...an example of what I'm talking about:

Okay, we really haven't been talking about it on this blog, but we could just as well have been.

The reason I'm a Protestant is because I believe in Yeshua, and I didn't happen to be baptised in the Roman Catholic Church. Going strictly by the etimology, the term 'Protestant' probably doesn't apply to me because I'm not a non-Catholic out of protest. My belief is that the sign over the door neither saves nor damns, but it's the faith accompanied by its fruit. I may not agree with every point of Roman Catholic doctrine, just as I probably probably don't agree 100% with any one church's creed. But neither do I see a chruches official creed as necessarily defining every single person who happens to belong to that church.

In that light, I found Alan Creech's latest autobiographical blog entry encouraging. It's a good read.

Allegory

I've just finished doing some needed editing on my novella Allegory, and its companion article, A Study on Judgement. I intend to keep links to these prominently posted on any future author's page as free downloads. Even if they get published in the future in paper format, I plan to retain the right to allow free downloading of the electronic version. The subject matter is such that I don't think I can, of good conscience, make everyone pay before they receive such an important message.

Changes

It's about time the blog reflected a major change in my writer's identity -- to use my real name instead of a pseudonym. I guess when one is this close to being published, one begins to reconsider things like that.

Using a pseudonym is a good idea if one wants to cloak ones identity, not embarrass ones relatives or, if the title starts to compete with the likes of Harry Potter, go places without being recognised. I suppose in such a case, it would only be a matter of time before people discovered who the author really was anyway.

I'll also probably need to restructure the page to be more of an author's page. Perhaps I'll eventually need a new website. I've already changed the blurb. The facitious sounding one you see up there now may be only temporary, until I think better of it, or find a better one. The older one was descriptive of my intent for doing a blog, but it's probably better to let blog surfers judge by the content.

One positive reason for using my own name is just to give the Charters name a bit more notoriety. I don't know of any Charters (with that spelling) who have distinguished themselves. Some, using alternate spellings of the name, such as Chartres, and Charteris, have written books and such, but it's about time the name Charters got a little airing out. I think it's a Huguenot name, originally spelled Chartres, the same as the cathedral town in France, where they came from. There are possible connections with the Bourbon dynasty as well, but I don't think any of us have any claim to the French throne, or anything of that sort. Anyway, that's a bit far back, and you certainly wouldn't know it looking at the motley crew we are today. So far, though, I haven't been able to trace my direct genealogy farther than my great-grandfather, Samuel Charters, of Artnigros, who was a lock-keeper on the river Bann.

My Childhood Friend

A few weeks ago, my family and I had lunch with Beth, a childhood friend of mine. I had been in email contact with her off and on for a few years, but I hadn't seen her since we were teen-agers. Even then, it was for a brief few days. We had known eachother as play/school mates for a period of nine years, since I was five and she was three, until I was thirteen and she was eleven. Twice, during that time, her parents were my house parents, so they became like uncle and auntie to me. I was in email contact with her mother, who was supportive of some of my writing endeavours, until she passed away in 2004.

Anyway, she has opened a blog page for the purpose of telling of her trip, which she made with her two grown sons. The link takes you to the very last page, because you have to work your way forwards from there to get the story in chronological order. There's a photo of her son, Micah with my son, Abie, as well as one of my family in Lumpini Park, a favourite spot of ours when we were young.

How to be Humble without being a Wimp

Here's a good definition of humility from the Chavad people...

It's the sense of, "Yes I know who I am, what I can do and what I can't. But I stand in the presence of something much larger than my little self, so much larger that there isn't any room left for any vestige of my own ego. Something before which a thousand universes are less than dust and from which all things extend. Something which is infinite, transcendent and yet pervades all things."

Sheep Comics

I was pointed to this on Len Hjarmalson's blog. I reminds me of some of my own takes on sheep and chickens. The sheep in these cartoons says some of the same things a lot of us are trying to say... anyway, happy reading

Consuming Jesus

Scot McKnight is reading through Paul Metzger's book, Consuming Jesus, and doing a discussion of it on his blog. It's about how consumerism has invaded the western church. Metzger sees that as the root of inherant racism and classism (why whites only go to white churches, blacks go to black chruches, people only fellowship with people their own social class etc.). Basically, it's because the chuch has swallowed the consumerist lie, that everyone is entitled to what they want. Keep the customer satisfied, at all costs, even if it means trashing the costs of discipleship. He sees the born again experience as being the answer -- the vital ingredients being regeneration, repentance and reconciliation.

From this blog: a loud "Amen!"