Jon Acuff's Blog, page 174

TOMS

The next time I put TOMS shoes on my 4-year-old, we're going to have to cut them off her with some sort of surgical equipment. Or maybe she can have an Incredible Hulk moment of rage and bust her feet right out. Either way, they're just not fitting anymore.

And that's a sad day for a hip little Christian like McRae. It takes an eternity and the dexterity of a Japanese poison blowfish chef to slide them on right now. But regardless, she and most of Christianity are in love with TOMS. And for...

What are you reading? A Short Saturday Question.

I have long claimed that one of my few goals in life is to own a home that has a library with rolling ladder I can sing songs from.

Newsies songs, of course.

I'm a long way from there but until it happens, I continue to work my way through books. Here's what I'm reading right now:

1. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman

Probably my favorite social commentator and pop culture writer.

2. 66 Love Letters by Larry Crabb

Just got this recently. I'm a big fan of Larry Crabb and looking forward to...

Having a "life verse."

("Some Guy" sent me this guest post. That is literally his name. But despite his incredibly secrecy, he wrote a really, really funny post. I dug this and hope you do too.)

Growing up, I attended a small independent church and I went to a public school. I liked both of them, but the combination helped make me blissfully unaware of the larger trends in Christianity.

I was in for a rude awakening when I went from a Sunday school class of 5 or 6 high schoolers to a campus of about 2,000 Christians ...

Big Church Hats, a love letter.

Big Church Hats, a love letter.

Dear Big Church Hats,

Where do you go, my lovely? Where do you go? I want to know. Ohhhhweeeohhh.

I hate to quote the band, "No Mercy," so early in a letter to you, but that's what it's come to Big Church Hats, isn't it? I sit in church looking for you and you're nowhere to be found. I scan the aisles for your melon protecting grandness, I look on the floor for the shadow of importance you cast at our feet but you remain hidden.

As a child, you were one of my...

Making horrible trades.

We have a bit of a problem at our house.

One of our daughters is highly creative and one is highly generous. That means at any given time, the creative one is coming up with elaborate plans to trade rocks and sticks to the generous one for candy or toys. Thus lies the central issue at the great "Silly Bandz crisis of 2010."

Though I swear we have given them both the same number of Silly Bandz, somehow, like a tiny, adorable Napoleon, my 6 year old has acquired most of my 4 year old's Silly...

Professional athletes who quit sports and become pastors.

I like salt & vinegar Pringles. They are clearly the most superior flavor. (Extreme Dill is like putting a belligerent pickle in your mouth.)

I like uniball micro pens. I can't prove this, but when you use one, what you write is 14% better than with a ballpoint. I'm sorry, that's just true.

I like college ruled notebooks. Wide ruled are for lazy people who don't know how to respect a margin.

But you know what I like more than all of those things put together?

Professional athletes who quit...

Twitter.

Last week, Rick Warren tweeted something that got people all fired up.

I didn't see the original tweet at first but based on the reaction, I thought he had said,

"I stole the idea for 'Purpose Driven Life' from an episode of Saved by the Bell where Zack realizes his band Zack Attack is not his purpose"

Turns out that wasn't what he tweeted. It was a lot less inflammatory than that. In fact, I think if he had yelled the same thing he tweeted from a conference stage, we all would have seen it as a...

Hipster Christianity – Win 5 copies.

The only flaw in the book, "Hipster Christianity," is that author Brett McCraken mentions the Stuff Christians Like site. Should we ever meet, I fear that my unibrow, love of Robert Jordan books and unskinny jeans would instantly disqualify me from any degree of hipness.

But this is a great book and one that really challenges our growing obsession with "cool Christianity." The subtitle, "When church and cool collide" sums up the conversation Brett starts perfectly.

And today, he has offered 5 f...

Winners of Relevant Magazine Subscriptions

A while ago we had a special giveaway for 20 one year subscriptions to Relevant Magazine. I'm excited to say we've got all the winners listed out at the bottom of this post. In some cases, I put the name of the magazine they said they liked beside the name so that you could easily identify if you were the winner.

If you won, please email me with the following info so that I can send it to Relevant and they can hook you up with a subscription: (I'll delete your info after sending it to...

5 things you have to say when you quit a job.

Recently, I had to write the "goodbye email" you write when you quit a job. I loved the company I worked for and knew I couldn't take the standard approach. Below is what I wrote.

Five things you have to say when you quit:

You've got to write something interesting or funny, but what does that mean? I think it means that you include these five elements in your goodbye email:

1. Reassurance that the company you are leaving is still awesome.

The first thing people do when they leave a company is...