heretofore unseen in the great legend—premarital sex between Arthur and Lady Guinevere, a rather unheroic and sulking Lancelot, women fighting alongside the men in battle. Instead of being inspired by a fairly well-told tale, we are distracted by seeing the issues of post-millennium America quietly uprooting the motives and actions of pre-medieval characters.
I would like to make it clear that I am not against directors and writers promoting their own ideas. However, when one’s own politics do not fluidly match those of the people one is attempting to portray, the story falls apart.

Relevance is not truly found in making a different person’s situation like your own; it is in finding the relevance in that person’s situation. We as Christians are in just as bad a need to realize this as our secular counterparts; one has only to walk into a Christian bookstore to realize this. Just as filmmakers such as Ridley Scott strip medieval culture of its honor and chivalry, we at times strip our own American culture of its reality. In order to make good, relevant art we must walk down the center of the road, and while filtering everything through our own worldview, not forcing everything to fit into our worldview’s own box.

Ignoring the Darkness (In Memoriam)

What a week. On Wedneday I learned that one of my former classmate mixed antidepressants and alcohol and missed killing herself by about ten minutes (doctors say). Two days later I learned another former classmate of mine named Trish Heifner, who suffered from Leukemia for the past three years, died of pneumonia during the wee hours Thursday night. (Aside from all this, my best childhood friend graduated last night.) So many new and strange and painful things have happened in my world lately.

One of my friends said that she was surprised that something like C.G.'s overdose would happen in a small town like the one we live in. My only response was a dropped jaw. It makes me wonder if our ignorance about such things like suicide and deppression help allow them to happen. We don't know how to deal with things because we don't want to think about them. I went to the graduation last night and they didn't even mention Trish or her death. Now, I know that they didn't want to ruin the atmosphere for the seniors, but still. This is a small area, small school, small community.

What causes us as humans to ignore pain and terrible things like these as if that will make things better? Ignorance isn't bliss - just ask any soldier ever shot by his own men, any person who's ever eaten something poisonous. Running from our problems won't fix them. Pretending that no one died will not alleviate the pain of those who miss her, but recognizing it will allow them to grieve.

I apologize for the lack of focus in this post, but these questions are on my heart and I don't have the answers for them right now.

New Short Story Published

I just recently received news that one of my short stories, "The Water Rises," will be included in an upcoming short story anthology titled Coach's Midnight Diner, put out by the wonderful folks at Relief Journal. The anthology will feature crime/noir fiction, horror, alien stories, and the just plain odd. (Essentially what you're looking at is a short story collection for all of this whose tastes are a bit eccentric!) It will feature such splendid writers as J. Mark Bertrand, Suzan Robertson, Chris Mikesell, and many others.

Among other things, I have published several new reviews since my last writing: Relient K's newest, Albatross by The Classic Crime, The Wedding's Polarity, and not least of which, The Arcade Fire's newest, Neon Bible. So go check those out and tell me what you think.

I may as well make it official that I am moving at least half of my operation to Wordpress. "What do you mean, half?" you might ask. Well, that's a secret, because I'm not sure yet either. But rest assured that there will indeed be a new blog, and perhaps, a new focus. But that will be revealed in due time....

Cheerio!

The Devotion of Hope

I think everyone would agree that Paul had a lot to say. Besides having one of the most interesting conversions in the history of Christianity, he wrote the majority of the New Testament; showed us the fruits of the spirit and the armor of God.

But for a man who had so much going for him, he had no wife supporting him, no family (at least that is mentioned in Scripture), and no true home. Angry Jews and Romans made multiple attempts to martyr him, yet he still had hope. In fact, it’s one of the main themes his writings; mentioned seven times in the book of Romans alone, seventeen times combined. He spoke of it just as often as mercy, more than humility, and set its place higher than justice.

Paul says in Romans 15:4 that "Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." He’s essentially saying the Scriptures were written to give us hope, to show us how to hope—something to be taken seriously. He goes on to say in 15:13 that "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

This is Paul’s blessing for all Christians. May God give us hope. But the hope that he talks about is not worldly hope—it’s the hope that we have in Heaven, in God our father who loves us without fail. And sometimes that failing is what causes us to fall away, and to forget. I know, I do it every day.

When we take our eyes off the hope of heaven we have a tendency to lose that hope that fills us with thoughts of heaven. Ted Dekker, in his book The Slumber of Christianity, talks about this in detail. If we lose sight of the hope that is before us, the absolute unthinkable joy that Christ, our lover, has prepared for us, then what point do we have in pursuing Him? Christianity is not just about doing good things, or about ministering or evangelizing, its about a hope that is worth more than anything else that this life could possibly provide. Hebrews 6:19 tells us "We have this hope as an anchor." If we hold to it, then these little boats that we float upon in the sea of life will not collapse.

Note the first: This is actually the piece for a devotion I did for all the guys one night at Teenpact. Hope you enjoyed.

Note the second: I'm currently searching for a new blogging venue or site or what have you. I've considered switching to Wordpress, but am too lazy to do it myself. If anyone likes webdesign or that sort of thing, let me know.

I'm Still Alive

I'd like to make it perfectly clear that I am still alive, and that I do intend to remain a part of the blogosphere. My posts have slipped as of late, but fear not, dear readers, they will increase in number and possibly multiply (although likely without the fruitfulness of rabbits) in the future.

There, now that I got that out of the way, I guess I should try and explain myself before I get beat up or something. Life for me has been crazy in ways that I would never have imagined them being! Over the past two months I've helped open two cabins for my Dad's business, worked on a building site, shared a room, gained six hours of college credit, and probably lost my mind to top it off. That doesn't do it justice, but it'll work.

So, anyhow, on Saturday I'm off to Oklahoma City to staff Teenpact for a week. I can't wait, wonderful people and a true learning experience are always a good mix. After that we'll see about cooking you all up some posts! So, anyway, I leave you, until next time, with well wishes and coffee and tea.

Unfinished Pictures

Hope you all are having a good weekend. I was doing some blog-surfing and stumbled across a short but very smart post my friend Ben Pierce of Expensive Coffee. I hope he won't mind me quoting him quite liberally, but his thoughts were so close to what I have been thinking for awhile that I had to post some of them here:

I’ve been noticing lately just how exciting it is to
be completely outmatched by a good question. I can’t say that I like
incompletion, but I certainly can’t say I dislike it, either. Right now it seems
that the worst thing that could happen would be the cessation of all questions.

Personally, I'm not fond of being totally stumped by a question, but, as Ben says, to be outmatched, I love that - it eventually leads to a greater understanding of the truth. He goes further:

Of course, the wonderful part of the Christian’s hope
is that one day, the world and the universe and humanity will be remade (as
Lewis loves to say, “nothing is yet in its true form.”), and we will spend
eternity discovering more and new facets of the character of the universe, the
character of ourselves, and the character of God. There is something especially
engaging about an unfinished, but nevertheless beautiful picture; there is
something even more so about a picture finished but not yet fully
enjoyed.

And here's the comment I posted on his blog: "I think the unfinished pictures that I notice the most in my own life (besides the most obvious one: God) would have to be my relationships. I have friends that I have known for years, but I still don’t know them as well as I would like. And I think that’s sad - that the process of truly knowing someone is so hard and long. But it’s worth it in the end, I think."

I think that this all points us closer to God, and also fuels our hunger for heaven. There are so many incomplete things on this earth, that we will never be able to attain. Oh, how beautiful it will be in the end.

Lookie! Lookie! Lookie!

I know, I know. I haven't posted in forever. It should suffice you to know that I've been out of my mind busy, and that pretty much my life is insane right now. During the Summer, I'll post more. (Ha, ha.) However, I've been listening to some rediculously good music lately, and that is a definite plus. I'm also hoping to go see Premonition either this weekend or the next, but not without a friend or two. Any of you folks want to come down to Oklahoma and go watch it with us? Here's my open invitation.

All right, back to the good music I mentioned previously:

Headlights - Shoegaze pop played to indie perfection. If you don't know what shoegaze is, it's okay. Headlights play awesome music that manages to be both melancholy and upbeat at the same time, with lots of guy/girl harmonies from the lead singers. People keep saying they're a lot like Mates of State. That doesn't mean much to me, but hey. Just go listen, and if after two tracks, you're not salivating for more, I don't know what's wrong with you, but it's serious.

Deas Vail - My editor at Infuze sent me an advance copy of their upcoming album, and told me I would love it. I do. Accessible indie rock with snatches of Copeland and Mae. What hooked me about their music would have to be that their lead singer has one of the most versatile falsettos I've ever heard. Beautiful.

The Brothers Martin - Okay, this isn't for everyone, but fans of Starflyer 59 and Joy Electric are sure to be pleased, as the Martin bro's have finally collaborated, and the result is some awesomely quirky electro indie.