Jon Acuff's Blog, page 76
March 27, 2013
Art.
When my daughter McRae was 5, she taught me something about art and life.
She had painted a picture using a spilled bit of ink. It looked like she started with a mistake.
I asked her that and she said, “I can make art out of anything.”
I love that thought, and I think that’s what God does with our lives.
When he redeems, he doesn’t duct tape. He doesn’t improve. He isn’t in the business of better.
He does new.
He does beautiful.
He makes art.
I don’t know what part of your life might not feel frame-worthy right now, what part is broken or chipped or worn out. But I do know that we serve a God who makes art out of the broken pieces.
A God who can make art out of anything.
March 26, 2013
March 22, 2013
“YeshuaTube”
(It’s guest post Friday! Here’s one from Chad Nelson. You can check out his blog or follow him on Twitter. If you want to write a guest post for SCL, here’s how!)
“YeshuaTube”
I got some great insight into our culture the other day from my young buddy and radio co-host Ford Garner. We were discussing the prospect of Jesus among us in 2013 and since he is 19 and connected, I trust his judgment on all things pop culture.
Brief editorial interlude: Ford is a licensed minister, former Homecoming King, Chamber of Commerce “Student of the Year”, in-demand evangelist, college student, middle school youth leader, radio host and has 2000+ Facebook friends. Again, he is 19. The Facebook thing is probably impressive (I’m 42 so no real grasp of the significance) but I am pretty sure my accolades at 19 began and ended with “Most Likely to Waste Money”. Mission accomplished, Mom.
Anyway, we looked around at society and more specifically, church culture. In fact, we discussed an entire YouTube channel devoted to such things for future generations to see how Christ fit our lives in 2013. Welcome to YeshuaTube (we like to keep it real).
Scene: Jesus is teaching the masses when suddenly, someone stands and shouts, “Turn the water into wine again Jesus!” as the audience roars its approval. Five fat hairy guys on the front row pull off their tattered tees and reveal the letters J, E, S, U and S across their substantial bellies. As we pan the audience and do that cool Google Earth flyback, we see the same people who attend a Larry the Cable Guy show dying for the first “git’r done” nod their approval every time David Platt utters “radical”. Wannabe disciples argue over whether Joel Osteen or Rick Warren has a better grasp on our earthly wants and expectations and show their allegiance with retweets of deep-sounding thoughts. No idea what the name of this video will be but rest assured, it includes a sweet play on words that references a cool catchphrase or logo. Maybe a Mountain Dew like image with “Jesus Dew It!” hidden in it.
Scene: Jesus walking among us at the mall. He moves slowly through the pressing crowds as a very sickly young girl reaches for his faded cloak and is healed immediately. As the King of Kings turns to ask who touched His cloak a cap-sporting mom rushes to His side to ask if He’ll make her son Beckham taller and faster. Before anyone can shout “You da man!” to the Prince of Peace, people line up to sit on His lap and ask for Netflix gift cards and better cell coverage. Leaning toward “4G Serve Us, Jesus?” on this one.
Finally, because old school is the new new school (follow me for a sec), we put some OT on YT (um…Old Testament on YeshuaTube).
Scene: Moses (perhaps played by the inexplicably busy Channing Tatum) stands before the Red Sea after leading hundreds of thousands from the clutches of oppressive Egyptian rule. He raises his staff triumphantly (as Adele hits stride on the background track) and begins to pray out loud for the sea to part when suddenly, he is tapped on the shoulder by a serious-looking man. ”Moses, did you get the joint approval of the Sea Parting Committee and Slave Benevolence Committee?” Before Moses can utter a word another voice is heard from the masses, “Not everyone wants to cross so unless we re-vote unanimously, we need to turn around and head back.” As Channing, er…Moses, looks up with perplexed frustration, the Israeli ushers begin to dismiss the group row by row until everyone is marching back toward slavery. Calling this one “I Went to the Red Sea and All I Got Was This T-Shirt”.
Jesus was, is and always will be the Savior of the world. Perhaps this is the year we stop treating Him like a celebrity or Santa or even a committee concept and more as a purpose for our lives. If not, count on YeshuaTube to keep it real.
What are your video ideas?
For more great writing from Chad, check out his blog!
March 21, 2013
My confession.
I don’t think I’ve ever shared this before.
This is something I’ve been keeping inside for years.
Why?
Because I’m probably the only one who does this.
What is this ridiculous confession I need to make?
At church, I constantly watch the sign language translator.
I can’t help myself.
It started out innocently. I wanted to know what a weird word like “hermeneutics” was in sign language.
So I peeked. Ahh, so that’s what it is. I would have never guessed that! And just like that, I was hooked.
Now, if I’m in a church that has a sign language interpreter, I don’t even see the pastor. If you asked me what he looks like at the end of the service, I would say, “Biped, couple of legs, pair of arms, maybe a mustache?”
Even worse, now I look for them when I am speaking. I love seeing how they sign out something like “Jesus Juke” or “Booty, God, Booty.”
Recently at a college, during one of my speeches, the sign language guy got so tired following me he had to tag someone else in to finish the speech.
I love sign language. I worked at a special needs camp in high school where we needed to know a little. So maybe it’s not a huge problem I have, just a little one.
But am I the only one who does this?
Have you ever stared at the sign language interpreter during church?
March 20, 2013
Something for your pocket.
I kept this verse in my pocket for a few years. And maybe it needs to be in your pocket too.
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March 18, 2013
How to teach gringos to say “Jesus.”
A few weeks ago at an event, I met a guy wearing a funny necklace.
Turns out, if you’re name is “Jesus,” people tend to say it a certain way. They tend to mispronounce your name, so my new friend decided to wear this necklace as a helpful education tool.
Well played.
March 15, 2013
Christian put-down lines
(It’s guest post Friday! Here’s one from Peter McMurray. You can check out his blog here. If you want to write a guest post for SCL, here’s how!)
Christian put-down lines
Valentine’s Day came around last month and it started me thinking. If there is one thing we Christians don’t like, it is singleness – the one spiritual gift that should come with a receipt so you can exchange it for something that suits you better. And what worse time to be single than Valentine’s Day, when all good Christian couples should be texting, tweeting and instagraming verse from 1 Corinthians 13 to each other (so helpful of Paul to split it into short, tweet-friendly sentences – restricting himself to under 140 characters way before Twitter made it mainstream, so hipster…)
Which is why as a young single Christian guy, I was afraid. The 14th was rapidly approaching and I had no-one to DTR with. But then I found a SCL post of Christian pick-up lines. Armed with these lines, what could possibly go wrong? It was time for me to put the stud back into Bible study.
So I used sermon time to eye up the talent in the pews (top tip – sermons are the best time for spotting holy hot girls – all their attention will be on the preacher, so they won’t notice you checking them out, plus you can use post-sermon prayers to ask for forgiveness for your lust…) and then come the post-service coffee time I was ready to make my moves. Unfortunately I came across something I wasn’t expecting. The Christian put-down line.
When I was expecting to hear responses like “You can be my Boaz any day” I was hearing terrible things. Things like:
When I read in Jeremiah 29:11 that God has good plans for me, and think of you, I feel somewhat cheated
My love for you is purely agape
I see you as more prayer partner than date partner
I have the gift of prophecy, and I have a word for you – celibacy
God promised He has a great plan for me, I don’t see how you could fit in with that
We are brother and sister in Christ, it would be like incest
You need someone with less discernment
I’m not sure our callings are compatible
It’ll take prayer and fasting on your end…mostly fasting
It’s at times like this that you wonder how a girl can claim to be a Christian and yet be so lacking in grace and mercy. What would Jesus do? He ate with prostitutes, tax collectors and a person who betrayed him – all I’m asking is that you go out to lunch with me; I can’t be as bad as that can I?
So unfortunately for now it seems my love life is doomed to remain more Paul than Solomon. Fortunately there are plenty more fish in the sea. I’m just praying I don’t end up with one as large as the one that swallowed Jonah whole.
Guys, have you experienced any similar Christian put-downs? Girls – when asked out with a Christian pick-up line do you use put-downs like those? And if not – want to grab coffee some time?
(No girls were hurt in the writing of this post. My ego on the other hand took a severe beating…)
For more great writing from Peter, check out his blog!
March 14, 2013
Top 7 most surprising moments of the Bible series so far.
I’m a big fan of the new TV series that the History Channel is running about the Bible.
I saw Mark Burnett, creator of Survivor, speak about it at Catalyst, and he really loves the Lord. If you haven’t watched it yet, I suggest you do. (And if you are watching it, follow me on Twitter for live tweets about the show.)
Only two episodes have aired, but there have been a fair amount of surprises so far.
Here are the top 7 most surprising moments of the Bible series so far.
1. The angels are ninjas and look like Jet Li.
Didn’t see that coming, but boy can they fight. At one point I am almost positive that one of them threw a Chinese star at someone in Sodom.
2. Joseph didn’t make the movie.
If you’re any other character in the Bible, you’re probably thinking, “Finally.” How much love does that guy get, right? I mean come on, he got a world famous play, a special coat, and there’s gotta to be a Veggie Tales story.
3. David got interrupted by Nathan while he was watching Bathsheba bathe.
Awkward.
4. Samson had dreads.
Who knew? All these years I had it wrong. Samson had dreads and smashed people like an outside linebacker. Just picking them up over his back and throwing. With his dreads a swinging. My friend Propoganda, who has dreads, says he always suspected that was Samson’s haircut.
5. David danced.
I thought for sure they would have edited this out in order to placate the people who wouldn’t let me dance at my wedding. But they didn’t. Well done Mark Burnett. I am a fan.
6. Saul, not that handsome.
This is according to my wife. I’m not sure what she was expecting, probably like a taller Brad Pitt or something, but the guy they had was not Bradley Cooperish enough.
7. Noah? Scottish.
I’m not sure if he had a kilt on the ark, but he could have.
Those are my favorite moments so far. What are yours?
March 13, 2013
God’s love letter to artists.
Like a lot of things on this site, you’ll probably never hear someone deem something, “good enough for the church.” But if you’ve spent any amount of time in the church, chances are you’ve bumped up against this. One of the top worship leaders in the country drove this home for me when he recently said the reason people liked his work was that he was “from the recording industry and had never believed something was good enough for the church.”
I think this happens for a number of reasons. Sometimes it is financial. Not everyone has the budget of a megachurch. So they’ll ask for the “ministry rate” when it comes to work. But often that means, “we’d like your B quality work.” Sometimes it’s a matter of resources. If volunteers are tithing their time, it’s hard to do a massive musical with just 10% of someone’s commitment. Other times it’s a product of having the right person in the wrong ministry. Like the example I gave in an earlier post about the church that didn’t want to hurt the unskilled guitar player’s feelings so they just kept turning his speaker down lower and lower. Sometimes we misinterpret our gifts and end up serving in a way we’re not supposed to.
Those are all symptoms, though, and don’t get at the core issue. (Core issue is such a counseling term.) At the heart of it, the reason the church is not known as being a global leader in creativity and excellence is pretty simple. We missed God’s love letter to artists.
I missed it about a dozen times myself. But while doing a two-year walk through of a one year read the whole Bible study plan, I stumbled upon it in Exodus.
There are two parts and both are pretty subtle, though I’ve written about them before. The first takes place in Exodus 30 and 31. In 30, God anoints Aaron and consecrates the priests. It’s a big deal, with fragrant spices, sacred oil and a sense of the holy that is almost tangible through the pages. And after it’s over, do you know who God focuses on next? Do you know who comes second? The artists.
I had to read that a few times until I believed. There in the desert, as God establishes His people, as He sets into motion His very heart, the artists fall directly after the priests. Maybe that’s mind-blowing only to me, but I find that stunning. Of all the professions, of all the people in the desert, it is the artists He speaks to next. Is there a more beautiful reflection of the importance He places on art and creativity?
We’ve made God military in a lot of our culture. We march in God’s army. We have men’s groups that are based on battle, but He doesn’t focus on the warriors after the priests. He doesn’t say the strength and might are most important after Aaron and the priests. He says creativity is.
Here is what 31:3 says:
“and I have filled him (Bezalel) with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.”
This is not a cold, boring, vanilla God speaking. This is the first and ultimate patron of the arts sounding a gong for anyone that has a scrap of creativity in them. But I said this love letter to artists has two parts.
The second part continues in chapter 36. As they prepare to build the ark, God issues a call to the artists in the desert. Verse 2 says:
“Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work.”
That verse punched me in the stomach. If you read it, you realize there were only two conditions to building the ark as an artist. You had to have the skill and you had to be willing. That means that some people refused the call and sat on their hands in the desert instead. They could have built God’s ark, His temple, but instead chose to sit in the desert and waste their talent.
When I prayed about that, I felt like God told me I had the same opportunity to build his temple every day. I replied, “What are you talking about? You’re crazy.” (He’s big enough for me to say honest things like that.) But then He reminded me that in 1 Corinthians 6:19 it says the body is the temple. He reminded me that every time I use my skills to help someone, I am helping rebuild their temple.
Foof. That’s big. That’s scary. That’s why I am writing today. I’ve sat in the desert for years wasting what meager writing skills I have. I’ve sat in a pile of sand, while the people in my life are broken and hurting, hoping someone will help them rebuild their temple. And I just can’t sit in the desert anymore.
People might stop reading this site tomorrow and disappear. I might not go on tour to churches and conferences and all that in the future. I want to, I really do, but ultimately it’s not about that. It’s about rebuilding temples. And as long as I keep doing that, as long as I keep reading and responding to God’s love letter to artists, everything else is going to take care of itself.
(This is a throwback post.)
March 12, 2013
4 Brilliant Lord of the Rings Jokes.
These all made me laugh. (And are part of my “Tom Bombadil’s Fridge” board on Pinterest. You should follow it.)
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Source: humortrain.com via Jon on Pinterest
