Edited to add:
Live Fireside Chat tomorrow evening Sunday March 6th starting at 7pm.
here’s the 411:
There will appear at approximately 7p a small box in a new post which is a live chat box. You must sign in to the chat but you can use facebook or sign in as a guest. The sign in process is easy and doesn’t require any personal information besides a name. Don’t trick me with funny names like Loretta Lynn, because then I’ll just be jealous. The chat is limited to 50 people, which I highly doubt we’ll surpass, but if you want to participate, sign in right away as soon as you see the chat box appear. You can watch the chat without signing in too which will probably be even more fun. It will likely be kinda chaotic and confusing so my trusty friend Ami is gonna be our moderator. See, she started this whole thing anyways. I was planning on just using the actual comments section and writing back and forth to each other there for a live chat—kinda Sanford and Son style—– until she asked me sophisticated questions like “Which chat forum will you be using?” and “Will there be a transcript?”
Then I started to ask myself questions like, “Are you even allowed to have a blog Miss “I don’t even know what a chat forum is”? So I did what any respectable tech-challenged blogger would do and I took my questions to google. And that’s where I met Chatroll. Ms. Ami does things like this for a living and will keep us from hurting ourselves. And apparently, there are rules for live chats.
1. Once you sign in, introduce yourself to us, tell us where your from, the name of your blog–if you have one, and whatever else you want to tell us about yourself.
2. Don’t be scared, it’s just us talking to each other. I tried it out last night and a few of you saw me and jumped into the chat and said hi. It was such a thrill, like I was doing great and adventuresome things. Again, I realize I don’t get out much but humor me, ok?
3. Treat everyone with respect and don’t use foul language, unless you’re quoting Doo from Coal Miner’s DAughter and then just add *** to finish the word. Also, when quoting Coal Miner’s Daughter, it helps if you write in the local vernacular. For example, “Hey Doo, who’s at sow you got wallering around in yer jeep?”
4. Hopefully, we won’t blow the internet up. Amen.
We’ll chat til’ you run out of stuff to talk about or until I fall asleep. Also check this post periodically—as I will answer some of your questions at the end of this post!
I’m editing a post for Lent to be posted on Monday. I’m also taking some time off from the world wide web of social networking. Before I disappear for a time, I thought I’d do a little q and a. I’ve been dreadfully behind on answering emails and such and I thought it’d be fun to answer your questions or chitty chat with you all in one post. I’ll end this little online conversation with a live chat on this comment section tomorrow evening, which will be Sunday March 6th. What time is good for you? I was thinking maybe 7-8? Can you be here? We can talk about whatever you want. Boots, lip gloss, insurance, tomato soup, homeschooling, current fads in Christianity, my love for C.S. Lewis, photography or even my favorite lines in Coal Miner’s Daughter. You pick, we’ll chat. If you can’t be here, you can just leave your comment or question on this post and I’ll either post my commentary in this post or the comment section. I’m all ears, just like Hank!
I’ll start with a recent question from one of you about current pics of where we are living. This is the awesome house we’re currently renting. We love it. Beautiful established neighborhood and VERY convenient to everything. We are so blessed to be able to live here.
and here’s our bedroom with a bed–no headboard, a dresser and a lamp.
Now, it’s your turn. I’m grabbing my coffee.
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1. Melissa asks about my favorite jeans.
I could speak all day on this topic. But here’s the short and skinny. Every girl needs a pair of jeans that fit perfectly. It won’t be the same brand/cut/style for each person. But ‘good’ jeans are a must. I wear jeans almost everyday so I’d rather pay $150 a pair for one good pair than $50 a pair for four mediocre pairs. I like American Eagle jeans but I find that I’m always *hiking* them up. My favorite non-hiking, non-muffintop jeans are these Dojo jeans from 7 For All Mankind. These are the best jeans ever made. Ever. I ordered my last pair from Zappos (I also had these before the fire) and couldn’t live without them. I also LOVE these gray skinny jeans called the Bree jean— from the Blogger collection!! —-(which I wear rolled up as capri jeans) from CAbi. If you don’t have a CAbi consultant, you need one because their stuff is awesome and I can get you in touch with my friend Susan who will meet all your fashion needs. CAbi has been sending me boxes of free clothes as part of the ‘Heart of CAbi’ program for people who’ve gone through tragedy. I love this company. They also have a blog called Cabi Canary, which you will love.
Last week, I found this pair of trouser/sailor looking jeans from American Eagle, called the daydreamer, that I love. These fit like butt-ah!
See what I mean? I could talk all day.
2. Fad-Driven Christianity
Shannan and Robyn and Bev ask about my take on the plethora of fads that now dominate American Christianity. Have you noticed this propensity in christianity for the next big thing? The next new book or program? We wait with bated breath for something new, better, more spiritual that will somehow take us to that next level in our christian life. But like all fads, even my current favorite the Dolman shirt, they will come and go and soon enough there will be something brighter, shinier, better to grab our attention. From my own fad-frenzied past, here’s what I think. I think we’re prone to follow fads because we’re so starved for the real thing—-which is the gospel. Most of our churches don’t faithfully preach the gospel every single Sunday. Most of the books we read are full of how-to’s and laundry lists of things we should be doing—instead of focused on the finished work of Christ on the cross. Most of our friends are doing the next big fad and we feel left out if we don’t know about it. But what have we forsaken in our quest for relevancy? Most of these fads are quazi self-help without any clear delineation of God’s law and His gospel. It’s the gospel that’s at stake.
“Pray this prayer and you’ll be rich. Do these things and you’ll get rewards in heaven. Wear this bracelet and you’ll know what to do in certain situations. Wear this ring and stay pure.”
There is no need for the gospel in these scenarios. The gospel plays second fiddle to the program. Christ plays second fiddle to the christian’s self improvement.
A distorted gospel is no gospel at all.
In an article I’ve linked to below, written by Pastor Todd Wilken, he quotes Os Guiness from the book Prophetic Untimeliness, who says that
Relevance without truth encourages what Nietzsche called the “herd” mentality and Kierkegaard “the age of the crowd.” Further compounded by accelerated change, which itself is compounded by the fashion-driven dictates of consumerism, relevance becomes overheated and vaporizes into trendiness.
Feverishness is the condition of an institution that has ceased to be faithful to its origins. It is then caught up in “a restless, cosmopolitan hunting after new and ever newer things.
Relevance without truth encourages what Nietzsche called the “herd” mentality and Kierkegaard “the age of the crowd.” Further compounded by accelerated change, which itself is compounded by the fashion-driven dictates of consumerism, relevance becomes overheated and vaporizes into trendiness.
Feverishness is the condition of an institution that has ceased to be faithful to its origins. It is then caught up in “a restless, cosmopolitan hunting after new and ever newer things.
This article written by Lutheran pastor Todd Wilken says it all. If at possible, read it for yourself and keep an open mind because the first time I read it, I was still a little fad-frenzied and it shook me to the core.
You will find a fair and intelligent discussion on the topic here that is based on this article by Terry Mattingly. Joe Carter, an evangelical himself, wrote this about the the most dangerous fads in and fixtures of American churches.
As for other trends, I’m as guilty as the next girl. I love chevron and ikat fabrics and I love starfish and antlers and I especially love the current trend of classical christian education. Trends are hard to resist. But when it comes to the “faith once delivered to the saints”, that in itself, will never be trendy. THe gospel is foolishness to the world. I’ll finish with this paragraph which is the final paragraph of Pastor Wilken’s article:
As I write this, my 12-year-old daughter is convinced that hip-hugger bell-bottoms are the greatest idea in fashion history. I don’t have the heart to tell her that I used to think so too. She thinks her father looks old-fashioned and lacks all sense of style. I don’t have the heart to tell her that I look back at pictures of my bell-bottom days and laugh. I don’t have the heart to tell her that someday she will do the same. The Church is an old man who has been wearing the same clothes in the same style his whole life. He refuses to change with the fashions. He simply lets the fads pass him by. Yes, he seems behind the times. But look again at what he is wearing. He is clothed in Christ.
Sheepishly stepping off soapbox now and hoping you don’t throw things at me.
3. Living your authentic self
Patty asked about living authentically despite the fads that sweep through culture. I love this quote by Lewis:
— C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)