can i just say that the irresistible revolution by shane claiborne is an amazing book!? i'm currently on my 2nd read of it (that must say something...it doesn't even have pictures and i'm reading it again) and discovering new things within it, new feelings towards situations he encounters and new ways to live them out in my life. i don't usually recommend books to people, because i don't want them annoyed with me if they don't like my reading selection, but i guarantee that this one will be enjoyed by all, or your money back*. but as levar burton from reading rainbow use to say, "but you don't have to take my word for it".
From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. "If there is such a thing as a disarming radical, 30-year-old Claiborne is it. A former Tennessee Methodist and born-again, high school prom king, Claiborne is now a founding member of one of a growing number of radical faith communities. His is called the Simple Way, located in a destitute neighborhood of Philadelphia. It is a house of young believers, some single, some married, who live among the poor and homeless. They call themselves "ordinary radicals" because they attempt to live like Christ and the earliest converts to Christianity, ignoring social status and unencumbered by material comforts. Claiborne's chatty and compelling narrative is magnetic—his stories (from galvanizing a student movement that saved a group of homeless families from eviction to reaching Mother Teresa herself from a dorm phone at 2 a.m.) draw the reader in with humor and intimacy, only to turn the most common ways of practicing religion upside down. He somehow skewers the insulation of suburban living and the hypocrisy of wealthy churches without any self-righteous finger pointing. "The world," he says, "cannot afford the American dream." Claiborne's conviction, personal experience and description of others like him are a clarion call to rethink the meaning of church, conversion and Christianity; no reader will go away unshaken."
*but not from me, go complain from the bookstore you bought it from. and seriously, there's no way this book won't blow you away.
so, back in the day kyle and i came up with a pretty ingenious idea to open a bar. i mean, what better way to feed your addiction than to own it, instead of it owning you, right?! but it wasn't going to be just any bar. no, this was to be a special bar. one that people came to and stayed for hours...and spent lots of money. one that a person could show up at, not even speak to another individual and enjoy countless drinks within our 'controlled' environment. see, our bar was different. it was unique. it fed off of nostalgia, memory, knowledge and entertainment. our bar was to be named Quotations. we were to have famous (and semi-famous) quotes all over the walls... hundreds of them. there was to be classic sports and bar trivia games on tv's all over the place. great music playing all the time, but not too loud, like many bars have a tendency to do... and in between each song we would splice a famous audio clip from a movie, tv show, presidental speech or historical figure (see, our bar would be educational) butcher paper on every table with crayons and chalkboard walls in all the restrooms, so our customers could write whatever cleaver thought their drink brought to their head and make a Quotation of their own.
our short-term goal is to get a large group together to run the rock 'n' roll san antonio half-marathon (13.1 miles) in november. who knows, perhaps even a few of us will go the whole 26.2 miles! but on the long-term, imagine how much healthier we can be, how our lifestyles will change for the better and what a difference we can make for ourselves and others.
