Boy, I’m enjoying California! Yesterday I took the train from LA to San Diego and the ride was beautiful. This morning I’m speaking at the wonderful Missiongathering Church in San Diego. Tomorrow I’ll be at Point Loma Nazarene University’s Writer’s Symposium by the Sea. (Note: Dave Eggers is the featured guest this year. Tickets are still available.) If you’re at any of these events, be sure to find me and say hello.  

Now on to Sunday Superlatives!

Around the blogosphere...

Funniest Video:
Yeah, so the meme is starting to get old, but I confess I got a kick out of Travis Mamone’s “Sh*t Emergents Say.” – So, you going to Wild Goose this year?

Funniest Photo: 
Cake Wrecks with “Buzzkill”

Best Story:
Amanda MacInnis with “The Place of Resurrection in Our Christian Tradition”

“The little girl cried when Jesus died, so her dad paused the video and explained what was happening, and assured her that there was going to be a big surprise coming up. They resumed watching, and this video did a really good job of emphasizing the resurrection and the importance of the resurrection. The little girl’s face lit up. “He’s alive, daddy! He’s alive!” She danced around the house, proclaiming that she loved “’surrected Jesus.”

Best Reminder:
Jody Hedlund with “Publication: Perfection Not Required”

“Our books can be executed perfectly. We can have flawless sentence structure. We can follow all of the rules of manual and style down to the very last comma. But . . . nobody cares about a perfect book. Why? Because they care more about the STORY.”

Best Photoblog: 
The Pioneer Woman with “How Cowboys Say Goodbye”

Best Series:
The Kitchn with “Downton Abbey Cocktails”

Most Honest: 
Adam Walker Cleveland with “Micah, Judah, and Caleb: Living with Joy and Grief”

"Falling in love with Caleb doesn’t mean that I love Micah and Judah any less…they will always be my first boys, my twin boys. But falling in love with Caleb means that I realize that he is only here because of the death of his brothers…And I don’t even want to get into the theology of that…did God cause Micah and Judah to die, so that we could experience the love and beauty of Caleb? I’m not going there – that doesn’t sound like fun at all.And so…there it is. We sit with that reality. The reality of the loss of Micah & Judah. The reality of the amazing gift of Caleb. The paradox of loss and love. Of grief making room for joy; both forever with us.”

Most Informative: 
Raymond Offenheiser with “From Kenya to Washington: Who’s to blame for wasted food aid?” 

“But right now special interest lobbyists are working to impose rules and regulations that benefit themselves, cost lives, and waste taxpayer dollars. Under our current program a group of lobbyists and trade organizations, representing businesses and industries that stand to profit from aid dollars, have convinced Congress to write the rules to work in their favor. These rules require that food aid be purchased from preferred growers in the U.S. and shipped from the U.S. on preferred ships instead of finding the best prices and sources of food that will save the most lives at the lowest cost. This red-tape is not about empowering people like Abdullah to help themselves, it's about big business cashing in. The result is that less food gets to hungry people when they need it. Because of these rules up to 32 cents of every $1 spent on food aid goes to waste.”

Most Insightful:
Ben Emerson with “Learning the Story, Living the Story” series

Most Helpful: 
Andrew Marin with “When your child ‘comes out’ to you”

“Take their coming out to you as a holy moment. A holy moment where they, as your child, are being the most vulnerable with you, where they are holding their heart and soul in their palms, and asking you to be their loving parent. They are hoping that you will simply see them as the child you have always loved. So love them and let them know. View them as your child, as the infant whom you held so close, the toddler that finally began talking and walking, the child on their first day of school, the child who overnight seemed to grow up, and the child you love with all your heart."

Most Thoughtful:
Zack Hunt with “When Jesus is Present Where Jesus Isn’t Present”

Most Likely to Relate to Recent Conversations: 
Jared Byas with “You Do Not Take the Bible Literally”

Most Pastoral: 
Tim Keller with “Creation, Evolution, and Christian Laypeople”

“In short, if I as a pastor want to help both believers and inquirers to relate science and faith coherently, I must read the works of scientists, exegetes, philosophers, and theologians and then interpret them for my people. Someone might counter that this is too great a burden to put on pastors, that instead they should simply refer their laypeople to the works of scholars. But if pastors are not ‘up to the job’ of distilling and understanding the writings of scholars in various disciplines, how will our laypeople do it? This is one of the things that parishioners want from their pastors. We are to be a bridge between the world of scholarship and the world of the street and the pew. I’m aware of what a burden this is. I don’t know that there has ever been a culture in which the job of the pastor has been more challenging. Nevertheless, I believe this is our calling.” 

Best Image: 
Heather Kopp with “I Don’t Know Beans”

“I don’t know beans about God either. Today, I’m a little embarrassed that I ever had the mistaken audacity to think I grasped the whole of God in some way that gave me definitive answers to impossibly complicated and complex questions. Today, I hold only a few beans in my hand—and they’re jelly beans; simple, basic truths in primary colors. The good news is that I don’t need a mountain of beans, a wealth of cognitive certainties, in order to know that I can rely on God and trust Him with my life.”

Best Lenten Posts/Ideas: 

Ann Voskamp with “How to Prepare a Family for Lent”

Christine Warner (guest posting at Mama Monk) with “Lent and brushing teeth to candlelight”

Caleb Wilde with “Ash Wednesday: The Day We Doubt Our Immortality”

Everyday Litrugy with “Daughter, Meet Dust”

Last year, JoHannah Reardon gave up worry for lent

Gavin Rogers is giving up his home for Lent. 

On the blog...

Most Popular Post(s): 
“You think that by Scripture you possess eternal life...” and “40 Ideas for Lent”

Most Popular Comment:
In response to “Wise words from a former celebrity pastor,” Dustin wrote: 

A few months ago my son was born with hearing loss. I know it could be a lot worse. But I'm struggling to find the balance of wanting him to be able to hear while not labeling him as deficient or less valuable. I love him so much and, as his Dad, I want him to experience all the joys of music and sound. At the same time, I don't want him to internalize that as meaning there is something "wrong' with him. I don't know if this makes sense to anyone else.

In some ways, it's helped me to see God in a different light. He's not happy with how we are - with our pride, selfishness, envy, greed, etc. But he still loves us because of who we are. He knows we are missing out on the full experience of what life was intended to be, but that doesn't change His love for us. He wants us to change, but loves us as we are. My son's hearing isn't  "bad" or harmful the way greed is, but I'm beginning to understand how God can love me as I am and still want me to change.

So what caught your eye online this week? What's happening on your blog? 

And who do you think will win superlatives in Hollywood tonight?