BlakeAtwood.com

Spider-man 2 IN LEGO

The New York Review of Books: The Good Bad Boy:

“Delinquency and rebellion are more interesting and more fun to read about than moral perfection.”

That sounds a lot like the Old Testament, and yet, why don’t more Christians read that part of the Bible?

I used to wonder why fake shrubberies are so popular at most churches I’ve ever attended. For some reason, fake plants annoy me. They may look nice and need little tending, but you always know they’re fake just by looking at them for a few seconds.

That’s the way I feel about a lot of people in the Church (meaning all churches, at least the ones that I know most about). Fake. Phony. They look like they have life, but upon any real amount of closer inspection, they’re all plastic. We’re told that Jesus is living water, but fake trees don’t need water; they don’t need anything aside from needing to look like they’re real trees. And like these fake, plastic trees, Christians look lifeless, bereft of any kind of greater energy flowing through them, lacking the fruit that Jesus said we should be bearing. They need little tending to because they think they have it all together.

Who needs water when you constantly deny your thirst?

My words are harsh and unoriginal. Millions have lamented the state of the church in the past and definitely in the present. Why do you think so many churches exist? Why do we have so many denominations? For reasons like the one I stated above. One person starts to view another as less righteous, less holy, or less spiritual (much like it would seem that I’m doing here). Then that person leaves the church…or starts their own.

What we need to realize (and what I do realize) is that we are all fake, plastic trees. I am no more alive in my sin than anyone else at my church. I am the chief of sinners, just like the apostle Paul was, just like everyone else is. We are all under a death sentence. We were born dead. We were born fake. Only when Christ gives us new life will the real tree begin to grow. Real trees take time to bear fruit, and they take much tending to and much attention. They may not always look pretty; they will grow and wither and grow again, but they will be real, and living water can only flow through a living being.

Here’s to being less fake and more real. (And down with all fake shrubberies!)

Last night I had the great opportunity to make music with the virtuosos known as “Edgar Bopp” at a local gig. It’s a jam band that plays “mindless music,” as my buddy Dave of Gideon’s Press says. I had quite a good time and am looking forward to further gigs. So, you need a band?

We also had a garage sale earlier that morning to help fund our mission trip to Morocco. It went very well…though you’d think people wouldn’t haggle over a quarter or more. Well, you would think that, unless you’ve never been to a garage sale. Our final price for everything was “$5 for all you can carry.”

On a non-related note, if you’re a friend and would like to be added to my links list on the right, let me know!

First, a quick update. I’m currently working at FBC Georgetown. I designed this website for the music ministry. (I’m still a novice web designer, but I’m starting to love Flash more and more). If you go there and have your speakers turned on, you’ll hear a montage of music - the drums are yours truly. This job will only last through the summer (maybe longer).

I’m currently taking a distance education course to certify to teach high school English. I’m hoping to find a teaching job soon. If you hear of any schools that need English teachers around Georgetown, do let me know.

I’ve been more than happily married for a year now, and we celebrated our anniversary with a fun weekend in San Antonio. Think Fiesta, Texas, the wax museum, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, a really nice hotel, and a great old-time western picture of myself and the missus.

We also just got back from celebrating the 4th of July in Oklahoma with Rachel’s family. The best part of that trip (aside from Granny Opal’s pancakes) was not being set on fire. Thankfully, Rachel threw herself behind me when a firecracker misfired and almost incinerated our entire family. I suffered only a few minor burns and a subtle reminder that fire, if too close, is bad.

As for this website…I have had a plethora of blogs before (you’ll see previous entries as you scroll down and browse through the archives) but none that I have every widely publicized or have used often. I hope to have this one updated regularly with everything from current events in my life, to quotes I love, to sites of interest, to essays on the meaning and essence of human/divine relationships. (Like most blogs, if you’re familiar with the term, but hopefully more…literary). Like I said, this is a gathering place for the thoughts and ideas that need to leave my brain. After all, I am technically back in school, and I need all the brain space I can muster.

So please enjoy the site. Bookmark it. Visit it every so often. You can leave your comments too about whatever I’ve posted by clicking on the comments link below. (On the page after that, scroll to the bottom and click “Post a Comment.” If you’re not a blogger, i.e. registered with blogger.com, click on the “Or Post Anonymously” link).

Leadership Network Interview
Leadership Network Interview with Sally Morganthaler: “CC: Many feel that the prophets of today are the filmmakers and musicians. You said, ‘Hollywood knows the redeemer hunger.’ Why do you think Hollywood gets it and yet, often, churches do not?

SJM: Because Hollywood hasn’t created a sub-culture for itself. Their job is to live where people are. They cannot tell an authentic story without living where people are. In the Church, I don’t think many times we are present in the world. We have created another world. The Church is so alien to the real culture that we can’t hear the stories of the real culture.”

So utterly true. I had the realization yesterday that I learned to be a Christian before I learned to be a human. I grew up in the sub-culture and never let myself grow up in the culture itself. How much did I miss?

My guilty pleasure is late night dating shows. You know the ones of which I speak. Blind Date, Elimidate, Fifth Wheel. The trend started when I first started going out with my (now) wife. It was the last thing we would watch before she would go home. Why did we watch it? Cause it was as funny as anything else on television.

More often than not we both had the joy of knowing we were not dating someone like who we saw on TV. How could those people be so idiotic? It made me wonder if people actually act that way to form relationships, or, if we’re truthful, to get laid for the night. I think watching those shows made my wife and I both more grateful for each other.

On the other hand, I experienced a small spiritual crisis. I felt bad for making fun of these sad, lonely, love-starved people. Watching these shows makes one see the lengths people will go to in order to feel loved. It degrades the idea of romance and kills any notions that love could last for more than a night. I feel sad for these people. They need to feel loved as much as I do, and yet why was I so fortunate in finding my wife?

But then I remember this is TV. Nothing is real here. I always remember that the people on these shows aren’t really there to find love. Sex yes, but love no. They are on TV because they are on TV. They are actors (reality-based actors, but actors nonetheless) wanting to get their faces on screen. Knowing that, I laugh at them as I would a scripted joke on a sitcom. It’s supposed to be funny, right?

Omit Unnecessary Words - Books & Culture:

“Words have not escaped the curse that lies on human work”

- Andy Crouch

America, the serious

“”Eats, Shoots & Leaves” is currently the bestselling nonfiction book in America. How could a country of rough and rugged individuals be so smitten with a snarky English grammar book?”

“And now, Oprah has gone and made “Anna Karenina” a bestseller, too”

“What does the future hold for our liberal elite if ordinary Americans start curling up with witty grammar books and classic Russian novels?”

I like “witty grammar books.” I like Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. I was an English major at a liberal arts school.

I am slowly going the way of the dodo.