purgings unaccomplished, hurts still unhealed

Well, now that I finished Wind Follower and it's out there in the world, I still feel I haven't quite gotten all my heart's hurt out into a good story.

I know you've seen a lot of movies where people portray Christians as cruel uneducated know-it-alls. As a Christian, I've seen them. I always cringe and say, "Why do they portray us like that? We aren't all like that." Stephen King, for instance, has a lotta creepy Christians in his book. Even so, I always suspect that Stephen probably is a Christian underneath it all. Let's face it. There are many cruel racist Christians out there. I have a white friend from Georgia who says the same people who invited him to Church were the same people who invited him to KKK rallies. Heck, Christianity in America actually contains denominations based on hatred of black folks. And then there is Sunday morning, the most segregated day of the week, where blacks are in their black churches and whites are in their white churches.

I WANT to write a book showing the kinds of horrible Christians that exist in the world. But do I want to contribute to the pool of anti-Christian literature out there? The same thing goes for racism. Christian white racism. (Yeah, there is such a thing as black racist christians but honestly, not nearly on a scale as the other kind. I can't think of any black theologian who has ever built a racist church.)

I often feel Christian folks need to write about that...but how to do it? For the most part, the Christian books that deal with white Christian racism are books written by black Christian women. But even so.....those books are usually published by white Christian publishers...so how angry and truthful can those books be? And while black Christian folks read books by white Christian folks, the reverse is not as common. (IF I see one more little black Christian girl reading Janet Oke, I will scream!)

I'm working on two works-in-progress now. One is based in a totally strange world and is full of great world-biulding. Some sexual issues, though. A Christian publisher probably would not accept it.

The other story is based in this contemporary world. All the hurt and grief I have ever received from Christians just threatens to overflow in that novel. Should it? Is picking on racist Christians an attack on the faith? Or is it a prophetic wake-up call that is truly needed in this racist world we live in? Gotta see. But what is the use of writing if the folks you want to change just ain't gonna read it?