While I was at Princeton 2 weeks ago, I participated in a seminar titled "Young Adult Fiction for Pastoral Care." I've never really spent much time reading young adult fiction, but after a great discussion of the powerful stories contained in some of these novels, I decided to give it a shot.

I went to the library last weekend and picked up Sherman Alexie's Flight. It's a quick read - took me about 4 hours - but I was struck at the way the story gave language to the struggles of many teenagers.

The book is about a 15 year old kid named Zits. (Not his real name, but how he wants to be known at the beginning of the book.) He is an orphan who really does not trust or care about anyone. Through his journey we see him confront this inability to care, struggle with race and class, repress memories of child abuse, and cope with the faulty system many foster children find themselves caught in.

Through all of this, we see Zits' transition from a deeply troubled teenager to a young man full of hope and redemption.

I should warn you, this is by no means a "christian" novel. It will make you uncomfortable. More importantly though - it will remind you of to whom we are called. Troubled teenagers just like Zits - who still have a chance as long as someone is willing to take a chance on them.

If you check it out, let me know what you think.

I have been wanting to write about Locke since Wednesday, but really needed to watch the episode again. I finally got that chance tonight - so here are some thoughts on John Locke's journey off the island and back:

As John Locke sets off on his mission to bring everyone back, he quickly realizes that everyone has moved on. Jack's a doctor, Kate's a mom, Sun has a baby. Sayid joined Habitat for Humanity, and Hurley is content. Not only have they moved on, they have moved on without the island. Locke begins to doubt his own "We are all here for a reason" speeches he was so well known for. The man of faith begins to doubt in the very thing he was prepared to give his life to save.

This leads John Locke into a depression and the only option he has left is what Richard told him back on the island - he must die. I think John had given up on whole island business. He did not care anymore - he just wanted to die. Then Ben knocks on the door. Remember, Ben knows that Locke needs to die to get back to the island. But he does something interesting. He restores him. Tells him that he is not a failure. Says that Jack has booked a ticket, just get Jack and you'll get the rest. Ben talks him down from the ledge. John Locke's faith is restored.

I've read in a couple of different places that when Locke mentioned Ms. Hawkings name Ben snapped and decided to kill him. I don't buy it. Ben had bleach and latex gloves with him for a reason. Everything Benjamin Linus does is calculated, and the mention of a name did not cause him to do something he was not planning on doing. Why not let Locke just kill himself? He had lost his faith. Ben could not let Locke die until his faith in the island had been restored. That by giving up on the island and taking him own life, he would never be raised.  Thereby, Ben restored him, kills him and stages it to look like a suicide. This got it into the newspaper and got Jack to the funeral.

Back on the island, John Locke has risen from the dead. Those from the flight found him standing in the ocean - a symbol of his baptism. He was a loser off the island. No one would listen to him. He was weak, crippled, and manipulated. I'm not sure that outside deciding to kill himself he ever made a decision without being manipulated into it. John Locke on the island is a completely different person than the man he is off the island. Standing in that water with the mango, the old John Locke (Jeremy Bentham) was dead. John Locke is now focused, faithful, and ready to fulfill his destiny.

One thing I can't figure out. Why did everyone only refer to Locke as Jeremy Bentham last season and yet in none of the conversations in this episode did we saw did Locke introduce himself as Jeremy Bentham? I get that was his new identity, but he never told any of the Oceanic 6 to call him that. He did not tell Walt either, who showed up to see Hurley at the hospital last season asking about Jeremy Bentham. How did he know to call him that?

Some other random thoughts:

It took me until the end of the episode Wednesday night to figure out that the plane landed on the smaller Hydra Island we learned about in season 3. That is where they are - I have no idea when they are.

I think that will be the last time we see Walt. Tons of story potential there, but the actor was not into the part at all.

The people from the plane told Locke that the pilot and a woman took off in the canoe. Had to be Sun. They are heading back to the main island to find Jin. Not sure if they will find him, unless they have all landed in the same time.

Who in the world did Juliet shoot in the other canoe a couple of episodes ago?

This is a blog series where from time to time I'll list things prevalent in my lifetime that will see extinction soon and Jaxson will never use.

#2 A Checkbook

Over the past 7 years, I have ordered 3 boxes of checks. My first box came with the new account I opened when I moved to Washington in 2001. Before I even came close to writing all 200 checks, I married Nicole and we ordered new checks for our joint account. It took us 4 years, but a couple of months ago we ran out and Nicole ordered another box.

All of our bills are paid online. It is convenient, fast, and most importantly, free. I'm not sure what this says about the church, but tithes and offerings are about the only things we ever use the checks for. Guess we are not ready for debt card readers in the offering plates.

I found this info tonight. In 2001 72% of all monthly recurring bills in the US were paid by check. In 2003 that number was down to 60%. 2008 hit 49% and that number will never again rise to more than 50%.

Jaxson will be surprised that to pay a bill, we would write a check, buy a stamp, put it in the mail and wait up to a week for that money to be removed from our account.

In his lifetime, he will never use a checkbook.

I've been noticing custom backgrounds on Twitter that include a personal picture and information you would find on a business card. I thought it would be a cool thing to have - and actually found a website that will design one for you. The catch is that it costs about $25.

I decided to give it a shot myself and was shocked at how simple it actually was. Here's what I came up with after 10 minutes. Not a fnished product by any means - I'll definitely be making tweaks and changes now that I know how easy it is. But not bad for 10 minutes.

FYI - I used my Macbook. Sorry PC folks....do some searching on Google. I'm sure it is just as easy.

First, I created a templet in Keynote with a box outlining the area (as close as I could) where status updates show up on the Twitter page. From both the top and left point of view. In other words, you'll want the top of your pic or text to line up with the top of the box and pushed all the way to the left. Same goes for the right, if you want to add anything on that side.

Download Twitter Background Templet. (Or just make your own.)

Second, I went to Shift Creative's library of free stock images to find my background. Go here to check out over 800 free images.

After I selected my image and drug it into keynote, it was simply a matter of dragging in a pic from iPhoto and adding some text.

Keep in mind that what you see in Keynote will show up much larger once you upload it to Twitter. Zoom in as close as you can.

When you are ready to upload it and see what it looks like, export from Keynote as a JPEG. The file must be less than 800k. If it is over this, export again and decrease the quality to 50%.

Then simply log into twitter, settings, design, and upload your picture. It took me 3 tries to get everything the right size.

Since this is a JPEG, different computer monitors may cut off part of your text. This is why it is important to push everything all the way to the left. I don't see cutting off a couple of letters of text as that big of a deal. If you do, use a small font size and never extend it past your pic.

I'm sure the $25 version would have been prettier, but I'll stick with free and simple. Should have done this over 2 years ago when I started using Twitter.

If you make one, or have made one, send me the link so I can check it out.