Twitterific Thursday Two-Fer Edition: The Bottom 10

It’s Twitterfic Thursday, where I write something in 14o words, more or less.  This is a special year-end Two-fer edition.  T hat’s right.  You get a double dose of Twitterific Thursday today.  However, this one gets nowhere near 140 words.

I don’t know about you, but I have seen a ton of top ten lists for the year.  From songs to movies to TV shows, I think I have seen my fair share.  Several of my blogging brothers and sisters have run their Top 10 lists or repeated their top posts.  I want to go the other way.  Here are my least viewed posts.  They need more love and I learned more from them than I did those that did well.

10.  Working On A Building.  After reading this one, I understand why it comes in at the 10th least viewed of the year.

9.  Back To The Basics.  This was an ill-fated attempt at a series from when I was teaching Sunday school.  Booooorrrriinnng.  Who wants a rerun of my Sunday school lessons?  Certainly not me.  That’s why this didn’t last.

8.  Failure Isn’t Final.  I actually like this one.  This was in the early days of Deuceology.  Please read this one and give it some action.

7.  No Beast Of Burden.  Another that I like.  From July, before anyone was really reading.

6.  Free Live Music.  This one was from the first month of the blog.  It was also my first with a picture.  I got the idea while I was running.

5.  Anchors For Dreams.  I think this one was kind of stupid.

4.  140 Words (or less) About Focus.  One of the early Twitterific Thursday posts, before I added the More to the Less.

3.  What Are You Passionate About?  I was trying to find out what my voice is and what I’m passionate about.  I also thought that I was the next Jon Acuff.

2.  Running Like Children.  Again, one of my earlier posts.  I had no idea what I was wanting to write about at this point.

And the least viewed post in 2011 here at the Deuceology blog……

1.  Godliness Next To Patriotism.  What in the world was I trying to say here?

Pick one or pick all ten.  Read them.  Hopefully I have improved over the past seven months.  Hopefully, 2012 will be even better.  Thanks for hanging in there with me and for your patience.

Godliness Next To Patriotism?

We have all heard the saying, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.”  I wonder how many people have searched the Bible in vain,  looking for this saying in, perhaps, Proverbs.  It sounds like something that Solomon would have written, doesn’t it?  If may even possible be true, but based on what I see and hear in the Christian community I live in, I wonder if most people don’t think that Godliness is next to Patriotism?

Don’t get me wrong, I am patriotic.  I love the fact that I live in the United States.  I want the United States to win in any competition that it competes in against foreign competition.  I love to watch fireworks on the 4th of July.  I have a hawkish bent when it comes to the military.  I love the Star Spangled Banner.  A huge part of me was as excited about “getting” bin Laden, as I was when we captured Saddam Hussein.

But……

I was sitting in church yesterday.  Our traditional Salute The Troops musical number was done where we recognized everyone who had served in the military with the song of each branch of the military.  We sang America The Beautiful and Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory.  Our sermon was about God executing His vengeance through the government and military.  The underlying insinuation was that when America does something, it is doing it for God and it’s right.  Being patriotic is godly.  Or Godliness is next to Patriotism.

I think that this is really sort of a thought that has been around for a few hundred years now.  As a former pastor of mine put it once, he asked a man if he was a Christian.  The man replied, “I’m an American, ain’t I?”

This kind of thinking bothers me a little.  I mean, I’m proud to be an American.  After all, it’s where at least I know I’m free.  It’s just that when I got to church services where we sing these songs and emphasize our patriotism, I wonder what our focus is when we’re there.  Are we focused on Christ or America.  And which are people more excited, emotional and proud of?

That being said, is it possible to be a Christian and a patriot at the same time?  Certainly.  I love to attend our local July 4th celebration and watch the fireworks.  I used to got to the Veteran’s Day parades in my hometown with my grandpa.   I love to hear stories about what we did as a nation during World War II.  I just would prefer to not have my faith in Christ or my church services  wrapped up in the red, white and blue.

How about you?  Does it bother you to have your faith wrapped up  with the flag?  Or are you for it?  I would love to know.  I’m figuring this stuff out as I go.