my friend, the friendly atheist, wanted to ask you guys a question:
What are the biggest obstacles you have to becoming an atheist?
I know you’re not trying to become atheists, but I guess I’m looking for things like “Something must have created the Universe, and if God didn’t do it, then what?” or “Atheists have no meaning in their life”… something that’s NOT “I believe what the Bible says.”
i’m curious, too…
what makes the american church stand out from the american culture?
chris and i recently watched a great documentary called ABC Africa, which was filmed in uganda
after watching it, chris said,
“i don’t mind living in america. i just don’t want to live an american life.”
pretty smart, huh?
discuss…
last week, i had a great phone call with mike foster, one of my deadly viper cohorts and soon-to-be co-conference speaker when we both speak at ministry com in september.
something we talked about was, of course, the conference, and i confessed my continued trepidation of public speaking.
let me rephrase that: my continued trepidation of the expectations of public speaking.
it’s not that i’m just scared of it…i know it’s not where i’m naturally gifted, and i’m fine with that. i love communicating, but i am much more effective doing it via ink and paper.
i never planned on becoming any kind of public speaker. and something that is taking a little getting used to is the sense of being thrust (almost literally) from a shy girl behind this blog into a perceived expert in front of people who communicate verbally weekly for a living.
there is a huge difference between speaking to a few thousand people on a blog and a few thousand people from a stage.
for one, right now, i’m not wearing make up.
now, everybody says it’s the content that really matters…but as a casual observer of conference feedback, if someone doesn’t nail their session in an epitome of engaging perfection, for the most part, people seem to care more about their presentation than their actual content.
(as an example, i wasn’t there, but heard that patrick lencioni was fairly awkward and uncomfortable presenting at catalyst last year. not one person told me what he talked about, only that he seemed really scattered in his delivery. that’s all i ever heard.)
people expect that when you’re a good writer, you’re a good speaker. that when you’re bold and confident in your presentation online, you’re bold and confident in person. so let me be the first to smash the crud out of that expectation, at least for me, and say the gap between the two is huge.
so, what i can promise?
i can promise that i’ve been working hard and praying hard for months over the few speaking engagements i have. i can promise that i’m not going to pretend to be as engaging or as eloquent as pete or craig or seth or the millions of other speakers i admire. i can promise that i am just going to be me. quiet and a little awkward, but positive that i’ll be doing my best.
and sweating. probably a lot.
have you heard of wordles? what you do is copy and paste in any amount of text and it will pull out the most commonly used words and organize them in size, largest (most used) to smallest.
i thought it would be fun to see what words i used the most in mad church disease, so i copied and pasted in the entire manuscript. almost 50,000 words.
and here are the most commonly used words (click to see full size):
hopefully this gives you a little sneak peek into the major themes of the book…they are working on the interior design of the book right now, and i’ve got to say i can’t wait to see the final layout. they are implementing some really cool design ideas!
anyhoo, just thought i’d share.
for this lovely friday, i decided to go look at some referring keyphrases that have brought people to my site in the last couple of months.
some random favorites:
“i let the nun shave my head.”
“i am the lady who pooped in the elavator.”
“when you get married, keep your mouth shut.”
“what can i use instead of a rubber glove?”
“i gain water weight after eating nachos.”
“naked lady shaped cake pan”
“spider laying eggs in my throat”
“naked worship for widows”
“ideas for my pantyhose slave man”
“will you explode if you don’t poop?”
why is there so much poop talk? i don’t talk about poop on my blog!
hmmm….
always entertaining, though.
if you have been around for very long, you know I LOVE THE WEATHER. ever since i saw my first tornado when i was five years old, i became obsessed. i would literally sit for hours and just watch the weather channel. no saturday morning cartoons for me. nope. give me mark mancuso anyday.
my love for weather, especially severe scary kinds, hasn’t died. i’ve blogged about a few big storms
and
and
and
here.
imagine my delight when i discovered one of my coworker’s husband, charlie, is a meteorologist on CBS!
and it’s not like he just talks about the weather…he lives and breathes it. we were at a fourth of july party and while the fireworks are going off, i looked down and he’s checking the radar on his phone. and he used the word mesocyclonic in conversation.
which i think is incredibly awesome.
slowly, a few of us pressured tried to get charlie to twitter.
i mean, how amazing would it be to get weather updates in a personal style, straight to my phone from my favorite weather guy? what if there was a tornado and the power was out and i needed to know if it was safe?
well, last night, he bit the bullet and signed up.
so, if you are in nashville and want to have your own personal weather guru on your phone, or if you just love weather, you should follow charlie on twitter!
while you’re clicking around, check out his blog, and his wife, eve’s blog.
what other fun but practical uses can you think of for twitter?
it was a marathon of musical proportion.
three shows last night in three different venues.
huge mug of chai (second one). i am so sleepy. i didn’t even do my hair this morning.
when’s the last time you acted like you were 20?
[edit: i couldn’t take it anymore. i had to post it. yeah it’s earlier than i said. i was just so excited!]
i really thought about titling this with the word “boobies” because statistics have shown that is the word that gets people to read your blog.
but anyway.
thank you for humoring my title and reading this.
i cannot tell you the number of times that i have heard people say blogging is so narcissistic, but it’s been a lot. i cannot tell you the amount of hate email i get because people think i like to cause fights by asking questions that aren’t always religiously correct, but it’s been a lot. if i’m not careful, i can let the few bad things outweigh the good.
and good? there is a lot.
today, i just wanted to share an important stat about YOU. not stats as in how many people subscribe to my RSS feed or give me technorati points or whatever.
but one important number.
in just six months, you guys have donated (through instant payments or gifts or commitments) $80,000.
one blog. just a few hundred people. six months. $80,000.
at least 40 children have been released from poverty from just this site (over 500 as a result of our blogging trip, which they tell me would equal about $960,000 based on the average sponsorship length!)
110 mosquito nets to help prevent malaria have been paid for and sent to third world countries
120 books have been purchased and sent to pastors in the dominican republic.
over $850 has been given to various causes like haitian rescue centers, mission trips, and people just barely scraping by.
that number blows me away. i am speechless yet cannot thank you guys enough for putting your money where your mouth is, literally. you have shown that faith is not about rules or theological opinions but about loving others.
so next time someone tells you that blogging is a waste of time, you can share with them otherwise.
wow. just, wow.
==
ps – if you want to sponsor a child through compassion international, and make that number 41, you can click here to meet some incredible and amazing kids.