Rockin' in the Free World

Rolling Stone has a Photo Gallery entitled "Young and Pious: A Rock & Roll Story" up on their site. It's nothing I would call controversial, it's simply a few photos taken by a women who went to a bunch of Christian music festivals.

The things that are truly interesting to me are some of the comments she makes. It's interesting how we see things from inside the church compared to how others see them. I'm not talking about the spiritual things that God reveals to us. I'm talking about out t-shirts, language and other external things. Sometimes I think we end up confusing a lot of people in things that we shouldn't be. I think my favorite line is the very last one by the photographer. She says, "Jesus is their personal savior. He's almost alive to them." Well, hopefully people will start to see that it's more than almost, otherwise, I think the church in America (myself included) need to rethink some stuff.

I am my cellphone

I recently got a new cellphone through Verizon's "New every 2" program. I know it's just their way of roping you into another two year contract, but hey, you can't live without one now. It's interesting how much these little things can mean to you. I can listen to MP3's, watch movies, play games, and I think even make phone calls on my new RAZR. Though, I am ashamed to admit it, I was genuinely excited about getting my new phone. My old phone was well, so old. I couldn't listen to music or watch movies on it. I could take pictures, but they were like .1 megapixels. As a phone it worked fine, but this is 2006 for cryin' out loud! Well, the day for me to get my new phone came, and, oh, the bliss! I'm cool again! No longer the man with the outdated phone!

Now I'm not going to be the old codger who complains about everyone listening to Ipods or walking around campus talking on a cellphone. I'm truly grateful for all this neat technology. It's a blessing. I can call my wife from anywhere at anytime. People can find me if they need me. The one thing I have noticed is how owning these luxury items has become another thing we attach our identity to. We each have our customized ringtones and playlists, and these are things that kind of become our "trademarks". I know, that for most people it's just a fun little thing to have "My Humps" start playing when your best friend calls, and it probably ends at that. But we all know the person that has to have the newest gadget as soon as it comes out. I think we're all like that with something. Maybe it's the newest CD by some band, or the newest DVD, or book, etc. Why do these things become so important to us? Perhaps we're all still searching for thing that tells us we're special and that we matter. Again, I'm not condemning anyone for owning the things they have. I just think it's human nature to look for identity somewhere. My prayer is that I am not known by what stuff I own, what music I listen to, what movies I watch, but by people seeing Christ in me.