- Austrian Marco Hort takes in mouth 259 drinking straws during the World Records day at Vienna
Straws
January 3rd is officially national drinking straw day. It was on this day that Marvin Stone invented the first wax covered drinking straw. How we drink has forever been changed. Now, I personally use a few straws as possible to “save a plastic tree”. But my true reason is that I don’t fully understand why people use so many of them! I didn’t realize how many straws were used until I started working as a server. Don’t get me wrong, I believe there are times when straws are very important.
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I drink from straws if I’m taking a drink to go and it has a lid on it
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I drink from straws if I’m drinking a smoothie or milkshake
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My grandpa may drink from straws because his hands may be unsteady
But sometimes I have to laugh when grown adults (not wearing lipstick) ask for straws for their water. I read a blog where a woman stated that she couldn’t drink cold drinks without a straw…not because she had sensitive teeth, but because it was too hard without one! I used to have sensitive teeth, I could almost understand if that was the problem, but this IS an avoidable problem!
My mom and I used to joke and say that the inventor of the straw thought that THIS (and we’d mimic lifting a glass to our lips) was too much trouble. Somtimes, I would suggest, we use straws because its easy and its more comfortable. But, for most of us, they’re not really necessary.
Michael W. Smith
So why Michael W. Smith in this blog? (If you don’t know who he is, you can visit his website) Smith has released some great, classic worship songs and has made some amazing covers of existing classic worship songs. I used to be a huge Michael W. Smith fan for a lot of reasons, until my view on worship began to change. Worship to me, used to be all about an experience, but I have come to realize it is much more than that.
But my biggest problem with Smith is his support of what my friend Greg Qualls calls the “Christian Ghetto”, or “the world that Christians have created so they don’t have to interact with the rest of the world.” (Read more here) Most of Michael W. Smith’s songs create the image that a life with Christ is very ME-centered. In his song “Above All” he implies that Jesus, while dying on the cross, was thinking about ME above all other things. I would say it would only take one verse stating that everything is made from Jesus and thru Jesus and that all glory belongs to Jesus to prove this song wrong! Jesus died to glorify God, not to glorify me.
How they relate
Michael W. Smith’s music, like straws, are a comfortable alternative. His music doesn’t challenge anyone to turn to God or give God the glory. He doesn’t encourage anyone to love God and love people. He helps create a larger Christian Ghetto. There are some people that Smith can help and he can be useful in many situations (like straws), but for most of us, he is unnecessary. His music should stick around, as should straws, but we, as Americans, should certainly consume much less of both.
I encourage all you Christians to “save a plastic tree” and to listen to deeper worship music. If you need some names, try Sojourn, Red Letter, Shane and Shane, Donovan Medina or David Crowder Band. But get some music with some meaning and doctrine!
