My 10 Favorite Posts of 2013

Over the past year, I have had several blog posts and wanted to share with you 10 of my favorites.  I could easily share the 10 most popular posts, but as Seth Godin said - “Best is rarely the same as popular.”  Some of those posts were popular and others of them hardly got read.  Regardless these are some posts that you should check out. 10. Outsourced Parenting.  Parents can outsource any job they have; are you outsourcing the job of discipling your children?

9. Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?  Is Halloween a pagan holiday or is there something redemptive hidden within this holiday?

8. God’s Calling is About More Than Some Day.  Following God’s call is not a matter of figuring out what God wants you to do in the future, but is more a matter of figuring out where God has placed you right now and how he might use you in those places.

7.7 Practices that Make Church Weird.  Church is weird.  You may not realize it if you’ve been going your whole life, but it is.

6. Duck Dynasty Controversy.  The blogosphere went crazy when the whole Duck Dynasty controversy took place.  This post recorded some of my thoughts on the whole fiasco and what we could learn from it.

5. The Power of Habit.  Habits either destroy us or they are incredibly helpful. What habits have you formed?

4. How to Memorize the Bible in only 5 Minutes a Day.  Memorization is all about repetition, repetition, repetition.  And given some discipline in 5 minutes every morning, you could be on your way to memorizing a ton of scripture this next year.

3. The Definition of Marriage Has Already Changed.  The way Christians have defined marriage is no longer the way that culture defines marriage.  This isn’t simply a matter of politics - it has changed regardless of what government decides.  How will Christians respond?

2. Hey Macklemore!  Teach Me About Preaching.  Macklemore is one of the most popular preachers in our culture.  He even preaches about taboo topics that aren’t supposed to be talked about.  In his rapping and creativity, there is something significant we can learn about the preaching of God’s word.

1. Blue Jeans and God’s Calling

Eric makes blue jeans because God has called him to make blue jeans.

But here’s what’s interesting; when initially talking about all the things that he is passionate about in his business and the journey into it, he struggled connecting his faith and God’s calling to his small factory in Detroit.  After all, he never heard God tell him to make blue jeans.

Duck Dynasty Controversy

If you haven't yet heard about the Duck Dynasty controversy, you likely haven't spent much time on the internet in the past 24 hours.   The guilty parties are A&E and Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame.  After an interview with GQ, A&E put Phil Robertson on an indefinite hiatus from the show.  A&E responded to the interview by saying, "We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson's comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series 'Duck Dynasty.'"  There are people fuming in anger that A&E would censor a man's Christian beliefs and see this as an attack on freedom of religion and freedom of speech.  And there are others who applaud A&E for what they've done, finding Phil's comments offensive to LGBT people.

In the midst of all this, I thought I'd share a few thoughts that have been helpful for me as I've thought through and read about the controversy.  As with any controversy, a lot of people are quick to speak and attack all kinds of people - I''m less interested in attacking and more in talking about what can we, as Christians, learn from this and be reminded of.  I hope Duck Dynasty continues for many  more seasons.  I hope Phil Robertson returns and continues doing what he's doing on the show.  And I hope that Christians always speak the truth in love.

The way we talk about homosexuality matters.

If I said what Phil Robertson said in his GQ interview, I would have gotten in big trouble by my employer.  And I work in a church -  a  church that is full of passionate conservatives and a church theologically opposed to a homosexual lifestyle.  There are a couple of areas in the article in which homosexuality has come up.  Most quoted by those who are upset when referencing the GQ article is Phil referencing Corinthians when asked "What in your mind, is sinful?":

“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he says. Then he paraphrases Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.” - from GQ interview with Phil Robertson

But that's not all he said about homosexuality.  If he simply said this, I would completely understand the anger and say it is justified.  It'd be justified because while a lot of people wouldn't agree with him, he's simply paraphrasing the Bible.  And this is a belief that A&E already knew about - there is no way in all the seasons of Duck Dynasty that A&E just now figured out that the Robertson are biblically opposed to a homosexual lifestyle.

Phil also said this:

“It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.” - from GQ interview with Phil Robertson

Homosexuality may be illogical, in fact I would argue it is.  It is sin.  In fact, I would even say that what Phil said was accurate - and probably puts words to what many people have thought.  But what he said in GQ is not the way I would go about describing it.  Phil Robertson should have probably kept that statement between him and the friends he hunts with and not said in an interview that would be broadcast to the world... but Phil may also not be concerned with that.

Christians absolutely need to find ways to talk about their faith - but there will always be certain things that we should say and other things that we shouldn't say.  I'm not sure that this issue for A&E was about Phil being a Christian who is opposed to homosexuality, but more of he is a star on A&E's network who spoke about his issue with homosexuality in a way that was perceived as crude.

As a youth worker, if I want to talk to my students about what the Bible teaches about homosexuality - saying what Phil Robertson said does not open the door for conversations with students who struggle with homosexuality.  I don't believe Phil was intending to be crude or stir up controversy - but I wouldn't say it the way he said it.  If we truly believe a homosexual lifestyle is sinful, we also need to approach it in a way that allows for us to have conversations with people who struggle - and this won't happen by ridiculing or making fun of their struggle.

A&E is a business and will respond in a way that they think is good for business

Some have argued that A&E is not allowing for Christians to have free speech.  This may in fact be the case, which would be a shame.  But I think it is far more likely is that A&E is trying to protect their brand.  A&E wants to sell products, keep viewers, and attract other successful TV shows.  A&E likely made the call they did to prevent backlash from a LGBT supporters who would be very vocal about the things that Phil Robertson said.  A&E now is feeling backlash from passionate fans of Duck Dynasty.  Whatever A&E decides long term is probably not going to be rooted in a moral agenda - they are not going to change their mind about Phil Robertson because they feel they were wrong and they are not going to stick to their guns because they believe in gay marriage - they are going to do what they think will make them the most money.

And that decision may mean bringing back Phil.  And it might mean Phil Robertson doesn't return.

GQ was clearly looking to stir up controversy

Read the GQ interview.  GQ is loving every minute of this controversy because people are flocking to their website and buying issues of their magazine.  And that's exactly what they wanted.  It's actually a very interesting article, but it also very clearly trying to stir up some drama.  Phil was asked about politics, his faith, civil rights, and more.  The interview is obviously shaped by the author's own beliefs (as would happen with any journalist):

It’s the direction he would like to point everyone: back to the woods. Back to the pioneer spirit. Back to God. “Why don’t we go back to the old days?” he asked me at one point. But now, I’m afraid, I must get out of the ATV and go back to where I belong, back to the godless part of America that Phil is determined to save. - from GQ interview with Phil Robertson

GQ interviewed Phil Robertson and asked questions just hoping for the perfect sound bit that would spread like wildfire on the internet.  In fact, if you read the article you will see the potential for several of those, not to mention the same kind of language that people are upset with by the author. The homosexuality one took and GQ is reaping the rewards of the controversy.  A&E is suffering in this fiasco.  Duck Dynasty and Phil Robertson will have consequences because of this.  GQ will make a bunch of money.

How To Memorize the Bible in Only 5 Minutes a Day

Memorizing scripture can be a daunting and intimidating task.  I have oftentimes made well-intentioned efforts to memorize both long and short passages of scriptures, knowing that there is something significant about the discipline of memorizing bible verses.  Recently I was introduced to a system for memorizing scripture that still requires discipline, but also will set you up to make scripture memorization a part of your daily devotional life and doesn't take much more than five minutes a day.

One blogger wrote, "Practice makes perfect. An accomplished musician may not be able to explain how he can play a particular line of music so well and with such speed. His learning started with slow movements and progressed through repetition, repetition, and more repetition."

If you want to memorize scripture, you need to repeat it often.  Repeat it daily; repeat it audibly. And then do it again.

How to Memorize the Bible in Only 5 Minutes a Day

1. Repeat it once daily for 7 weeks. This means that every day you will be saying the scripture you have chosen out loud.  The first week you should do this with one verse, the second week add a second, and so on.  By the 8th week, you will be always doing 7 verses daily and moving verses out of the daily category and into the weekly category.

2. Repeat it once weekly for 7 months. Once you've repeated a verse out loud for 7 weeks, you should have it pretty well memorized.  But you don't want to forget it so repeating it weekly will keep it on your mind.  At the end of 7 months (while also still doing other verses weekly and daily) you will move that verse into the monthly category.

3. Repeat it once monthly for 7 years.  Okay this seems a bit extreme, but at this point we are just making sure it sticks in our memory forever.

This system can be formatted however you want, and I actually learned this from Paul Arndt who learned from a man named Tom Frost.  If you want to see a more detailed what Tom's system looks like on paper, you can check out the charts that he uses to keep track of his memorization schedule.  The way that I have begun using this system is by using the Bible app by YouVersion.

How I use the Bible App to help with this process:

1. Highlight and Bookmark.  When I find a verse I want to memorize, I make sure to highlight and add it to my bookmarks so I can very quickly find it later.

2. Label appropriately.  Once it's highlighted I will created labels like, "1) Daily" so I remember which order I am memorizing them in and how often I need to be practicing each verse.

3. Set reading plan notifications.  Having a list of verses to memorize is not helpful if you don't actually remember to do it.  I use the Bible app's reading plan notifications to remind me each morning to read the Bible; when the notification comes up I am reminded that I need to practice my memory verses.

“I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture. . . . No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! Your prayer life will be strengthened. Your witnessing will be sharper and much more effective. Your attitudes and outlook will begin to change. Your mind will become alert and observant. Your confidence and assurance will be enhanced. Your faith will be solidified.” - Chuck Swindoll

The Power of Habit

If you’ve ever received an ad in the mail from Target you are experiencing an organization studying habits.  You may not have realized it by Target actually studies their customers in order to determine what to advertise and to whom to advertise. Target studies the habits of their customers, because if they can better understand the customers’ habits they can also better begin to predict which products they should advertise to those customers, because if they know which customers in which stages of their life are most likely to buy which items, then they can send advertisements that are very directed to those consumers.

One of the most valuable consumers for a company like Target to market to is pregnant women, because what Target realizes is that if they can attract a pregnant woman to begin shopping at Target, they also know is that when she has her baby she will continue to shop at Target.  And when a new mother shops at Target she does not go into Target to only buy diapers, because a new mother is busy, and so while she’s at Target she will also buy groceries. And while she’s there she may pick up a few cards for her relatives and the birthdays coming up. And while she’s passing the entertainment section, maybe she’ll pick out a movie for her and her husband to watch later. And since she’s there, maybe she’ll even buy that bathing suit that she’s been eyeing all season.  

As Target studies the habits of these pregnant women, it’s not such a simple process. It’s not as easy as Target looking at which women buy baby clothes and that means they’re pregnant. In fact, it’s much deeper, because not only do pregnant women buy baby clothes.  So do grandmothers, aunts, uncles, or people going to baby showers. So baby clothes could be an indicator to Target that a woman is pregnant, but it could also be an indicator that somebody is just going to a baby shower. Instead, Target looks for other things. For example, expectant mothers buy a significant amount of lotion. Now, many people going to Target will buy lotion, but pregnant women buy an unusually large amount of it and it’s always scent free. Sometime in the first 20 weeks of their pregnancy pregnant women will load up on scent free lotion. Now, many people buy things like vitamins at Target, but pregnant women will load up on vitamins, magnesium, calcium, and zinc sometime in the early stages of their pregnancy. So if Target, as they study the habits of their customers, notices somebody buying something like soap and cotton balls it may mean nothing; but if that soap is scent free soap and in addition to the cotton balls they are loading up on washcloths and this has happened months after buying scent free lotion and vitamins, calcium, magnesium, and zinc, this indicates to Target that not only is this woman pregnant, but she is approaching her due date. All from studying the habits of Target’s shoppers they can not only know if a woman is pregnant, but they can also predict when she is going to have her baby.

*this insight and more like it can be found in the book The Power of Habit.

Humans are creatures of habit.

We have habits that we routinely go through each and every morning. Businesses study our habits so they can increase their bottom line. A company like Google is the internet giant they are, not because of their great search engine, but because of the amount of information they have about our internet habits.  When I go to restaurants I order the same food that I order every time I go to that restaurant.  Why? Because I'm a creature of habit.

Habits can be both incredibly helpful and dangerously destructive. They can help us deepen our relationship with our spouse, with our family. They can help us take care of our bodies, our physical, our mental, our social well being. They can even help us deepen and grow in our understanding of the scriptures.  We can form habits around the study of scripture, disciplining ourselves to be in the word - to read and memorize scriptures.  We can form habits around our prayer life and around family devotions.  Habits are an important part of our life.  At the same time, habits can also be harmful. Our habits can destroy relationships. Our habits can harm us physically and mentally and socially, and our habits can even drive a wedge between us and God.

Blue Jeans and God's Calling

Eric Yelsma is the founder and owner of Detroit Denim, a company founded on the idea of building the highest quality craft blue jeans, made 100% in the United States.  I got the chance to hang out with Eric and his team one afternoon and hear a bit of his story about how he started his business.  As Eric talked about his love for blue jeans, the craftsmanship of the jeans they create, and the spirit of the company that he is trying to build I could not help but see God’s hand all over it.  Eric creates his products with high excellence only using products and materials that are made in the United States.  He emphasizes a “spirit of abundance” in the workplace, encouraging his team to act with generosity towards those around him.  As we talked about his faith and his work, one employee even chimed in stating that she sees the influence of his faith on their company every day and quickly started bragging on Eric’s character and the work environment he’s created.

Eric makes blue jeans because God has called him to make blue jeans.

But here’s what’s interesting; when initially talking about all the things that he is passionate about in his business and the journey into it, he struggled connecting his faith and God’s calling to his small factory in Detroit.  After all, he never heard God tell him to make blue jeans.

So Eric runs a blue jean company and does it by making the best product possible, does it with generosity, runs his company with integrity, treats his employees well, and only uses products that come from places where the workers are paid fairly... but he initially has trouble seeing God’s calling in it.  As Christians when we talk about God’s calling, we tend to immediately start separating the sacred and the secular.  We think of God’s calling as some mystical act in which God audibly speaks to some calling them out to become pastors, priests or missionaries, yet when we think of the ordinary jobs we think of something far more normal.  We rarely think of the assembly-line workers, the stay-at-home moms, and the baristas as experiencing God’s calling.  But what if we did?

Martin Luther said:

“The maid who sweeps here kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays - not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors.  The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”

Maybe you are like Eric was.  Maybe you have never thought what you did had anything to do with your belief in Jesus.  Maybe the daily commute, the making copies, the trips to refill your coffee, and getting your TPS reports in time has never seemed much like a calling to you.  Maybe you spend the majority of your time trying to keep your house clean and your kids fed all the while never once considering it your Christian duty.

We don’t decide our vocations, we discover them.

The word vocation literally means “calling.” This word needs some re-claiming; it needs to be taken back to help remind us that the things that seem so ordinary and every day are much more sacred then we have imagined. And the sacred things that we so often call “spiritual” are much more ordinary than we have imagined. God has called everyone. And he has done it by placing you in workplaces, in families, in neighborhoods, in schools and uniquely creating you with your own gifts, abilities, passions, and skills.

From the time we are little we are asked the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And then you enter college and are bombarded with pressure to get your career path worked out. But if we are really talking about calling, we don’t really decide our vocation, do we? It’s not that deciding your career path is bad, but how often do we end up exactly where we planned on being when we were 18? If vocation literally means “calling”, we are not the ones doing the work. We are not the ones doing the calling.  We are just discovering it.

You may not have realized that being a student is your vocation, but if you are in school, you are called to be a student. You may have not realized that the responsibility to take care of your kids is a calling form God, but if you have kids, it is. You may not realize that making copies, cleaning bathrooms, and typing into a spreadsheet could be a calling, but if that’s where God place you it is. God has called you to the places he has put you in right now, and he also will call you to other places throughout your life. Places in which he has given you unique relationships and unique opportunities to use your gifts, passions, and skills to make a big deal of Jesus.

Also, Eric shot an awesome video with us seeing God's calling in his work as a blue jean designer; if you haven't seen it, it's pretty awesome.

[tentblogger-vimeo 72840026]

Detroit Denim: God's Calling

[tentblogger-vimeo 72840026] Eric Yelsma, founder of Detroit Denim shares his thoughts on calling as it pertains to his work as a blue jean designer.  God not only calls people to be pastors and missionaries, but God also calls the assembly-line workers, the stay-at-home moms, the blue jean designers, the construction workers, the graphic designers, and so on.  No matter what the work is that you do, God has called you to use your gifts, to do your work, and to serve the people around you.

In the News: George Zimmerman, Westboro Baptist, and Indulgences on Twitter

This week has brought about some interesting news and helpful blog posts that you might find valuable.  The crazy Westboro Baptist Church no longer has just Christians and human rights activist as their opposition, but they now also will feel the wrath of One Direction fans.  As with any news, the George Zimmerman verdict regarding the death of Trayvon Martin has caused lots of controversy.  One of the best posts I've read about this has nothing to do with who's right and who's wrong, but instead with "weeping with those who weep."  And lastly I learned that indulgences didn't disappear after Martin Luther, they just aren't sold anymore… they are given away to twitter followers. 

Westboro Baptist Church to Picket One Direction Concert

"WBC will picket this perverted pop boy band from the UK who claim to be the world's #1 band. Indeed, they are a perfect representation of this filthy world and the sin-chasing...God-hating, Christ-rejecting UK who has banned WBC from preaching within her borders." - quoting WBC from Huffington Post

The George Zimmerman Verdict and the National Anthem

“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” (v. 13)

It is only through conversations with others that I:

• Began to feel the weight of what it would be like to talk with my son about the dangers that can come with how others may perceive you because of your race and the dangers that can come if you respond to their suspicion with frustration or aggression.
• Could feel the uncertainty that emerges from events like the Zimmerman trial when people of your ethnic background’s personal freedoms have changed radically in a single generation and court decisions were a major factor in those changes (sometimes for the better; other times for the worse).

The fact that my reaction to this case did not echo any highly-personal historical events or immediately draw me back to a formative conversation with my parents means I have work to do (in the form of listening) in order to “weep with those who weep.” - bradhambrick.com

How You Can Save Your Soul: In 140 Characters or Less

The indulgences, which Catholics believe can reduce the time a soul spends in purgatory, will be available to Francis' nearly 7.5 million Twitter followers in all languages — if they tune in to World Youth Day broadcasts or take other spiritual actions. To get an indulgence, Catholics must have already had their sins absolved by a priest.

Pope Francis issued a decree about indulgences and social media on July 9, according to the Rome-based Zenit news organization, which covers the Vatican. - USA Today

The Hymns Playlist

I've had a love for the theological depth of great hymns lately.  Because of that I put together a Spotify playlist of some of my favorite arrangements of some great classics.

[If you cannot view the embedded playlist, click here]

Gardening to Make Beauty

[tentblogger-vimeo 59474340]

Riet Schumack, mixing her passions of gardening and children, has been living out her calling in the city of Detroit by making community gardens.  Brightmoor moved to the city of Detroit in 2006 and this is how she has been serving her neighbors.