Thursday, October 16, 2008

Can Horror Have a Silver Lining?

How Can Horror Have a
Silver Lining?
At college, my second semester back, after thirteen years mind you, I had to take an English Literature class. I had to read some things I didn’t care for, but nothing much. In that first class, there was one young lady that I just really clicked with (in spite of the fact that I was practically old enough to be her mother), and she said, “Next semester, sign up for this English Lit II class with me, PLEASEEEEEEEE!”
So without question, I did. I didn’t figure it was a big deal, we got along together very well; I had to take a Lit II class, and they were probably all the same. Or so I thought…
Boy, did I STEP IN IT! There was something nasty smelling on the bottom of my shoe! Ok, not literally, but the class was a real challenge. It was a Gothic Lit class; the entire class was on horror stories, and I mean horror! It consisted of everything from Edgar Allen Poe to Stephen King.
As I was reading a story by King, I had a silver pen, and every now and then, I would scribble in the book. Curious as to what I was doing, my husband saw me and asked, “What are you doing?”
So I told him, “I have to read it but I don’t have to put up with the cussing, so I am scribbling out the cuss words.”
I had merely chosen the silver pen because it was made to write on black paper, and it covered the black.
He just laughed as he said, “Talk about a silver crayon…”
Because you see, I had told him over and over, “With God, every cloud has a silver lining; you might have to use your silver crayon to find it, but it is there.”
With those words, God stopped me and I realized, I didn’t intend to take this class, but He is using me in it. Here are some silver linings:
o I gave a copy of a Frank Peretti novel, The Oath, to my professor because it is “a wonderful work from a Christian perspective that teeters on the edge between the ‘marvelous’ and the ‘uncanny’.” (The “marvelous” is a term for supernatural, and the “uncanny” is a term for ordinary events that happen in an odd manner.)
o I had to participate in a bulletin board posting website about my worst fear, so I posted that my worst fear was, “Someone I know dying and going to hell, and me doing nothing to stop it.” I included several scriptures to show the salvation message, and a salvation prayer.
o I also became close friends with several other Christians in the class who felt emboldened by my bravado to speak out about God, and how the need for God, fits into an obsession with horror. So,

All things have a silver lining for
those that love the Lord!
DaNella
Romans 8:28


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