American Flag Blues

Looking for the blue sky, and boy, it's got me feeling blue
'Cause when I see that big flag I'm having trouble seeing through
It's blocking out the big sky and got me feeling that it's true
That this land don't belong to me and it don't belong to you

It's waving on the prairies, yeah they got it waving on the seas
It's stuck on bumper stickers and sewn onto the soldier's sleeve
It's air-brushed on the bombers with the lady liberty
And if you're on the wrong side they'll be the last thing that you see

When I see those red stripes I wonder how they didn't bleed
Wash onto the white bars, stain their perfect purity
The lady wipes her mouth off, smiles and says "It wasn't me"
Here's to the martyrs and civilians who have died to keep me free

Oh, my country 'tis of thee
Sweet land of liberty
Of thee I sing
Of thee I sing

Well let me tell you bout a country where everybody can be free
Where everybody's happy and everybody is at peace
Dressed in all the best clothes, lying by their family
Sleeping in a pine box where no prying eyes can see

(This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I have done no wrong")

Without Comment

Motherfucking Footsteps In The Motherfucking Sand

I'm actually completely okay with Footprints In The Sand. The only bad thing about it is the thing that's bad about any inspirational poem or verse or story or whatever: someone is going to hit you over the head with it when you're at your lowest. Because when you actually do feel abandoned, having some jackass bust this gem out makes you want to throttle them with a WWJD bracelet.

Remembering what it's like to actually have God turn His back on you is a lot more comforting for me than having my experiences marginalized by some trite quotation.

Anyway:



Does anyone else remember Phil Driscoll? Because he is a damn funky man.

Quickie

A re-drawing of an old comic. New comics on the way.

Modern Love

How I long for the days when what was tearing us apart was literally tearing us apart. Not that the Church back then didn't have its own divisions and whatnot, but now we fight just for the hell of it. 90% of the theological bitch-fests I've seen in my own denomination have been less about serious differences in doctrine and more about people liking the sound of their own voice.

And oh, how we love the sound of our own voices.

So Jennifer Knapp came out of the closet, and I'm not going to say anything about that except that I didn't know who she was before that, and I listened to some of her old music, and I like it. Especially "Kansas."

Also, she's touring with Derek Webb, who is my favorite flavor of ice cream:

The Book of Job (In Four Panels)

I always liked the fact that God never really answers Job's question, not even mentioning the whole thing about making a bet with Satan to prove that Job really is righteous. I mean, God flat out says that Job is righteous at the beginning of the book, but does He give Job so much as a pat on the back before tearing into him for four freaking chapters? Nope. Because when you get down to it, God didn't fuck up Job's shit because He made a bet with Satan. He did it because He's God.

So yeah. Bad things happen to good people because they're too dumb to understand why it's necessary.

Man, these panels have a really weird aspect ratio.

And here's Josh and Tae of Showbread talking about some random nonsense:

Bodacious Grace

So, christians try to engage with the popular culture, with varying degrees of success. Because sometimes it's like "Hey guys, maybe it's time to branch out musically from the pipe organ" and sometimes it's like this:



I am sure (I hope?) these people mean well, but seriously. WRRRRRRYYYY. The Perry Bible Fellowship sums the whole phenomena up in a nutshell.

For balance's sake, I give you The Ambassador a christian rapper who will not make you want to tears your own ears out: