the Friday FANatic 14/11/2014

i am generally inspired, amused, educated or enlightened by a number of posts on the internet any given week and link to them via the social medias.

but the week time is busy for a lot of people and so you might find that you got to the end of it and missed out on some of the posts that otherwise might have interested you.

so as i look back to this past week, here are some of the stand out posts that i have seen wandering around the internet, or hanging out on this blog:

MOST HONEST:

Confronting the Lie: God Won’t give you more than you can handle – Nate Pyle is honestly one of my favourite guys to read and in this piece which was written a year ago he confronts the idea that God will not give you more than you can handle in a real, rough and honest piece

 

MOST INSIGHTFUL:

Science says Lasting Relationships come down to 2 Basic Traits – i found this look at relationships really insightful and a good read for anyone actually with some definite practical steps for me to work on in my own marriage

 

MOST INSPIRING:

Book Review for Sale: This story of a young man sitting at the side of the road, giving book reviews to passers by and then trying to sell them the books as a means of raising money.

 

FOR PARENTS:

You Just Broke Your Kid. Congratulations – Dan Pierce, the Single Dad Laughing, almost breaks the internet with this piece inspired by watching a dad treat his son badly in a shopping line

To Be A Dad – Meet Dave Gale – in a similar vein, i actually enjoyed this piece by Dave Gale responding to the phrase, ‘To Be A Dad’ even more, especially as he lets his children know that he will love and protect their mother [especially from them]

Dear Parent: About THAT kid… – just read this today actually – for parents of young children who are at school, this is a powerful read displaying the heart of a teacher who deeply cares for your child

 

BEST KEPT SECRET:

The Koeksuster of Faith [or what happens when i doubt?] – Having been asked to write something on Doubt, i came up with this two parter, which went largely unread in a week filled with great posts, but still hoping more people will jump in and engage on the issue of Christians and Doubt – is it okay? am i okay?

 

MOST PERSONAL:

How to win the Lottery [guaranteed!] – Short piece on a time of prayer and discernment that tbV and i had in our home this week with friends and family as we looked to hear from God in terms of where and how to live next

 

MOST POLITICAL:

Dubula ibhulu: Shoot the Boer/Farmer [and why we need to embrace this song] – My friend, Nkosi Gola, continues to spark things up in the Reconciliation conversation by suggesting that a song, described by many as hate speech, has a significant place in our story

MOST POETIC:

The Twitterer Poem – Lay in bed one morning and decided to write a poem in Twitter in lines of 140 or less characters and this was the result.

 

THE PEOPLE WITH TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS [TPWTMTOTH]:

This Guy Paints Random Characters Into Old Thrift Store Paintings – David Irvine gets creative and has a lot of fun inserting popular characters and scenes into classic artworks, giving them new life

Artist Removes One Letter From Famous Movie Titles and Illustrates the Results – Austin Light takes some classic movies and simply by removing one letter from each title comes up with some fun new premises for films which he cleverly illustrates, favourites being ‘Mr and Mrs Sith’ and ‘Beauty and the Beat’

 

MOST LIGHTHEARTED FUN:

Kevin Spacey’s Celebrity Impressions with Jimmy Fallon – Watch Spacey and Fallon battle head to head with this Halloween-themed Impression-off.

 

MOST EYEBROW-RAISINGLY RIDICULOUS [and reflective of how bizarre this internet fame thing is that we’ve created]

Alex From Target – struggling with insomnia the one night, i eventually ended up googling this story i had seen floating around the internet and could not believe how random and scary a simple act of social media could so quickly become

 

T-SHIRT I WOULD MOST LIKELY WEAR:

 

STRANGEST SEARCH TERMS PEOPLE TYPED INTO GOOGLE TO ARRIVE AT MY BLOG THIS WEEK:

weird chicken

stampede of animals

ecards about grammar

shadows blocking the sun

mudpies in the slum tattoo

 

INSPIRATIONAL TWEETS OF THE WEEK:

‘God didn’t say loving our neighbors would be easy; He said it would work.’ [@bobgoff]

‘If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.’ [Derek Bok]

‘Was late to my first Fight Club last night so missed the intro rules. Still, Fight Club was brilliant and I’d highly recommend Fight Club.’ [@joshxhowie]

 

Shout out to my friend and fellow Bloggerist, Lily Dunn and her piece she wrote on Going viral: On Wanting to Give Up

 

What about you? What blog posts or articles caught your eye this week? What has been making you think or laugh or be challenged or go, ‘Wo!’? What have you written on your blog that is worth taking a look at?

Leave us a link in the comments for our weekend reading…

Best of the Mash

So my other blog, The Weekly Mash [and Peace!] has been running for close to 3 months now and it’s interesting to note what the most popular posts have been so far – as each day has a different theme i thought it would be good to look at the top performer for each day in terms of visits, reads and shares and so here they are:

Monday = Fun Day – Humour: It amuses me completely that Cloud man is the most popular post i have had on the new blog out of all of them because this is one of those strange random things that for some reason never fails to put a smile on my face, no matter how often i look at it: I give you Cloud Ambition Man

Tuesday = News Day – Local/International news stories that grab my attention. It was quite interesting that it was the two marriage articles dealing with Will and Jada Pinkett Smith and also Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner that got the most interest in this category although maybe that just says something about our draw towards celebrity. I am hoping more people will engage with Tuesdays and share their interesting/bizarre/life-giving stories so that is can be a sharing of reads worth checking out but here is that post in the meantime.

Wednesday = Wed Day – Relationships and not just dating or marriage but friendship and all other types as well – there were two that were pretty close at the top here so i will include them both, namely the one on leaving the door open when a friendship has gone bad/difficult and then this more children/parent focused one, although it can apply to all relationships in terms of being present and available.

Thursdays = Thirsty – Spiritual matters and this has been quite a popular day and i’ve looked at a variety of quite diverse topics, but it was this post that got created and influenced by Twitter as i was writing it on the John Piper saga [and the importance of understanding messages in context] that unfolded in the wake of the recent tornado.

Friday = My day and really just the opportunity to write about whatever i choose to which again lends itself to quite a variety of posts which have received different interest depending on the topic but it was this post called ‘Blessed are the Geeks’ on the effects of labelling people that really got people’s attention and feedback.

Favourable mention must got to yesterday’s video clip with the woman with the nail in her head [on listening in relationships and not just giving the answers, even when they seem obvious; the human dummy ventriloquist and boy with tape on his face; this post on loving people especially when you don’t feel like it; and  Jesus’ response to a young man who was about to reject His message.

If you missed any of those, this is a good way to catch up on some of the very best… hope there is something you will enjoy.