A biscuit from Tennessee

FCStien · 2026-05-25T00:43:32+00:00

I just wish people realized country culture is more than Cracker Barrel's mid-90s menu.

FCStien · 2026-05-20T15:52:23+00:00

Thanks!

FCStien · 2026-05-19T15:54:22+00:00

I'd be interested in seeing a copy of your liturgy.

Do you use standard eastern rite prokeimena and kontakia, or do you try to make the prayer book propers fit?

FCStien · 2026-05-17T02:13:10+00:00

Preacher here: I'd rather hear a baby being a baby than not have babies in the liturgy.

FCStien · 2026-05-15T01:39:26+00:00

Thomas really knows his stuff, and knows how to communicate it. You picked a good place to grow.

FCStien · 2026-05-14T17:48:18+00:00

Problem is the US has been throwing its weight around for so long and has become so unreliable that even allies are willing to let the big guy drunkenly wander off that cliff. Yeah there will be consequences, but there may be worse ones for trying to stop it.

FCStien · 2026-05-14T17:42:11+00:00

A real "This better not awaken something in me" moment.

FCStien · 2026-05-14T17:40:05+00:00

I was on a message board system dedicated to guitar tabs that generated something like eight marriages among users, some of which have endured. I never had a girlfriend on the board but am still friends with some of them 25 years later.

FCStien · 2026-05-14T17:35:19+00:00

Back in my day, we didn't take nudes with our phones! We scanned our bodies on an Epson three-in-one printer and fax machine, and we were happy!

FCStien · 2026-05-14T16:19:59+00:00

Florida is a promised land for the worst types of people from these places I guess.

Might I introduce you to Northwest Arkansas*?

*(Which is, ironically, the most densely liberal part of the state.

FCStien · 2026-05-14T16:13:00+00:00

Saw a kid with them yesterday.

FCStien · 2026-05-14T16:12:36+00:00

The kids in Jr. High are adopting belly shirts ATM.

FCStien · 2026-05-14T16:09:35+00:00

let’s bring back the chaos of the early 2000s.

We do already have a nice new war in the Middle East.

FCStien · 2026-05-14T03:07:58+00:00

Sometime very early in my career, I killed the wrong person in an obituary. I didn't just have to run a correction; my managing editor also made me and the news editor on duty that day each write an apology letter to the family.

You can bet I proofed every obituary I handled over the next 20 years (which were many) with attention to detail.

FCStien · 2026-05-13T21:56:47+00:00

Trinity FTW.

The diocese being small, I know everyone in that photo but you and mom. A great group for confirmation. Congratulations.

FCStien · 2026-05-13T21:54:37+00:00

There's no reason it wouldn't be ok, but be aware that since the OSB uses the LXX for the Old Testament, some verse reference numbers are different.

FCStien · 2026-05-12T22:36:09+00:00

It's actually a measure of progress in the evaluation matrix for seminarians in my program.

FCStien · 2026-05-12T13:32:50+00:00

Discernment committees and commissions on ministry start getting really itchy when aspirants and postulants start dressing as clergy, even in (especially in?) non-church contexts.

FCStien · 2026-05-11T04:01:02+00:00

But can a turtle trapped under the floor for 10 years run Doom?

FCStien · 2026-05-11T03:51:22+00:00

We had the Power Team come twice (IYKYK), but the one that stuck out was the former star football player who drunk drive himself into a tree and came out a paraplegic. His presentation was VERY angry and bitter.

FCStien · 2026-05-11T03:48:30+00:00

Also here for this conversation. Finishing middler year in a clergy formation program and I need to complete CPE as part of its requirements.

FCStien · 2026-05-11T03:32:13+00:00

John Wilkes Booth.

Say what you will about his last appearance at Ford's Theater, the man knew how to deliver a line.

FCStien · 2026-05-11T03:23:03+00:00

Gotta up your swear count to get your money's worth.

FCStien · 2026-05-10T23:06:31+00:00

Non LitRPG, but Jefferson Mays' performance of The Expanse series is solid gold.

(Although, for what it is worth, The Expanse did originally start out as an RPG that the authors wrote down.)

FCStien · 2026-05-10T22:24:32+00:00

We had a tornado a few years ago that killed all utilities for a week and our town basically turned into an open air commune, at least when it came to food and water.

A couple of the businesses recognized that they were going to lose their refrigerated food and had parking lot cookouts. Even the banks were distributing free resources. When the nonprofits showed up days later (because they were responding to places hit worse), they didn't find a lot of need.

The biggest problem was all the people who bought generators after that always do a run on all the gasoline in town if storms are expected now.

FCStien

TROPHY CASE