Dear Hulu, YouTube, Netflix, etc.,

Life used to be easy before you came along.

I know you’ve set us free from the constraints of “must see TV.” When I was in college you had to be in front of a television on Thursday night to watch the Hamptons episode of Seinfeld (best episode ever) or you missed it.

It was gone. Your window was 30 minutes long and then it closed, forever leaving you hoping to catch an episode you missed on reruns. That’s why NBC could use the tag line, “Must See TV!” Because it was, oh it was.

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I used to think I could quickly grow a mustache.

My beard is always patchy and hole laden and bad. (Not bad meaning good like Run DMC intoned but bad meaning bad.)

But mustaches? The Acuff family mustache is too fast and too furious. I always thought that was the one bit of facial hair I could hang my hat on or at least a mustache comb. Until I met my friend Daniel.

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I’m still working through the blog reviews I offered people who purchased my second book on a certain day. To be honest with you, I grossly underestimated the number of people who would respond and grossly overestimated how fast I could review each blog. (This is a running theme in my life, often exhibited in the amount of time I leave myself to drive somewhere. Based on my late arrivals I tend to estimate that my car can travel 180MPH on the way to someone’s house for dinner and that it should only take me 10 minutes to travel a 30 minute distance.) I’ve worked through a bunch of them but have a bunch left and just wanted to apologize and say, I’m sorry it’s taken so long. That’s not cool. It’s not you, it’s me. Hopefully you will get an email from me with delightful feedback as I continue to work through the list.

Is there an S?

Is there not an S?

When you say “I love Psalms 103:5” is that wrong? There’s no S? OK, so then what about “The book of Psalm.” No S there? Is it “Psalmi?” Is that the plural of Psalm? Or is it “Psalmses?”

I think my confusion started as a child when I got baffled by Psalty, the singing blue Christian superhero. Was he a book of songs or Psalms or a hymnal full of a lot of Psalm? That perplexed me as a young lad and now as an adult, I still never know when to put an S on Psalms.

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If you follow me on Twitter @jonacuff, and really should because it’s a pretty delightful experience, you know that last Friday, Christian recording legend Michael W. Smith was on my flight to Denver. I was literally “going west young man” with Michael W. Smith.

He lives probably 6 minutes from me in Franklin, but I’ve never actually met him. I like to pretend I’m cool and not impressed by famous people, but I got really nervous when I saw him.

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I’m really excited about speaking at the NOW conference for young adults on April 15-17. Why?

Like most other things on this blog, allow me to express that in the form of a list

1. Aaron Keyes, one of my favorite worship leaders of all time will be there.

2. Pete Wilson, Ben Arment, Jeremy Cowart, Ed Stetzer and a ridiculous collection of really honest, challenging people will be there.

3. It’s cheap. It’s only $99.

4. I’ll be talking about some of the hardest lessons I’ve learned about what it means to step into a big dream God has called you to.

5. It’s at Brentwood Baptist in Nashville and they have free Galaga. That’s right Free Galaga.

I’d love you to come and say hey. I’m sure I’ll have a book signing table and will hang out after I speak. Click here to register!

And, below is a video they did with me about the event. A few warnings:

1. I am wearing a double V-neck

2. There are several moments where I awkwardly stare at the camera because I didn’t know it was on.

3. I play Galaga during the video.

4. I confess I’m old school when it comes to living missionally.

NOW Conference – Jon Acuff from Threads on Vimeo.

The question of the day, the short Saturday question if you will is this:

What’s your favorite part of a conference?

(Over the years, Bryan Allain has written some fantastic guest posts on SCL. He’s one of my friends who I hope gets to publish a book someday because he’s a funny, smart honest writer. He’s also just started BlogRocket.com to help other bloggers blow their blogs up. Today he shares, a brilliant post about a song most of us know and love. Enjoy.)

Kissing Metaphors in Worship Music

If you’re not familiar with John Mark McMillan’s song “How He Loves”, first off tell me what it’s like to live in a cave. Do you pee in one corner of the cave or do you go outside to do your business and risk being mauled by a jaguar with your pants down?

Either way, “How He Loves” is a popular song in churches right now, and one of the more memorable lines in the song goes something like this:

So heaven meets earth like a sloppy, wet kiss

Now, you’re gonna be shocked to hear this (I hope you’re sitting down in the urine-free corner of your cave), but some artists and congregations aren’t comfortable throwing in imagery more commonly associated with a 7th grade make-out party into their worship songs.

As a result, another version of the song has been recorded that describes the heaven-earth collision as a slightly different lip lock:

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The other day at lunch, my friend Chris Thomas called me out in the middle of our conversation. I was telling him about how Kanye West’s hamburger restaurant closed. He actually owns his own company called “Kanye West Foods LLC.” I made a joke about how that’s the new status symbol. Forget a clothing line or a cologne, you’re not ballin’ until you’re able to release your own reasonably priced frozen vegetable medley.

As I was saying this, he stopped me and said, “Wait a second, are you doing material right now?”

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It only takes about three followers on twitter to become a punk. I know this, because I did.

When Stuff Christians Like took off three years ago I went off the deep end a bit with my ego. I got cocky. I got arrogant. I got extra handsome.

See? That just slipped out. Even in describing my narcissism I proved my narcissism. It’s a problem. I’m working on it.

But when you get a few followers on Twitter or start a blog or open a facebook account, something weird happens – you get a platform.

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Ahh, spring is upon us. Bluebirds are singing jaunty tunes. Pastel flowers are poking their heads out after long winter naps. Woodland creatures are dancing about.

And I am sneezing.

And sniffling.

And constantly looking like I’m crying from watching a particularly heart-wrenching Lifetime Channel Movie.

I have allergies and am discovering that in Nashville spring blooms like a big bowl of pollen covered frosted mini wheats.

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