Jon Acuff's Blog, page 144

Lists.

Is this meta of me? Or perhaps postmodern? Are we breaking the fourth wall by commemorating a thousand point list with a list? It feels so Inception, a dream within a dream within a site about the satirical things we do within faith.

But it also felt right because if there's one thing I've learned from the last 999 posts on Stuff Christians Like it's that we Christians like lists. I think this stems from the 10 commandments and the fruits of the spirit or perhaps the list of the armor of God we're supposed to put on. Regardless of the origin of our fascination with lists, walking through the first 1,000 posts and the last 3 years with a list seemed like the perfect thing to do. (My first thought was a long, melodramatic thank you post titled "#1,000: Stuff Christians Like, the readers of Stuff Christians Like." But when I showed it to my wife, she said, "Ugh, that is so mopey. That would be like two Serious Wednesdays in a row.")

So instead of just writing a thank you for the many generous, awesome things you, the readers have done in the last three years for this blog, I decided to create a massive, rambletastic list.

Here is a recap of 1,000 posts of randomness on Stuff Christians Like:

1. March 21, 2008: Date of first Stuff Christians Like Post

2. 28: Number of people who read SCL on day 1

3. 17: Number of people who weren't directly related to me

4. "No offense to anyone reading this, but if I weren't an atheist, I'd strive to be this kind of Christian." Comment that made me think SCL could be a ministry, not just a snarky blog.

5. Skittles: Candy I threw out in the crowd at my first speaking engagement.

6. Cadbury Crème Eggs: Candy I couldn't throw out because I'm too selfish and it would leave bruises.

7. 0: Number of theologians in the annals of Christianity who started their careers by pelting audiences with candies.

8. SCL/Stacy From Louisville Cooperative For the Preservation of the Integrity of the Bible College Love Super Quiz 2008: First guest post on SCL

9. 1: Number of AutoTune videos I've made

10. Booty, God, Booty: Story I tell to see if a crowd is going to go along with me

11. 1: Number of times the crowd didn't

12. 1,000: Percent of sweat increase when that happened

13. Frisbee: God's favorite sport

14. Cornelius: Name of the dove from the Southern Baptist Convention that I claim delivers me ideas

15. Tattoos and Bulletin Doodles: 2 contests we held on SCL

16. Bulletin Doodle Tattoos: Contest I wish we held with people getting tattoos made of their bulletin doodles.

17. "Great Sex! Flat Abs! And Jesus!": My favorite quiz we ever had on SCL.

18. Breakdancing: Skill I pretend to have but do not really possess

19. Mime: Skill I really possess but pretend not to have

20. Pop n' Lock n' Love: Breakdance ministry I'd start

21. Gloves of Love: Mime career I will fall back on if writing doesn't work out.

22. "In the bathroom." : Place people apologize to me about keeping the SCL book.

23. "Hooray, it's in your house!" : My response.

24. "Sending bad breath to hell." : Motto I created for the folks who make Testamints.

25. Jesus Juke: Only phrase that went viral from this site.

26. 150: Anticipated number of people at my first meet and greet

27. 2: Actual number of people at my first meet and greet

28. 22: pounds of Skittles I brought for said meet and greet

29. Middle finger of grammar: When you lowercase satan on purpose

30. "this is not a threat by any means, i have no intentions on harming you or sending someone to harm you. Just dont do another rap video, cause you are about as gangsta as pocket watch.": Least reassuring assurance and truest statement about my level of gangsta

31. Coldplay: Band we inducted into the "Sounds almost like a Christian Band Hall of Fame" in 2008

32. Mumford & Sons: Band we should induct in 2011

33. 82: Number of people who will mention the song "Little Lion Man" upon reading point #30.

34. The Promise Grill: Way I tried to update the Purity or Promise Ring

35. John Saddington: Brilliant designer who transformed SCL from a blogspot site into a wordpress site

36. Elf on the Shelf: Victim of a vicious scuffle with the shepherds in the manger

37. "Thanks for sharing our sex life on the home page of CNN.com": What my wife said when CNN unexpectedly picked up a post from SCL about sex.

38. 1 millon: Number of typos I've made on SCL

39. 2: Number of Kindergartens readers of SCL built in Vietnam

40. 18: Hours it took to raise $30,000 to build the first one

41. Zakkhaeus Barnabus Fouteknote: Name of the Metrosexual Worship Leader Mascot that spurred us on to finish the Vietnam project

42. Throw up: What I still want to do when the servers at SCL crash and the site goes down

43. Silver Medal Friend: The friend who you like enough to have them read a Bible verse in your wedding, but not enough to have them in the wedding party

44. "Love is patient." : The section of verses they're going to read.

45. The butt is not a billboard: My first thought when Kmart put the phrase "True Love Waits" on the rear end of sweatpants.

46. "For Hymn:" Cologne I hope to one day make that smells like old hymnals

47. Bryan Allain & Curtis Honeycutt: Great writers who have written the most guest posts on SCL

48. Prayjevu: When you can't remember if you already prayed at a restaurant before the appetizers so you pray again.

49. "If you buy this book, God will make you rich." : Very first line in the SCL book.

50. "In love." : What I always tell people when they ask where their shower of loot is.

51. Tim Tebow: Christian athlete you have to support according to Christian law.

52. Mumford & Sons: Band I'm almost positive Tim Tebow is leading right now.

53. 3: Number of Mumford & Sons references in one list, indicating amount of them I am listening to right now.

54. The Power Team: Christian weightlifting group I refuse to make fun of less they break me like a small, brittle stick.

55. Metrosexual Worship Leader: Post that was a tipping point for SCL

56. Skinny jeans and V-necks: Metrosexual Worship Leader accouterments I've adopted since moving to Nashville

57. Accouterments: Word I often use to appear smarter than I really am

58. 42: Approximate times I've become obsessed with monitoring the Google Analytics for SCL over the last 3 years.

59. Serious Wednesday: The hardest posts to write, but also my favorite.

60. More than 3,000: Lives readers helped save with the SCL10K mosquito nets project

61. The side hug: The only post I ever had to ad a disclaimer to.

62. 3: Number of books the readers of SCL helped me write and publish in the last 13 months

63. "It feels like tithing." : Best reason I've ever heard someone give for way they like eating at Chick-fil-A

64. "I attend church at night." : Shirt I want to invent for Sunday morning joggers who are getting judged.

65. "I direct deposit my tithe." : Shirt I want to invent for people who look like they're stiffing the offering basket at church.

66. 2: Number of guest posts my wife Jenny has written.

67. Second favorite: Where SCL falls on my wife's list of favorite blogs

68. The Pioneer Woman: My wife's favorite blog

69. Vuvuzelas: An instrument I am terrified will find its way into church

70. Man on Fire: Movie I keep coming back to in a number of posts.

71. Crock Pots: An SCL favorite and a promotional item Zondervan almost did for the book launch

72. The band sounds awful

Quick! fix it sound guy. I can't-

talent switch is broke

(The best Sound Guy Haiku)

73. 40: Number of items on the "Surviving Church as a Single" post

74. Daniel Tosh and Katy Perry: My favorite unexpected pastor's kids.

75. Worship eagles: Official bird of Stuff Christians Like

76. Badger in a bag: Official VBS game of Stuff Christians Like, rivaling "Red Rover" in safety points

77. 7: The number that if you put next to 77 looks like "777" and feels like the holiest place to end a list about the 1,000th Stuff Christians Like

Live Video Chat Next Wednesday!

Next week I'll be doing a live video chat. Let's talk Quitter, Stuff Christians Like and the pros and cons of breakdancing vs. miming. Or anything really, it's up to you.

Here are the details:

Wednesday, April 27 at 7PM Central

www.justin.tv/jonacuff

1 thing you need to know before May 10.

I learned 2 things about the audio version of my new book Quitter last week:

1. I can't say the word "escape." Apparently, I say it "excape." Who knew?

2. We're recording the whole audio book again.

Why are we doing number 2? Because the first time it wasn't awesome enough. We hadn't added enough bonus content, we didn't enhance it with enough extra stories or behind the scenes stuff. So this week, I'm back in the studio adding new stuff that won't be in the book. I'm putting in material like the single sentence that saved me at a job I hated and completely changed my attitude. I'm answering questions people who have already read the manuscript asked like "How did your wife not kill you when you had 8 jobs in 8 years?" And the best part?

It's FREE right now.

If you pre-order Quitter from DaveRamsey.com before it comes out on May 10, you get the audio book download for free. So right now, you get both the hardcover Quitter and the audio book for $12.99. (Today, the book alone is $12.25 on Amazon. DaveRamsey.com is the only place you can get the free audio book when you order the book.)

Tomorrow, I'll spend a few hours recording Quitter with the sound guy who worked on Garth Brooks song "Thunder Rolls." While I have begged him for more thunder in the audio book, I can't promise I'll be able to convince him. What I can promise is that the audio book will be awesome and right now it's FREE when you order Quitter on DaveRamsey.com.

Click here to order.

Joe Rogan's story.

Don't tell my kids, but I'm afraid of spiders. Not in a "get on a chair if I see one" kind of way, but more in an "I assume every spider I see is a brown recluse" kind of way. They're hairy, equipped with more eyes than any single animal should possess and are also into "sport biting." Unlike the cockroach, another much maligned insect, a spider will bite you while you're sleeping. You're not threatening it, or talking smack or approaching with a rolled up magazine. You're sleeping. And then the spider bites you. Why? For the love of the game.

That's one of the reasons I had a hard time watching the show "Fear Factor." They were constantly making people lay in coffins full of spiders. The other reason I didn't watch that show was Joe Rogan. He always struck me as an aggressive bully. He seemed angry for no reason and fired up beyond measure. He's jacked, often the most intense person at Ultimate Fighting Championship events (which is a difficult feat to accomplish) and got into a public verbal sparring match with comedian Carlos Mencia.

I might like to think I see people the way Christ does, but the truth is, all too often, I don't. I pegged Joe Rogan. I judged him. I put him in a bully box and moved on.

But then something weird happened.

I heard his story.

In an interview, Joe Rogan shared how when he was four and five years old, he witnessed his father brutally beat his mother. Though they would later escape, watching that broke Joe in a way no kid should ever experience. In the conversation with the host, Joe mused about how his fascination with karate and bodybuilding is might be connected deeply to his desire to protect himself from physical violence. That maybe if he was strong and knew how to fight nobody could hurt him.

Do you think what I thought about Joe Rogan was different after I heard his story? Of course it was. And that's because stories often cripple our ability to judge someone.

When you hear someone's story, they are no longer just an idea or an object, they become a human. They become a five year old who had terrifying things thrust on them or a 12 year old who never learned what it feels like to be safe or a single mom who is trying to balance three kids, a job and a million other responsibilities. Stories make 2D people 3D. And in the process, they make it nearly impossible for you to judge someone.

That's one of the things I love about what folks like Donald Miller and Ben Arment are doing with storytelling. And it's one of the things I find really interesting about Christ. He always knew everyone's story. While others saw a woman at the well, Christ saw a wife who had remarried and remarried and remarried as if maybe next time, the next husband would be the one to fix her. He didn't just see someone drawing water at a well. He saw an individual with a story.

And often when confronted with a question, that's how he answered, with a story. He didn't just talk in sentences, he talked in stories a lot too. He talked in prodigal sons and fathers who run when dirty kids walk and unexpected parties with older brothers who are bewildered by the concept of grace.

I don't know if you ever struggle with being judgmental, but I do. I often reduce people to the mistakes they've made in life. I see them as the sum of bad decisions or think I'm better than people or a million other things that mean, "I become the older brother."

What if instead of jumping to conclusions about people, I walked into stories about people?

What if I could create space for someone to tell their story to me instead of listening to the story I tend to make up in my head about them?

What if instead of judging, I looked for stories?

Would that change things?

I think it would. Loving people that way, listening to people that way, looking for stories that way would change the way I lived. And it might just create the kind of story in my own life I'd like my kids to tell their kids when they grow up.

The top 10 SCL posts of all time.

Doesn't "of all time" sound dramatic?

I like it because "all time" makes it sound like this blog has been around for 30 years, not just 3. But it's not as silly dramatic as movie commercials for films that come out in February and say, "The best comedy of the year." I digress.

On Thursday, I'll post the 1,000th Stuff Christians Like post.

Today, I want to share the top 10 posts of the first 1,000.

Thank you so much for helping me pick them out. If you're a new reader, these are the best 0.01% of all the posts. If you've been reading for a while, hopefully there are some on this list you'd like to see again or missed the first time.

Please know that without you reading and commenting and encouraging, this site would have died in April of 2008, the second month it existed. Without further ado, here they are:

10. The pray "if you feel led" prayer. (#159)

9. Deep V-Neck Syndrome (DVS) (#644)

8. Remix #53 – Saying "I'll pray for you" and then not.

7. Understanding how metrosexual your worship leader is. (A handy guide.) (#269)

6. Booty, God, Booty. (#113)

5. Refusing the gift of the desert road. (#507)

4. The soft X. (#907)

3. Running into famous Christians. (AKA, the "Michael W. Smith Incident.") (#985)

2. Thinking You're Naked (#512)

1. The Jesus Juke (#898)

Getting called out in church.

It's spring in Nashville. Or as I like to call it, the annual "Jon Acuff Sneeze-a-thon." It's similar to the Toyotathon except it involves way more tissues, red eyes and pollen induced fits of melancholy. It's the time of year when I constantly have to begin conversations with people by saying, "I'm not crying right now, I just have allergies."

Not one to go out without a fight, I've declared war on pollen. I'm popping Claritin D or the Walgreens version, "Wal-i-trin" like small delicious candies. I'm eating local honey. And I'm blowing my nose like it was my JOB. That last one might not sound like progress, but you'd be surprised.

In the past, I used to forget Kleenex. Not wanting to use my sleeves, a technique my children assure me is not frowned upon in the right circles, I would just sniffle. That is a gross, annoying thing to do, and people don't seem to care for that. At least that's what one lady told me at church.

She didn't use words, she didn't say anything actually. She just handed me a tissue in the middle of the service. I hadn't asked for one. I had not made that request. Out of the blue (or perhaps in the middle of a sea of my sniffling) she thrust a tissue into my hand as if to say, "ENOUGH, that is ENOUGH. I am trying to worship and your constant sneezing and snorting and sniffling are ruining church right now. Blow your stupid nose already."

Though my wife applauded this stranger, I thought that was one of the worst ways you can get called out in church. I figured that although someone might tell you to be quiet or poke you to wake up if you are slumbering, the "blow your nose" call out is a pretty amazing thing to call someone out on. I thought I might hold a record for weirdest call out ever.

I was wrong.

Four weeks ago, in the middle of church, my wife and I witnessed an even stranger call out. Right in the middle of the sermon, I heard an incredibly loud crinkling sound. This was no dainty mint being unwrapped, no Dentyne light your mouth on fire gum being freed from its aluminum prison. This was loud. Then a parade of sounds exploded as if the person behind me was trying to free themselves from a pair of plastic handcuffs. Believing that perhaps a raccoon had stumbled into the service, I decided not to turn my head lest I make eye contact with the beast and be forced to wrestle it to the ground. My wife however, did turn around. What did she see?

A husband opening up a box of Girl Scout Cookies during the sermon.

He must have seen the Girl Scout in the lobby. She must have given him the boxes of cookies in a plastic grocery store bag. He then must have assumed that he could be so stealth as to open the grocery bag, which is noisy, break into the box, slide the cookie sleeve out, retrieve a few treats, and return the package to under his seat in the middle of a pew in the middle of a sermon with no one being the wiser.

Unfortunately, he received a look from his wife, that probably translated to "Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me right now? Are you really opening a package of Girl Scout Cookies in the middle of church?" He turned, looked at her and said, "Too loud?"

Oh but to have spent a minute in his head, as he decided that was a good decision. To have listened to the thought process: "The worship was great today. Bunch of those guys had skinny jeans on. I could probably wear a V-neck but I don't think my legs are thin enough to wear those jeans. Thin, hmm, I could really go for a thin mint right now."

But alas, I didn't get a good look at him and can't confirm which type of cookies he was trying to eat. If it was the trefoils he should have just chewed on the outside of the box. Those are a bland experience that must always ride shotgun with a coffee if they want to approach deliciousness. If it was a box of samoas, I can't really fault him. Those are fantastic and might even be worth getting called out in the middle of church.

Have you ever been called out in church? By a parent? By a spouse?

Or perhaps, a better question, did you ever try to sneak food into church?

What are the top 10 SCL posts from the first 1,000?

Next week, we'll hit our 1,000th "stuff" on the list of Stuff Christians Like. That is crazy to me because based on my attention span, I'm surprised we made it beyond #32.

I'd love to list out the top 10 favorite posts of the first 1,000. I can certainly pick those by looking at traffic, but I'm not sure that's the best way to determine "favorite."

So this weekend instead of the usual tomfoolery on Stuff Christians Like, let's take a spin through the archives. Try to remember the first post you read. Think about which one you might have sent to a friend or printed out and handed to somebody. Was it a Serious Wednesday post or Metrosexual Worship Leader or something else? Leave a comment with the posts you think deserve to be on the top 10 list of the first 1,000. (I'll post the final list next Tuesday.)

What have been your favorite posts on Stuff Christians Like?

Pew whispering.

(My kids can't pew whisper, they pew yell, the need for silence somehow magnifying their tiny little voices exponentially. But they're only one kind of pew whisperer that guest poster Matt Triemstra identifies in his hilarious first spin behind the wheel of SCL. Enjoy!)

Pew Whispering -By Matt Triemstra

Why do Christians like pew whispering so much? You've all been there trying to listen to the pastor and someone leans over to you and whispers in your ear "How about Swiss Chalet for lunch after church? I know we went last week but let's go again". You of course are too mature for pew whispering during a sermon but you realize that you too have a Swiss Chalet craving and whisper back that it's a deal.

Despite the distraction it must be, I imagine that pastors are grateful for pew whisperers as a good litmus test for their message. "Oh good, I only saw two pew whisperers today so I must have been good" or "shoot, over a dozen pew whisperers…I guess my game is off and I can't compete with Swiss Chalet today."

Do pew whisperers not realize that the pastor can see you? There are only 10 commandments because Moses ran out of room on the tablets…the 11th was "Thou shalt not disrespect thine pastor by pew whispering"

Here are 10 types of pew whisperers I have encountered during my years in the church:

1- The "Right in your ear drum to be as quiet as possible" whisperer – Self explanatory and one of my favorites. "Thank you my ears needed a good cleaning."

2- The "Volume zero" whisperer – The one who is so quiet at whispering that you don't hear them the first 5 times and finally just agree, only to realize later that you agreed to a Pictionary marathon at your house. (Similar to the Seinfeld "Low Talker.")

3- The "Volume 10" whisperer – The opposite of "The volume zero" whisperer. They have no concept of how to whisper and everyone, including the pastor, can hear. "Yes my rash has cleared up, thank you for asking."

4- The "I know my scripture and don't need to pay attention during sermon readings" whisperer – The kid who mastered all his sword drills in Sunday school and immediately starts whispering to you when scripture is read out loud because he's bored and wants you to know that he's holier than thou.

5- The "The Pastor is wrong" whisperer – The one who needs to point out to you every time they think the pastor is wrong.  I always want to reply to this person, "Yes, I'm sure that Wikipedia is better at educating you than his biblical studies degree."

6- The "You child is acting up" whisperer – The childcare worker who forgets about the paging system and comes to get you in the middle of service and whispers to you that your child is out of control. "Yes I know, that's why I left her with you so I could pay attention during the message."

7- The dreaded "I don't care that you are worshipping" whisperer – The one who interrupts you while you are in tears singing 'Draw Me Close To You' and asks about your weekend is going so far.

8- The "Note passer" whisperer – It's just rude to whisper during service so I am going to pass you a less distracting note instead. "Do you think she likes me?"

9- The "Condescending" whisperer – "I can't believe you are checking your phone during a message…oh its biblegateway.com…"

10- And finally one of my favorites: The "Five year old who doesn't want to go to kids church and doesn't know how to whisper" whisperer – "Daddy I'm bored! Can I play angry birds on your phone?"

Now I am just as guilty as the next person about pew whispering but at least I'm subtle, or at least I think so…moral of the story? Don't pew whisper, it's distracting.

What other kind of pew whisperers am I missing? Do you have any funny pew whispering stories from your church?

Trying to teach your kids about helping people.

I want to be honest with you. Prior to moving to Nashville, I never really owned any sort of "skinny jean." I never owned any pairs of pants that seemed like you were trying to deliberately suffocate your legs in denim.

A few months ago though, I found myself buying a pair of "skinnier jeans." Whoa, whoa, whoa, that's different than skinny jeans. They're kind of in between normal jeans and skinny jeans. They are like the pants equivalent of the vegetarian friend you have who still eats fish occasionally. (Fish always lose out when it comes to casual vegetarians.) These jeans are straddling the middle. Not quite skinny, not quite relaxed fit.

And in many ways, I blame Nashville for this pants development. They practically greet you at the city limits with skinny jeans, Jack White accouterments and a tool to have two discernible eyebrows instead of one. This town will change you.

But I'm loving it here. It's like a smaller, more musical version of Atlanta. Less traffic, more songwriters, an abundance of the color of UT orange. Nashville is a great city. One other thing I've noticed is one of the cool things they do with the homeless population.

They have a street newspaper called "The Contributor." To combat homelessness and give people a step toward advancement, they have people who have fallen on hard times sell the paper for a dollar. A lot of the articles are written by the homeless community here and in addition to creating jobs, it helps create a voice for an often voiceless group of people.

Two weeks ago, when we were driving home from church, I saw someone selling the Contributor on a corner at a red light. You have to be lightning fast to flag the person down, get out your money, and make the newspaper exchange before the light turns green. I was hanging out with my two daughters alone and thought, "ahhh, a teachable moment."

I rolled my driver's side window down, the side of the car my 5-year-old McRae sits on in the backseat and told the guy:

"I'll take two please, one for each daughter."

Now clearly, they weren't going to read it. They weren't going to dig into the "Hoboscope," what the Contributor calls their horoscope section. McRae can't read yet and L.E. sees the newspaper as a dinosaur of a medium and refuses to sully her hands with newsprint when she could read updates on the iPad. But again, teachable moment.

As the gentleman with the papers leaned in, McRae looked up from coloring a Tinkerbell picture in her car seat in the back, made eye contact with the guy, raised her hand and said, "No thanks."

She then went back to coloring, leaving me and my two dollars and the guy with the papers in a bit of shock.

I wanted to yell out, "She doesn't hate the homeless!" But the light turned green, and so instead, I gave him my money, took the papers and sped away.

So if you ever pray for the Acuff family, you can add that to your list. My 5-year-old apparently hates social justice.

Have you ever had a moment like that, when you tried to teach your kids a lesson and it backfired?

Or have you had the opposite experience, when you got your kids involved in a mission or a community activity and it really changed they way they look at serving?

Did your own parents ever try anything like that with you?

Grace Spots.

A few weeks ago, my family and I went out to dinner together on a Friday night. The goal was to have a family meal, hang out, and possibly even enter into the Q realm. Quality Time.

Apparently every person in the greater Nashville are also had the same idea.

At the first restaurant we went to, we couldn't even find a parking place. We circled a few times and then tried a second restaurant. When they told us the wait time was 45 minutes, I groaned and set the timer on my iPhone.

I'm a little OCD about numbers and sometimes watching the time helps keep me focused on something other than waiting in the lobby. I'd like to say that while waiting there I realized our goal of hanging out as a family was already being accomplished, that we didn't need food to bond together as a family, we had each other! This was why we came out in the first place. The night was already a success as we talked and laughed about our week in a moment that would have made even Norman Rockwell jealous. I want to say that, but that would be a lie.

In moments like that, I tend to become a jerk. I don't know if it's because I'm competitive and want to "beat other people to dinner" or maybe it's because I'm impatient. But I started to get really frustrated and tired of waiting and angry that I did not possess the super powers to force the little beeper we were holding to go off. Flash red already!

When it finally did go off, I walked up to the hostess and said, "I feel like I won the lottery. I'm so happy I want to give you a hug." Her response?

"That would be great, I had a really tough day with my teenager."

Slap in the face. Stomach punch. Throat chop. However you want to say it, she misinterpreted my passive aggressive/whiny statement as genuine thankfulness. And that was pretty convicting.

It made me realize that there are some moments in life where people aren't getting any grace. There are some places where people aren't being shown any kindness, ever. There are some times in the day where people aren't getting any love. And although I might like to think I am graceful in those situations, I'm not.

But what if showing grace to someone was like anything else in life, you had to be deliberate? What if I could consciously pick ahead of time "Grace Spots" where no matter what, I was going to do my best to throw out wild amounts of grace? Would that change somebody's day? Would that show someone Christ in a really unexpected way? Maybe, so here are three I identified:

1. At the airport.

Flight attendants, the TSA guards, the gate attendants, these folks are constantly surrounded by the most impatient, frustrated people on the planet. What if every time I flew, I went out of my way to treat the airport like a grace spot?

2. The Post Office

I've never had a fast experience at the post office. I've never walked out and thought, "that sure was easy." But the one guy running the counter while 80 of us wait in line with packages didn't demand, "I want to be understaffed today. I'd prefer to not have any help with me today." That guy needs grace.

3. The DMV

You're going to want to work your way up to this one. Don't start with the DMV. Practice grace on a few Friday nights at restaurants first. Fly a few times and make a TSA guard laugh or smile before you practice grace at the Department of Motor Vehicles. This is PhD level grace and kindness, but they deserve it too. Lots of it.

There's a chance that you are a fountain of grace and the idea about deliberately labeling and praying about grace spots is silly to you. You already show grace everywhere. The planet is your grace spot. I wish I could say the same thing about my life, but I can't. I need to keep grace spots in mind and I've already seen it change things.

When I was in the ninth grade my mom made me write an apology note to the dentist. He swore he'd never see me again as a patient because I was such a jerk to him. So when we moved to Nashville, I determined I'd pick the dentist's office as a grace spot. After a few visits of showering everyone in that office with grace, a new hygienist handled my appointment. She said, "I was so excited to finally meet you today. Everyone was talking this morning about how much they enjoy when you come in for a visit and I hadn't met you yet." Then a few days later she sent me the first hand written thank you note I've ever received from a dentist's office.

Why?

Because the dentist's office is one of my grace spots.

What would you say is one of the places you have a seemingly impossible time extending grace?

What grace spots could you pick?