40 Things I Don't Want to Give up for Lent

We had a discussion in the office today about what would be really difficult to give up for Lent. Since Lent is 40 days long, I thought I’d share the top 40 things I’d have a hard time parting with for the next 40 days if I observed Lent—in no particular order and excluding people.

1. Carbonated beverages
2. L O S T (or television, period)
3. My iPhone
4. My MacBook Pro
5. My guitars
6. Sex
7. Paint
8. Scotch
9. Wine
10. Google
11. iTunes
12. High-Speed Internet
13. Coffee
14. Sushi
15. U2’s new album
16. My Bible
17. My pipe
18. My jacket
19. Twitter
20. Tea
21. Vegetables
22. Playing live music
23. Facebook
24. Movies
25. Westwinds
26. Exercise
27. Best Buy
28. Hummus
29. A video camera
30. News
31. A piano
32. Headphones
33. Mints
34. Notebooks/scratchpads/moleskines
35. Art
36. My fuzzy slippers
37. My Jeep
38. Ann Arbor
39. Eating out
40. Carbs

Guest Blog for Hugh Hewitt

Years ago, I got serious about blogging through a conversation with my friend Randy over the book we both read entitled, "Blog" by Hugh Hewitt. Hugh is a blog rockstar. I don't always agree with Hugh on politics but I highly respect him and his blogging efforts.

Well . . .

Today, my friend Randy was a guest blogger on Hugh's site. Randy's post is a response to An Evangelical Manifesto. Read the Manifesto here. Read Randy's post here.

After you read his post, you can read my response below : : :

I appreciate Mr. Elrod's post. While we need creeds and a core orthodoxy as Christ followers, we need to be careful to stand "for" rather then "against." "Christians" for too long have been known as the "stand against" group.

It is wise to know what mountains you are willing to die on. But, manifestos--or more specifically the way they are marketed--run the risk of further distancing Christians from the people we are called to love into the kingdom and perpetuate an asceticism that does not give us any right to speak into the lives of others.

If you want to speak into my life, you need to have my ear. If you want my ear, I need to trust you. I need to know you love me. Period. The old adage, "people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care" is very true. I am not "opposed" to the Manifesto as much as I am not motivated by it.

We will be effective when people have to stop and ask why we love them so much. What compels us to love? When they start asking those questions, we know we are in the right dialogue.

Mr. Elrod's brief mention of "Taylorism" should cause each careful student to do some reading and investigate that one further. Insightful. Christians for far too long have concerned themselves with scientific measurements of rhetoric to know exactly at "what point" we have shared the gospel.

Evangelism doesn't "happen." It "Happens." Evangelism comes from the same word as gospel--good news--good headlines. People want to hear good news. They seek it out.

Rules, regulations, etc. do not change a culture. If anything, we need a Jesus manifesto. We need a refocusing on Jesus as our sovereign. External regiments will never change the heart of a people or a nation. Just ask Moses.

The Crucifixion of Oprah Part One

Okay, I received this video from a few different sources re: Oprah. All of a sudden Oprah has become the new thing for Christians to rally against.

• A few years ago it was the emails telling me not to buy Heinz catsup.
• And not to go to Disneyland.
• And not to buy Pampered Chef.
• And not to vote for gay people because they are apparently dumb.
  

Every few months someone starts a panic through email and webposts and video about what or whom we should not support as Christians.

I think I finally got all the messages right in my brain. It is hard to stay on top of them.

I think : : :

I am not supposed to spend any money anywhere with my debit card not only because it is run by a huge computer in Belgium called The Beast but also because my money eventually funnels to Harry Potter who bought Disneyland with Berkshire Hathaway money that he earned while building gay abortion clinics for Warren Buffet which are only a cover for Madeline Murray O’Hare to counterfeit money without “In God We Trust” printed on the bills which you can only find if you use your Golden Compass. Or something like that.

Then came the Oprah video(s) and posts and emails.

Pause.

Let me take off my sarcastic hat—for just a bit.

For the record, I am a Christian. I believe there is only one way to God through Jesus Christ (many people find Jesus in a number of ways but that is for another post). I believe Jesus is real. He lived on earth. He died. He rose again. I believe I am not Him. I believe I will die and have no control over when. Outside of these things, there is a lot of for grabs.

My friend Dave says Len Sweet told him we are all wrong about 25% of what we believe—we just don’t know which 25%.

As Christians we should all be concerned about investigating claims, we should all beware of what is happening in the media, we should all be careful to hold tight to that which we know to be true about Jesus. Agreed.

But before you get caught up in the frenzy and forward the video to all your friends with a picture of a sunset and a nudge to email it to 10,000 of their closest friends to receive an answer to prayer, let’s take a close look at this video.

Part of me does NOT want to do this. Partly because I know some people mean well and I don’t want them to feel bad and partly because it just takes too much time. But I also believe part of what I am called to do is do the things that take time.

So, if you are really interested in the “claims” on this video regarding Christians watching Oprah, watch the video above and read on--more posts to come.

(I will be quoting the video so it is a good idea to watch it then read on. If you don’t watch, you can still read but some things may be lost in translation)