Jon Acuff's Blog, page 163

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?

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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!

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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.

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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."

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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.

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Operation Christmas Child

Tomorrow is the final day to turn in shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. Thanks so much participating in it with Stuff Christians Like. We'll announce the winner of the big box of awesome in a few days. Click here to find a shoebox drop off location near you!

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Caption please.

I saw this in a Walgreen's recently. It's a camo snuggie, in case you get cold while you're fishing and think, "I love wearing blankets while participating in outdoorsmen activities, but I need the ability to move my arms, should I need to reel in a bass or punch a bear in the face."

It's Saturday, let's have some silliness. Click through to the photo and …

caption please

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A few ideas from my dad.

Last week, I asked my dad, a pastor in North Carolina, about something I read in Proverbs 1. Here are what two verses I read said:

8 Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

9 They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.

After reading that, I thought I'd ask my dad what he would consider his "instruction." I was curious what he and my mother would say. Here's an excerpt of his response, which I think probably applies to a lot of us:

Jon, that's a great question. My primary prayer is for you private, interior life to keep growing so that it can support your growing public life. The other half of my prayer is great thankfulness for you and the opportunities that God is giving you.

So, my immediate thoughts:

Read Scripture deeply (not for material but for life, like what you are doing with Proverbs, guarding and sustaining the good habits that you have had.)

Pray deeply – e.g. Prov 3:1-6. Turn what you are learning into prayers.

Read devotional authors deeply – find out from people you respect who they read (that would be a great list to develop down the road)

Share deeply with someone – a friend or counselor

Without missing the fun, sustain a healthy paranoia about your heart and your temptations. I think it is possible to have a healthy paranoia without living fearfully or cautiously. A healthy paranoia not only keeps us alert and honest, but hungry to keep learning. Success dulls our eagerness to learn.

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Christian-fying up your house if the pastor comes over.

(I love sharing Ben Meredith's writing with you because in addition to being funny, it's true. As a pastor's kid, I can completely attest to what this guest post is all about and I think it's hilarious. I hope you enjoy another guest post from Ben.)

At my grandfather's funeral, the preacher stood up and shared all about what a sweet, gentle man my grandpa was. He went on for several minutes, and then called me up (one of the perks of missionary life–and this is not sarcastic at all–is to get the opportunity to speak at funerals.) I approached the microphone, and not knowing where to start, said "Well, I'm gonna share a little bit about my Grandpa from the perspective of someone who was around when the preacher wasn't."

The reason that joke worked (or landed as they say in the biz–people actually laughed!) is that cleaning up your act for the preacher is a near-universal thing, especially here in the South.

I went on to share that my grandpa was a great man, one of the greatest I've ever met, but sweet and gentle were not the first words I thought of. He was flawed, harsh at times, and unswervingly honest, like most of the men from his generation. He was not afraid to yell at you when you were messing around, and he'd shake a finger (or an entire hand) at you in an instant. But that's not a side of him the preacher got to see. And it made me smile, because it's something we all do, but speaking from the missionary side of things, it's always weird to see people try and clean up their act for you.

What we need is a handy guide for whether or not you should clean up your act, and how much. OK then.

How to know how much of your act to clean up: a Handy Guide.

The Spelling Bee Level

To start with, we set the bar really low. When on the phone with a pastor planning to visit, just get them to spell a difficult word of your choice. Keep it within their field. For example, for a college minister, you might have them spell "sophomore" or "fraternity." Incidentally, if that pastor is named Ben Meredith, and reporting to Murfreesboro, TN after he raises his initial support, just have him spell "Murfreesboro," because that second "r" threw him for a loop for months. Other go-to words are "transcendental" or "sacramentalism." If they pass this level (and only this level) then all you are required to clean up is the overtly offensive at your house. Put away the Maxim/Cosmo/Oprah magazine and stash the Kodiak can behind the bookshelf, and you are good to go. If they don't pass this level, if they can't spell holy sounding words, you're OK. You don't have to clean up. They have no more of a connection to the transcendent than you do.

The "Half Your Age Plus 7″ (HYAPS) Level.

Normally used to determine whether or not someone is too young to date, we are using it to determine the next level of act-"cleanupage." If, for example, a person is 26 years old, half of their age (13) plus seven means that 20 is the youngest a person can be for them to be dateable. If a pastor is coming to your house, and falls above the HYAPS mark, then they're old enough to demand a fairly scrubbed clean of all sin house. Follow these simple steps: Deep six the Sports Illustrated magazine (due to their affiliation with a certain swimsuit issue), drink–but not immediately before–or hide the cheap beer (Coors Light and below), and find one or more Christian book for the living room bookshelf.

Passport Check Level

Before you have a pastor come in the house, ask for three forms of ID. If they are worth their salt, the first form of ID will be a driver's license, the second will be a passport, and the third will be a Social Security card. In case they reverse numbers two and three, always ask for three, so that you can inspect that passport, to see how many times that bad-boy has been stamped. If there are more than three non-Canadian countries stamped in the back, or if any stamp is in a non-Roman alphabet, they get the green light for the next level of act-cleansing. For this level, you have to ensure that at least a third of the bookshelf in the primary meeting room is devoted to Christian literature or JRR Tolkien/Fyodor Dostoyevsky. A bonus "we just got done reading this" book on the coffee table is recommended but not required.

Doctorate in Theology

In college, there was a stated (but I never saw it written) rule that related to how long you had to wait for a professor to show up who was late to a class. I think that if they had a PhD, you had to wait up to 15 minutes, or something like that. And this rule directly translates into the top level of the act-cleanup guide. If the person visiting has spent long enough in college and post-college college to learn three dead languages and part of a fourth, it's time to go full scale. Your house should look like the rooms at a Christian retreat center. You'll need to get rid of your TV, burn all of your non-Christian literature (it is also acceptable to put it in a section of the bookshelf clearly marked "Reference" or "In but not Of") and have all devotional literature cleaned, dusted, and appropriately highlighted. Alcohol is expressly prohibited at this level, as is non-Christian music paraphernalia. This unfortunately includes the ever-talented Derek Webb, as he uses non-Christian words in his music. (I've never heard them personally, but I know someone who knows someone that read about him on the Internets so, got to be true.) Note that folks at the Doctorate Level have free reign of your entire house, and can legally request access to any room, so simply moving the Lady Gaga life-size cutout to a different room is not going to cut it.

That should help, that list should provide you everything you need to have a pastor over.

Have you ever cleaned up your house (or your act) when the pastor came over?

(For more great stuff from Ben, check out his new blog, http://assumethebest.info)

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Dave Ramsey & I will be on the radio together!

On Tuesday, November 30 I'll be on the radio with Dave Ramsey. I've never been on the show before but with over 450 stations across the country picking it up and millions of listeners, I'm already nervous/excited/kind of sweaty. (I'll post more details as I find them out.)

We'll be talking about my new book "Gazelles, Baby Steps and 37 Other Things Dave Ramsey Taught Me About Debt." It's a comedic look at money with some wild illustrations and I think it will be a blast to laugh about it on the radio. Dave wrote the forword and for a limited time you can get a free audio book and free e-book when you order the paperback for only $10.

Click here to order!

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