Care and I'm so glad you were able to join us today and we're talking about riding as cultural engagement. So
I'm curious that for the Christian, what is the Christian worldview that they need to be carrying into an
enterprise like this. Well, I always like to think of it as a four fold kind of an approach. So a lot of people will
write and describe the physical and the intellectual and the emotional aspects of storytelling. But the
Christian includes the spiritual. And that's gotta look real like that can't be just slip in a Bible verse. That
might be applicable at a certain point. But generally, I mean, it would be organic to the story to have a bible
verse that's great. But you need to include the people's hearts where they're turning away from God or they're
called the god, or they're running as hard as they can toward him. And so your characters are the things that
you write about half, it has to be very real and organic. You know, we're, we're all flawed. And so in a
creative writing sense, if we're talking about a novel, a short story, or even if you're doing marketing, you
know, you don't want to come across as this phony kind of plastic, one-dimensional sort of Christian
worldview. The Christian worldview as beautiful and it's deep. And it involves the heart aches and the trials
as much as it does the triumphs. So care. And when, when most people talk about the spiritual element that
you've just described there, they're thinking of things that are otherworldly or heavenly, but that's not at all
what you're talking about here. You're talking about people being in the world but not of the world. Is that the
case? It really is. So let's say I'm writing about you and I'm in your point of view. For me, I love the third-
person point of view, but deep. So I'm really into your deep thoughts. You might be walking along and you
might see a car accident. And your thoughts might be, Lord, let me get there in time to make a difference. Or
you might be running late to a meeting and you might think, now, this is something that people can know
what you are really thinking, how frustrated you, where they wouldn't even many think you are a believer or
something. There is a dimension to your characters, to the people that you're right about. That is their
spiritual dimension. And again, it might be that they see across on a hillside and roll their eyes because they
don't believe and they don't want to believe. But that's an important aspect of where they're at spiritually. So
it's the world. Jesus said in the word that spiritual, the spiritual aspect of life as actually more real than
anything we can see or touch. So we need to tap into that to find the depth of characters. And we need to be
able to write that. That's how we write Christian worldview into their stories. So for, for Cultural
Engagement, for a person who really wants to speak to a fallen world. You've explained how the spiritual
element is something you've gotta focus of bone. It's not something that's otherworldly. It's really
empathizing with those folks. And the characters there develope, have to ask, are there some values that as
Christians, we should never compromise coming as we're writing. I think one of the things I always want to
avoid, gratuitous kind of fallen characters, things like things that they do that I would not want to read about,
that kind of thing that would violate my faith and I wouldn't want to lead people down a dark path. But I don't
know that there's many, I mean, in terms of what emotions are places where characters go and the things that
they think. I think you have to be real. That's what people will connect to the realness of what you write. And
when you're writing a physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually strong story, those pieces are
woven together. There's not like you can go, Oh, this must be the spiritual peace. They're integrated. And as
such, it creates a very deep story. And I really think that's, that's where you get readers hooked to me. Coming
back for more of what you had to say. It really as a distraction when we're gratuitous, isn't it? If we're, if we
have a joke in a PG film, just so we can get a PG 13 read, rating, it really diminishes its truth. It really does. I
mean, just tell the story and be real, but don't be gratuitous. So a person who is a pastor might be wondering
why he ever gave his life to the Lord. But then, okay, B, be authentic with them and feel the hurt and the y.
There's a reason people don't just have negative thoughts toward God. There's a reason there's a dad that left
or there is a mom that was abusive, whatever it might have been, it might have been, you know, terrible
accident that that person witness. Once I heard it said it's important to always see the boy and the man. So as
you're analyzing characters in real life or in your story, and as you're setting about writing about them, even if
you're doing a journalistic piece and you're wanting it to be creative, you need to see all of what brought that
person to this moment. And that has to be reflected in how you write about them. Striped bass care, Thanks.
