Jon Acuff's Blog, page 162

Win a Wii!

Today is Black Friday, the day that businesses go into the black as shoppers go into the red buying tons of stuff. [image error]

I thought it might be fun, for day 5 of the 12 Days of Fantasticalness, to give away a black Wii. Consider it the "Black Friday, Black Wii," special.

If you pre-order my new book today, "Gazelles, Baby Steps and 37 Other Things Dave Ramsey Taught Me About Debt," you will automatically be entered. In addition to getting the free audio book and free e-book when you order my new book for $10, you'll have a chance at winning a new Wii.

Click here to order my book today.

Here are all the official rules.

[image error]

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving people who are in the United States of America. Happy 26th of November, people who are in Australia, England or lots of other fun places.

I'm in Florida for a few days with my family and hope you've had a chance to connect with your family too.

Here are a few things I am thankful for:

1. My new job with the Dave Ramsey team.

2. New friends we've met since moving to Nashville.

3. Being in the same city for the first time with one of my brothers.

4. Books, not a specific one, just the whole category. I love books.

5. Watching my two daughters grow up.

6. My wife's constant encouragement.

7. Salt & Vinegar Pringles (I needed at least one shallow one)

How about you, what are you thankful for this year?

[image error]

The SCLCAP.

What's that? The SCLCAP is short for "Stuff Christians Like Christmas Awesome Pack." And one lucky person who pre-orders my new book, "Gazelles, Baby Steps and 37 other things Dave Ramsey taught me about debt," today will win it. Click here to order the book!

What's inside the SCLCAP? Everything you need to get into the Christmas spirit:

1. Mariah Carey's Christmas Album

2. Mariah Carey's Christmas II You Album

3. Playmobil Advent Calendar

4. White Christmas DVD

5. Christmas Story DVD

6. Christmas album from Trans-Siberian Orchestra

7. It's a Wonderful Life DVD

Happy Thanksgiving and Day 4 of the 12 Days of Fantasticalness!

[image error]

Our $29,000 God.

A few months ago, my five year old, McRae told me, "The biggest number I know of is 26."

At the end of her understanding of numbers was the number 26. In her mind, that was really how big numbers come. If you wanted to describe how far the moon was from earth, probably about 26 miles. Want to say how long it felt to wait for Christmas to get here? It was like 26 minutes! Number of pieces of candy she estimates she got for Halloween? 26.

It's her biggest number. Until that is, I told her about 27. And blew her mind.

She's not great at "sizing" things. But that's OK, she's 5. She's pretty sure fairies are real. She's convinced every dog in the world would like to meet her. The other day at Costco she saw a man with a white beard and proceeded to yell to everyone in the store, "Santa is shopping here today! He. Is. Here. Today!!"

That's OK behavior for her. She's just a kid. She's little. But oddly enough, she's not the only one who tends to get sizes all twisted. She's not the only one who tends to "under size." In fact, I think lot of us do that, especially when it comes to God.

I learned this last year when the Stuff Christians Like community raised money to build a kindergarten in Vietnam. On a random Monday, I asked readers to help me raise $30,000 and that honestly made me nervous. It's weird to ask for money. It changes your intimacy levels. It's like actually holding hands during couples skate at Roller Kingdom in Hudson, Massachusetts. Sure, you might skate around in circles with Stacy Valentino listening to Bobby Brown's "Tender Roni," but holding hands is a whole nother level. (That example got really specific and 7th gradery.)

But it's true, asking for money is awkward, which is why pastors do the money disclaimer when they preach. They start their sermon by saying, "I never normally preach about money, I never preach about tithing, except today." And that's always the Sunday your neighbor or coworker finally agreed to come to church with you. Your friend always comes on the money Sunday or the day the mime group, "Gloves of Love" is there to perform.

So I was anxious about asking for money. And I honestly thought it would take us 6 weeks to raise $30,000. But if you've read this site for a while, you know that was not the case.

We raised all $30,000 in a matter of 18 hours. It took us less than a day to complete the entire campaign and I realized I had been like McRae with the number 26.

Here's what I essentially said to God before the project started:

"God, you are massive. You are huge. You made the universe and created all space and time. You are without end! But, you are slightly less big than $30,000. You're like a really solid $29,000 God. And that's awesome. I mean that's pretty good. I think you're almost all powerful, you're just not $30,000 powerful."

Have you ever done that?

Have you ever been faced with what felt like an insurmountable challenge and in the midst of that, you've worshiped a really small God? Have you ever prayed something like:

"God, you are gigantic. You rule the universe. You're just not as big as my college application process. You are slightly too small to handle that."

Or

"God, I love you. You are massive and supreme. You are huge, except you're not big enough to handle my divorce. You are smaller than this experience."

Or

"God, you are like the real He-Man, you are master of the universe! You are so big and so all knowing, except you probably don't know how to handle my job search. You're big, you're just slightly tinier than my unemployment."

No one would actually prays those words, but that's what flows from our heart when we allow doubt to set up shop. That's how we live when we feel like we've got to force things to happen or they never will. That's what happens when we under size God.

The truth is, God is bigger than $30,000.

God is bigger than a divorce.

God is bigger than unemployment.

God is bigger than a teen daughter who swears she doesn't love you.

God is bigger that money problems.

God is bigger than our biggest dreams.

And I thank God that he is. I think sometimes we want him to be pocket-sized and manageable. I've heard people say things like, "I want a God who can explain to me why bad things happen to good people." I understand that frustration, I do, but here's the thing. I don't want a God who ever has to fit within my understanding. I don't want a God who is limited by mind and my experiences.

I want a big God. A God that spans generations and space and time. I don't want a God who needs my approval or comprehension to do something big. How we as a people have lost a sense of the mysterious when part of the trinity is the Holy "Ghost" is beyond me, but we have.

This holiday season, as the birth of Christ is remembered, let's celebrate our big God. Let's honor a huge, wild, unable to be controlled by our small minds God.

He's bigger than that thing you worried about or dreamt about.

I promise.

[image error]

I will write your Christmas card this year.

That's right, day three of the 12 Days of Fantasticalness is that if you buy my new book today I will write your Christmas card.

How? Simple. Pre-order the book "Gazelles, Baby Steps and 37 other things Dave Ramsey Taught me about Debt." Then email me a few facts about your family. Then I will write a Christmas card (roughly the length of three tweets) in the next week for you. It will be funny. It will be festive. It will probably change lives.

Click here to order the book and get started!

[image error]

Not knowing if we're still supposed to be all mad about Harry Potter.

Next May, I will be speaking at a weeklong leadership event in Orlando, Florida. The event is an entire week of awesome and in a recent meeting we were planning some fun surprises for all the attendees. I, being a servant leader at heart, volunteered to take the attendees on an excursion to Hogwarts. The person leading the meeting turned toward me and said, "Is that something to do with the Lord of the Rings?"

Once I regained my composure at this Dementor sized slight, I explained to him that Hogwarts is the world of Harry Potter. Hogwarts is the name of the village Universal had built as an amusement park, full of butterbeer and Quidditch and wait a second, am I supposed to still be all mad at Harry Potter? As a Christian, what's my obligation?

When the books first came out, we were up in arms, but I barely heard a peep of protest with the release of the new movie last week. Even Halloween got a bigger push back. Someone on this very blog, wrote a comment and said, "I don't support Halloween. I just can't celebrate witchcraft."

Well played, well played indeed! But where was the fuss about Harry Potter? Where were the protests? What happened to our muggle like momentum against those books? I think there are a few reasons we didn't get all mad this year at the new movie:

1. We've been beaten into submission by the sheer volume.

At this point, there are approximately 9,245 pages of Harry Potter books and 42 movies. It's so much easier to fight one movie or one somewhat thin book. But dang, JK Rowling, you dropped a lot of content on us.

2. The "D" in "3D" stands for demon.

We're too busy protesting the movie Avatar. Pastor Mark Driscoll, who I've never met but hear is a good guy, said, Avatar is "the most demonic, satanic film I've ever seen. That any Christian could watch that without seeing the overt demonism is beyond me." I blame James Cameron in part for distracting us from the release of the new Harry Potter.

3. We haven't seen the up rise of witches and warlocks we were promised when the first book came out.

Remember when Time Magazine did that cover story that said, "Witchcraft is the new little league baseball, as kids across the world quit sports to learn spells?" Me either. That didn't happen and since there's been no huge, visible reaction to Harry Potter, maybe we fell asleep at the wheel. (I'd argue that beliefs that impact us quietly are more dangerous than the neon things like expecting kids to be outwardly involved in witchcraft, but that seems more like a Serious Wednesday conversation.)

4. We're focused on other things.

It's hard to get all spun out on Harry Potter when 26,000 kids will starve to death today. That's not for a second to downplay or ignore the things we see and read and watch. We're told to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, strength and mind. Don't doubt that what you put in your mind matters. It's just that we have so many things to focus on these days and it's hard to find the balance. This whole debate would be easier if in Matthew 25 Jesus would have said, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me …" "For when I was tempted to watch the Deathly Hollows at the local megaplex, you talked me into Megamind instead."

5. Vampires

At this point, all bets are off. Thanks to Twilight and an ocean of vampire and zombie movies, we're all exhausted by the onslaught of questionable pop culture. (Go team Jacob, by the way.)

Ultimately, I'm of two minds on this. As an adult, I liked the Harry Potter books. I found them interesting and fun to read. I even wrote a post about how we hate on Harry but give Lord of the Rings a free pass. As a parent though, we haven't let our kids read the books or watch the movies. They're young and it might be different when they get older. We'll figure that out as we go.

What's your take on Harry Potter? Do we still care? Should we care more?

Did you see the new movie?

[image error]

Something new and fun and awesome.

Every week, someone random emails me about advertising on Stuff Christians Like. The email inevitably reads like this:

"Dear Jon, we love your blog. We run a company that specializes in deep sea cave underwater exploration. We think your readers would really like what we do and that SCL is a perfect fit for underwater cave cameras. Can we advertise with you?"

Now don't get me wrong, I like morey eels as much as the next guy. And the electric eel? That thing is insane. (I guarantee God calls them "lightning eels." That name is so much cooler.) But that just doesn't fit.

So when it came time to find some partners we could work with in 2011, I wanted to make smart decisions. That's why I am excited about what we'll be doing in January with E-mealz.

Who are they? They're a family of sisters who for years have created a unique approach to recipes and family time. Essentially, they offer easy to use meal plans. They come in dozens of varieties and are so simple even I can do it. But why am I?

1. I went to their house and hung out with them. They've got a tremendous heart for the Lord and see their work as adding valuable family time back to the home and rescuing meal time back from busy schedules.

2. I need to lose about 15 pounds and eating healthier is something I want to do.

3. We're trying to be smarter with our money and the cost-saving options with E-mealz are great. The food portion of our budget is really the only flexible option. We can't work smarter on our mortgage for instance and see cost savings.

4. When my family makes pancakes together on a Saturday morning we have a blast. With me traveling more I wanted to find creative ways to spend time with my family. Now, we're going to be shopping for and preparing meals together using e-mealz.

5. It's only $5 a month.

6. They've advertised with Dave Ramsey for a while and are practically part of the family around here.

My family is starting on the E-mealz plan next week and I encourage you to give it a look. You can find the info right here. We'll also be doing a special 90 day challenge in January. More details to come.

I promise that you'll never see deep sea cave gear on SCL. I promise that when I personally find something I dig, I'll share it with you honestly and openly.

Looking forward to 2011 with E-mealz. Check them out!

[image error]

FREE 1st chapter of my new book.

As we speak, I am calling people to thank them for pre-ordering my new book, "Gazelles, Baby Steps And 37 Other Things Dave Ramsey Taught Me About Debt." That was day one of the 12 Days of Fantasticalness. Now we are on day 2. Today, if you pre-order my book, you'll get the audio book free, the e-book free and … a chance to win an iPod Nano. It only costs $10 and you will laugh, oh you will laugh at it's mirth filled content. Click here to pre-order it!

To prove that is a fun/funny/funner read, I've included a PDF of the first chapter for free.

Click here for your free copy of the first chapter of "Gazelles, Baby Steps And 37 Other Things Dave Ramsey Taught Me About Debt."

Here are the rules and legal language and what not.

[image error]

Awkward moments with Ke$ha.

As an author, you have a pretty fantastical expectation of what a book signing event is going to be like. You imagine dozens, if not hundreds of people. You envision a scene like Wal-mart during Black Friday, people shoving each other, old ladies knocked askew or at the very least, akimbo.

The truth is, it's never like that.

A book signing event can be wildly awkward.

You, as the author, essentially stand next to the creative project you've worked hardest on. It is the culmination of a lifelong dream. Then you watch as someone walks up, flips through it, shrugs in apathy and then walks away without the book.

It's like a chef standing beside your table waiting anxiously for you to have a bite of what they just made you.

That's exactly what happened to me at the National Youth Workers Convention. While talking with a girl, two of her friends walked up. In an exciting tone she said, "Hey! Have you guys ever read the blog Stuff Christians Like?" They looked at her with disdain and said, "No." She continued, "It's awesome and this book is hilarious, you should check it out." They literally looked me over, stared at the book and then shrugged, refusing to even pick it up. We all then stood there for a few tense seconds, like a Mexican standoff that the most interesting man in the world didn't show up for.

So I said, "Wow, we all just shared an awkward moment, didn't we?" The two youth ministers looked at me and then walked away without saying a word.

That was awkward, but for some reason those kind of moments happen to me often. And once we're in up to our knees, I figure we might as well dive all the way in. Don't pretend it's not awkward, let's do the backstroke.

But awkward moments happen more in Christianity than I think we realize. Awkward conversations, awkward inter digit handholding at church with complete strangers and awkward brushes with pop culture.

I had one of the latter recently while listening to the radio.

Ke$ha, who is from where I live, has a new song. In it, she mentions that she wears a "Jesus necklace." Awww, isn't that great? Jesus got a shout out? Every rapper on the planet name drops God, but Ke$ha actually mentioned Jesus. That's great.

But then you start to listen to the other lyrics and realize it's a little awkward.

Here are the lyrics:

"And no you don't want to mess with us, got Jesus on my necklace."

That's not so bad. I mean it seems a little violent, but doesn't Matthew 11:12 say, From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it." Maybe Ke$ha is quoting the book of Matthew. What are the next lyrics?

"I've got that glitter on my eyes."

Hey, that's good. Vacation Bible School is all about the glitter! This song is a great VBS song! What's the next line?

"Stocking ripped all up the side."

Ohh, not going to be able to use that one at VBS after all. My bad, I jumped the gun. Let's give the lyrics one more try. Maybe she ends with a shout out to the Holy Ghost. Nobody does that.

"Looking sick and sexy-fied."

Is that how you spell that word? I know I before E and other rules but I always forget if you drop the Y to an I when writing sexified. I'd ask Ke$ha, but one of the rules my grandfather always told me was, "Never take grammar lessons from someone who spells their name with a dollar sign." I can't ask her. I'm sorry, that's just how I was raised.

Turns out the Jesus line was just used to for the rhyme. She needed words that fit. Maybe we can help her out today. Let's give Kesha (I can't keep spelling that with a $) some alternative lyrics for that Jesus line.

You have to rhyme it to the preceding line. I'll give you a few of my own ideas:

"And no you don't want to mess with us,"

Alternative lyrics:

1. The Kardashian credit card is ridiculous

2. And no I'm not going to say a cuss

3. The Acuff girls don't eat their crust

4. Buying Jon's new book is a must

5. Oxidation is fancy talk for rust

Your turn, what lyric would you write instead of "got Jesus on my necklace."

[image error]

12 Days of Fantasticalness

Today starts the 12 Days of Fastasticalness or "12DOF" as the kids are calling it. What's that? I'm glad you asked.

From today until Friday, December 3, we're going to be doing something crazy for folks who pre-order my new book, "Gazelles, baby steps and 37 other things Dave Ramsey taught me about debt." (It comes out officially next week.) Over the next 12 days there will be some wild giveaways, cash, prizes and spectaculanessocity, resulting in the first ever "Stuff Christians Like Christmas party" in Franklin, Tennessee on Friday, December 3. (More details soon)

What's today's craziness?

A phone call.

If you pre-order my new book today and today only, in addition to receiving the free audio book and the free e-book, I will personally call you on the phone to thank you. I realized recently how fun it is to be grateful and I would love to personally express my gratefulness instead of just an email. In the call we can talk about the book, Christmas, tips for your blog or the Newsies if you prefer.

It will hopefully be on Amazon soon for folks outside the country, but in the meantime, click here to pre-order. And if you pre-order today and want to talk for a few minutes, email me. I promise I will only call you once and will not ever use your phone number for anything else. Like Christian prank calls.

Click here to order.

Click here for all the rules and legal mumbo and/or jumbo.

[image error]