Letter from the Editor

This issue is a tad bit different from the others. For this one, we are focusing on Advocacy. We don’t have a huge amount of think pieces, but what we have instead are articles about people who are participating in some kind of advocacy—like a smorgasbord of advocates.

The first piece I want to highlight is a book excerpt from Dr. Sandra Glahn’s brand new book (as the general editor) Vindicating the Vixens. It’s about exactly what the title suggests, taking the so-called promiscuous characters in the Bible and seeing them in a different light. In other and better words, it revisits the sexualized, vilified, and marginalized women of the Bible. This specific excerpt is about the character Rahab, and it’s written by Eva Bleeker. Christians’ views can’t change unless we see the Bible in a different light. Many people have justified their actions based on certain characters in the Bible, and this book goes on to prove that the women we see in scripture are some of the most God-fearing, faith-filled, badass women of all time.  I’m a fan of this book and you should be too.

The next piece that’s one of my favorites is an interview with Abby Perry on her fundraising campaigns. If you follow her on Twitter, you know that she often has fundraisers based on very specific needs that are happening within reach of where most of us are. We asked her a few questions based on this model of fundraising and her answers are wonderful.

We also have advocates writing for us on the highest calling of mothers, the #MeToo movement, on financial independence, on prayer, and on going to the laundromat instead of buying a washer and dryer. Yup. That last one is legit, and pretty interesting as well.

Another piece I am quite fond of is Aarik Danielsen’s on how real love needs imagination. There are so many good thoughts in that article it’s hard to know where to start. But it’s great and you should read it.

Of course, we have poetry in this issue. Sara Kay Mooney sent me two poems a few weeks back (here and here) and I couldn’t say no to either. I am a poetry snob. If your poems aren’t on par with Edna St Vincent Millay or Mary Oliver or Maya Angelou, I usually won’t accept them. The thing about Sarah’s poems are that after I read them, I sat at my desk and just thought about them for the next twenty minutes. They are good.

We’ve got stories too! We have a story by Sydney Pedigo about two eggs finally being used for a meal. It may sound strange, but sheesh it’s a good story. It’s such a strange combination between thoughtful, sad, hilarious, and amazing that I’m positive you’ll love it as much as I do. Another story we are pleased to publish is one by Seth Haines. He writes this as a way to explain spiritual formation to children via story. I’m pretty picky, but after I read two paragraphs of this I knew I wanted to include it in this issue.

We’ve also got a book review about last month’s Storied book club selection, an article about prayer, a bonus track from JR. Forasteros’s new book Empathy for the Devil: Finding Ourselves in the Villains of the Bible, a holiday playlist from our very own podcast guru, and a Drift of things that our editorial assistant has found on the internet.

Last but not least is our featured artist for this issue, Lydia Abigail. She is an incredibly talented artist based in Dallas who has exhibits in a few places around the area. She popped up in my inbox and after looking at her work, I knew she would be a great addition to this issue. Don’t miss the artist showcase and don’t miss anything in this issue! It’s really a good one.