Category: Uncategorized

Eugene Peterson’s advice to seminary students:

“I’d tell them that pastoring is not a very glamorous job. It’s a very taking-out-the-laundry and changing-the-diapers kind of job. And I think I would try to disabuse them of any romantic ideas of what it is. As a pastor, you’ve got to be willing to take people as they are. And live with them where they are. And not impose your will on them. Because God has different ways of being with people, and you don’t always know what they are.

“The one thing I think is at the root of a lot of pastors’ restlessness and dissatisfaction is impatience. They think if they get the right system, the right programs, the right place, the right location, the right demographics, it’ll be a snap. And for some people it is: if you’re a good actor, if you have a big smile, if you…

This flow chart shows connections between the authors & illustrators and the inspirations that have created a universe that is over 100 years old.

This is done in different ways, first there are four different groups that are not only charted by illustrator and/or author, but also chronologically when they were published.

1. The first forty novels.
2. The movies produced from 1908 to 1939.
3. The staged musical and plays from 1902 to 2006.
4. The very short Disney involvement.

The second way is to show the connection between authors & illustrators (who worked with who). The third way is the highlighting of inspiration. For example Alexander Volkov, a Russian author, translated Wizard of Oz and titled the novel “The Wizard of Emerald City.” He also wrote five other squeals, which spawned over thirty other novels, and they inspired American translations and adaptations.

Through the years there were authors devoted to the writings…

Two of the roughest weeks of my life culminated in returning to the pulpit on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11.  Honestly, I didn’t feel like I had much to say to anyone about anything.  I was exhausted both physically and emotionally.  But there I was and it was time to start
putting one foot in front of the other and get back to living.

The gospel lesson for the day was Matthew 18: 21-35.  It is about forgiveness.  In it Peter pipes up to ask Jesus another question.  How many times are we supposed to forgive someone?  The clear implication is that we should
forgive them more than once.  Maybe the disciples had been discussing this among themselves and finally decided to send Peter to get a definitive answer on just how many times was enough.  So Peter asks how many times we should forgive.  Then he throws in a…

If you like stories about fragile females, who actually end up being not so fragile, with willing males to simulatenously take care of them even as they serve them, then Anne Bishop is your feminist.

The plotline is basically the same as her other 3 series (Black Jewels<–first and favorite, Belladonna and Bridge of Dreams<–not really a fan of this one).

Despite the plotline and characters getting to be (more than) predictable, Anne Bishop creates awesome worlds where magic is both feared and utilized in unexpected ways.

I like the plotline, so I don’t mind it being that repetitive, however I think that in her most developed world (Black Jewels) the books about side characters start to get away from the tired plotline, so its still my favorite. Plus this is not a common plotline elsewhere, so although its the same tune from Bishop over and over again I do…

L. Frank Baum & Peter Pan, which covers Baum’s Peter Pan collection, and other works based on that foundation. Go ahead and tell me if you think I am missing something, or other needs that may could use revision.