Linkin’ you up for some interesting reads and a video! Pull up a chair, pour come coffee, and enjoy.

Christians have the bad habit of either smearing platitudes over grief and tragedy or being completely insensitive about someone’s sorrow and saying, “This is what God wants.” *wince* How about we take another look at what Jesus says about suffering?

A lot of people give me funny looks when I tell them I’m a Christian. (Typically, the look includes glazed over and/or panicked eyes as they try to quickly come up with an escape route.) Even more people give me funny looks when I tell them that I am also a feminist. There are many folks who believe feminism and Christianity are incompatible, but I disagree. Here’s Sarah Bessey’s take on claiming both. (She also wrote a book called Jesus Feminist, which I have yet to read but is on my “to read” list.)

There was a video floating around Facebook this week talking about swimwear and objectification. It is uncommon to hear/see discussions of modesty happen outside of conservative circles, so I watched it out of curiosity. I wound up feeling uncomfortable on several levels. Liz Boltz Ranfeld elaborates better than I could here.

ESA put out their statistics on gaming, and some people may be surprised by the results. (I’m not.) According to their findings, most gamers are adults, and 45% of all gamers are women. In fact, more grown women play video games than teen boys do. (In my household, the statistics are slightly higher with 50% of the gamers being women. ;))

In a similar, geeky vein, here is a tote featuring Ellen Ripley from the Alien franchise. I like the visual play on religious iconography. There are several of these designs available if Ripley is not your favorite heroine, including Buffy Summers: Our Lady of Protection and Kathryn Janeway: Our Lady of Determination.

Below is a 10 minute video about original Shakespearean pronunciation. It’s quite delightful and informative.

Happy Sunday to all!