to go on a killing spree at my church. I spent some quality time with my weapons this morning and made sure they were in good working order. Put together a package of reloads and I’m wearing the kind of comfortable clothes that you’d pick for your last hours on the planet.

Before you call the police, it’s weeds we’re exterminating. And dogged if I’m wearing a suit to spray Roundup.

But that initial paragraph probably has some people fanning themselves with the vapors. Good. It was an experiment in writing. Christian writing. Let me explain.

Many of the books you think of as Christian literature are probably the ones with cute Amish girls on the cover. Or, perhaps a time out of time novel about Elizabethan England. Have you taken a look at what some of the best authors on the market are writing? People like Janice Cantore and James Rubart? (He’s a good friend of my partner Larry W. Timm) Gritty stuff with tons of action and real plots. Not that the historicals don’t have plots, but mass murder and serial killers are more the work of Alton Gansky than – well, no names. I have friends that write those books and this is not meant to be an insult.

The Christian fiction world has room for everyone, including writers of Steampunk and Alternative History. The entire literary scene is there including zombies, werewolves, and vampires. But not the cute kind you get in the secular world. If you want a book that challenges your perception of Christian fiction and gets you moving you can find it if you do a little bit of looking.

My opening paragraph sounded bloody and violent. But that’s because you filled in the blanks.I was always talking about spraying weeds. At a church. But what happens when I get there and the Deacon is dead in the parking lot? What if the Pastor is covered in blood and doesn’t remember where he’s been since service let out on Sunday? What if a troop of Jihadist scum are planting a bomb under the choir stands when I show up?

That’s what modern Christian literature is about – life. Action. Excitement.

Get out of your rut today and go to the internet for a search on contemporary Christian fiction. Find something with a Christian world view that trips your hammer.

I’ll be out spraying weeds. But when I get home, there’s a book about flamethrowers and a Baptist church that needs further editing.