In Batman Begins there’s this little cliche line that’s used throughout the movie, “Why do we fall?…So we might learn better to pick ourselves up”. While it’s a cliche, it also holds truth.
In Ecclesiates 1:18 are these words: “For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.” For some reason society and Christians themselves think that being a Christian is about feeling good all the time. It is thought that somehow once you accept Christ your life is just perfect from then on. Let me be the first to tell you, that is completely false. Even more, I think that the moment we accept Christ, we inherit a future that will in fact be painful. Yes, we do recieve freedom from sin and I can’t imagine life any other way…but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy or feel good. Life is tough for everyone, Christians and non-Christians alike. We all deal with stuff…some of it is serious, some of it is just stuff that we make up in our own heads. Christians (un)fortunately (in addition to the normal life stuff) have the responsibility of sharing God’s gift with others and when we feel like we’re failing that task, even more pain follows…
life isn’t easy…but it wasn’t designed to be.
That line used in Batman is pretty good, but what it should say is “Why do we fall? So we might learn better to rely on God to pick us up again”
in reference to my last post about shoutcast. I’ve been looking around for a good christian streaming station…and i’m still looking. There are basically two divisions of Christian music according to the radio- heavy rock or praise. I’ve been listening to a little of the heavier stuff lately (a la thousandfootkrutch, spoken, blindside, etc) partially because the teens I work with like it…partially because it’s NOT praise music. Don’t get me wrong, I like praise and worship music…but not all the time. Every single contemporary Christian artist it seems has a praise album out…and those albums are just played out! I know that there is more music out there…I know there are other artist like Andrew Peterson, Over the Rhine, 77’s, and Bill Mallonee…great Christian musicians, but they don’t get any play because they don’t do praise or they’re not heavy enough. So, where’s the station for people like me with my taste?
Not every song has to go through the praise-blender*. There is such a thing as music that just happens to be performed by Christians that doesn’t come out and talk directly about God. It’s called being abstract…it’s called art.
*praise-blender: a term defined by a friend of my college roomate’s describing all those Christian songs that take the same words you hear in every praise & worship song, mix them up, and spit out as a new song.
Ready for the next thing?
Check out this article: Get free, legal MP3s - CNET
Ok, to the hardcore geeks out there, this isn’t new technology. Streaming audio (ie shoutcast) has been around for several years. I knew that you could record it, but i didn’t realize that it is pretty much down to a science. The quality isn’t bad at all…and the recording process is pretty automated. So, you get fresh mp3’s…for free…and it is legal (for now). The catch is that you’re limited first by whatever is played on a particular “channel”. second, the recording is in real time, which means it will take some time to get a decent collection. and the third and last downfall, if you want good quality, you’ll need a pretty hefty broadband connection.
If you can get past those three minor negatives, it looks like smooth sailing from there. wow, this is incredible…just what I’ve been looking for…new music that i can record and listen to again later.
I went to this private college in Southern Ohio that prides itself on being technologically advanced. That was actually one of the things that pulled me to it. Years before I even stepped foot onto their campus they had wired every single dorm room with a broadband network connection and supplied every dorm room with one computer. Considering it was the mid-90’s that was quite a feat. By the time I got there, you pretty much did everything on the computer from registering for classes to checking your phone bill. It was even in the manual that you were required to check your email at least once a day. Email was the main way people communicated. Usually when you got up in the morning there would be 4-5 emails sitting in your inbox regarding announcements for upcoming events. By the time the day ended, there were probably 20-30 emails that came in. So, if you didn’t check it and check it often you would be overwhelmed, not to mention completely left out of the loop.
I now have a job that is almost as equally adamant about email. While there isn’t a mandatory requirement on checking your email every day, managment does send out a lot of information and if you don’t check it, you will be lost…literally. Email has become a primary vessel of communication for me and pretty much everyone I know. I say “pretty much” because there are a few out there that still don’t get it. And that is what this post is mainly about. I just don’t understand how people in a professional environment can not use email regularly, let alone completely not at all! It’s such a time efficient way to communicate, especially when it comes to communicating with large groups of people. Why there are people who have daily internet access that don’t check their email, or don’t even have an email address at all completely boggles my mind. Even my father checks his email pretty regularly…you would think that people of my generation would at least be able to keep up with him!
Anyway, that’s my rant for the day. I imagine that anyone savvy enough to check my blog won’t exactly fit into the category I’m describing, but I have a feeling that you might share in my frustration.
just check your email people!