I'm just checking in. :) I can't believe it's already been well over a week since my last entry here! Time is flying. So much is happening with the youth groups I'm involved with. I am helping to direct a retreat this weekend for several north Texas Methodist youth groups. It's really being run by our teenagers on the Conference Youth Council, but the directors have to fill in all of the gaps. This is my first time directing such a large scale event, and I'm letting it stress me out some days more than others, but the other directors are good, and at least one of them is experienced in this area, and the youth are fantastic, so it's going to go well! :)

I'm still revisiting The Great Debate, exploring the possibilities. If anything comes of it, I've learned not to make announcements until all of the ducks are in a row. For now, I'm just enjoying getting the book back on my computer and reformatting it, polishing up the text. What a powerful book! It brings up a lot of things that are still issues for me today, working in the Church. Some of these issues are even more prevalent today, with conservative efforts ever growing to try and keep gay people from gaining equality in the Church or the State. I'm finding that, even though this book was originally published eight years ago, it is very relevant for 2011. Beater Rabbit, the psychotic "ingénue" of sorts from my latest short story, would have been quite at home in this book, perhaps nestled between "Christian's Dilemma" and "Reverend Philips is Going to Hell." Whatever comes of my revisiting this book, I hope, at the very least, to bring some attention back to it after all these years. The message of The Great Debate is one that I want heard by people who are hurting and oppressed, outcast from the Church and other parts of society because of who they are, because of how God made them. I will let you know as things develop.

Back to Beater Rabbit, once I've gotten through my revisitation of The Great Debate, I'm going to start working on putting together a new book of short stories, and I'm fairly certain our furry little fiend will find himself at home there, too. I want to collect a number of my previously published stories, as well as add some new ones for this volume.

And while I'm working on getting The Great Debate back in the public eye, I urge you to check out the lyrics to Lady Gaga's new song "Born This Way." It's a good song, and the lyrics are powerful. I got the song on iTunes the day it was released, and I've been enjoying it ever since. Peace!