We Are "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"
When I was in first grade, my family joined Bill Gothard’s homeschool cult. So when Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt showed up on Netflix this month, it sometimes felt like rewatching parts of our life. In today’s guest post, my older sister Kirstin Murray Kyner put that feeling into words: The new Netflix show “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”…
Does Jesus Heal Our Ouchies?
“Does Jesus heal our ouchies?” It’s one of those moments when abstract spirituality meets bruises and scraped knees, and my son wonders with the sort of innocent curiosity possessed only by a three-year-old. I hear myself answering him before I even stop to think about what I should say. /// A baby born too soon…
Our Father Who Art in Heaven, Please
Our father who art in Heaven, please be on Earth as it is up there because I can’t do this on my own. Help? The words trip and fall off my tongue sincerely, but without eloquence. Fitting, I suppose. I’ve been tripping and falling through life without much eloquence lately. I have no idea what…
Why I Am an Artist
Today’s guest post comes from my friend Christina Dizon. I had the privilege of working with Christina on her new website a few months ago, and it turned out to be one of my favorite projects so far. I love Christina’s eye for beauty and her passion for encouraging other artists. I think you will too. For twenty years now…
Why I Hate the Bible
I hate the Bible. These words shock me as I form them on my lips, form them with my fingers. They are harsh, ugly. My own mind rebels against this unwelcome sentiment. I try to swallow it. I cannot. You are horrified too. Arguments tumble up and spill out almost instantly — questions and objections and…
Why I Love Blackjack
I lost a hundred dollars in Vegas last month. “I have no interest in gambling,” I’d said. “But I’ll play a few hands just for the experience.” Riding shotgun across the Utah desert bound for Sin City, I Googled “how to play blackjack in vegas”. “I’ll only spend fifty dollars, max,” I told myself. “I know…
Dear God (A Psalm for Lent)
dear god it’s me again it’s february and i can’t tell where the grey horizon ends and the grey sky begins (i can’t tell much of anything anymore) i heard a song today about how “this is my father’s world / why should my heart be sad?” and well, have you seen your world lately? there’s…
On Ash Wednesday
“ashes to ashes / dust to dust in dying, we rise” I’ve never observed Lent before. I shrugged it off as unnecessary, a sort of overly-religious performance, or at least the strange practice of a liturgical spirituality that I did not claim as my own. But the truth is — I was unwilling to…
Confessions of an Impatient Seedling
I am waiting, not very patiently. I fell into the ground some time ago, you see, and have been all but forgotten. In the darkness I feel myself dissolve, the shell that once protected me turn to ash. I am alone. Soil fills my lungs, damp and mixed with shit and death and I’m gasping for air, screaming for air, choking…
Why I Don't Cry to Christians Anymore
I received this guest post anonymously, from a friend of a friend. I think it’s worth our time. May we learn to love better. -Micah content note: mentions of rape / assault Maybe I’ve got it all wrong. I’m sure if I do, and even if I don’t, you will be sure to tell me. But…
A Roadtrip. A Tattoo. A Damn Good Story.
I want to tell you about my new tattoo. It’s a bold scrawl underlined in red, bleeding across my chest and onto my arm. It’s only a few days old. Today it feels like a sunburn. This week a layer of skin will peel and flake away as I heal and the ink becomes part of…
Share If You Think This Is Funny
Remember when you knew how to laugh? I don’t just mean the sort of resigned snort lazy half-assed acknowledgment of humor we’ve befriended of late, (most often in the company of cheap beer and acquaintances.) heh-heh-heh I mean laugh. The wheezing, gasping, howling “stop stop stop I can’t breathe” without an ounce of cynicism or self-awareness or…
How to Make Links Look Good on Facebook
I love blogging. The writing, the community, the technical ins and outs, the hours of frustration whilst mucking about with CSS and whatnot. Today we interrupt our usual stream of millennial angst to talk about a very practical part of blogging. Regular programming will resume next week or whatever. So you wrote a blog post. You threw a…
Turning the Page
People often ask me where the name “Redemption Pictures” came from. It started when I was in college, making short films and dreaming big dreams about big screens and Hollywood. “Redemption Pictures” was the name I gave to those little movies. When I started the blog without much thought a few years ago, I went ahead…
For They Shall See God
Blessed are the pure in heart (for they shall see God). And I always thought that to be pure in heart meant to have successfully wrangled my sinful impulses — stuffed my fleshly desires into cages like so many squawking, unruly chickens. To be pure in heart meant to follow all the rules. Sadly, to be…
