Catch This!

On this page, you can find great posts from other blogs that I follow or just happen upon. Check in here for an assortment of thought provoking, funny, beautiful, poignant, wonderful stuff.

Sunday, October 13

A favorite quote by Nate Pyle at From One Degree to Another 

• "Women do not need men to speak for them. They need men to speak with them. That's what we all need. Someone who is different than us to speak with us. With. Not 'to' and not 'for' and not 'against' and not 'over'.  With. When it comes to understanding it may be the most important preposition."  (His emphasis)

Sunday, August 25

• Cook your dinner in the dishwasher?!? Yep, it's been that kind of day. This is just too funny and quirky to pass up. NPR reported today on the craze (new to me!) of using the dishwasher to actually prepare food - edible food - maybe even tasty edible food. Check it out. It's as crazy and apparently do-able as that urban myth of cooking food on the manifold of your car. 

Sunday, August 4

• For a while I've been concerned about Christians who seem to think that the answer to all our problems is to go back. You know, back to when families were families, back to when you could pray in school, back to when . . . . Now, I have nothing against intact families, actually I'm a big fan. Ditto for prayer. But this is my question, just when are we going back to? The 1950s My problem there is that I couldn't worship with Robert or Rene, and Henry would not be leading worship and Michael wouldn't be an elder. (They also would not be drinking from the same water fountain as me.) Maybe the early 1900s. But then I couldn't vote. Middle 1800s? Children working in coal mines. All that to say that the only way better is a way forward. So here's a quote from "Milennial Canaries" by John Hawthorne on what to do about the exodus from the church by 20 somethings. "                            "We need to pay attention to the millennial concerns. Not because they’re spoiled kids who need to grow up. Not because the church needs to be hip. But because they grew up in postmodern culture. Engaging postmodern religion through the lens of the millenials will help the church of 2020 proclaim the Gospel to a complex and confusing world."     Exactly! 

Wednesday, July 31

• Are you familiar with Jonalyn Fincher? She and her husband, Dale, write at a site called Soulation. They explore living life as a Christian from a variety of perspectives. Actually this site hosts several blogs. Check it out!

Tuesday, July 23

• Another blogger I enjoy catching is Rachel Held Evans. She isn't shy about asking questions and resists (explodes?) evangelical group-speak. I don't agree with all her positions, but I love how she makes me think and the fresh air her probing questions bring. She has a series called "Ask a ..."  It includes such posts as “Ask an atheist,” “Ask a nun,” “Ask a pacifist,” “Ask a Calvinist,” “Ask a Muslim,” “Ask a gay Christian,” “Ask a Pentecostal” “Ask an environmentalist,” “Ask a funeral director,” "Ask a Liberation Theologian," Here are two posts I recently read from that series: "Ask a Universalist" (and no I'm not one, but listening to Robin Parry broadened my appreciation of Christ's work on the cross), and "Ask a Recovering Alcoholic." which helped me to better understand a problem that is still a stigma. 

Friday, July 12th

• Carolyn Custis James' blog at Whitby Forum is part of my regular reading. Her most recent post has to do with spiritual abuse, but I find it applicable more generally. These words especially caught my eye because they challenge my complacency. I mean, really, isn't it just easier sometimes to let others be the drivers? Ugh! These are good words for me as I'm trying to dig that talent out of the ground (Matthew 25:18) and find a better investment for my God. 

 The starting point is not with self-esteem classes, but by taking ourselves and our minds seriously and going deeper in our relationship with God. Knowing him better and deeper takes us to the Source of light who shines the truth on us. Strength and courage don’t appear out of thin air. They grow out of understanding who God is, how he sees us, and that we bear his image. . . . 

I fear that much of what women are absorbing in women’s ministries and Bible studies . . . is insufficient to fuel the kind of courage and strength we need . . . .

God didn’t create his daughters to cower in the face of abuse, but to stand up, not only for ourselves (which is often the hard part), but also for others who will be the next victims. We are not powerless. We were born to think, to discern, to decide, and to stand against evil. God equips us to take responsibility for the situations we face and to think, decide, and act, even if doing that takes us out of our female comfort zone.

We are, after all, ezer-warriors!

Monday, July 1st.

• Brene Brown is a Ph.D social work researcher or, as she explains here, in this TED talk, a "storyteller/researcher." She's been studying shame, vulnerability, courage, and what she calls "whole-hearted living." I really hope that doesn't sound just tooo touchy feely for you because she has some fascinating things to say about being authentic. And at my age and stage in life, I'm up for being more courageous. Whole hearted doesn't sound bad either! 
•  And here you'll find her follow-up TED talk which I think is even better than the first one above. Both worthwhile.

Thursday, May 16th

• From one of my new favorite authors, Carolyn Custis James, this fresh look at some saucy, bold, innovative, women of the Bible. This just might alter your view on how God sees women.
• OK, going out on a limb here cause I found Jonathan Martin like yesterday. I don't know - maybe he's a axe murderer, but anyone who can write like this needs an audience!  "Yet, I distribute these words like a street vendor to anyone who will take them.  I have rarely sold them.  They are cheap and they are easy to shape.  I give them forms like balloon animals, some in the shape of sermons, some in the shape of books, in the shape of small talk, in the shape of 140 characters or less.  I spit on them, sweat on them, bleed on them, cry on them.  I give some away too recklessly and some far too cautiously.  P.S. He's a pastor in Charlotte. I'm pretty sure he's not an axe murderer.