Cultivating the Christian Imagination

(There are no plot spoilers in this post.) I watched Solo: A Star Wars Story primarily because my wife and children love the Star Wars franchise. Personally, I could take it or leave as far as movie franchises are concerned. I am, however, interested in the impact on the culture that the Star Wars universe has had. There are plenty of ideas and perspectives in the Star Wars universe that don’t affirm the Christian faith. (Check out JT Wynn’s excellent article today at Stand to Reason -- “Obi-Wan Kenobi: Great Jedi Master, Terrible Philosopher”). With that said, I am also fascinated by the numerous gospel allusions that can be found if one knows where to look. Solo, a movie that offers the ba

My mom talked excitedly as we drove home from church. Her words floated in one ear and out the other. Frustration with the children's musical that year occupied my mind––I wasn’t given a solo. Mom called my name from the front seat. I looked up to see my mom’s eyes looking at me in the rearview mirror. The church choir director gave her a solo, she said. Big deal, I thought. Without responding to her news, I began to vent about my role in the play. It wasn’t long before she stopped my tirade to correct me. She wanted me to be happy for her, but instead, I could only think of myself. I was hit with the knowledge of my selfishness. It struck me that my mom, always the devoted choir member, had

Nathan’s rebuke of David in 2 Samuel 12 has always intrigued me, especially as a storyteller. Here’s the context: David has committed adultery with Bathsheba and covered it up by ordaining her husband’s death. In one corner is the Prophet Nathan and in the other King David. Nathan must hold David responsible for his sin. Nathan’s weapon of choice: the story. Here's how God's Word says it took place. Nathan's Story There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his

By Mac McConnell - Forever Changed: A Journey in Jericho. This particular book is about every child’s favorite Bible story character—Zacchaeus. Summary We see how a young Zacchaeus winds up becoming a tax collector and how he quickly learns to be one of the best. It ain’t too hard to make some extra money for his own pockets, either. One month he goes to Jericho to collect the taxes that are due only to find that the blind man can’t pay, the one lady just had her young son die, and the other lady’s husband is a raving lunatic who is completely out of his mind. He grants thirty days grace on the taxes. Upon his return he discovers that the blind man can now see, the raving lunatic actually is

I was not much of a reader through my youth and much of my teen years. I have tried to make up for it since age 16, however, even if I had been a reader, I probably would not have read the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I had heard of them and I knew that they had been made into a television show, but the show did not sound interesting to me in my youth, so I would have assumed the books would not have been enjoyable either. I recently read through the series of books with my daughters. We would read them a chapter at a time in the evenings, and I must now confess they are wonderful stories with great characters. The books start when Laura is around five and they go through