A Flyover Blog

Goodbye Tiny Tourist Town

Hello Springfield!

Bright and early tomorrow morning the movers will arrive and take our furniture and the heavy boxes filled with books to our new home. This is our last night in Tiny Tourist Town. I should be excited, but to tell you the truth, I'm too exhausted to celebrate. We've had a hectic and relatively stress-free move so far; all but one member of our family has fared the transition well. Poor little Sam, our Teddy Terrier, had a nervous meltdown last week and is on doggy Prozac for the next few days. Sammy doesn't do change. Or flies. Or fireworks. Mitch and I figure he'll be just fine once he discovers there is a McDonald's less than a block from our new house; Sam loves their french fries. I'll post again as soon as we get the computers and internet service up and running. Can't wait to live in Springfield!

 

So, What Is My Purpose?

Okay, this blog is 3 months old now. I, of course, am a bit older.  So, as I cruise around the bloggy world I have been meeting writers of all sorts.  I'm talking writers of faith here, who also have blogs.  They all have one thing in common - they write with purpose.  Some write morality tales to convict their readers.  Some evangelize through their writing.  Some just want to write "decent" fiction, meaning not too racy or otherwise offensive for a Christian audience.

I've been thinking a lot about my purpose lately, especially as I consider the new fiction book series I want to launch next year.  Some of you know I write mainstream fiction - meaning, I don't write for a "Christians only" audience.  I write family-friendly screenplays for a company in New York, and my first published work was a mainstream novel.  I've never really thought about purpose, other than to turn out the very best stories I can - stories I would like to read. 

So, what is the purpose of my writing?  Do I want to evangelize?  Not really.  I think most people already have a belief system.  And if they don't?  Well, let's just say I think you catch more flies with honey than a list of "Thou shalt nots".  Nor am I into "preaching to the choir".  I don't see the point in writing Christian stories for Christian readers.  We're all grown ups here; pick the books you like and leave the rest on the shelf.

I've looked at other areas of my life and I've discovered that what I do best is encourage people.  Sounds like a small thing, but I do have a gift for being able to "lighten the load" so to speak.  So, while it might not be the most spectacular purpose in the world, it is one I wholeheartedly embrace.   

Several years ago, my husband introduced me to the offbeat and lovable characters in The Red Green Show.  I believe I have found my life's motto here.  In the words of the immortal Red Green, "Remember, I'm pulling for ya.  We're all in this together!" Those are words I can live and write by.

An Imperfect Church

I read a post Sunday evening over at Faith Lifts that jogged my memory. I didn't have time to respond to the meme that day, but it stayed with me.  In Let's Get Real, Oct. 8, Heather wrote about her church background and wondered if today's churches are relevant in a world full of hurting people.  I wonder about this question frequently, and I think it goes back to an incident that happened 40 years ago.  Like Heather, I've been "in church" all my life.  Unlike Heather, I've attended a variety of denominations.

When I was small we attended a tiny Midwest church filled with devout Christians.  The members were hard-liners. The denomination doesn't matter.  I'll just say that the Baptists in town thought we were square - hey, it was the 60's.  Of course, we thought the Baptists were going to Hell for being too liberal.  In this church there was no smoking, drinking, dancing, wearing shorts, sleeveless shirts or makeup.  Going to the movies was prohibited, as was stopping by the A&W for a frosty mug of root beer on Sunday nights. (Wednesdays after prayer meeting was okay.)  Interesting side note:  We threw the best Halloween parties in town.  Go figure.

Sinners were generally not welcome in this church, except for Easter Sunday, the Christmas pageant, and Fill-A-Pew Night during the annual summer revival.  These were special services geared toward winning the lost.  The rest of the year, sinners were expected to clean up their act before they entered the church.

A new family started attending, a woman with 4 kids - 2 younger than me and 2 older.  Her husband smoked and drank beer so he only attended the designated "special" services.  One night, he fell asleep on the couch while smoking a cigarette.  You know how this ends - his family escaped the burning house, but he died in the blaze.  I was only 6 or 7 at the time but I remember standing on the sidewalk with my mom, who was in tears,  staring at the blackened front of their home.

That man didn't meet the standard for inclusion in the regular services.  Looking back, I realize our tiny church had little to offer him besides a list of legalistic "don'ts".  How hard would it have been for some of those church members to get to know that man before they tried to make him conform to their ideal?  Was their faith so fragile that his very presence would have caused them to lose their salvation?  I doubt it.  They were simply following the guidelines issued by their denomination - and look what it got them - many missed opportunities to make a positive impact on one man's life.

Today, my husband and I belong to a non-denominational church.  It's slogan - An Imperfect Church for Imperfect People.  Before we built our facility, we met in a popcorn store, an Oriental restaurant, then in an old tavern.  We try to welcome whoever walks through the doors; we live in a tourist town so there are plenty of new faces.  Do we always succeed?  Of course not.  Our slogan sums us up.  We are human; we get distracted by our stuff. 

This is my personal goal:  I never want to get so caught up in the trappings of "religion" that I overlook the people that cross my path.