Weekly Links: a free Mars Rover video game, advice on socializing as an introvert, and more!

SOME GOOD READING FOR YOUR SUNDAY AFTERNOON, SET OUT IN MY USUAL CATEGORIES OF FAITH, AND FAMILY, AND FICTION...

Faith

-"Praying for the Police":

It’s easy to be cynical about the cultural Christianity that infuses life in the Bible Belt like hot water in a cup of tea. But this gathering—following so much anger, fear, destruction and despair—touched me. Members of my own family are in law enforcement. And another member of my family is a young black man. I don’t want to lose any of them. 

-"The Gift of My Anxiety"

-"The Casserole-Toting Church ladies Hold the Secret to Happiness": This one is absolutely my favorite link of the week. 

-"Rosaria Butterfield: No Free Passes": I've been impressed by everything I've seen from Dr. Butterfield, and this interview is no exception.

Family

-"Ask a Boss: I'm an Introvert and It's Holding Me Back!": This article is aimed at a work situation, but it still has some of the best advice I've ever read for introverts, full-stop:

A lot of introverts ... just resign themselves to this aspect of work always feeling like a performance. It can be an exhausting performance when it doesn’t come naturally, but their thinking is that it’s like anything else you might have to do at work that you don’t love — say, filling out expense reports or sitting through a boring staff meeting. 

But I think you’re more likely to be happy in the long term if you figure out your own ways to build rapport with people, even if those ways don’t look anything like the methods your colleagues are using. One of the most straightforward ways to do that — and one that a lot of introverts find easier to pull off — is just to take a genuine interest in people. You probably have a natural curiosity about people somewhere in you, even if you don’t typically indulge it at work, and this is the time to let it out.

Go over and read the rest of the article too--it's worth it--but I just love that core kernel of an idea: that introverts have their own way to be both genuine and social. It doesn't have to be a performance; when you hook socializing onto our natural fascination with the world, we can socialize with real interest, and not with awkward falsity.


-Mars Rover Game - my kids have been alternately enthralled and completely frustrated by this free game from NASA. Enjoy!

Fiction

-"Christian Fiction and Biblical Worldview Stories are NOT Synonomous": 

[CBA-approved fiction].. is framed by specific boundaries. While it exists within a biblical worldview, it only represents a cubicle within that world. Strictures such as no profanity, no graphic sex, no zombies, or explicit redemptive themes, are unique to the genre. They do not, however, necessarily frame a biblical worldview. CBA guidelines are far more evidence of a specific theology than they are necessarily representative of the larger biblical worldview. 

-"Praying for Romance": I enjoyed this article by about romance-writing from a Roman Catholic, Filipino, indie point-of-view. 


-Finally, this video is just a ton of fun (and if you pay attention, the task assignment is really clever):

I hope you have a lovely weekend!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell