Rachel Marie Stone's Blog, page 14

The Day I Hid My Nametag From Ann Voskamp

I have a new post up at Christianity Today on why there’s a difference between critics and haters. As I have written (and illustrated) earlier, sometimes, when you review a book that most people loved less-than-positively, the responses are more or less like this: There’s often the assumption that the critic is like that critic […]

The Legal and Addictive Stimulant of Fear (or “perfect fear casts out love”)

When I heard the verdict returned on the George Zimmerman trial, I thought immediately of the subtle reference to the case made by Marilynne Robinson at the Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College last year. The topic of her wide-ranging talk (some listeners went so far as to call it ‘rambling,’ but I […]

Duckface VS. Classic Beauty

I’m delighted to be introducing a new Friday series on this-here blog: DUCKFACE v. CLASSIC BEAUTY We here are tired of these duckface (often self-) portraits we see on Facebook and Twitter and where ever young women and girls intoxicated with their own sexiness (and possibly something else, too) make once might have been  called […]

Where There Are No Good Bakeries (Or, “when the crusty bread is too pricey.”)

As much as I believe that learning to cook and bake well can be more fun and more rewarding than you might have expected, I am a big fan of outsourcing some of those responsibilities. I love buying bread from good bakeries, the kind of bread that actually gets hard after a day or two. […]

If You *really* Love Jesus, CLICK and SHARE!!! (and other abominations)

One of my favorite comments from yesterday’s post: Amen, sister. I think these are even more annoying than those “Just checking to see if you will even read this…if you are reading it, comment and then copy this exactly and paste as your status update. 95% of you will ignore this. Just trying to see […]

Seven Deadly Social Media Sins

I teamed up with my dad to illustrate seven ways to go wrong on social media. (And I have done probably all of these things, just so we’re clear, here. I point the finger at myself.)  Please note that almost any of these can have a right and proper place, but these are the most […]

Metaphor on Monday: ‘Model Thyself After The Whale’ (or, why ‘Individualism’ isn’t a bad word.)

A few days ago, my son and I were looking at a book about space, and came across a picture of the Milky Way. Son: Wow. So many stars. Me: Did you know that there are about as many neurons in your brain as stars in the Milky Way? Son: Wow. I must have a […]

Friday Cat

You might not believe me, but this is our FULL GROWN CAT. He’s tiny, and he weighs almost nothing, even though he eats like a DOG. He is inept at hunting, because he just runs and jumps at birds without bothering to hide himself, but that’s fine with me, because the birds here are exceptional […]

C.S. Lewis On Patriotism

I’m not a flag-waving American. I don’t think that my country is the ‘greatest country in the world,’ and I cringe at phrases like “God Bless the USA,” simply because if I’m going to ask God’s blessing on people, it seems a pretty small vision of God’s kingdom to ask that blessing only upon the […]

What If Jesus Is Saying It’s OK to Pay for Things that Are Against Your Religion? (Since You Probably Always Are)

The first time I went to the hospital to learn more about maternal health services in Malawi, I’d been assigned to the family planning clinic, and was helping the nurse-midwife move supplies into the clinic to prepare for the steady, hours-long stream of women who came through the doors for contraception. I sat at the […]