No, this isn’t a post about Tim Tebow. Last time I checked he doesn’t play for any of the 32 NFL Teams.

I’m talking about Mike Vick, whose rags-to-riches life in 2010 resembled a Disney movie, just without the talking dogs. In 2010, Vick was a revitalized man, leading an explosive offense, at least for the first six games. He only started in eleven games that year, but set career high’s in passing yards, QB rating, passing touchdowns, and rushing touchdowns. He was selected to his fourth Pro Bowl a was named the NFL comeback player of the year.

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Throughout my life, the body of my Memorial Day weekends have consisted of barbecued ribs and chicken, picnic dishes, yard work, and trips to the beach. Memorial Day pleasures were treasures to be hoarded like a camel reserves water. I lived off the three day weekend until a proper vacation could be had in June.

What Memorial Day was not was a time to remember the fallen veterans who died in service to our country. I don’t have reason or excuse other than to admit that my imagination was centered how I would coax my grill into yielding another perfect feast.

This year I started Memorial Day differently. I joined a Crossfit gym this year and learned that every “box” in the country was doing the same workout to honor Lt. Micheal Murphy, a soldier who died in Afghanistan trying to find a clearing where he could relay his company’s position. The workout goes like this: Continue Reading…

Would Hemmingway have used his smartphone to journal? He was probably too manly for that.

Moleskine note books have a long history with the arts. Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway each famously used the notebook to capture sketches, pieces of dialogue overheard, and possible plots. Great artist scavenge details of life the rest of us overlook. They are voyeurs who observe the ordinary until they can make the mundane strange enough to appreciate again. Carrying the notebook prompts  creatives to observe.

I’ve been using a journal for years to collect these snippets, but its too bulky to want to carry with me everywhere. I’ve looked at Moleskine notebooks but balked at the price. On the other hand, they are the Chuck Taylor’s of  journals.

For the time being I’m opting to go electronic and use Evernote. When I over hear a juicy bit of conversation that can be fermented into dialogue, I open Evernote on my phone and tap it into a note. When I realize the person I bumped into would make a great character in a novel, I catalogue a brief description in a note. Continue Reading…

This past Tuesday, I made a relaxing drive across Pennsylvania. I left the house at 10 AM and wove my way  through the foothills of the Appalachian enjoying Starbucks, Miles Davis, David Crowder’s Requiem, and The Delta Saints.

I’m married and the father of three, so the time alone was refreshing. My house is a loud place. Everyone in my house plays at least one instrument, so in addition to all the normal household noises–the sibling spats and the how-was-your-day’s, La Casa Shallenberger almost always features one rehearsal at any given moment: Vocals, piano, drums, or guitar.Often, rehearsal times overlap. My wife will be memorizing  Muddy Water’s riff, while my middle schooler pounds out the theme music to Doctor Who on the piano. When Alex is home he usually attempting to recreate a Neil Peart drum solo, oblivious to the dissonance he’s adding to atmosphere. Meanwhile, I sit on the couch with my laptop and try to focus on my writing while trying not to notice my anxiety-induced shedding of hair.

So, a seven hour car ride alone is heavenly. Continue Reading…

Roger von Oech, an expert on the creative process, claims every artist must wear four hats on during the creative process. First, you must become The Explorer and actively observe the world around you. Then you become The Creator and create our own little world. Next, you must become The Judge and ruthlessly evaluate your work until it becomes the best it can be. Finally, you must become The Warrior and champion you work until be becomes seen, or gets a buyer, or whatever your ultimate goal is for the work.

I’m not going to lie: I enjoy the Warrior hat the least. I don’t enjoy the self-promotion and rejection that inevitably comes with being a warrior. Went to a writers conference last year and found myself envying the novice writers who exuberantly shoved their business cards and flyers into chest pockets. I coveted the obliviousness of the Juice Plus saleswoman who lacked all social boundaries and crashed the convention to sell her product. Yes, I was annoyed when she wormed her way into dinner I had with some authors. But she definitely had her warrior hat on.

I was spoiled as  new author. I sold three books to traditional publishers without writing a book proposal. Twice the editors approached me. The time I did the initiating, the electronic handshake was had within three rounds of informal emailing.

Three books without a warrior kill. Continue Reading…

I just finished teaching a course entitled Muslims, Christians, and Jesus with my friend Rachael. The course  was based off Carl Medearis’ book by the same name. I’d recommend it to anyone. Medearis began and ended the course with a reminder that we are commanded to love our neighbors, all of our neighbors, and that perfect love drives out all fear.

During the last session the class explored ways we unintentionally build barriers between ourselves and Muslims. We decided we need to be intentional about the media we take in and their portrayal of Muslims. It tricky because radicalized religion is more compelling to watch on TV, whether its Christian wackiness (Westboro Baptist) or Muslim terrorists. A peace loving Christian or Muslim family seldom gets featured on CNN or   FOX News. A ten minute piece on an average Joe or Adib who get up in the morning, prays, works in the steel foundry, and scarfs a quick dinner before taking his daughter to soccer doesn’t drive ratings.

My mind turned to how Muslims are portrayed in Christian media. I don’t imagine that Christian radio or TV is any more balanced than their secular counterparts. And then remembered Christian fiction and decided to search Amazon, CBD, and a few of the larger publishers to get a sense of what I could find. A disclaimer: This is not an exhaustive list of Christian novels portraying Muslims. It is, however, the fruit of about an hour of web searching, and I think it’s fairly representative as to whats out there:

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If a tree falls in the woods, and its lumber is pulped

and made into the paper use to print one of the finest piece of fiction

ever released by a Christian publisher and that novel goes on to become unnoticed,

did the tree make a sound? 

An irony: If you want to read fine contemporary literature influenced by Christian thought it’s best to look outside of Christian publishing. Anne Lamott gave us Rosie Ferguson and her lovable dysfunctional family’s uneven crossing of addiction and grace. Doug Worgul’s Thin Blue Smoke is an epic on the scale of East of Eden, filled with irresistible and flawed characters. J.K. Rowling’s told The Passion story with her irascible trio in the Harry Potter series. Indy writer, Christopher Fischer, just released a gritty tale of steel mills and religious skepticism. There’s Updike and Beuchner, neither published by a Christian imprint. The Shack, for whatever you might think about its writing, is one of the one hundred top selling books of all time, was originally self published before being purchased by a Christian imprint.

Meanwhile, Christian publishing is domain of flimsily written Amish romance novels and End Times thrillers. This has been the reality for decades and has drawn the lines of consumer expectation and those lines are largely unmoved.

That is, until a small Christian Publisher, David C. Cook, defied all that and released The Most Important Thing Happening, which is for my money, one of the finest pieces of fiction I’ve read in a long time. Continue Reading…

Last night I had a rare treat. My middle schooler choose to work on his homework assignment, answering response questions to the first three chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird, in the living room. Normally, he holes up in this bedroom with his headphones on. But he knows I write and read voraciously and saw me as a resource to get to the other side of the assignment. Initially I was given thesaurus duty and was expected to supply synonyms on demand.

My son reached a certain question and threw his hands up. –How am I supposed to know what she was thinking?

– You read the chapters?

–Yes.

–Who is she?

– The stupid teacher in the book. Scout shows up at the first day of school knowing how to read and Miss Fischer gets mad?

– The chapter doesn’t say why she was angry?

– No.

– Guess.

– She’s stupid.

–Can you dig deeper?

–No, she’s stupid. She doesn’t have the right to be angry about this.

– I agree. But everyone has reasons for their behavior, even if it is stupid. What are some possible reasons?

– How am I supposed to know? The author doesn’t say in the first three chapters.

We discussed how the teacher was encouraging him to develop theories about why Scout’s teacher reacted unreasonably. I suggested that maybe Miss Fischer had some ideas about social class and who had the right to be educated and when. He rejected that notion because it wasn’t a good reason. Continue Reading…

The consequences being immersed in a legalistic religious system are easy to spot. The excellent book, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse,  catalogs the consequences of being on the short end of the stick:

• You have a distorted image of God,
  
• You are preoccupied with spiritual performance,
• You have a distorted view of yourself as a Christian,
• You have a hard time with grace,
• You have a hard time relating to spiritual authority,
• You struggle with reconciling the concept of “dying to self” with personal boundaries,
• In extreme cases, you might have a struggle with basic living skills,
• You struggle with trust.

It’s easy to spot half of the victims in a spiritually abusive system. Matthew Paul Turner has done some brilliant work bringing to light the damage caused by excesses of Driscoll and the brand of discipline promoted by his church. Quivering Daughters offers support for women oppressed by the “Quiver Full” movement. Indeed, reading Sarah Thebarge’s The Invisible Girls reminded me that legalistic spiritual systems and their distorted definitions of modesty and gender roles are unique destructive to women.

When we think of spiritual abuse we mistakenly thing there’s only one short end of the stick. Continue Reading…

A History of Stone and Steel tells the story of Paul Keppel’s struggle to comes to terms having lived a life he only half-chose. As a teen his grandfather the zealous preacher and his steel worker father had opposing visions of Paul’s future. His preacher grandfather’s breath reeked fire and brimstone while whisky suited his father’s taste more. Inevitably, Paul’s life launched sideways. He finds himself a depressed and struggling TA at a college, trying to cobble enough of an existence to support his young family. Reoccurring nightmares and chronic headaches and the news his grandfather is dying of brain cancer convince Paul he also is not long for this life. The prospect of not having to life to see the fruit of his behavior gives him permission to stray into erratic behavior as he attempts to salvage his marriage and whatever else is left in his dead end life.

Fisher’s debut foray into novel writing is brilliant. Every facet of his protagonist’s life is in flames by the end of the first chapter. The beats alternate between tragic and comic with ease and occasionally embody both at once. Fisher guides his readers through the steel mill, the college, the church, the bottom of a bourbon bottle, and through the depth’s human spirit, each setting with equal ease.

A History of Stone and Steel also explores Paul’s conflicted relationship with his grandfather’s God. Continue Reading…