Saturday, July 23, 2005

RLP is hangin' on

Gordon Atkinson, aka Real Live Preacher, had too much on his plate. Had to make some serious choices. Good mini-drama for those of us who keep up with what he writes. As usual, the comment thread is a gusher of support.

...I know I have to set my own boundaries with email, and I do a pretty good job of that. But these were emails that no one could igore.

"Dear rlp, my fiance was killed in a car accident. He was a Christian, but I am not. His family wants me to say something at the funeral. I'd like to read something from the bible, but I have no idea what to read. You're the only minister I know. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Dear rlp, I'm 17 and I think I'm gay. I'm scared to death to tell my parents and the people at my church. Do you think I'm going to hell for this?"

You know, that kind of thing. I dare you to not answer email like that. Double dare you.

So in the Spring of 2004, with a new facial tick, headaches that sent me straight to bed when they hit, and a few other symptoms, I admitted to Ben that I wasn’t doing all that well.

“But,” I said defensively, “The chance to write like this may only come once in a person’s life. I just can’t walk away from it.”
Read the whole story here.

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