the newest member of the family

name me
since pam and i have finally landscaped our front yard (though the north side of the house still needs to be completed) i am now at a point where i get to buy a garden gnome. i love garden gnome. i think they are cheesy and that’s basically the reason that i love them. now i need to make sure you know that i’m not a big fan of villages of garden gnomes. you won’t find gnomes swinging, or riding, or gathering in visible groups in my dream yeard. you see it’s really just the thought of a hidden gnome within the garden that i like.i think it’s funny.

so after convincing pam that i would hide him well i have finally bought my own garden gnome. the photo above is my gnome. he is from the same style family as the gnome i used two years ago as a part of a message series i did at the youth ministry’s worship service. he should be here in a week.

now i have to come up with a name for him and a good spot in the garden.

please read more fiction

i was in a conversation a few days ago in which the upcoming da vinci code movie was mentioned. i’m looking forward to the movie because i figure some good discussion will come of it. i personally find it hilarious that dan brown has somehow been turned into some type of gnostic prophet. just look at his past books. he has written thriller after thriller. that’s what he does … he writes quick read thrillers like tom clancy or john grisham. it’s just so happens that his schtick is the whole knights of the templar thing. jon stewart pointed out on crossfire that we should never confuse his daily show with hard hitting news because it’s supposed to be a comedy (if you haven’t seen the video here it is). i think the same thing should be remembered about dan brown. HE’S A THRILLER AUTHOR!

anyway back to my conversation with these pastors. when the discussion swapped to the da vinci code movie one of the pastors said “that book is a strong attack from satan on the chruch.” it was at this point that i blurted out “then our enemy is an idiot because it’s not a very good book.” i read the da vinci code and personally found it pretty predictable. one of the other pastors then said “you and i may not agree with the book but it is an excellent work of fiction and a powerful story that will be flowed. i should know because i love good fiction every now and then.”

this statement was what blew me away. not the part about the da vinci code being powerful. it’s not. everybody talked about it when it first came out and then it died away (just like all quick reads do) and the same will happen with the movie. in my opinion it won’t have many lasting thoughts. afterall we don’t base our legal system on john grisham or our defense strategy off tom clancy why would we base our faith off dan brown? the statement that blew me away was that this pastor consider the da vinci code an “excellent work of fiction.” he then went on to mention other works of fiction that he enjoyed reading and they were all from the same genre. most of the pastors i know don’t read near enough fiction and they definitely don’t read anything worth while. there is fiction and then there is good fiction (also known as literature). some books change the way you think and challenge society. books like “to kill a mockingbird,” “catcher in the rye,” “a lesson before dying,” “crime and punishment.” and other books are quick reads that are full of cliche’s and simple plots like “the da vinci code.” some works of fiction should be read because they are full of more truth than some of the non-fiction books that pastors read. works such as “the lord of the flies,” “the grapes of wrath,” “the scarlet letter.” other books don’t teach people anything … books like “the da vinci code.”

i’m not sure why it somehow became noble for pastor’s to say “i don’t read fiction.” yet, i’m convinced if more pastors read good fiction then we would see “the da vinci dode” movie for what it is … a summer blockbuster that will be forgotten within 5 years rather than being convinced that it is the greatest attack on faith in CHRIST ever.