~THE PARABLES OF...PEANUTS?

I was browsing through the Christianity section of a local used book store a couple of weeks ago, and I couldn't believe my eyes: there on the shelf sat a book entitled, The Parables of Peanuts! As I have loved Snoopy and the Peanuts gang since childhood, I was enchanted and delighted.

Below is a picture of me with my Christmas gifts one year (a wardrobe case, which I'm holding--it contained a Snoopy plush, along with outfits to dress him in; a Peanuts rug; and a Peanuts sleeping bag)...

Cartoonist Charles Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts cartoon strip, was a Christian whose faith was interwoven with his work.  Robert L. Short  was a pastor and seminary student, and in 1965, he turned a slide show he had created into a book: The Parables of Peanuts.  In it, he used the Peanuts characters to explain Christianity.  Upon its release, it rose to #1 on the New York Times' nonfiction bestseller list--10 million copies were sold in eleven languages.  Here is an article on christianitytoday.com about Schulz's passing, and here is an interview with Short.

One of the chapters of the book is entitled, "Where Your Blanket Is, There Will Your Heart Be Also," which of course is a riff on Matthew 6:21. This chapter is about idols. I can definitely identify with Linus in his love for and devotion to his thumb and blanket, as yours truly sucked her thumb and had a "bah-bah" when she was little...

Here are a few excerpts from the book...

In the cartoon above, "Linus asks two very important questions, both of which the Bible does a better job of answering than Lucy.  Linus's second question, 'Aren't I worth more than a bug?!!' comes up for answer in the New Testament when Christ says, 'Are not sparrows two a penny?  Yet without your Father's leave not one of them can fall to the ground.  So have no fear; you are worth more than any number of sparrows'--or bugs, we assume!"

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"'Being loved gives one certain wings, a certain surprising courage and energy.  Then one is more of a complete man than otherwise.  And the more one is this, the better,' said van Gogh, a favorite of Snoopy's..."

*I think this quote goes along nicely with
2 Timothy 1:7 and James 1:4*

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"It is easy enough perhaps for men to say that 'God is good' and that 'God is love' when things go well and when the skies are clear and blue, furnishing a soft background for the birds to fly and sing in.  But the real test of the Christian's faith comes only in the face of the utmost darkness, the most senseless and apparently meaningless tragedies, the bitterest and most insupportable losses of our lives.  Then especially is it important that the Christian be able to say, 'God is good' and 'God is love'; and thus also be able to say with Job: 'The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (1:21).  'By believing Him just when to us He seems unjust,' was the acme of faith for Luther."

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"When the excitement of these days passes away, and when some of the visions begin to grow a little dim; when it becomes impossible to put into words the prayer you want to speak, then we must be able to lift our heads up, and say with all faith as Peter did, 'Lord, you know I love you.'"
(John 21:15)

~Charles Schulz~

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