Tuesday news and views

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the blogosphere. My son Tim graduated from high school and preparations and the aftermath consumed my time for several days. But my parents came and all the adult children came home, so it was good.

While catching up on my reading the last couple of days, I came across some good stuff:
Stephen Shields (of faithmaps.org) has some interesting things to say about the importance of the local church. Nothing can really replace the role relationships play in our lives, and in our spiritual development. (Link thanks to Jordon)

And somewhat related to that is what Mike Duran is saying about e-Fellowship.

Somewhere I found a link to a good entry about writing by Scot McKnight. (OK, I found out where: Stephen Shields' blog) In essence, he says if you want to write better, read better. If you want to write essays or nonfiction, then read a lot by the writers whose style you admire. I have found this to be true -- whether fiction or nonfiction, I learn more from examples of excellence.

I have to tell a story so you will understand why I'm linking to this. My best friend, Rebecca, had a dachshund named Porgy. One summer I stayed with Rebecca and her parents while my parents worked a week of church camp. Rebecca and I, being imaginitive and wacky, wrote a letter (or maybe it was multiple letters) to them that week describing Porgy riding around on a little motorcycle, complete with helmet and scarf (ala Snoopy). And my mom, though she suspected we were embelling the truth a bit, thought perhaps the poor pooch had been having back trouble and had to use a contraption similar to the dachshund wheelchair in the picture. We, of course, found the whole episode hilarious. And so this morning when I came across the Instructables Web site and saw this, I just had to send the link to Rebecca. I'm sure Porgy himself would get a kick out of it.

I got something very fun in the mail yesterday: Deliver Us From Evelyn, by Chris Well. This is one of the books I blogged about looking forward to a while back, so I'm excited.