1. Incredible post! My eyes are tearing up at your words.
    I work at church, am a youth leader, have mostly Christian friends, so pretty much in a Christian bubble. But at times I’ve felt “less of a Christian” (for lack of better words) because I’m obsessed with Marvel movies, watch Big Bang Theory, am jazzed working a booth for our friends at Gen-Con, and have San Diego Comic Con #2 on my bucket list (was #1 but now RM is #1). This helps me to remember God created me wired for action, adventure and fantasy AND He called me to write. I need to embrace the weird, even the controversial. God has been opening my eyes to a world that’s messy, HARD, wrecked and needs HIS hope. We NEED Spec authors to write to that world, filling their stories with that hope and mercy and redemption. So, write on all authors of weird! I know I will!

  2. zareena shinn says:

    Thank you, for taking the time to share your thoughts. Loved it.

  3. this really is the sort of article that I would appreciate being printed in Lorehaven. Sign me up for a subscription! As an evangelical and a youth pastor who was once fired for writing fantasy fiction (which is now part of a seven book series) before earning a masters degree and finding success using spec fic to lead lost kids to Christ, we need this sort of content!

  4. Over all a good post, Stephen. I do feel the need to point out, as we’ve discussed before, that the verse in Colossians has the specific context of what slaves were to do in regard to their masters. It’s not an unrestricted statement that says, if you are going to ComicCon, do it for God’s glory. It’s saying God is our master, so we are to please Him instead of worrying about pleasing the people in our lives.

    Apart from that, I think you’ve shared your caring heart and have done so with clarity. I would hope that the person you’re addressing, does find this post.

    Becky

    • Amen and agreed. And yes, that “whatever you do …” is absolutely in the context of dedicated, intentional, conscious service to God our Master. It’s not a “freedom for freedom’s sake” justification. It absolutely assumes that Jesus is Lord over everything we do.

      Thanks for your encouragement!

  5. notleia says:

    I wasn’t homeschooled, but I felt equally trapped living on 2 miles of dirt road and at least 5 min from the nearest gas station. Also I was one of, like, 6 people between the ages of 15-45 in my church, and half of those were my siblings. Honestly, it didn’t get any better until I had a car and could drive where I wanted to go. Being able to choose your environment makes a lot of difference. You can decide to spend more time with cool people who don’t rag on your hobbies and only so much time with the more difficult people (when they’re actually being nice).

    • Exactly, notleia. And part of that, part of it, relates to the normal struggles of growing up. False belief, bad religious rules, and things like that, may play a factor. But it’s often mixed in with expected growing-up struggles. Either way, Jesus is the answer.

What do you think?