We have heard a lot about Anne Rice the former Vampire author who had returned to her Catholic roots and who recently said: “following Christ does not mean following His followers.” I agree with that statement but the fact is that Jesus’ followers are brought together into His Body, the Church. In that fellowship of broken, abused, disoriented and sin-ridden people Christ Himself decided to bring healing, hope, perspective and redemption.

Anne Rice is facing , according to the different articles and interviews which I have read about her, many issues where her own perspective and that of other followers of Christ go separate ways, add to that the insensitive approach that many employ, no wonder she can’t deal with God’s personnel down her on earth!

Having said that I was so touched to read the story of Holly Ordway who was a highly educated atheist who thought Christianity was “a historical curiosity” or “a blemish on modern civilization,” or both.

“Smart people don’t become Christians,” she thought, according to Biola University. Her worldview, however, began to change at age 31. She recounts her journey from atheism to Christianity in the recently released Not God’s Type: A Rational Academic Finds a Radical Faith”.

“It is no light matter to meet God after having denied Him all one’s life,” she writes in the book. “Coming to Him was only the beginning. I can point to a day and time and place of my conversion, and yet since then I have come to understand that He calls me to a fresh conversion every day.”

Ordway, a professor of English and literature at a San Diego-area community college, wasn’t raised in any religious faith. She never said a prayer in her life and she never went to a church service.

How refreshing is her approach as she considers her experiences in the church and writes on the importance of the church family: “I got to thinking: where else do we get this kind of example? Where else do we see teenagers, adults, and the elderly all together for the same reason? Where else do we see single people and married couples, those with wiggly toddlers, with grown-up children, and those without children, all spending time together? People who are part of a large extended family – and who live in the same area as that family – get this experience as a natural part of their life, but I suspect that’s increasingly rare these days”.

A refreshing wind of commitment to Christ and a realistic view on what Church is all about!

That’s the Way I see it!

John