Due to the unprecedented reaction of having not one, but two–TWO–responses to last week’s always-highly-anticipated “Top 3 on Tuesday,” I am keeping the tradition alive, even though I’m fresh out of blogs to share. Instead, I’ll just link to three good articles I’ve read in the past week.
By far, the most moving one for me was, “My Father’s Son,” by Jamie the Very Worst Missionary. I think it is one of those that either hits you or it doesn’t, but I immediately teared up at the line that inspires the title. Again, I can’t really explain why it hit me so strongly, but it did. It’s short and sweet and profound.
Other than that, there were not any articles that really rocked my world. However, I did find two articles about Facebook that were interesting. Other than their subject matter, they have little in common, but I’m going to force them together nevertheless. In “More Connected and Never Lonelier?”, Chaplain Mike quotes a super-long article from The Atlantic about loneliness. Though I didn’t read the whole Atlantic article, the idea of social networks ultimately making us lonelier is an interesting one. I would love to hear other’s thoughts on that.
In a completely different vein, I read the practical article, “Facebook Etiquette for Christians”, when it was shared–of course–by a friend on Facebook. It is incredibly unfortunate that the title is misspelled (I had to correct it on here), but other than that little snafu, I thought it had some good tips. The biggest idea it raised in my mind, though, was how do I best use Facebook to glorify God? I love the idea of being purposeful in all my actions, including social networking. Thus, I wasn’t moved or convicted or inspired by any one tip in this article; rather, it spurred me on to think more carefully about my actions on Facebook in general.
Okay, now that I’ve shared my Top 3, has anyone else read anything interesting?
Kingdom Civics 
Posted by Tim on April 17, 2012 at 10:06 am
Thanks so much for Jamie’s article on her son’s last football game. I was right there with you getting all misty-eyed.
For the facebook stuff, I’ve never had an account but really appreciated the etiquette article since it applies much more broadly than merely in social media.
Here’s one I found at Aimee Byrd’s Housewife Theologian: http://www.housewifetheologian.com/book-review-6/
It’s a review of Carl Trueman’s new book, and made me want to read it right off the bat. His theological stuff can get pretty dense for me to slog through (I confess I don’t even try hard), but Aimee assures us that this is a lot more accessible and really entertaining.
Tim
Posted by kingdomcivics on April 17, 2012 at 4:08 pm
Tim,
Thanks for sharing the book review. I had never heard of Trueman, but you are right that the review made me interested in his work.
Posted by bekster081305 on April 17, 2012 at 4:36 pm
I liked all of those articles/posts, especially the Facebook etiquette one. The stuff that I saw this week was quite different, though. Several years ago, Tommy and I had a friend die from cancer, and his teenage daughter just started a blog to help her process everything she is feeling in her life right now. It’s pretty raw and typical of uncensored teenage drama, but I feel like it is good for her to be able to share these things (or maybe it’s just that I appreciate having this peek into her life since I care about her but she and I don’t have the kind of relationship where she would write these things to me in a personal message). However, it includes a lot of the things on the “don’ts” etiquette list. She is very critical of her mom, and she lays bare the different scenarios going on with her friends. Normally I would say that those things are very inappropriate to post online, but 1) she doesn’t necessarily claim to be a Christian, so it isn’t fair to judge her by standards she hasn’t put on herself, and 2) for her generation, it isn’t uncommon for these kinds of therapeutic exercises to be public (I go back and forth on what I think about this phenomenon). I am curious about your opinion, though, Kim, since you work with teens. Anyway, here is her blog: http://zhofmann.blogspot.com/ (Yeah, I know it’s probably weird to read the personal thoughts from some kid you don’t even know, but I feel okay sharing it because she herself is very public with it.)
Also, here are a few videos just for fun:
For some reason, hip-hop music is REALLY popular here. Because of this, we end up learning more about it than we would want to know otherwise. When we found this take on Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair,” we thought it was hysterical:
We have been singing the “I whip my hair back and forth” line over and over to each other for days. (They also do a really funny one of “Sexy and I Know It,” which is EXTREMELY popular here–as in it is forced upon us from the street almost every single day–but since it is not quite an appropriate song, I’ll leave it up to you whether you want to seek it out.)
The other videos I found were by a guy named Andy Rehfeldt. He takes music videos of popular songs and changes them to a totally different musical style. He can do jazz, metal, country, reggae… whatever. He does all of the arrangements and plays all of the instruments himself (but he usually keeps the original vocals), and it is REALLY GOOD (musically speaking). Here are some examples:
Adele’s “Rollnig In The Deep” (it switches between jazz and metal): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfZ5Ik4z0X0 (Sorry, I think there is a “bad” word in this song, which I never noticed before.)
Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” (smooth jazz version): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMxAq0Ofupw&feature=relmfu
Abba’s “Dancing Queen” (metal version): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njwGpdXUFV8&feature=relmfu
Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (reggae version): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-71W6omjHN4
AD/DC’s “Back in Black” (funk version): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjBqZfXgvXg
…and there are TONS more (though, obviously, the lyrics are only as “clean” as they are in the original songs, so you probably want to pick and choose there). Yeah, I know. These aren’t exactly intellectually stimulating or spiritually uplifting or anything, but part of the point of this is to get to know the person sharing, right? 🙂 The thing is, we don’t have TV right now, so we spend our free time laughing at YouTube videos. You see why I read your spiritually-minded blog all the time? Obviously my soul is STARVING! 🙂 (J/K)