Friday, June 26, 2015

Is Christianity Hate Speech?

This is a question that has up until recently never even occurred to me as even a possibility. 

But then a few weeks ago the Facebook feed of the nation blew up with responses of literally everyone to a certain cover of a Vanity Fair magazine.

Being a lifelong Christian and in a pretty small Christian bubble I was immediately bombarded with the expected right wing conservative response of disgust. The only surprise I had was that it seemed like we had never heard of someone getting a sex change before- like Bruce Jenner was the first person to ever go through this procedure. And then I realized that the responses were so prevalent not because we were more offended than ever before but because for the first time in history we all had a megaphone and a soap box personally handed to us by the Internet. And boy did we sure use it.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

My Hips Don't Lie

There are very few things that feel as manly as having and old war wound.

Get a bunch of guys together for any period of time and you will inevitably find us comparing scars, injuries, and stories from our past that people tell us we should be ashamed of for how stupid they were but we are actually still proud of. 

I love playing this game as much as the next guy because this is one I usually win. I was a pretty clumsy child who really liked the idea of being a daredevil. Well, I liked the idea of being known as a daredevil more than actually being a daredevil. 

But as cool as it sounded to tell people I was limping around because of "an old track and field injury" it lost it's appeal when it actually started hurting. A lot. All the time.

It was my sophomore year of high school and I was in the middle of my first season running track. I had only recently fallen in love with distance running a few months before so I knew almost nothing about injury prevention. So when I complained to my coach about a constant throbbing pain starting in my hip and shooting its way down to my knee I had no idea what to expect. 

"I'm pretty sure your issue is your IT band, or iliotibial band if you want to know the fancy name for it."
"That's terrible. How did I get an iliotibial band? Will icing it get rid of it?"
"You don't get rid of an ilitibial band, Kyle. It's that really long tendon that connects your hip bone to your knee and can sometimes get inflamed if you don't stretch it right or you put too much stress on it."
"I knew that, just making sure you are staying current the latest innovations in first aid" I said as I twitched the hair out of my face to look cool.
"Whatever. Go sit down and take an Advil."

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Giraffe Syndrome

One of the most annoying things about my entire life is that I share so much in common with your average giraffe.

Yes, giraffe.

The safari animal with the long neck and spots. Also known as "G-Raff" on the streets. Well, my streets at least. Not that I have ever met an urbanized giraffe just chillin outside but if I ever do that is what I would call it. I know you may or may not think about these forgotten creatures of Africa very much throughout your day but they are always on my mind. 

Friday, April 3, 2015

Thank a Pagan

If you do not have any atheist or agnostic friends in your life I highly recommend getting some.

In fact, I am currently in the market for some new unsaved friends so if you know of any feel free to give me their info. It isn't healthy for people to have too many Christians friends.

Aside from challenging your faith and reminding you about God's call for evangelism and stuff atheist and agnostic friends are always great about reminding you about some really fun facts pastors usually fail to mention in their sermons.

Like the fact that pretty much every major Christian holiday has some secret pagan origin that at some point the Church brushed over and forgot about in attempt to gain a monopoly of Western holiday traditions. 

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Track 04

 I remember the exact day that I discovered music.

     I was in third grade and mentioned to a classmate that I didn't know what song she was singing because I only listened to Christian music (and by that I meant whatever was playing on Christian radio in 2001).
     
    She replied by telling me her older brother listened to that stuff and really liked the song "Jesus Freak" by a band called DCTalk.
    
     Like the smooth talking nine year old that I was I told her about how much I liked that song too and then asked Jesus to forgive me for the bold faced lie I just uttered. I had never heard of the song before but much to my surprise my parents had a copy of the album of the same name. I went into my room that day and fell in love.
    

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Caffeinated

It is often hard to admit when you have a problem so it is about time I think that I make a very public (though very obvious) confession.

I am addicted to coffee.

I used to just be an coffee drinker. Then life kept getting crazier and sleep more infrequent and a daily cup of Joe became a ritual. Then I met people who drank fancy coffee made with strange instruments called French Presses, Pour Over Sets, and Siphons and I discovered that maybe Maxwell House was not the house I wanted to live in for the rest of my life. Then I went on a mission trip to Colombia and visited the Coffee capital of the world complete with a coffee themed amusement park and the opportunity to see first hand where coffee comes from. Then my wife became a barista at a cool downtown coffee shop and started coming home every night smelling like espresso.

And then...I was hooked.