Monday Musings 8/16/21
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Welcome to a new weekly blog feature where I share new releases, Christian book news, and other musings about reading (and maybe writing) and I open up the comments to both authors and readers to discuss a topic.
New Releases
In this section I’ll feature new Christian book releases. They might not have come out this week but they’re still very new. Some of them may even be pre-orders, so watch the publication dates.
Christian Book News
Did you know they’re making a movie adaptation about Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers?
I guess there have been a lot of setbacks due to Covid-19 and the release date keeps getting later and later but I found an article on it this week that had a short behind-the-scenes video if you’re interested. Here’s the link. The best I can tell, the movie is now set to release early next year.
I really want to see this movie and I’ve subscribed to updates about it. I’ll post in the newsletter when I find out more, and who knows, maybe I’ll do a whole article on it when it comes out.
If you haven’t read Redeeming Love you need to read it before you see the movie. It’ll make a great discussion topic later.
The Impact Reading Has On Our Lives
So many people have said that Francine Rivers’ books have changed their lives. In the video (in the article I shared above) the woman said she wasn’t a Christian but the movie was making her want to be one. I think it’s difficult for non-readers to fully understand the impact that reading can have on our lives.
Early in my writing career I wrote a Christian short story and it’s still out there, totally free almost everywhere worldwide, and I remember thinking about what potential power I had as a Christian author. Our church might only hold about a hundred people on any given Sunday. The big churches in the city probably hold a few thousand, but that’s nothing compared to the audience potential we Christian authors have.
I have books with a Christian message out there that have been read by tens of thousands of people. (Only one or two of my books have ever been made free and I’m only talking about paid copies here.) I don’t think we should think of ourselves as the same as a God-called preacher, and we certainly can’t take their place, but especially in a time when everyone is encouraged to stay home, even from church, we can be a light and we have the potential to impact lives.
I read an article on Francine Rivers’ blog once that I wish I could find again. She was basically saying we needed more Christian fiction authors, not just Christian authors who write fiction. The difference, she said, was that a Christian story falls to pieces if you were to take the religion out of it. It’s definitely made me think a little harder about what to read and what to write.
Discussion Topic of the Week
Which book (fiction or non-fiction) has impacted your life the most?
