Nothin'....

I’ve got nothing today.

The past few days I’ve been freaking out and getting ready for a “job interview” I have tomorrow.  I’ve been working for this for the past five months.  I just realized that I was typing this – I thought it was three months ago, but it was, in fact, during the third month of the year which is March which was five months ago. 

There were some pre-interview wrinkles that needed to be ironed out, but it seemed like once one wrinkle was taken care of, another would appear.  And it’s really been God surprising me at every turn.  I would need info from an obscure source or a procedure I’d think would cost thousands of dollars and God’s like, “Psh, for one thing I’m omniscient, and another thing, I know who everybody is.  I got this.”  And the obscure source would come through.

The procedure?  Nothing major, but still expensive without good insurance.  The morning I started making the arrangements I prayed to God that morning, “If You want me to do this, You’re going to have to let me get this for a song.”  That afternoon I heard Him singing; what I initially thought would cost a few k’s I learned might only be a couple Benjamins; then it seemed to come down to 80 bucks; it wound up being only $30.

So now there’s this last step – the “interview.”  I’m excited and nervous.  I’m not going to tell you what it is unless I get it (assuming I’m allowed to).  A fair amount of my readership (given that at most I hit 20 readers per post) already knows, but for everyone else, well, I hate building up to something and then having to disappoint.  So, if I’m in, there’ll be a jaunty post on Wednesday!  If not, probably a reflective one.

Until then, Happy Monday!

(Today’s post was brought to you by the music of Vivaldi)

Friday's Notes - See Below...

I was going to start a new format today, but I'd rather wait until after I receive some news this upcoming Tuesday as the nature of the news will significantly impact the future of this blog.

Anyway, here's a new list. :D

1) Rhett & Link: These guys are originally from North Carolina.  I'd like to say I know these guys, but in actual fact I've only met Link once and Rhett twice.  Anyway, they're really funny and quite talented in the ways of humor and media production - check 'em out.  They have a TV show on IFC about making local TV commercials: http://www.ifc.com/rhett-link/

2) The X-Structure: A band - nice, mellow music.  Just found 'em the other day amidst the comments of a post on Stuff Christians Like.  They're from Cape Town, South Africa.  Really, up until this point, all I've known about South Africa is: apartheid; it's Charlize Theron's birthplace; and what I learned from District 9.  Of course, if you think about it, it's really just like any other place that's known for something.  Ohio has buckeyes; Hawaii has coconuts, France has bread - other than that places are just full of workers, dreamers, families and the like.

3) Ed Stetzer: I don't know much about the man except that he shows up on the blogrolls of several other blogs I frequent.  I particularly like what he has to say here: Aug. 17 post.  The love of Jesus is hard enough to practice with one's own self, but with others?  With a group of people so marginalized?  Remember, the enemies aren't the people we see, but the forces we can not.

4) This picture (found as a friend's FB profile pic):

The Roast Is Burning - Guest Post Thursday!

Grady Lee Nutt (September 2, 1934–November 23, 1982) was a Southern Baptist minister, humorist, television personality, and author. His humor revolved around rural Southern Protestantism and earned him the title as "The Prime Minister of Humor."  Below is a transcription of Grady Lee telling a story from the recording, "A Laugh And A Half."  If you want to listen to the audio, click the title of the post.  For more audio and info, go to An Unofficial Grady Nutt Page.

Baptists are notorious for a lot of things, preaching – some of our evangelistic services and things like that when we try to put high pressure on you for low living.  All parts of the service have always fascinated me; I love even the welcome to the visitors, I love the offering, I love everything about it!  It’s just fun to do.

But one of the things we’ve always done in Baptist churches is what we call the “invitation service,” that’s at the end of the preaching when we sing these songs like, “Just As I Am” and “Have Thine Own Way, O Lord” and “Aaaaaaalmoooooost Persuaaaaaaaded” – now if that won’t almost persuade you, you’ve basically got a statue heart, that’s what it is.  Sing old sad songs, “Deathbeds Are Coming,” and all that kind of stuff.  Trying to scare something out of you so you’ll go onto heaven, it’s that kind of deal. 

Basically, “If you’re doing it, give it up, quit it, and come down here and share it with us so I’ll know I haven’t been pouring all this down the tube.”

Well, the invitation service is frequently treated like a threat.  My father could do that about as good as any preacher you ever saw; he could just act like he knew who did it!  And that just scares the church right into looking at the hymn book.  I’ve seen them sing 95 verses of “Just As I Am” and never look up, just “Juuuust aaaaas I aaaam” – they won’t look up – that means you did it.  See? I mean, don’t look up. 

And dad would walk back and forth like a panther in the cage at the city zoo – he knew who did it! 

Well, he would just go on and on and on – I remember one Sunday, I was about 15 or 16 years old, it was about ten after one, and dad had reeeeally been bringing the pressure on – HAAH!   We were down to about 95 or 96 verses of “Just As I Am” and I was afraid he was about to start on “Almost Persuaded” and I did not want to go to the mission field.  That day I might have volunteered just to go home for lunch, y’know?  I might’ve done it.

Well, it was about ten after one and mother put her arm around my shoulder and she said, “Grady Lee?”

I said, “What?”

She said, “Would you please go forward and rededicate your life to God?  The roast is burning.”

So…I did. 

I stepped out in the aisle and dad was kind of shocked, y’know?  You hate to go an hour and ten minutes and find out it was your kid that did it, y’see. 

He looked up as I came down the aisle, sort of like, “Nononono!”

And I was like, “Yesyesyesyes!”  I just kept coming. 

Well, he took me by the hand and with his 310 pounds, he kind of beat on my back, *WHOOM, WHOOM!* and that’s why a lot of people kneel at the altar: they get the breath beat out of them by the preachers.  He pulled me in close and leaned over and said, “What is it, Grady Lee?”

I said, “The roast is burning.”

So he called for prayer for an “unspoken” concern, and it really embarrassed me, ‘cause there was no telling what they thought I had done!  I really think that he should have just said, “The roast is burning; let us pray!”  

Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing

There are Cokeheads and Pepsi addicts.

No wait – there are people who like Coca-Cola and people who like Pepsi.  I am a Coke guy.

I have fond memories, as a younger lad (ah, late 80s), of Friday nights at The Incredibles' house.  My parents would go out to dinner or something with Mr. and Mrs. Incredible and my sister and I would stay at their home with their children.  We’d feast on cheese pizza from Pizza Hut and throwback a couple two-liters of that marvelously fizzy and sweet Coca-Cola.  Thankfully, this happened after New Coke was on its way out of society’s door.

I didn't like New Coke and I’m convinced I still wouldn’t.  It's like Diet Coke but worse.  Drinking New Coke, you know you’re getting something different than the “normal” Coke, and usually newer versions of things are better, right?  Instead, the experience is more like being told you're going to get Double Dragon II for Christmas and you assume it’s going to be for the NES but instead it’s the lame Tiger version (yes, something like this happened to me a couple of times).

Thing is, as Christians, we tend to do this with the Bible.  We’ll read books, we’ll listen to sermons, we’ll read commentaries, go to conferences, go to church, but rather than directly indulging in the sweet effervescence of the Bible, we gulp down this “New Coke” of everything else related to the Bible instead of reading the Book itself.  I did this for the last 6 years of my life.

From 2005 to earlier this year I esteemed myself for studying under such venerated authors of Christian lore and doctrine as C.S. Lewis, Thomas Merton, Brennan Manning, A.W. Tozer, Oswald Chambers (especially), and John Piper among others.  I felt like I needed the guidance of these “Super-Christians” because there was no way I could understand it on my own. 

The Bible is full of “God” stuff, right?  “Holy, holy, holy,” “Verily, thou shalt be smitten for missing the esoteric point,” “Sanctifidispencovenantalization” – you’ve got to get all that crap or you’ll screw it up and think you’re saved but really won’t be or you’ll somehow do the Christian thing wrong.

But you know what I’ve discovered?  It’s really not that complicated.  Plus, we already have everything we need to understand.  It’s the reading, knowing, then doing that is difficult.

Now, granted, the Bible is a big book – it’s one comprised of 66 books!  It can be a little intimidating.  But just start off in one of the Gospels – I recommend John – and as those little footnotes and cross-references pop up, look ‘em up and later read more from those sources. 

And sure, listen to sermons, go to church and to conferences, be in community with other believers and read books.  But do your own daily Bible reading.  For one thing, it’ll make church a lot less boring.  For another thing, there are some really great stories in there.  And they’re true – they’re all real – that makes life a lot less boring. 

Just start off with maybe 15 minutes a day.  If you’re so inspired to take notes, fine; if not, fine.  There is no verse that says, “Thou shalt take notes” though it does help you get a little more out of it the more involved you are in the reading.  But just start it off simply.

Read it as it is – a book.  And realize, this is where the fantastical, the supernatural, the mysteriously spiritual reveals itself through the words of normal people, like you and me, for normal people, like you and me.

Give it a whirl and see what happens.

Random Inspiration

Rock'n'roll, Baby!

I love rock’n’roll. 

People ask me what my favorite type of music is and I always cop out by saying “a little bit of everything” – and it’s true! – but I’ve got to be honest with myself.  It’s usually some kind of rockin’, ballsy, maybe bluesy, a bit of metal and epic music that pulls me out of a funk, gets my cylinders firing and just all-around pumps me up.  You want Cliff to get excited about something?  “Just add guitar.”  Or drums.  Or bass.  I think you get the idea.

After I really met Jesus for the first time as a teenager all I would listen to was “Christian” rock.  Until about halfway through my junior year of high school, this consisted of the likes of Petra, DC Talk, Audio Adrenaline, and Michael W. Smith.  Granted, all these bands rock (yes, even MWS), but little did I know I had barely even scratched the surface.

One afternoon after school, heading home, my good buddy Justin blew my mind.  A couple of us piled into his car, and now that I think about it, I seem to remember him prefacing this experience by saying, “Prepare to have your mind blown.”  He put a CD in and this is what I heard: “Perfect Night for a Hanging” by Tourniquet.  Like Train’s Soul Sister, my mind was blown. 

“This is Christian?” I asked in awe and wonder from the backseat.  Justin only smirked and nodded.  “This is amazing!”  And that bit of metal, deep in my soul, was awakened.

Nowadays Christian Contemporary Music does represent a significant portion of my musical repertoire, but it by no means dominates it.  I’ve since learned there is also beauty and truth in “secular” music.  There is also truth and beauty in metal.

Now, heavy metal music is typically characterized as “angry music.”  And, well, yeah – you wouldn’t use Atreyu or Clutch as hold music for the Anger Management Hotline.  However, what I learned from that experience my junior year is that anger is okay.  The Bible doesn’t say, “Thou shalt not get angry,” but rather “Be slow to anger.”  I mean, when Jesus cleansed the temple do you think He was serenely wielding that whip with a sublime smile, saying, “Verily, verily, get thee out, pretty please”?  No!  His words are translated with exclamation points!

To those who sold doves He said, “Get these out of here!  How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”

Um, not to be crass, but it sounds like sweet, li’l, boxed-up-baby-Jesus is pissed off.  Sure, He’s the Son of God, and God is love and Jesus is all about loving His lambs, but part of love is fiercely defending those who one loves and, conversely, hating any threat to the beloved.  And we’re supposed to be like Jesus.

Anger shouldn’t arise from any sense of self-righteousness, but out of love.  Is there injustice?  Be angry about it.  Are there any who are oppressed?  Let anger burn against the oppression.  But don’t just sit there and stew – act; and that out of wisdom.

I’m not saying just go on a mad tear and burn stuff up because James, Jesus’ half-brother, tells us, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires” (James 1:19-20).  And vengeance?  Forget about it – vengeance belongs to God and God alone.

However, where there is evil, injustice and oppression, let the anger of God abound in your heart and then act in compassion towards those who are victims of the darkness.  Remember, our foes aren’t the people we can see, but the forces we can’t. 

Be an advocate, a voice for the voiceless, a father to the fatherless.

Be angry.

Friday's Notes - See Sharp or Be Flat

Oh, Friday.  You are the awkward child, always out of place, I, never knowing what to do with you.

But that's about to change...

In the meantime, Friday, let's share with the world some interesting things of note:

1) Donald Miller - well gosh...  He had some really great posts up about relationships then goes and takes them down because some folks were offended.  Anyway, he has a good blog going - check it out.

2) Derek Sivers - just discovered this guy through a tweet from Dave Ramsey (@daveramsey).  Apparently he has a book out. This video excerpt shares a pretty good idea all could stand to follow.  Sure, he's talking to business owners, but just imagine your life is a business, you're the owner, and everyone you interact with are your customers.  Now watch the video again.

3) It seems as though the world is going to hell in a handbasket.  For that, I'd like to share today's Truth For Life daily devotional - it speaks directly to the world at large and, I hope, directly to you: http://www.truthforlife.org/resources/daily-devotionals/8/12/

4) If you like good music and not spending money, check this out.  If it just looks like something that's not your cup of tea, let today be an exception and just give it a shot.  It's a nice blend of music from mellow, to jazzy, to rock, to orchestral.  And it's FREE.

Next Friday, I hope to have the new weekly format in place...