The Bubble Strikes Again!

I'm mad tonight. I'm mad at Carrie Prejean. But even more than that, I'm mad at all the inhabitants of the Christian Bubble who elevated her to the status of "Paragon of Faith" for no other reason than that she said in a public forum that she was personally opposed to same-sex marriage.

Seriously, is that all it takes to be a modern day hero of the faith? If I go on national TV and proclaim my opposition to same-sex marriage or abortion, can I get a book deal and a national speaking tour? If I speak out publicly on one of the two issues that seem to matter to the Christian Bubble, will you willingly overlook everything else that might be going on in my life?

I'm speaking, of course, about the newest revelations from Carrie Prejean's battles back and forth with the Miss California organization. They were suing to recover the $6000 they gave her for breast implants. She was counter-suing for $1 million because they revealed that she had breast implants. The lawsuits were suddenly settled a few days ago, and everybody was hush-hush about the details.

The details? The details are that Prejean agreed to drop her lawsuit because the Miss America organization got their hands on her solo sex tape. HER SEX TAPE!

Now please don't misunderstand me. I'm not condemning Carrie Prejean for videotaping herself, or having someone else videotape her, in a "solo x-rated video". There are far too many poor decisions and sins in my own life to be condemning her. I'm mad at her tonight because she cashed in on her 15 minutes of Christian fame to further her own career. She used the Christian Bubble and its inhabitants to become famous.

But as I said earlier, I'm even angrier at the Christian Bubble itself tonight. I just keep wondering when we'll wake up and start using our heads. We literally elevate people like Carrie Prejean and the Gosselins to faith-celebrity status without knowing anything about them. And what do we do when they fall? What have we done with Jon and Kate since infidelity, monster-mom-ness, and divorce? What will we probably do with Carrie Prejean since knowledge of her sex tape has become public? Do we extend them grace and lovingly restore them to faith and unity? Probably not. We'll probably gossip about them for awhile, then forget about them as quickly as the news media will let us. We'll find some new faith-celebrity to worship. Or maybe we'll just fall back on one of our standbys. I hear Kirk Cameron has a new movie coming out...

The Bubble strikes again.

#tt (Thiefin' Thursday)

This week's Thiefin' Thursday comes in the form of a video in a post about the Simply Youth Ministry Conference. Unless you plan on going to the conference, ignore the post. But definitely check out the video. It speaks awesomeness about what youth ministry is all about. Enjoy!

Thursday Office

My Thursday office: Wholly Ground Coffee and Tea. 


Pictured: Bible, laptop, notebook, preliminary notes, devotional, coffee, view of the world. 


Not pictured: parallel Greek/NASB/NIV new testament, iPhone, cheese danish.

#tt (Thiefin' Thursday)

Time once again for the best I've read this week on someone else's blog. And this week's post comes, once again, from Jon Acuff's 'Stuff Christians Like' blog. The post is about "that guy" who won't scoot at the end of the pew. We've all been there. Enjoy!

Witness-Killing

I potentially hurt my witness in the town where I live this morning. I was driving down Main Street on my way to the Christian school to speak at chapel (irony of ironies, right?) and this guy in a big pickup truck pulled out in front of me. Like, RIGHT out in front of me. And to top it off, he stuck it right on the speed limit which I... um, *cough... usually obey. So I did what I think most of us would have done - I rode his behind all the way through town. Man, I was really showing him! I'm sure he realized what a jerk he had been because of how big of a jerk I was being TO him now. Yeah...


Then he pulled over and let me pass him. Oops... Now he was looking at MY car, probably memorizing my license plate, or the sticker I have on my back window. Oops...


It occurred to me then that if this guy ever visits our church, or sees me doing some service project around town, he's going to see the back of my car and turn around and drive the other way. I have probably killed my ability to ever minister to this guy, and probably his family, too.


Not my best moment. Sorry, sir, whoever and wherever you are. I was supposed to show you Jesus, but I showed you my sinful nature instead, and I'm sorry.

Knowing God's Will

One of the phrases that Christians like to use a lot is "God's will". And for good reason. In Mark 3, Jesus says that the people who obey God's will are his true family. Paul writes in Romans 12 that we should offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God so that we can know His will. So, God's will is definitely an important thing to know.

So how do we know it? Yeah, yeah, I know that we can know God's will through prayer, studying scripture, quieting our lives to listen to His voice, etc. I've got that. What I'm asking is, how do we know that what we believe to be God's will is actually God's will? Have you ever wondered about that?

When I came to my current ministry, it was a series of things falling into place neatly and perfectly that led me to believe that it was God's will for me to be here. I was finishing up college and needed a job. The pastor was someone that I had interned with at his last church. He called me up out of the blue to do a summer internship the summer before my senior year. He and the elders worked all throughout my senior year of college to exhort the congregation to increase their giving so that they could hire me full-time. The congregation responded. It was truly a 'perfect storm' of all the things happening that needed to happen, all at the right time. It was pretty clear to me that God had called me here.

But what if it's not the same story in your situation? What if you're faced with two or even three choices that all seem equally good (or equally bad)? What if God is calling you to something that isn't comfortable, or doesn't 'all fall into place'? What if you've prayed and prayed, studied and studied, cancelled your cable so that you'd be less distracted from God's voice, and you still don't have certainty? 

I'd love to hear your answers to those questions, because I don't have any foolproof ones. I'm just as human, just as uncertain, just as foolish as anyone else when it comes to the things of God. But it's important for us all to know God's will and calling for our lives, so we have to keep striving towards knowledge and understanding.

Random Randomness

Another thing I'm going to thief(v.) away from someone else's blog is a semi-regular posting called 'Random Randomness'. The idea comes from Kurt Johnston's blog, which I read regularly. Random Randomness is exactly that - short, random quips about stuff that's happened or that I have thought about. Here goes!

-Right now I'm watching 'From Russia With Love', the James Bond movie from 1963. He just slapped the Bond girl around. It seems like every time I watch a bond movie, I like his character less.

-I've recently reconnected with some old friends through the miracle of technology. It's refreshing to see the positive potential of social media in action, instead of focusing so much on the negative, narcissistic tendencies of Facebook and Twitter.

-I always find myself singing 'It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year' in October. Think about it - postseason baseball, college football, pro football, hockey, and basketball right around the corner (for those of you who like basketball). No other time of the year has that much great action going on.

-In line with the last point, it's been a bit of a frustrating period to be an Atlanta/Georgia sports fan. The Braves missed the postseason, the Hawks always stink, the Thrashers are showing potential but are unproven, UGA is playing poorly, and GA Tech is good but not great. It looks like all our sports hopes must be pinned on the Falcons, who look pretty good right now.

-I'm glad these last two weeks are over. Last Sunday I taught Sunday school, led worship, and preached. There was so much work on top of all my regular responsibilities that I just felt drained all this week. Yesterday afternoon and today are me-and-wife R&R time. So, I better quit typing and get back to her!