~ stars upon thars ~

So I was a late bloomer to the whole google reader thing, but I think I’m getting the hang of it. It really is fun to have all of the stuff you want to read in one place, and you can still click back to the actual blog if you want to experience all of the bells and whistles of a particular post. You even get to give the posts you really like a “gold star”, and then you can easily visit them whenever you like.

• This post is actually an old one, but I just read it and found it HI-larious! And she coined my new singleness motto: I’d rather walk than drive the wrong car.

• Some other blog I read had a link to this post, and the entire blog has quickly become one of my favorites.

• I always enjoy reflections on Isaiah 58, and this one kicked my butt! Here's a snipet: This tendency to interpret these passages individually stands in contrast to the warning in the text itself to “[desist] from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word” (Is. 58:13). Perhaps we jump too quickly into the “doing justice” parts of these passages and miss the prophet’s point that the sabbath fast to which we are called begins with self-denial, a setting aside of our own agendas, desires and even our own convenience. We cannot ultimately live justly with our brothers and sisters if we cannot prefer them and their needs over ourselves.

• And the winner of the “good-swift-kick-to-the-nalgas” award goes to Josh Brown: I am a hypocrite. Hear me roar. I sip my smoothies and blog with my expensive technology. I listen to my indie music with my utilitarian wardrobe. Don’t mess with me! I give money to the poor. I pay extra to get our electricity from “green energy”. Come! Come follow me. Downward mobility is the way to go. But wait . . . I am not going downward. I’m accessorizing my middle mobility. This is not change I am doing. This is not life that I’m creating. I’m perpetuating a myth. I’m soothing my guilt. I am the great politicizer. The great moralizer. The great theorist! Come and hear my new theory on economics. I have something new to share with you about politics. Tomorrow I will espouse upon my new theology. My affluence grows and so does my imagination. Let me tell you about it. But first let me go throw up.