Blogging
Life-Sized Horse Puppets, Free Book and Odd Prizes [Link Happy 5.7.10]
In London, A Stirring ‘War Horse’ Of A Drama
Life-sized horse puppets and a compelling story makes this both a visual and emotional powerhouse of a play.
The Hole in Our Gospel
[Free Audio Book from Christian Audio] World Vision CEO Richard Stearn uses his personal-professional story to explore the hollow gospel our church culture promotes. [You have to give up your email address to get it, but it's worth it.]
BREAKING: Large Air Spill at Wind Farm
Wonderful little hoax paying tribute to the BP oil rig disaster in the Gulf.
The Wild Faith of Bear Grylls
Relevant magazine’s cover story on Man v. Wild star. This is one of Relevant’s better interviews.
10 Ways Christians Tend to Fail
While John Shore’s occasional touchy, near-snooty blog posts can make my skin crawl, this one demonstrates he gets the problem with our contemporary church culture.
A Brilliant Idea from the United Nations
Didn’t think it was possible, did you? The Economist asks, “Why let only one despot endow and name a new prize when so many others deserve acclaim?”
Fallen and Flawed Makes Top 98 Christian Blogs
I have a very vague idea of who Christian Counseling Degree.org is, but heck–I’ll take any recognition I can get. And who’s going to complain about being lumped in with celebs like Jon Acuff, Joel Osteen and Tim Challies?
Just Pray on the National Day of Prayer
Matter-of-fact article that argues prayer is a lifestyle–not an annual event.
By the way, DON’T forget MOTHER’S DAY. It’s this Sunday. Buy a gift. Now.
First-Ever Human Trafficking Blog Awareness Month
That headline up there is a complete and utter figment of my imagination. No such monster exists.
Except in my mind. And Don and Jill Dudley’s mind.
Let me explain.
Four days ago Don Dudley [of You See Dry Bones fame] emailed me and a handful of bloggers and asked if we’d like to use our blogs to raise awareness for human trafficking in the month of May.
I thought it was a great idea for two reasons.
One, human trafficking is a horrific crime. Twenty-seven million people are enslaved today, often as sex slaves. This includes children.
Human trafficking deserves attention.
The other reason I though raising awareness on human trafficking was a great idea was because I’ve never really stood for anything on my blog outside of a clear, graceful articulation of the cross of Christ.
That’s a good thing. But it’s time I elevated my eyes off of my orthodoxy and put my doctrine to work.
While this isn’t much, and I’m not 100% sure how this blog awareness is supposed to look like, I think blogging about it and asking people to do something [see list below] is a great start…
And this is where I need your help.
1. If you’re a blogger, devote three or four articles to human trafficking this month. Point back to Jill’s original post on human trafficking. At least her website. [This is what I'll be doing.]
2. Go visit Not For Sale an organization devoted to freeing modern-day slaves. Blog about their site.
3. Google “human trafficking” and bone up on the topic. If this is your first exposure to it, you’ll be astonished by what you learn.
4. Donate to an organization like NFS.
5. Pray for an end to modern-day slavery.
6. Create a team at your church or business or home to raise money or awareness. You can even do this as a family.
7. Finally, give me some more ideas on how we can raise more awareness on human trafficking and make the “First-Ever Human Trafficking Blog Awareness Month” not only a reality, but a success.
Next Monday I’ll share my story on how I first learned about human trafficking and hope you’ll do the same. So start thinking about that.
Remember, if you’re a blogger, blog about this topic this month. At least once. Four times would be great.
Now, got any ideas on how we can make this month a success? Please share and do your part. Thank you!
Link Happy [Favorite Posts before 5.1.10]
I’m breaking two laws today.
One spoken. The other unspoken.
The spoken law I am breaking has to do with a vow not to post on Saturday.
I’m making an exception since I’ve been posting only four times a week instead of five.
The unspoken law is about a personal pledge not to do posts devoted to sharing articles I like.
I reserved Twitter and Facebook for that.
But since I’ve abandoned Twitter and Facebook until May 23, my main source for sharing favorite articles is gone. So I’m sharing here.
Enjoy.
Survey: 72% of Millenials ‘More Spiritual Than Religious’
Little here to encourage you. Most notable: “Many are unsure Jesus is the only path to heaven: Half say yes, half no.”
Confession of Faith Guanabara
Brazilian blogger Jorge Bessa says it’s one of the oldest confessions of faith of Reformation era–written by four missionaries sent by John Calvin to the newly-founded Rio de Janeiro. [Click on the American flag to translate to English.]
Grilled Squid
Drawn to this article by the headline and sub-headline. That’s the headline up there. Here’s the sub: “A ghastly day on Capitol Hill for Goldman Sachs’s top brass.” Why I like the Economist.
Mind Over Money
Darling little 60-minute show by PBS on the battle between behavioral scientists and rational economists over this question: Can markets be rational when humans aren’t? Great sidebar resources, too.
Breaking Things Down to Particles Blinds Scientists to the Big Picture
I quote: “We want to believe we will understand nature if we find the exact right tool to cut its joints. But that approach is doomed to failure. We live in a universe not of clocks but of clouds.”
The Challenge of Writing about David Foster Wallace
I was immediately charmed when I learned DRW wrote a 1,300 page, heavily annotated, footnote dense novel. Then I read it. Thinking writing about him is hard? Try reading him.
By the way, do you mind if I do more posts like this? Yes or no? Give me your opinion. I’m thinking of doing more.
Why I’m Shutting Down Fallen + Flawed
I always knew this day was coming. I just never figured this soon.
Effective today, I’m pulling out of the blogging business.
Trust me: This decision was an agonizing one. But there’s really no way around it.
Let me give you a little history.
Ever since I took that month-long sabbatical back in November, my heart’s never really been back into Fallen and Flawed.
It’s been elsewhere. Tied to a long-standing dream of mine. One I’ve had since I was six.
And it looks like I will actually get to make it happen.
It’s kind of strange the way this thing got off the ground. Almost surreal. The stuff good movies are made of.
After a bizarre, late-night blowout with my wife, I hopped in my car and flew to Dunkin’ Donuts to cool off. I ordered a coffee that could peel paint and started sipping.
That’s when Carlos Whittaker walked in.
He had his guitar strapped to his back and skull cap on. I waved him over. He waved back, sauntered to my table, slid into the seat and popped out his ear buds.
For whatever reason I started to gush like a teenage girl at a slumber party. I was telling him I was conflicted. Had this inner-turmoil thing going on. A dream all bottled up.
And suppressing it was messing with my marriage.
He nodded, sipped his coffee and finally asked what it was. When I told him he sprayed me with coffee.
The next thing I know we’re on the red-eye to Louisville where we meet Abraham Piper and Jonathan Acuff in a back room at a local Knights of Columbus.
Turns out Piper, Acuff and Whittaker all have the same dream as I do: becoming Mexican wrestlers.
Abraham said, ““I always wanted to be a wrestler, to see if they hit really hard, to see if they hit for real.”
“I like people to hate me, to shout at me,” Jonathan said.
And Carlos said, “I love to fight anyone, anywhere.”
I thought I was in heaven. We eventually hunkered down and mapped out our plan.
Unfortunately our families can’t come. We hope to make enough money in the first year to buy a small house.
Pray for us.
Oh yeah. You’re probably wondering about our costumes and name [all real Mexican wrestlers have "ring" names].
Abraham is going to be “The Verbal Abuser.” He’s going to wear a cape and furry mask his wife Molly made.
Jonathan agreed to be “Madam Cristo” and wear thigh-high boots.
For me it was a toss up between “Swamp Lover” or “Loco Lush.” I went for “Loco Lush” since “Lushy” was the name of a beagle I had growing up. [The beagle ate carnations and drank malt liquor.]
I’ll wear a collar and matching black mask and gloves studded with white stars.
Carlos Whittaker is going as himself.
This is truly beyond anything I imagined. But you know what the Bible says, “I have plans for you, to prosper you and give you hope and a future.”
10 Classic Fallen + Flawed Posts on Christian Blogging
While some of you have been reading Fallen and Flawed since the beginning [December 2008], many of you are new.
So, to help you understand what this blog is all about, I created a beginner’s guide…
Think of it as a historical primer on the purpose behind this blog.
More importantly, see it as a guide to help you plan, launch and grow your own Christian blog.
My hope is I can help at least one person do just that. Let me know what you think.
Here they are:
Why You Must Endure My Half-Baked Ideas What are the payoffs to working through your doubts about Christianity? One is you won’t base your faith on half-baked ideas. There are more.
Have You Read the Book Behind This Blog? It’s still shocking to me how much a few wrong turns could change my life. Read the story behind this blog. And the book that started it.
I Am Orin Scrivello, Sadistic Blogger When someone blasted me on a blog post with foul language, it triggered a rather sadistic thought.
5 Reasons Why I Waited a Year to Launch This Blog This might sound strange to you, but I waited over 365 days before launching this blog. Why did I wait so long? The answer may surprise you.
Are Public Rebukes Okay? My Advice Do the rules for church discipline apply to the impersonal, disembodied world of blogging? My answer might surprise you.
The 5 A.M. Secret: How to Balance Blog and Family How do I manage to balance job, family, friends and blog? Simple. I use the 5 A.M. secret.
Why Reformed Bloggers Wear Me Out We need more Christians bloggers who will converse and confront atheist bloggers. Here are 4 ways to do that.
Tim Keller’s Guide to Vibrant Blogging Hard to believe that a 58-year old pastor in NYC could teach you anything about blogging. But he can.
Why I Blog [It's the New M.A., Dummy] Did you know you can earn a Masters degree by blogging? Okay, you can’t really. But you can come real close. Find out how.
My Unorthodox Copyright Policy [or, Why It's Okay to Steal This Blog] The content on this blog is yours. It’s yours to use however you please. But there’s a catch.
Note: Bookmark this post so you can take your time working through this list. There’s a lot of content here. And you probably won’t be able to read it all in one day.
Also, subscribe to Fallen and Flawed if you haven’t already. That way you can get all the latests posts.
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