YOU'RE A REDNECK PASTOR WHEN...

...you perform a wedding at the Twin Valley Rod and Gun Club. I stood at the front before a large stone fireplace and a mounted moose head over my left shoulder. To my right were the bathrooms, labeled for setters and pointers. I used the pointers but later, I saw a man come out of the setters, and I got a little nervous. Country music blared from the karaoke machine, churning out the hits like "Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places". All in all, it was a very nice wedding, and it was appropriate for Martin and Debbie. Beatiful times here in the backwoods of America.

TO BE APPROVED (NO POEMS IN THIS ONE)

I am interested about how much approval seeking we do: how important it is to us that other people think we are cool, good, bright, charming, etc... I for one am a master at image maintenance. In any conversation, I can deftly weave simple statemtents that will send the subtle message that I am a cool guy. I can say, "did you see Prison Break last night? I saw it, not that I watch a lot of T.V., but..." In that statement, I have informed my friend that not only am I cool enough to watch Prison Break, but I am also good enough not to waste too much of time watching T.V., heaven forbid they have the impression that I am couch potato.

What can I do in order to subdue this approval need in me?

What can I do that will remind me that God’s opinion is the only opinion that matters?

Maybe I could do something that only God knows about. Go to my room to pray alone. Give without anyone else knowing. Not let the left hand know what the right is doing.

Maybe I could do that while you go rent season one of Prison Break. And when you like it (which you will), be sure to tell your friends that you're cool friend Russ turned you on to it.

WHEN DID I BECOME A POETRY NERD?

I do like the way this guy interprets scripture.

To His Lover, That She Be Not Overdressed
by X. J, Kennedy

The lilies of the field
That neither toil nor spin
Stand dazzlingly revealed
In not a thing but skin

And in that radiant state
Sheer essences they wear.
Take heed, my fashion plate.
Be so arrayed. Go bare.

WHAT CHILDREN HAVE A RIGHT TO...

From Joe Ehrman

-receive love and support from their families and communities (kingdom picking up the slack)
-should have a positive identity based on what God thinks of them (not their color, creed, or zip code)
-every child provided for (not earn their keep or be an imposition to society)
-be safe and protected from violence (at home, school, streets, or on the news)
-right to lead a life that is off limits from adult sexual demands, exploitation and exposure
-to shelter and heat and food and security and schools that teach
-not to be exploited by commercial advertising targets with destructive merchandise and materialism
-to have insurance, physicians, hospitals, the best available medical care

Should any child have any less?

EMBRACING UNCERTAINTY AND CONVICTION: LIVING IN THE "BOTH/AND"

This is a poem that gave me thoughts to think from Taylor Mali.

Totally Like Whatever

In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . .
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.