Writing
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.
5 Posts to Make You Wise [A Reading Primer]
Reading is the cheapest and easiest way to grow your brain.
Cheap because you can get most books at your local library–or at Google Books.
And easy because you can learn about the history of gravity…
The political career of George Washington…
Or Augustine’s view of free will from your favorite reading chair.
That’s why I put such a high premium on reading. And spend a smidgen of time here writing about reading.
With that in mind, here are five posts on how to get the most out of your reading routine.
How to Absorb a Book into Your Bloodstream
One of the most important rules when it comes to reading.
How to Abandon a Book
You probably didn’t know this, but there’s an instinct to abandoning a book. An instinct you can develop.
How Do You Read?
Narrow, wide or something completely different? Share your reading style with me.
How to Read a 291-Page Book in 2 Hours
Want to read more books in less time–and even catch up on the classics you’ve missed? Try chapter pacing.
Drop-Dead Easy Guide on How to Journal
Twenty cool and easy tricks on how to get started with your journal. [A guide for those who don't want to spoil the pages of their books with a pencil.]
Granted, reading alone won’t make you wise. But it’s a start. By the way, do you have any reading tips? Please share.
Yes, I’m THAT Girl
**Guest post by Angie Farnworth, my wonderful wife.**
My husband had some pretty amazing and kind things to say about me in his recent spiritual heroes post.
Reading it made me feel really bad for turning down his original request to write a guest post for his blog.
In fact, the very day he wrote that post was the day I was supposed to crank something out for him.
Yikes.
So why didn’t I do it? Well for one, I’m not an intellectual. Or anything even approaching a biblical expert.
Not at all. At all. Not. At. All.
Me in a Nutshell
Oh, I love the Lord Jesus. I read and study my Bible, memorize scripture, pray without ceasing.
I lay my life down for Him daily—at least as much as this fragile, weak flesh will allow. Or until the next shiny thing passes my way.
So in some regards, we are all the same. Seeking after the heart of our Savior. Failing. Seeking. Failing. Putting one foot in front of the other and hoping that we are getting closer to THE ONE in the midst of all that failing.
But if I had to make a guess, I’d say that’s about where our similarities end.
Friends, Yet Strangers
I’ve never read a single book by John MacArthur, though we have many on our bookshelves.
I don’t have fancy acronyms for my approach to Bible study. I do it more by feel, relationship, prompting.
Ugh. Yuck. “She’s one of those?” you say. Yes, I’m one of those. Hence, my hesitation to write for my dear hubby.
By the Way, Who’s My Audience Again?
To be fair, I am a writer. So it was not such a far-fetched request from him. But I write to a much different audience. An audience more like…well, me.
I am a story teller. I write fiction that is high on entertainment value with little nuggets of wisdom and spiritual truth woven throughout.
So what was I going to say to this audience? An audience that thrives on straight, lean, hard-hitting truth. Even contemplating it made me go on intellectual overload. It kind of made me think of those reluctant friendships we all find ourselves in from time to time…
You know that friend from work or church who you really do like and is a genuinely nice person, but you just can’t seem to get him or her to shut up?
You hate to get on the phone or into a conversation with the person because you know that getting out of the conversation will take an eternity. I mean they’ll turn a quick “yes” or “no” question into two hours of joy and drama at their most recent dentist appointment.
And on those rare occasions when it seems you might actually get out of the conversation in a timely manner, the so-called friend utters these fatal words:
“Just one more thing.”
And you know in your heart of hearts that “Just one more thing” is going to last until the day you die.
Well, here’s the problem: I think I’m that person.
How to Spot THAT Girl
How do I know? I can see it in your eyes. That glazed-over look that darts from side to side and silently says, “You’re sweet and all…but please let me go. Now.”
But still, I talk. And talk.
I hate to make vast assumptions, but for the sake of simplicity, I will assume that if you are a frequent reader of Fallen and Flawed, you are probably either: a.) married to the author—as far as I know I am the only one who qualifies here, b.) an intellectual, or c.) married to an intellectual who makes you read it because he/she thinks it is good exercise for your poor, neglected brain.
My second assumption, then, will be this: You are most probably not “that person.”
So in the vein of exercising brains and all, I thought I’d educate you a bit on “that friend,” seeming as though I have the inside scoop and all.
An Anatomy of THAT Girl
Let’s pretend for a moment that you and I have entered into an eternal conversation.
No, not a conversation about eternity, but one that you are convinced will not end until the second coming. Or until you begin hemorrhaging. Visibly.
While you are glancing at your watch and nodding like a Pez dispenser, here’s some insight into what I might be thinking:
I am an extrovert. I live for relationship. But God has asked me to be a stay-at-home mom (which I love). And to home school my children (which I also love).
But while you are out taking the blogosphere by storm (or whatever you do to fulfill your minuscule need for personal companionship), I am home.
I spend my days talking to dolls, building Legos, examining bugs, answering never-ending why questions, cooking, and cleaning up the same old messes over and over again. Only to wake up and do it all over the next day. And the next.
Ad nauseum.
I love the life God has called me to. I wouldn’t change a single thing about it. But right now I have the undivided attention of an adult.
And even though I can see that you are about to faint away from relationship overstimulation, I still have a couple thousand words I desperately need to get out.
So before you exit this conversation, Just. Give. Me. One. More. Minute. Of. Sane. Adult. Conversation…
Please.
See what I mean? Oh, and just one more thing….
**You can follow Angie on Twitter.**
Five Posts You Haven’t Seen–But Should
From advice to new Christians on what to do with old friends…
To a novel approach on how you can get people to support your non-profit…
Here’s a round up of my latest posts across the web.
Should a New Christian Cut Off Old Friends?
No matter how you’re salvation occurred, at some point you owe someone a frank conversation. Namely your friends. This is how it should go.
10 Surprising Books That Will Transform Your Writing
Want to inject a tangible and seductive element in your writing that growls “You better take notice of me”? Then read these books.
Dug Down Deep: A Review
Josh Harris of I Kissed Dating Goodbye fame is all grown up now. He’s entered the early stages of mid-life. And now he’s wondering what in the world he believed in the past–it certainly wasn’t sturdy or even safe.
Three Kings: What Your Sunday School Teacher Didn’t Tell You
Okay, if so much of what we know about the story of the “Three Kings” is wrong, what’s true? Well, here’s what’s true.
The Curious Secret to Getting People to Support You
Ever wonder how you could get more people to buy into–with actual dollars–your vision to change the world? It’s easy, actually. And quite odd the way it works.
By the way, I’m available to write guests posts. Email me if you’re interested.
A Little Footnote to Your Personal History
Imagine this.
You are sitting in the pew of a church with a cathedral-high ceiling. Stain glass windows.
It’s lit with sunlight but a tad chilly.
Eventually the pastor approaches the lectern, sets his Bible down, reaches inside his wool sport coat and pulls out a pair of reading glasses.
He then cracks open his Bible.
He leafs through a few pages, anchors his finger on a text and then reads.
He reads the text with a sober, but soft voice. And when he’s finished, he removes his glasses and launches into his sermon.
Nothing out of the ordinary or cause for concern.
You listen, take notes, smile, laugh, look at your boots, scratch your elbow, stare at the stain glass window behind the lectern.
Then, with about ten minutes before his sermon ends, the pastor embarks on his own personal story.
His salvation story.
Quickly you learn that central to his story is a man. You don’t catch his name. But that’s own purpose. And, as you’ll see, that you don’t know his name isn’t important.
Not to his story. Or my story.
What you do catch is the role this man played in the pastor’s life. A significant role, to say the least, because it was this man who introduced the pastor to Christ.
Eventually he does name the man. And you’re shocked. But not for the typical reasons.
You’re shocked because you don’t have a clue who this man is. You’ve never heard of him before. And you feel…well, somewhat embarrassed for the man.
Why embarrassed? Because the man is a nobody. He’s not a towering figure in history who the world knows.
He’s not a Theodore Roosevelt. Gandhi. Or Mick Jagger. So, in the world’s eyes, he’s a failure. Unfortunately, you toy with this idea that he’s a failure.
But to the pastor this obscure, unremarkable man is perhaps one of the most significant persons in his life.
Have you ever heard a pastor tell a story like this? Whether in your own church, a church you visited or at a conference?
I’ve probably heard this story told–in a variation of forms–four times in the last ten years.
[Could be more, but only four actually stand out.]
And I’m ashamed to admit that each time I heard the story…I frowned. Frowned because the “poor” man who led the pastor to Christ is unremarkable. Obscure.
He’s not a legendary CEO. A stellar actor. A current president. He’s just a man who introduced a person to Christ.
And that kills me each time.
Each of these men are footnotes in the lives of these pastors. But significant footnotes. Meaningful in the eyes of eternity. The only point of view that truly matters.
Why am I telling you this? Simple. I want to be a footnote in your life. A meaningful reference anchored somewhere in your life.
But not for my own glory. For Christ’s glory, of course.
This is one of the reasons I want to pour myself into this blog: To educate you and encourage you, to correct and condition you towards Christ.
I’ve got slim hopes that I’ll actually lead someone to the Lord. But if I can nudge you just a smidgen in the direction of Christ and the hope found in his grace…
If I can merely point you to the heavenly city where our omnipotent King sits enthroned…
If I can equip you to fight the good fight of faith or impress upon you the support and care you have from me in the form of constant prayer and supplication…
I’ve succeeded.
Whether you remember it or not ten years from now, I’ve succeeded in becoming a little footnote in your personal history.
Truly, the real reward will come when we sit together in the banquet hall with our bridegroom. Together, in adoration and zealous celebration of the only person who could have satisfied the justice and wrath of God–Jesus Christ.
But until then–and years from now–may you remember the tiny dent you got when you collided with Christ at Fallen and Flawed.
Have a great weekend.
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