Jon Acuff's Blog, page 182

Turning the near perfect game into a near perfect sermon illustration.

I can't stop looking at this photo of the Guatemalan sinkhole.

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Seriously, that thing is hypnotic. It's so big and crazy and scary looking to me. It swallowed a three story building and a house. Although reports are shaky about whether anyone died in it, it's a terrifying reminder of how fragile and out of our control the world really is. And it's a visual reminder to pray for the victims of that hurricane.

If I were a pastor though, I wouldn't preach about it. I think sometimes we need to be...

Pretending the steering wheel is enough.

Is the name Carrie Underwood real or is that her stage name? I only ask because it sounds so perfectly country it almost seems fake. Like former Texas quarterback Colt McCoy. If that's not a fake name then that kid had two options growing up:

1. Be the quarterback of Texas.

2. Rob stagecoaches.

I think about names sometimes. Justin Timberlake's name seems kind of fake too. It's almost too awesome, like if my name was "Jonathan Mountainstream." Please call me that from here on out. The real...

Holding your church technical team to slightly higher standards than Apple and Steve Jobs.

A few weeks ago, I leaned over to my wife during the middle of church and said, "That transition into the sermon wasn't very smooth."

What?

I'm no New Testament scholar, but I can't imagine Peter ever leaning over and telling one of the other disciples, "I've got to be honest with you, the acoustics of this particular hill Jesus is speaking from are lousy. And I don't know how we're going to feed everyone here. The production values of this event are horrible. Amateur hour."

But sometimes...

Wishing they'd stop releasing "unrated" editions of movies you want to see.

I want to see the new movie "Get him to the Greek," but when I saw the trailer, my "nudity warning system" or NWS went off. It's like Spiderman's danger detecting spidey sense only it allows me to detect possible toplessness.

I don't think that's even a word, but I promise that movie was off the chart as far as the NWS went. (My system has never failed me except for Starship Troopers, which is a great movie. If that's on TBS, I don't leave the house.) I'd like to pretend that I can rent Get...

Boston, Atlanta, Houston, San Diego, etc.

Come hear me speak and hang out this summer. After the jump are a few places you can find me. If you want to add your church or conference to this list and have me speak, feel free to shoot me an email.

June

Sunday, June 13, 10:30AM – Fellowship Church, Holden Massachusetts

Friday, June 18, 8:30AM and 11:45 – International Shelby Conference in Atlanta – The Art of Ideas Breakout and Closing Keynote on Social Communities.

July

Monday, July 12 – Houston, Texas Youth Event (Details to come)

Thursday, ...

Win 20 subscriptions to Relevant Magazine.

Cameron Strang, the founder of Relevant Magazine, is a fan of the Orlando Magic.

I am a fan of the Boston Celtics. When they played each other in the Eastern Conference Finals, Cameron and I made an agreement. If the Magic won, I'd give Relevant readers 20 copies of the Stuff Christians Like book. If the Celtics won, Cameron would give 20 subscriptions of Relevant Magazine to SCL readers.

The Celtics won!

Which means 20 Relevant Magazine subscriptions for you.

Comment with an answer to the...

Setting Physical Boundaries in Dating Relationships

(John Crist is on fire. Out of nowhere he keeps coming up with great guest posts. This is his second one. I thought it was fantastic. Enjoy.)

Jon Acuff and I went to Samford University. We never knew each other, but I guarantee you we both knew about the Freshman Dorm Female Visitation Policy.

"No members of the opposite sex in your rooms, except from 3:00-6:00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and only after they've signed in. While a guest is in the room, the door must be propped open a minimum...

Iffy Prayer Requests

Someone recently got in trouble in the middle of a prayer circle and it was kind of my fault.

I once wrote about something I called "confessing safe sins." It was the idea that sometimes in small groups, people confess things that are safe in order to not look like sweaty heathens. They say, "I have something really gross to confess, I haven't been reading my Bible enough," or "my quiet times have been short lately." I'm not sure if there is technically a right or wrong way to share a...

Winner of the iPod Shuffle or Conan Tickets.

If your name is Abby Sue, congrats you've won an iPod Shuffle or some Conan O'Brien tickets for his live show at the Fox in Atlanta. Email me with you're address and which one you'd like so I can hook you up.

Thanks

Jon

Worrying too much about trends.

Even though I'm not wearing 45 belt loops Z-Cavaricci's I got at Chess King and ladies have far less perms, our neighborhood pool is very similar to my high school cafeteria.

On one end you have the cool table, populated by neighbors who have lived in our subdivision the longest. They drink beer, get tougher than leather tan (Run DMC reference) and feel compelled to play Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive," approximately 37 times.

On the other end you have a grab bag of dorks, which includes me. This...