Do you have an opinion on the Christian market today?
Yeah, it would be to say that it is just as insular and backstabbing as it ever was, but somehow more appealing. There are a few bands out there that do a great job at spreading the love of Christ to the world (Switchfoot, you guys know I love you!), a few more who equip and encourage the church, and a great mass of musical hatchet-jobs that could never survive anywhere else but for the appeal of the forgiving and under-schooled ears of the Western Church. They only exist to add padding to our already comfortable church pews…
preach it Reese. as a musician, it’s irritated me for a long time that for centuries the Church lead the way in the arts. now, it’s hard to find anything in the creative arts labeled ‘Christian’ that is anything more than a cheap, watered down knock-off of something popular in the secular vein.
you may know him as the frontman from Five Iron Frenzy (RIP). check the whole article on Relevant here.
There are some things you don’t need to pray about. You don’t need to pray about whether you should love your neighbor. You don’t need to pray about whether you should give generously or serve sacrificially. You don’t need to pray about whether you should bless someone when it is within your power to do so. God has already spoken. What you need to do is quit praying and start acting.
there are plenty of things that if i’m honest, i’m waiting for a solution that never shows up. truth is, it’s not the solution that doesn’t show up – because i already know what it is. instead i’m waiting for some sort of confirmatino after confirmation to get me to a place of my assurance that i cannot fail. and you know what: a lot of those things never happen because i’m not confortable feeling safe from failure.
but when the crap were we ever promised safety from failure?
Psalm 37:23-24
The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.
even though God establishes our steps, we still fall. i read this a few weeks ago on one of my favorite blogs:
I’ve been encouraged many times by reminding myself that God orders my steps. He helps me make wise decisions. He guides me in my choices.
But doesn’t it encourage you even more to know that He even orders your falls?
He doesn’t just help me choose the right path. He redeems me graciously even when I choose the wrong one.
He doesn’t only order my successes. He orders my failures too.
And it all works together for my good, and His glory.
so one of our high school girls walked into the Loft this afternoon and asked me if i ever read the Canterbury Tales. well…i was supposed to, but i didn’t really read it. i think it’s about the time i discovered spark notes online. so she busts out her copy of Canterbury Tales with my name in it from 2000. that’s awesome.
i’m glad that’s all i wrote in it. at least i think so…
i love our local library. when we moved from State College a year ago, which has one of the best libraries in the country on campus at Penn State, i just never bothered to check ours out. not only do they have the usual fare – books – they have a kicking selection of CDs, DVDs (+ current releases) and get this…video games. yeah. 360, PS3, and Wii games. for free. libraries rock.
this is what the library gave me to listen to this week: where the light is // john mayer , live in LA long time coming // johnny lang the unauthorized biography of reinhold messner // ben folds five
does anyone have a Squidoo page? honestly, i don’t know that much about it. what i do know is that i dig Seth Godin, and i dig that charitable aspect of it – that’s flipping sweet.
i got a call from Lowe’s special order department this morning letting me know that my new door arrived. cool. the automated message gave me the necessary information i needed: that it was here, and where to go to pick it up. it even gave me a number to press if i needed more help. but then –
‘press 3 to end this call, or just hang up’.
seriously? is that action at all remotely necessary? answer – no. maybe it’s because i’m in planning & evaluation mode, but it makes me wonder if there are actions within the ministries i lead that are just unnecessary. or are there options that are either duplicating something already happening? is something there whose purpose has only become another option with the same payoff?
