The Christ type in Brumbletide is Pippin, the White Stag. Any time you set your pen to an endeavor such as writing a Christ type, criticism will come. But when does criticism not come? And if fear of criticism is keeping you from writing the story that has come into your mind, I’m sorry to say you will never be the author of anything worth reading.

But on writing a Christ type, I have concluded that it is better to write a faulty Christ type than not to write one at all. In the Bible, we have Adam, Moses, Joseph, and Jonah, to name a few men full of sin that God used to draw everyone’s eyes to the perfect Messiah of Jesus. So, not only do I know that all things, even a fantasy story written by a woman who has the English and grammar skills of a sixth grader, will work to the good of those who love God (Romans 8:28), but I also know that it is better to attempt to write a Christ type that perhaps God will use to point three people to Jesus’s door than to write a novel that has no such character.

            But why a stag and not something better like a mighty lion? Well, for one, the lion was taken by another author you may have heard of, and I actually do have what I think is a good reason for the stag. Here, I state my case!

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

         Contrary to what anyone expected, Jesus was humble and lowly of heart from His birth until the day He graciously died for us and then rose in glory. He was born in a manger and announced first to shepherds instead of kings. His triumphal entry was on a donkey, and his moment of purpose was a bloody and humiliating death on a cross. When He rose again, he did so quietly, only telling Mary Magdalene until he met his friends and informed them as well. This is our King, the treasure of the universe.

My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. Song of Solomon 2:9

As the miracle of the water to wine displays, Jesus came to marry His Church. A wedding was going to occur, and the Old Covenant would be no more, and a New Covenant would take its place. The book of Song of Solomon is a beautiful love song between two lovers. As Christ came to marry His Church, we can imagine his longing and excitement for His Love in the time until the ceremony, which was His death and resurrection. It was then that the Old was gone, and the New had come! In Jesus and the Holy Spirit, God now dwelt with His people again.

He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. 2 Samuel 22:34

This Old Testament verse rings true when we are made into a New Creation in Christ! When the Gospel is planted in good soil in our hearts, we are done, destroyed, and then resurrected as a New Creation that Jesus conforms daily to be like Himself. This is wonderful news for us and is the light of the world. Even in this dark world of suffering, we are set on the heights. Even in our suffering, we somehow endure in peace. And when we do not have peace in our suffering, we know that if we are one of these New Creations, the suffering is for a good and perfect purpose, even if beyond our understanding. As we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we don’t have to fear, for His rod and staff comfort us.

Brumbletide is flawed. Pippin is flawed. But my goal in writing the story was and is to present a picture of our mess, both by other’s doing and our own, and in a fantastical way, show the redemption of it all in a way that points to the door of Jesus Christ.