…you just know that this story is going to be used as an illustration in some sermon somewhere in this country as “proof” that God is sovereign.
Sigh.
I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but I’m pretty sure God wasn’t losing any sleep over this one.
Archives for category: faith
Am I even qualified to make such a statement? And, given the relatively short history of blogging, can there really be an “age-old” dilemma in the blogosphere? Well, preamble aside…
From time to time, blogs I read will ask the question, “Why do I blog?” or its close cousin, “Why should I blog if no one reads it?” — which itself might be a philosophical relative of “If a tree falls in the forest…”
In any case, I’m not questioning why I blog. Bruce Reyes-Chow and Eugene Cho have some great summaries about why they blog and, as for me, “Yes, what they said!” Seriously, I’m grateful that anyone reads at all and I have no pipe dreams of achieving blogospheric greatness.
I think my dilemma relates to the fact that every day — every day — the search term that lands the most people (by far!) here at headsparks is:
I don’t make it through many of the viral video fads (too busy playing Word Challenge!), although some are pretty funny — “What are you sinking about?” or this literal take on the 80s Aha classic Take On Me.
However, the Where the hell is Matt? video series always makes me tear up a bit. There’s something so odd and wonderful about this gooner going around the world, dancing up a nerdy storm in beautiful locations and getting all kinds of people to dance with him.
I would gladly sacrifice some “professionalism” in church life for this kind of unhinged joy.
But, then again, so does the big picture.
I was talking today with my friend Sam Kwon, Vice-President of Justice Ventures International, about how the current troubles of our economy will definitely hurt non-profit organizations. For example, recently failed Lehman Brothers gave $39 million to various charities last year. However, non-profits not only face losses from large corporate contributions, but also from average people who feel their financial belts tightening. Here in San Diego, some of the largest churches have laid off staff and slashed their budgets in reponse to sharp declines in giving.
With all this thinking about non-profits — and how to encourage followers of Christ to be generous in good times and bad (and not just giving money to churches) — I wanted to highlight a couple of thought-provoking posts I came across recently.
Praise & worship music, for better and worse, has become quite an industry. The range of music today far outstrips what was available back in the day (which, for me, was basically the late 80s/early 90s). I mean, I can remember singing motion songs during our college and young adult worship gatherings. Not ironically, not as a fun throwback, but as heartfelt worship.
If you can remember when Light the Fire Again was released, and it felt like a revolution, then I know we’re on the same page. The driving rhythm of the title track, the almost unhinged intimacy of Eternity, the boundary-breaking lyricism of Creation Calls, the heartfelt cry of Pour out my Heart… that album became the soundtrack of many of our lives.
headsparks* 