Peace

So the other day I was sitting down with a really good friend and two other girls I'm just getting to know. They initiated it, and I'm really glad they did. We asked each other questions - kind of the typical, start-to-get-to-really-know-someone... like describe yourself in five words, how do you spend your free time, who are your some of your best friends and why, who has impacted you, etc.

One of the questions was what is your dream job. A question that is looming closer and closer on the horizon, and therefore feeling much less like a random question and much more real.

I thought about it, but there was none of the eternal turmoil I expected. (Wow, Freudian slip? I intended to write "internal turmoil...") For the past two years, another friend and I have dubbed my seemingly conflicting interests as my "trilemma" - my interests in tech/media, history/writing, and missions - rather distinct fields. But now I'm seeing God began to stitch these random pieces together.

I really found only two desires in my heart and mind. First, my dream job would be to get paid to go around (the States and the world) talking about missions - mobilizing missions, getting other people to understand and participate in this desire God has to see the nations know and glorify Him.

At the same time I want to be a wife and mother.

And then I named some other interests that I wouldn't mind making doing as a job (though perhaps not a lifelong career). I'm not sure what my journey will look like yet.

• I wouldn't be opposed to teaching history/geography/worldviews for several years and mobilizing missions in the context of a Christian high school.
  
  
• I have a passion for media and tech. Again, I'm not sure exactly was this will look like, but I feel called to use media to help mobilize missions.
  
  
• Along the same lines, I'm also passionate about using media to see the Church reclaim the arts and the power of good storytelling. Whether my involvement in this comes from my interest in writing or media/tech or simply supporting those who do this much better than I ever could, I want to be involved.
  
  
• I still think it would be cool to be a Biblical archaeologist (goes along with the inner history buff + theologian + childhood lover of all things dinosaur). But...haha yeah.
  

Realizing the solidarity of the passion in my heart was amazing. I don't think I really grasped it at the time, but having God's peace about what He has called me to do is beautiful.

Granted, I don't know how this will play out or what it will really end up looking like - still waiting for those details, but it is not as hard to wait when I know Whom I am waiting upon and the purpose for which I am waiting. As Mark Alexander wrote:

When we make God our North Star, we are guided precisely along the path He has prepared for us, even though we do not know where it leads.

Lead me, Jesus. You have my heart, my guts, everything I am.

Excited!

My Facebook status currently reads: Lauren is in love...with macs, photoshop, and the vision of Phil Vischer and JellyTelly. See www.jellytelly.tv.

The new header is the result of joyous time playing around with Photoshop while watching the Rangers beat the White Sox. But I'm really excited about what Phil Vischer (the guy who started VeggieTales) is working on right now.

After the bankruptcy of Big Idea and VeggieTales, and the collapse of Phil's dream, he realized that he had made his company more about him than God. He had lost sight of the original call. With the wisdom that only comes from failure and restoration, he writes a great book called Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story about God, Dreams, and Talking Vegetables.

Anyways, he's doing a new thing now that is much needed and quite brilliant. With his new organization, Jelly Fish Labs - through which he's published two children's books and made several hilarious short mock news casts with a puppet named Buck Denver - he's creating an online Christian TV network for kids. He takes the premise that media influence is increasing in kids' lives even as Christians are producing less Christian kids media, and Vischer decides to do something about it. The average kid watches 22 hours of TV a week, and this might be countered by an hour of Sunday School. The worldviews of Nickelodeon and Disney Channel are basically raising a whole generation. 

Using clever storytelling, puppets, 2D and 3D animation, and live action, along with plenty of silliness that kids crave and hilarious wit that keeps adults engaged, Vischer proposes an online network called JellyTelly, which will combine short clips and new characters, the best of current Christian kids media, and the work of emerging young Christian film students and animators. What excites me most is not just the vision to give an alternative to families for entertainment or help teach kids Biblical values while partnering with churches to correlate curriculum, but that JellyTelly is also committed to training a new generation of young people to impact the media. No, the subscription online network with a pay-what-you-can policy will not be immediately challenging the likes of Disney or Viacom, but they will be creating a new generation of Christian storytellers, well trained and able to affect the arts and a generation of young children and families who know to expect better than either of the horrible quality Christian media or the indoctrinating trash of big television. 

PLEASE visit http://www.philvischer.com, http://www.jellyfishland.com, and ESPECIALLY http://www.jellytelly.tv for more information. 

Future Career

Well, it's 2008 - Happy New Year.

This brings us one year closer to forcing the answer to the ancient, dreaded question. "What do you want to do when you grow up?" Asked to preschoolers and collegiates alike, seemingly always by friends of one's parents who aren't friends of the recipent, my answer today is more ambiguous than my life plans at age 4. Of course, since then, my parents have succeeded in convincing me there are more important things to do with my life than find dinosaur bones. I've also ruled out similar preschool dreams: firefighter, trash truck driver, professional athlete, or Superman.

However, it wasn't until today, as I was organizing some books after having glanced through a mail order catalog that my purpose and calling hit me.

Indiana Jones meets Dr. Jake Cooper, a Biblical archaelogist and hero of Frank Peretti's kids books. How sweet would that be?

I mean, that's almost as cool as this guy:



Well, maybe not. But I will always think it would be cool to be a historian / adventurer / archaelogist with a Biblical worldview who gets to travel all over and find really cool old stuff.

I will always love toys that make you think and use your imagination and hone a love for creative stories (LEGOs did this for me), as well as good books that train your mind while telling an awesome story out of a Biblical worldview.

And I will always want to be involved / support those who are involved with Christians and the Church influencing the arts - movies, books, good storytelling.

Hmm. Maybe I know more about what I want to do than I let myself realize...

Thoughts on The Golden Compass

“Dude, this movie is cool,” was the unorthodox thought that kept coming through my brain as I watched The Golden Compass. I think ice bear fights and a different old world with futuristic gadgets and aerocraft is cool, even if it comes in a not-so-great context. Yes, I know the movie is subtlety (or not so subtlety) encouraging atheism, and I know that Phillip Pullman, the creator, is an avid atheist and is anti-Christian, and I know I’m supposed to think its bad, but I think it’s so much more than all of that.

Please understand that I am not negating the previous statements. There are elements in the story that are quite contrary to my Christian worldview. There were parts I don't agree with or like; there are scenes that don't hide the allusion of bashing Christianity. However, I think The Golden Compass should inspire the Church to action, rather than causing the Church to stay home doing nothing but complaining about Hollywood.

So here are my thoughts on The Golden Compass.

1) It is an example of a movie that has an compelling plot, great graphics and cinematography, and good actors.
2) It is a good example of a humanistic worldview and the problems presented by this worldview.
3) Therefore, it provides a great opportunity for Christians to present an alternative, better worldview to those impacted by the movie or books.
4) It’s a reminder to the American Church that ‘atheists’ are telling great stories and making great movies, and the Church really isn’t doing much to impact the arts. And that must change – now.

I’ve read the first book and I’ve seen the movie. I’ve also read interviews with the author and director, plus many reviews of both book and movie. I’ve also read many reviews based on hearsay and secondhand knowledge rather than a personal opinion of the material.

The story itself, sans religious themes, has many exciting elements. It is set in a universe parallel to our own, which has different mystical creatures. One of the best things about the movie was the setting; the parallel universe is both old-fashioned and futuristic at the same time, and they blended it all together well. Ultimately, it is a story of redemption, an epic struggle in which the bad guys fight the good guys, friendships are tested and found loyal, and heroes are developed from unlikely sources. Seriously, what kid (child, preteen, teen, or adult) wouldn’t want to set off on an amazing adventure, protect and avenge his friends, and be rescued by a fearsome ice bear who destroys the bad guys?

Yet, the story comes from a very humanistic worldview. The governing authority seeks to redeem the world not for freedom, but so that it can achieve greater power and control. The cost of this redemption is the separation of human children from their souls in animal form, causing death for both child and animal in experimental stages. The story’s conflict comes into being because mankind rejects God and tries to redeem himself, leading only to death.

So what is the Christian response? I think Christians need to take the opportunity presented by this movie to offer a greater worldview in which God took our death that we may know life. God redeemed the world by becoming the sacrifice Himself! This is a great opportunity for parents to discuss worldviews with their preteens and teens, though I wouldn’t recommend it for young children (PG-13 rating). Families should discuss the differences in beliefs between atheism and Christianity, why those differences exist, and why they are important. No one will become strong and confident in their beliefs if they aren't exposed to contrary ideas and forced to defend their own. Then take advantage of a cultural event (aka, a new movie with a lot of cool elements) to reach out to kids who don’t have such a learning environment. Introduce Christian themes while contrasting the beliefs of the bad guys in the movie.

Christians seem motivated to reach out to culture only when the controversy is a positive spin toward the Church, such as that surrounding The Passion of the Christ. Scripture urges us to “make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.” The days we live in are evil. The entertainment of our culture is typically not supportive of the Christian worldview. But this does not mean we shouldn’t engage our culture! We seem caught off-guard when an alternate worldview garners attention in media. We want to send a mass email about how bad a movie is and then run to hide behind the walls of the church. The Church has no reason to respond with fear, for we have the message of victory and of life. Often we seem afraid of any other view being presented, but if the Church does its job of showing who Jesus is in a world that needs Him, there isn't much contest. Reality trumps counterfeit every time. The world needs LIFE, but it will not receive it until they understand the gospel, as lived out in the lives of believers: living in the world but belonging to Christ.

The Church needs to impact people on a personal level, in daily relationships, but Christians also have an obligation to affect the culture as a whole. Christians have not taken a forward role in the arts, in producing music and movies and books and plays that appeal to mainstream America. Therefore, we have no right to be surprised or frustrated when people of other worldviews create media that represents their beliefs and thoughts. Pullman is a good and influential author who is also an atheist. I should be able to list a dozen authors who are also good and influential in their craft, but who are Christian and write out of their Christian beliefs. The Church cannot limit Hollywood involvement to remakes of the Easter and Christmas stories, with a few stories of implausible plots and weak budgets and casts thrown in for fun every now and then. We have to impact people where they are, and for many, that means taking our message out of Sunday School classrooms and into the cinemas, into the best seller charts, and into mainstream culture.

In an oft used quote, St. Francis of Assisi said, "Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words." This is the challenge the Church faces today. First of all, we must be willing to preach the gospel in church, not a watered down self-help course. The gospel must be known before it can be spread. Then, we must know the truth and power of the gospel personally in our lives, so that it naturally flows out of us as we interact with the world. Handing out a tract and telling someone they're going to hell isn't the best way to reach people - reach people around you through relationships. By the same token, however, don't be ashamed of telling the Truth in those relationships; the emphasis is on living and 'preaching' together. The third thing is a natural step-up: as the gospel flows out of us in relationships, it must also be seen in our workplace - for some, this may be business ethics or in a classroom. But we also need to encourage strong Christian youth to influence the arts: movies, books, and music, but also video games, journalism, and Internet. Christian influence doesn't mean all the characters have to be Christian or become Christians. It doesn't mean Jesus has to be mentioned or an altar call given. But the themes and values should reflect the gospel - the greatest story of all time.

We have the greatest story of all time. What are we going to do with it?