This week's Jolly Award

As I mentioned in a post last Monday I want to start highlighting my favorite post of the week as I read through blogs and have decided to honor the writers by giving them a "Jolly" award. I'm quite certain that having a "Jolly" will one day be ranked up there in prestige with having a "Tony," an "Emmy," an "Oscar," or a "Grammy." Or, maybe it will rank somewhere below having a Razzie.

Last week, Jeremy Pierce wondered what one gets for winning a Jolly, and I have come up with a prize. Although the quote that inspired this webpage came from C. S. Lewis, I can think of no one who better symbolizes what it means to be Jolly than G. K. Chesterton. Thus, to the right here, you can see the G. K. Chesterton "Jolly Good Blogger" graphic which winners of the "Jolly" are free to display on their own sites to show their blogging prowess (what, you were expecting a cash prize?).

This week's Jolly goes to Ambra Nykola (8/31/04 update - that would be Ambra Nykol - no "a" on the end of the name) at Nykola.com for her three posts titled "Why I am Not a Republican." Here they are - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. She actually wrote those back in June and July, but I just found them this past week.

Ambra explains why she has been voting consistently republican for some time now, yet why she is unable to make a full commitment to the republican party. This is driven in part by her disagreements with some parts of the republican platform, but chiefly by her commitment to Christ. The best quote of the three posts, and the one that earned her this coveted award is:

As a Christian, I've made the decision that my allegiance will never be to an institution, people group, race of people, alliance, party, or society as I believe false allegiances are the very thing that have brought our country to its current state of affairs.

In the words of Jim Carrey, that is B - E - A - UTIFUL! This girl has her head on straight and has her priorities in line. She exhibits the best of what it means for a Christian who is deeply engaged in the culture, while keeping enough distance to speak prophetically to it.

A day or two after I read Ambra's stuff I happened to be perusing the Requiest blog, written by Rong, and he had noticed Ambra also. Here is what he had to say about her:

Her writing captivated all my attention by the end of the first paragraph and I spent the next hour stunned by an insightfulness that belies her age.

Being a 22 year old, conservative, black woman, from Seattle no less… she’s like a living oxymoron. Go check her out at Nyloka.com, you’ll be quite happy you did.

UPDATED 08/24:
I can’t get enough of this gal’s writing. She is one tough straight shooting hombre.

I can’t wait… only 13 more years to go and she can run for president.

Rong is right (I've been dying to use that line for several weeks now - glad I finally found an occasion) Ambra is something special. She is a part of what I would call the Triumvirate - including herself, LaShawn Barber, and Uncle Sam's Cabin, of young, conservative, Christian, black women who are doing some of the finest writing on politics and racial issues you will find anywhere. Look for these ladies to make a big splash in the years to come. And thanks Ambra, for reminding us all where our priorities are to ultimately lie.