MIXING THE CHRISTIAN AND THE SECULAR

You may have noticed I cleaned up my blog this weekend. (It's amazing how much you can get done with only your left hand!) I cut out all the dead links, the blogs that no longer seem to be current, and threw together everything I like and find helpful. I hope you do too.

It caused a friend to ask me - a) aren't you going to turn off readers who aren't Christians?, and b) shouldn't your blog be one thing or the other?

Not being one to run from much of anything - for those of you how know me - I decided to address these questions, because they're good ones. If readers are going to keep up with my writing journey, and any great research sites I have to offer, they deserve to know these answers. I want people to keep checking in with me, and be assured I haven't developed a "split personality".

I am who I've always been - a Christian who's doing her best to live in a secular world. I'm a firm believer that we as Christians have become way too incestuous in only having Christian friends, attending "Christian" events, and going on so-called missionary trips to build clinics or put the roof on a church in Equador, or Chile, or some other worthwhile Third World country; or worse, taking "our youth" to another city to "study" the plight of the homeless or delinquent youbg people when we have plenty of that in our own backyard. (there's the subject of another post, right there!)

So, I hope I don't "turn off" readers who arern't Christian. Anyone who sees my Christian links (and I love the group Edgy Christian Fiction Writers) and doesn't want to click on them, doesn't have to but I hope they do. We can all learn a lot from each other as writers and fellow travelers in life. There're some Christian agents listed to the right, but you'll have to click on all the links to find them!

Because I don't choose to live my life "one way or the other", I don't see why my blog can't address both secular and Christian authors and subjects. I'm curious about life, politics, crime, sociology, ethics, book reviews, current affairs, and what's going on in "Christian fiction" as well as "secular fiction". I love standing up for the underdog, the Canadian military, and battered women and children and the homeless are special passions of mine.

I love all the authors I've linked to under "Favourites". I read a lot of secular fiction in the genres I love: thrillers, suspense, romantic suspense, romantic comedy (thank you, Toni, for introducing me to the incomparable Susan Elizabeth Phillips),and memoirs such as The Kit Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.

I also love Robin Lee Hatcher, Francine Rivers, Robert Liparulo, Randy Alcorn, and Ted Dekker. To name just a few!

It's that simple. If we can't integrate all parts of our life, we're not doing our job as Christians. I used love to shock Christian audiences whenever I gave "talks" on street youth, and one of my favourite lines was that if Jesus came back today, He'd appear in a strip club before He'd ever walk in to a church. He didn't mind "mixing it up" with the secular world. Everyone He came in contact with learned from Him.

So, I say let's not worry about being one thing or the other. I'll keep posting great links and resources as I find them - for every author and friend to take advantage of. Please keep coming back if you like posts on "edgy" topics, "edgy" books and their authors, and mixing it up in the world. God bless!