Long before there were American Girl Dolls, shout out to Kirsten (rest in peace), there were Cabbage Patch Dolls.
They were the Tickle-me-Elmo of the Christmas craze one year. (I just used an old reference to explain an older reference. Let me try that again.)
They were the Wii of the Christmas craze one year. (Still not relevant? Last time.)
They were the Quitter
About a month ago, I had the chance to speak at Olivet Nazarene University outside of Chicago. It’s a beautiful campus, and for the two days I was there, they put me up in the President’s guest house.
On my second night, they had me do a Q&A with the students to talk about Quitter and chasing dreams and what to do after graduation. At 5:20, someone knocked on the door to pick me up.
On the way over to the event, my ride introduced himself as the Dean of Students. It was hard to contain my laughter. You see that very day, 17 years ago, I was having a very different experience with a Dean of Students. Two days after Halloween, at Samford University in 1994, the Dean of Students was putting me on a year-long social suspension.
A friend and I had exploded a fire extinguisher under someone’s door in our dormitory. Apparently fire extinguisher fumes set off fire alarms, which apparently forces 400 students to be evacuated at 1 a.m. on Halloween night, which apparently makes the Birmingham fire department come with trucks a wailing, which apparently is frowned on in that establishment.
So, in that moment, I had to laugh at God’s sense of humor. At Olivet, 17 years after almost being kicked out of college, I got to tell 2,500 college students that Jesus loves them. At Liberty University, I got to tell 10,000 students that God is crazy about them. To see God bring a mess like me around full circle made me laugh with him at his beautifully unexpected way of connecting all the dots.
I didn’t plan it. I couldn’t have predicted it. And yet, here it is. Full circle.
Has that ever happened in your life? Have you ever stopped in a moment and realized how far God has brought you down a path you thought you’d never step on?
Have you ever seen his sense of humor at work that way?
Someday I will tell my kids that, when I was young, we didn’t have “Cyber Monday,” the online shopping day after Thanksgiving week. And we didn’t have it because we didn’t have “cyber.”
But you and I have it, and if you’re thinking about getting someone a Christmas present today, might I suggest a Hello Somebody watch? Why? I’m glad you asked.
1. They are cool like old school Swatches.
2. They look much more expensive than they actually cost.
3. They help provide educational opportunities for Rwandan street kids.
4. They fit perfectly in stockings.
5. They come in “Quitter red.”
OK, I might be the only who thinks that last point is awesome, but the first four points are true.
A few weeks ago, readers of Stuff Christians Like helped 6 kids in Rwanda go to a year-long educational program because we decided to rock Hello Somebody watches. (Our goal was 70 watches and we did over 420!)
And today, you can get 50% off when you buy two watches and enter the discount code “cybermonday.” Or if you want the whole Hello Somebody experience they’ve got a scarf/beanie/mini watch/regular watch bundle for only $50. (My wife brought the scarf with her to Vietnam cause it’s massive like a blanket and has approximately 600 different uses.)
Click here to get a Hello Somebody watch today!
(Click here if you want to learn more about the work SCL did with HelloSomebody.)
Recently, I made the near fatal mistake of eating at a Cracker Barrel. “Wait Jon, I thought you loved Cracker Barrel?” is what you’re probably thinking. Or you’re thinking, “How arrogant do you have to be to believe that, with 200 million blogs online, people remember your feelings about country theme-styled restaurants.
Fair enough.
But the restaurant wasn’t the mistake. The time we went was.
Sunday afternoon, after church, in the South. (Bowling Green, Kentucky to be precise.)
And as we surveyed the crowd of people crammed tightly into rocking chairs on the porch, I felt a need to write a few letters to a few groups of people. Which is what I now will proceed to do:
Dear Atheists,
(more…)
Happy Thanksgiving!
Unless you live outside of the United States. Like in Finland, it’s not Thanksgiving there. If that’s where you’re reading from, then allow me to say, “Happy Thursday!” But, on the plus side, we’re less than 6 weeks away from the holiday known as “Epiphany” or as I like to call it in Finnish, Loppiainen.
So, still a pretty awesome Thursday. And don’t you get down in the dumps either Australia. Before you know it, it will be time to celebrate the Royal Hobart Regatta.
Don’t think I don’t know about Australian holidays! I might even get a Royal Hobart Regetta hoodie.
But here in the states, it’s Thanksgiving today. Regular SCL will return on Monday, with a satirical vengeance I might add, as if it’s been running in waste-deep snow with a log on its back like Stallone in Rocky Four. Drago!
Today, let’s keep it super simple with one question to answer in the comments:
What’s something you’re thankful for this year?
(It’s guest post week at SCL since my wife and I are in Vietnam! Today’s is from Noah Albrecht and it’s illustrated! It’s like SCL the graphic novel. Noah is a web designer on the Dave Ramsey Team. Check out his blog or follow him on Twitter. If you want to write a guest post for SCL,here’s how!)
The Ninja Nod-off. By- Noah Albrecht
Okay, raise your hands if you’ve ever experienced a Sunday morning sermon that didn’t quite meet your conscious needs.
We’ve all been there once or twice.
Let me break down a scenario for you:
(It’s guest post week at SCL since my wife and I are in Vietnam! Today’s guest post is from Tamara Lunardo. Tamara is the editor of the upcoming book What a Woman is Worth (now accepting submissions) and a blogger at Tamara Out Loud and A Deeper Story. She’s pretty sure she is not a hipster, but that shouldn’t stop you from following her on Facebook or Twitter. If you want to write a guest post for SCL, here’s how!)
Suspecting You Attend a Hipster Church: A Quiz. By- Tamara Out Loud
With the recent rise in popularity of several pastors sporting dark-rimmed glasses and an elusive air of cool, Christians everywhere are asking themselves the weighty doctrinal question, Do I attend a hipster church? Here to offer discernment, a quiz:
(It’s guest post week at SCL since my wife and I are in Vietnam! Here’s a new one from Gyasi Byng. If you want to write a guest post for SCL, here’s how!)
Christian Video Games. By – Gyasi Byng
I spent a good part of my childhood learning the nuances of Super Smash Brothers and Mario Kart, but could you imagine how holy I would be now if those hours had been spent playing The Ten Commandants on Nintendo 64? I’m pretty sure that I would be a Super Christian able to see through the world’s lies and leap temptation in a single verse.
Because I may some day have kids that may be gamers just like their mother, here’s my list of 7 Christian video games I would like to see in the future. (more…)
(It’s guest post week at SCL since my wife and I are in Vietnam! Here’s a new one from Lyndsay Rush, a Freelance Writer/Storyteller. If you want to write a guest post for SCL, here’s how!)
Christian Pickup Lines. – By Lyndsay Rush
Oh, dating.
It’s beautiful, really: Boy meets girl, boy woos girl, girl falls for boy. Wedding. Babies. Bliss.
Or, if you’re a Christian, it may go a little more like this: boy meets girl, boy hangs in groups with girl, girl falls in love, boy sends a text message, girl reads dating book, boy eats pizza, girl writes journal entries to her future husband, boy checks out the new Liam Neeson film, girl asks for prayer from her small group.
And on goes the love story. Clearly we Christians have really got this whole thing on lock, right?
If you’re starting to doubt our dating prowess, think again. Don’t discount that we’ve created an entire lexicon of our own words for it. We drop ‘pursue’ and ‘intention’ bombs to describe it, we have graphs and charts and Venn diagrams to track it; we have promise rings to commemorate it.
And try as we may to french kiss it goodbye, it’s not going anywhere. So in the meantime let’s focus on the magical thing that happens before the love story; the thing even the best books, E-harmony commercials, or Women’s Conferences can’t teach us. That’s right: the Christian pickup line.
Didn’t know it was a ‘thing’? That’s probably because it’s that subtle and powerful. And while in the past I’ve discussed such hot topics as parenting, and, oh, dating, it’s time we focus on the real issue: hitting on strangers who share your beliefs (I’m ever the hard-hitting investigative journalist).
So without further ado, here is a list of Christian Pickup Lines: Use wisely. Or, more aptly, please, please do not use these at all.
Stuff Christians Like is written by
Jonathan Acuff.
It was started on March 21, 2008.
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