A religious tone to professional writing

Many professional writers take on politics, science, and other concrete topics. Today, my regards go to a man that attempts the abstract. A man by the name of Donald Miller. His book is called Blue Like Jazz.

Miller writes spiritual books that probe our consciousness for something beyond our understanding. A subtitle on the cover of his book states nonreligious thoughts on Christian spirituality. This book simply contains his thoughts. But they manage to portray a different perspective to Christianity in society today.

Blue Like Jazz is a refreshing look into the faith life of a writer who has the same struggles and problems in life as anyone else. But he's found a way to move past those struggles. He lives a Christian life, today.

In a nation considered "Christian" by the media, I find it difficult to believe that the majority of Americans would be considered practicing Christians by the leaders of the Church. Reading the Bible has become less and less of a practice because frankly, it's quite difficult to understand.

But that's where professional writers like Donald Miller come into the picture. He takes his religious studies and his knowledge of the Bible - - and passes that on to the reader. He puts the stuff that was preached and discussed over two thousand years ago into words we can understand today. Without writers like Miller, some Christians would be lost in their faith, and in their lives.

So for those Christians who can pick up a Bible and understand every word and every meaning, this isn't for you.

But for the rest of us...

Toyota's iQ

Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press writer, reveals the iQ, a new car from Toyota:

http://detroitnews.com/article/20090408/AUTO01/904080401/1148/auto01/l

The iQ is Toyota's brand new design to break into the super-compact, affordable, green car segment which is primarily held by Daimler AG's Smart coupe.

At a tiny 9.8 feet long, the iQ is smaller than Toyota's already-cramped Yaris. The toaster-sized iQ was designed to cater to younger, urban drivers that need to get around in heavily congested places. Safety, styling, and smooth handling were top priorities by the design team in Japan. Toyota engineers are quite confident in the new vehicle; they even claim that while driving the iQ, formerly dull tasks such as doing a U-turn become exciting.

In a period of dollar-hoarding and record job losses, Toyota's release of a small, fuel efficient car displays intelligence that seems to escape many execs in Detroit. A claimed 54 mpg should relieve some stress for people nervously stepping into the new car market. And the go-kart-sized coupe achieves this efficiency without the use of diesel or hybrid technology. Executives at Toyota hope that the iQ will help boost sales to help the corporation through the hard times on Wall Street.

The car is already on sale in Europe and Japan for a price of around $14,000. Toyota executives haven't decided whether or not the car will be sold in the states. But if it does, which I hope, it'll no doubt be sporting Scion badges and an attractive sticker price.

Sounds like an intelligent move to me.