Bright Lights, Sparkling Trees, Joyful Music, Delicious Treats

In case you missed it, WestJet’s Christmas Miracle video spread holiday cheer across the Interwebz over the last few weeks. The video shows Santa asking WestJet passengers what they’d like for Christmas, and they asked for everything from socks and underwear to a big screen TV. While the unsuspecting travelers were in flight from Toronto to Calgary, WestJet elves scurried to fill the requests.

As passengers waited at baggage claim, beautifully wrapped packages glided down the carousel.

Advertisement

 

Extra Grace Required in Science-Faith Relationships

We all know people who tend to deplete our reserves of patience and good will. (Perhaps we’ve even been one of these folks.) I’ve taken to identifying such people as “EGRs”: extra grace required. This label, which I adopted from a guest speaker at my church, helps remind me to reign in my irritability and pray for an extra measure of patience when dealing with difficult people. After all, I require extra grace, too.

Interactions within the science-faith arena provide plentiful examples of EGRs.

 

Reasons to Believe in the Season

When the Christmas budget (for some) is virtually zilch and perhaps hearts are heavy over missing a loved one, it’s easy to lose sight of the “reason for the season,” so to speak. Yet often it’s in the difficult times that believers gain deeper insight into the truth of God’s character and care for us.

 

Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall

Snow White seems to be Hollywood’s fantasy heroine of choice this year. Last Friday (June 1) brought Snow White and the Huntsman, the second Snow White film of 2012, to theatres. As a fan of Walt Disney’s version of this fairytale princess, I’m looking forward to seeing Snow White and the Huntsman at the movies. The film’s extended trailer reveals a unique and grim twist on the old fable.

Rather than wishing simply to be “fairest of them all,” the evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) must consume her beautiful stepdaughter’s beating heart in order to achieve immortality. It seems Ravenna craves not just beauty, but also the ability to cheat death.

 

Grappling with Grace

Most writers are probably familiar with the saying “Writing is easy … just open a vein.” We pour passion into our words. And once pen hits paper, our vulnerable selves are open to critique. Sometimes the response is harsh, à la “Nobody reads your blog.” Other times the response is constructive, like “This would work better if…” The latter is what we always hope to hear, but it doesn’t often work out that way—especially when those words are on the Internet. (Anonymity has a way of breeding cruelty, does it not?)