Saturday, September 27, 2014

Weekend Links: Prayer, the Princess Bride, and more!

A little good reading for your weekend:

"Prayer, A Doctor’s Duty":
This week I ran around the lake as a cure for the stagnation I feel at work. I may see thirty patients a day, I thought, but how much ministry do I really accomplish? I pounded through my frustration each time I struggled up the hill and down around the lake . . . 
"After Paris: Meta, Irony, Narrative, Frames, and The Princess Bride":
To make a pastiche work, you have to be able to see what makes the original thing great as well as what makes it absurd, you have to be able to understand why people want it in the first place. You have to be able to see all around it. This is why Galaxy Quest works and everything else that tries to do that fails in a mean spirited way. The Princess Bride is the same, Goldman clearly loves the fairytale even when making fun of it and that makes it all work. The characters are real characters we can care about, even when they’re also larger than life or caricatures.
"Moving past the urge to truth-bomb":
Most people have gone through something painful or difficult, either in the past or in the present, and they don’t feel the need to carry a sign announcing it to everyone. Most people are not out to offend. Most people, when they make a nice comment, are just trying to be decent human beings, so why not return the favor and just be human beings together?

Finally, my sister (whose judgment I trust) let me know about some friends of hers, David and Tracy, who are trying to raise the last little bit of money they need in order to adopt Collier, a boy with Down's Syndrome who is about to age out of his Eastern European orphanage. When this happens, he'll be institutionalized and no longer eligible for adoption. David and Tracy are, according to my sister, a wonderful, Christian family, who saw Collier's picture and just knew that he was supposed to be a part of their family.

If you can help, you can donate here.


Have a great weekend!
Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

1 comment:

jen said...

Reece's Rainbow is an awesome charity. The little boy for whom I was a Guardian Angel is now home in the States.