Some of you already knew this.
I just don’t go with the crowd sometimes. Sure, at certain times of my life I’ve struck out on my own out of simple rebellion, but I’ve grown up a little over the past few years and don’t really have the energy to rebel for rebellion’s sake anymore. Ultimately I move and act by conviction, by leading, by sound wisdom and doctrine. And that leaves me in lonely company oftentimes — which is weird because I love to be surrounded by people.
I don’t like buzz words. I don’t regularly use words like missional or emergent or ecclesiastical or post modern or relevant or whatever … I know what they mean, but I don’t regularly use them in my vocabulary.
I don’t read most of the cool new books. I read things like Tozer and Watchman Nee and Thomas a’ Kempis and Andrew Murray. I don’t wrote free form and stream of consciousness about my experience and struggles. I don’t sing the cool new praise songs. I don’t have a specific problem with them, but usually old hymns have deeper theological statements and more impacting messages.
Not that I’m necessarily “old school”, either. I like newer styles of music and movies, but oftentimes the substance of these things doesn’t live up to the hype, while the same hype disenfranchises something because it happens to be more than a decade old.
My ipod is three years old and I only use my phone to make phone calls. I don’t watch much broadcast TV and refuse to pay ten dollars to see a movie in the theater … well, most of the time.
I drive an old truck with no CD player. I live in an old drafty house. I don’t make all that much money, but I love my job and love going to work.
My kids wear a lot of hand-me-downs, but they love them, and they’re still the cutest kids around. My children are not allowed to watch Teletubbies or Barney, but my son has learned almost all the lyrics to the Greatest American Hero.
I’d rather spend my time with people I love than almost anything. Deep spiritual conversations are great and all, but even they are overrated sometimes. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can say is “I love you” or say “how are you doing?” and mean it.
I won’t get caught up in all the Obama mania. Don’t have anything personal against him, other than no modern nation has ever been able to spend their way out of a recession. They just go further in debt. He’s become a rather shallow figurehead for what’s become a fairly shallow nation. And McCain wasn’t much better.
I don’t teach to PowerPoint or with video clips or feel I have to entertain anyone to relay whom Christ really is. Only a church deeply loving one another can do that, but we’re mostly too busy to realize or actualize it; so we digress into second class worldly creativity to pick up the slack. Good luck with that.
Sometimes my blog articles are too long or not catchy enough or they don’t produce much online discussion. Eh.
I don’t spike my hair or wear pre-ripped-and-worn-out jeans. My widow’s peak is getting thinner and I wear out my own clothes myself. Seems cheaper that way — unless you go to the thrift store. I don’t wear cool jewelry or necklaces with spikes on them. I haven’t pierced anything. I probably need new glasses.
I’ve always been behind or ahead of my time. You can take your pick. It all comes back around anyway. Only usually when others catch up to where I’ve been, I’ve moved on.
So I don’t know if I’ve ever been cool. Don’t really care, though.
Peace.
Wow. If having an old ipod makes you not cool, what does it mean if you still have a discman? Or is that retro cool?
On a serious note, I needed to hear this. It’s encouraging. Thanks.