Everybody faces tough times in life, and most Christians have asked God “why” during a difficult situation. The other day, when I was driving home from Wal-Mart, I heard a song on the radio that spoke to me in a way no song has ever been able to. The song “Whatever You’re Doing” by Sanctus Real does an outstanding job of addressing issues from a Christian perspective.
The chorus says this:
“Whatever You’re doing inside of me, It feels like chaos but somehow there’s peace. And it’s hard to surrender to what I can’t see, But I’m giving into something heavenly.”
I have no idea why God does what He does half the time. I still have a few questions about why my grandmother died of cancer two years ago. Needless to say, I’m only beginning to understand the death of my uncle two months ago. Neither death seemed fair. They were both very stressful times in my life, as you can imagine. And when I was moved to Frisco in 2001, I didn’t have a clue what God was doing in my life. But this part of the song, by using the word “whatever,” supports the idea that we don’t need to understand God’s plan. And as long as we understand that we aren’t meant to understand God, we can find comfort in the chaos. The chorus goes on to confirm that it will be difficult to trust God, and believe me, this is so true.
There is more than one way to look at everything in life. In Teen Leadership, we call this principle “reframing.” A picture can look really ugly by itself, but every picture can look good in a beautiful frame. And any situation can look good from the right perspective.
I auditioned for my school talent show last week. It should be no surprise to my loyal reader(s) that I brought stand-up comedy to the stage. But I didn’t have much of my material memorized, and I couldn’t get it printed out in time. The lines I could remember kinda stank. I didn’t make the show.
But the Frisco High School talent show is not the only opportunity I have available for stand-up comedy. There’s sure to be a talent show at the church in May, where my material would still be fresh. And, even if my comedy is no good, I also have a recently uncovered talent for rapping. Beyond all that, maybe the judges knew what they were doing. (Imagine that!) If my comedy was as pitiful as they suggested, then they saved me a lot of embarrassment by keeping me off the stage during the real show.
Getting rejected for the talent show line-up is one nasty picture. But knowing that everything worked out for the better makes for a gorgeous frame!
My favorite board game in the world is undoubtedly Yahtzee. I’m not necessarily the best at it, though I usually do well. It’s a game of chance, but it requires a lot of skill. I have absolutely no control over what dice I roll. Maybe I’ll roll something bad, like a 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. No points there. I could get something like a full house or small straight, which is quite good. If I’m really lucky, I might get five matching dice on the first throw. But no matter what I roll, there is strategy involved. Even the most pitiful rolls can be turned into a ton of points. And even if they can’t, then there’s always next time.
It works the same in life, and I’m not talking about the one created by Milton-Bradley. Nobody will get something perfect every time. Some people will never get the set of dice they want. But the dice we roll won’t be what will count when we die. It will be what we did with those dice. “Bad dice” could be something like losing a grandmother to cancer. That can be scored under either “complain about the unfairness of life” or “be grateful for my new step-grandmother.”
Everything that happens is part of God’s plan, whether it’s good or bad at first. Being upset is okay, but it is downright stupid to let obstacles get in the way of being an effective Christian.
Anyone who has endured a day of high school knows for a fact that it is no small task to serve the Lord in every part of our lives. Although persecution is not as extreme at Frisco High School as it was in Rome, it certainly doesn’t help. One question often comes up in my mind: “How do I deal with people who don’t agree with what I believe?”
Remember those bracelets that said “W.W.J.D.?” and were impossible to wear comfortably but were still in fashion somehow? I think I had one that was a teal-ish color. The bracelet itself was pretty stupid in retrospect. But the question of what Jesus would do is one of the greatest ever, and it helps with dealing with non-believers. What did Jesus do in Luke 4:28-30?
When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. Jumping up, they mobbed him and took him to the edge of the hill where the city was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, but he slipped away through the crowd and left them.
Jesus didn’t try to correct anyone. He didn’t get aggressive. He left the situation. What should we do? Instead of trying to talk our way out or waving the Scripture banner in the muddy faces of our disgraceful adversaries, we should calmly say that what they believe is OK. If they want to talk about it another time, go for it. If they don’t say anything, don’t try again immediately. You’ll come across like one of those people on car dealership commercials.
I found the retardedest* joke in the world today while surfing the Internet. I was dismayed to see that my Malibu did not make the cut, but I can still enjoy a good laugh.
Cars Found in the Bible
Car
Reference
Old Plymouth
“God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden in a Fury.”
A Pontiac and a Geo
“Pursue your enemies with your Tempest and terrify them with your Storm.”
Dodge pickup
Moses’ followers are warned not to go up a mountain “until the Ram’s horn sounds a long blast”
A Honda that Jesus was humble about
“For I did not speak of my own Accord...”
A British motorcycle
“The roar of Moses’ Triumph was heard in the hills...”
A British motorcycle with a hole in its muffler
“Joshua’s Triumph was heard throughout the land...”
A crowded Honda
“The Apostles were in one Accord.”
Just thought I would share that with my little corner of the Web. And, while I’m on, check out the website I designed for my brother Tyler!
This morning, I was tired. In fact, I was very tired. I looked at the clock and found comfort in the fact that it was 5:50, a full 55 minutes before I like to be up. Well, you know how it goes. 10 minutes go by. Naw, the bed is too nice and warm. Another 20 go by. You know, I have no obligation to get up yet. Lather, rinse, repeat until it’s 6:45. I’m sitting in bed listening to the radio station that my clock faithfully wakes me up to every morning, and I just don’t wanna get up. So I sit for a few more minutes. It’s 7:00 under God*. My dad sticks his shiny head through my door and tells me to get up.
Well, I’ll spoil the ending and just tell you now that I eventually got up at 7:20, leaving myself about 20 minutes to shower, dress, eat, and gather everything and go. I’ll say it plainly: I did not plan for the future very well.
Now I know you can relate to this if you’re over the age of about 10. Honestly, we all have our days where we just don’t wanna get up yet. During those 90 minutes or so that I couldn’t decide whether or not to get up, my mindset was one that I can stay in bed for one more minute and it won’t hurt anything. I was focused on “right now the bed is warm and comfortable” rather than “if I don’t get up I might make my brothers late for school.” Very short-term.
Lying in bed at 7 AM is not the only real-world instance of being focused on short-term. I, along with many friends of mine, are frequently under the mindset that God answers prayer immediately. It took me several months of prayer to discover that I don’t need a girlfriend. It took three years of prayer to find a remote answer as to why I live in Texas and not in Oklahoma. And if that isn’t enough, I heard a testimony from a world-famous violin player who prayed for a Bible... for 25 years. Look, if God can wait a quarter of a century to give someone His very own Word, He doesn’t have any obligation to answer every other prayer right away.
So don’t worry too much about the here and now, because it may turn out that what we want isn’t what God wants for us. It’s still okay to ask, but don’t be impatient. Impatience causes depression. Trust me.
Wanna talk about a guy who can live up to his name? Then let’s talk about Weird Al Yankovic.
But if you want to talk about people who live up to the clothing they wear, it can be a different story. Any white nerd can wear a shirt that says something about their brain missing, and any dip-hole with an I.Q. of minus 10 can wear a shirt that boasts of how much more intelligent they are than you. And I, with my amazing skills around women, can wear a shirt that says “sorry, ladies... only two at a time.”
So, keeping this whole thing going, how often do you think we wear a proverbial t-shirt that screams out “I’m an amazing Christian,” and then turn around and talk about how “our life is sh-t?”* The way I look at it, taking God’s name in vain is not just “oh my God” or such. I believe that truly taking His name in vain involves claiming to live for Him and then blatently going against that.
I have to admit that I’ve been guilty of that one more than once. I’m getting better at it, but there’s always more progress that can be made. That’s all I have to say for now, but trust me... I’d be able to rave about my badness so much more if it weren’t after 10:50 right now.
Ha, ha, ha... wouldn’t that be awesome? If it was an actual wrestling match, Jesus could win in a heartbeat.
But here’s where it gets sad. I can list all kinds of Star Wars quotes that you may have not known existed... so many, in fact, that I made a whole text document with just 50 of the lines that I remember off the top of my head. There’s no telling how much I can say with the movie while it’s playing in front of me. Heck, when watching Episodes III or VI, I can recite almost the entire dialogue of the film with the characters.
So why can’t I do the same with Scripture? I really, really wish I could. What does the Star Wars saga have that the Bible doesn’t, other than negotiations with a lightsaber*? Nothing, really, when you boil it down to plot actions and character flaws. Except for how much time I spend in front of each.
For example, I always know the exact location of every Star Wars DVD within our household. On the other hand, there are Sunday mornings when I take forever trying to find my Bible... only to find it in the car. Or, beyond that, you might have noticed that in my quotes I cited which of the episodes the lines were from and who said them. With what little Bible I have memorized, only about half of the passages I can recite are complete with references and author citations. How sad it is.
And yet, I feel like people look up to me as a Christian. My friend, John, recently asked me to pray for his mom, whose friend died recently. I’m not a deacon or anything near... and yet people feel like they can look up to me as a brother in Christ. That really meant a lot, and it was especially nice since it meant I could conclude this post on an optimistic note.
You might be a huge Chuck Norris fan if your fantasy football team is named the Delta Force. You might be a little too much of a Chuck Norris fan if all you want for Christmas is the first season of Walker, Texas Ranger on DVD. You’re probably way too much of a Chuck Norris fan if you feel that your time on the bus is best spent telling Chuck Norris jokes to your friend. And telling your bus driver to “have a Chuck Norris weekend” is extreme for the extreme.
Augh, all of that applies to me... and I’m proud of it.
Many “facts” about Chuck Norris portray him as a deity, while others portray him as someone who’s always ticked off. Although they’re just jokes, is it possible that this is how people see God? In English the other day, we read a writing from a Puritan preacher who said that the mouth of hell is gaping wide open ready to devour us, and the only thing keeping us from falling in is the mere pleasure of God.
Now, Puritans will be Puritans, but really... if fellow Christians (from 400 years ago) believed that God is constantly angry at us like Terrell Owens at Donovan McNabb, then what’s to stop non-Christians from believing the same? The image of church to non-churchgoers is getting worse and worse. Even I wouldn’t be a Christian if I was raised to believe that God was out to get me. Nor would I enjoy church if all it was was hymn after hymn after hymn! I mean, our old worship director put a Texas twang on “Victory In Jesus,” which wasn’t bad at all, and we also sing “Solid Rock” occasionally. But other than that, it’s all contemporary. And how about us, the church people? What do we make church look like to others? A kid once decided not to like me because of my OSU hat. I asked him why, and he said that it was because of something unkind that another person did to him while wearing an OSU shirt. I don’t blame that kid one bit for hating Oklahoma State!
In a nutshell, I think that there is much that needs to be done in order to reach the unsaved among us. And, as many times as you’ve probably heard this cliché, it starts with us. Those WWJD bracelets are already past their season, but still... think about that before you act, because we might be the only Jesus someone will ever see. I know that it doesn’t mean as much to someone who hasn’t had their favorite college shunned by a 10-year-old from Arlington, but you gotta hear me out on this!
I think that my “nutshell” paragraph may have been longer than my first three, but oh well.
I’m decking out in Oklahoma State clothing for Sports Night at my church. We’re doing a thing called Madhouse, which is a 4-week thing with a whole bunch of activities and a different theme each week... and this week is Sports Week, where we wear our favorite team clothing. And guess who my favorite team is!! OSU!! Luckily, I am not short at all on OSU clothes... come to think of it, I don’t think I ever have been. And that makes me wonder about my priorities in life... which do I care more about, OSU or God? I’m not some kind of professional statistical informational dude or whatever, but I can safely say that if I devoted nearly as much of my life to Jesus as I did to OSU, I’d have more Scripture memorized than most top preachers. Shoot, I have statistics about former OSU players that most people don’t have any interest in whatsoever. For example, did you know that in 2002, Josh Fields threw for over 3,000 yards? Did you know that in 2003, Rashaun Woods set an all-time NCAA® record by receiving 7 touchdown passes against SMU? Or that Tatum Bell was the fifth OSU player to lead the nation in Heisman® voting at one point in a season? I bet not. I wish I could remember my Bible as well as I remember former Cowboys that threw it away after graduation! Let me tell you, I would be the ultimate Christian teenager!
I hope you’re not concluding that I think OSU is evil, because they most certainly are not. What I’m saying is that, as people, we need to stop “trying to find time for God” and instead make everything else work around God. That’s this post in a nutshell.
The definition of “Viral Advertising,” according to Wikipedia, is as follows:
“...[A] marketing technique that seeks to exploit pre-existing social networks to produce exponential increases in brand awareness, through viral processes similar to the spread of an epidemic”
I’m sure that to the teenage audience that usually reads this blog, that meant absolutely nothing. But check out an alternate definition of it as found on Casual Fridays. That’ll get you thinking for a while... and cost you your appetite in the process.
He hates cats, by the way. All you feline-hugger associations should be mad at him. Good thing I’m not a cat person myself.
Rob Bell had some interesting things to say at the little convention thing I mentioned last time. He was showing all this scientific stuff that I had learned in, like, 8th grade or so... but he was using it to show that there absolutely must be a god. All this stuff like how if the earth were tilted another half of a degree in either way, no life on earth. A tenth of a percent more or less salt in the oceans or in our bloodstreams, no life on earth. One million miles closer to or farther from the sun... you get the point. He said that it’s like “God has all these dials that are turned to exactly the right spot... if one dial isn’t right, then all these other dials being right mean nothing.”
He’s so good at making these points that I was even able to come up with my own analogy: imagine a football field with a laser on one goal line and a target on the other. Every ten yards is a giant wooden board stretching from sideline to sideline, and your job is to drill a tiny hole in each board. If you put one hole just a half centimeter too far to the left, the laser doesn’t shine on the target. One hole just a little to the top, no light on the target.
Rob Bell is also very funny... not only in what is prepared, but in what is a reaction. Someone had a cell phone go off in the middle of the speaking... and it was LOUD. Rob stopped in the middle of what he was saying and just said “That is the loudest cell phone I’ve ever heard! I hear it again, it’s mine.” And wouldn’t you know it, the same phone rang again about 5 minutes later. Without losing his cool, Rob just stopped talking, lowered his head, and waved the person to the front.
He also had an interesting take on how Adam named the animals. According to Rob, it was like this:
God: So, what should we call this? Adam: I dunno... how about... hippopotamous? God: And this? Adam: Hmm... maybe a... duck-billed platypus? [many hours later; Adam is very tired] God: This one? Adam: Ugh... a dog. God: [sigh] And this? Adam: [groan] [mumble] Cat. God: Wait a second! I didn’t make that one!
Another thing Rob Bell did that impressed me was how well he planned his speech. In the middle of his introductory talk about Genesis 1, he wrote a then arbitrary-seeming number waaaay on the other side of the whiteboard. (This whiteboard was, like, 30 feet wide, I swear.) He was like, “Alright, we’ll cover this number next Tuesday.” Heh, heh. He was right; when he had used up so much whiteboard that he was back to where that number was, he was at the perfect point to tie that number in.
There is so much more I can write about, like his knowledge of Hebrew, his understanding of culture when the Bible was written... but that really would take until Tuesday. Instead of writing it, I’d rather be able to apply and show what he said in my everyday life.
And all that was to cover the two-hour talk from Rob Bell. I haven’t even begun to post about the good times I had with my uncle, aunt, and cousin. Whew... that’s one for next time.
Now that we have my best friend posting on this blog, who knows what will happen? You’ll notice that this is now “Christianity through the eyes of teenagers” instead of “Christianity through a teenager’s eyes.”
Now that the welcoming is done, let’s go live to the original post already in progress.
...ited for myself because in a matter of hours I get to see Rob Bell in person. Sweet. My infant cousin, Derek, will be there as well. His nickname among me, himself, and his 3-year-old brother, Grant, is “Little Dude.” That originated with Grant and I calling each other “Dude” a long time ago... back when you had to teach him how to be cute.
Grant really looks up to me as far as I know. More than once, I’ve heard stories about him asking his mom where “Dude” was. I feel so happy when I know that he loves me enough to not only ask where I am, but to call me by our little “special nickname” for each other. He apparently looks forward to seeing me and talking with me, and I look forward to each opportunity to spend time with him.
I think that that’s exactly the kind of relationship we should have with God. I’m not saying that you have to start off prayers with “Dear Big Dude” or finish them with “in Big Dude’s name, amen” or anything (although you’re welcome to if you want), I’m just saying that we should be spending enough time with God that it becomes something that we want to do 24/7.
Gosh, that sounds just like Rob Bell, doesn’t it? Can’t you just see it:
Oh, yeah.
Now I just have to wonder... why is it that this is my third consecutive post that has come after midnight?
Rob Bell is coming to Oklahoma City on Friday. That’s, like, 3 hours from where I live... just like Dallas during rush hour. Gosh, if we leave during rush hour, we can get to OKC faster than we could get to Dallas. Scary thought.
Anyway, Rob Bell is the coolest thing since sliced cheese. I’m very excited to see him, and I am also psyched about seeing my aunt and uncle who are also Rob Bell fans. (This is the same uncle that runs Casual Fridays.) Rob Bell came out with a new video a few weeks ago. I can only assume that my parents are picking up the DVD while we’re there. They, like me, picked up Rob Bell Fever from those relatives I recently mentioned. (This is where instant replay would be very handy.)
That Roughriders game I mentioned in my last post... I took my uncle’s advice and rooted for both teams. Tulsa won that game 17-1... or, as Justin would have me say, “320,701,022 to 100,000.” I had such a great time at the game; Justin, Brittney* and I throwing jokes in each other’s faces, Justin getting a ball from a player, me waiting for my dad to pick me up in the wrong spot. But mainly the good times with Justin. Friends like him are extremely rare. (Kinda like that steak I cooked for dinner.)
With less than 5 weeks of freedom and Justin becoming a senior, these could be the last non-school days that I get to spend with my best friend. Then I’ll have to become best friends with Nathan, who hasn’t checked e-mail since the Stone Age.
Those of you that didn’t see any relationship between the title of this post and the first line of it obviously didn’t watch Toy Story the other day.
Great day in sports today. Just as I predicted in the last post, I went to church. I somehow ended up with the job of unofficial door greeter. We came back home and started watching the stuff for the Indy 500. Some of my other cousins are here to eat lunch and watch the race with us. Tonight, my belovéd Dallas Mavericks face the Phoenix Suns that I despise so much for stealing Steve Nash. The series is tied at 1-1. I didn’t always care about basketball; in fact, I never really followed the Mavs until earlier in the season. And yet, my “Mavs Fever” has rubbed off on my parents. My dad, who would never have given a care before, was searching for a station where we could listen to Game 2 on the way here. My mom asked me who won Game 7 when the Mavs were playing the Spurs. They even joined me in watching the Round 1 series between the Suns and Lakers, and groaned whenever the Lakers lost and cheered with me when they won. I guess I have quite an influence on my parents.
I just find it odd that it’s so easy to join people in some silly sports obsession that comes once a year for each sport, and yet nobody joins each other in Bible study groups outside of church. I tried to form one once last year, but it never caught on. My church up here in Tulsa makes a big point out of outreach. I think that everyone should do something of that nature.
Leave a comment on this post; I want to hear how/if other people agree with this. And, for those that do, we could maybe start an online study group?
Something to think on; and now, I must join my family in watching their race.
The background: I am at my aunt and uncle’s house just outside Tulsa. The older of my two cousins is in the first days of recovering from a horrible sunburn. I have had a nasty cough for the past couple of weeks.
The story: It’s 1:30 in the morning and I wake up coughing badly. It’s bad enough that it wakes up my cousin. Being awake reminds her of her painful burn, causing her to scream out loud. Her screaming wakes up my other cousin, who starts to cry. All the while I am coughing. Looking for an excuse to leave the chaos, I decide that I am thirsty and go downstairs for a drink.
And on my way back to bed I decide to post to my blog. Sign of the times.
The religous meaning: I’m tired. I can’t sleep. Is God speaking to me through this? I often ask that question about a lot of things. Could it be that God uses every experience to speak to us? That’s what I’m wondering. What if this experience was put here in order for me to realize that God wants to talk with me?
That’s all for now. I need some rest so I can go to church and then watch the Indy 500 with my mom. Maybe I’ll be back then.
Time to practice SLEEP... the program I mentioned in the title. :)
By the way, you can use that acronym whenever your teachers ask why you aren’t paying attention in class.
I just finished what may be my final full day of school at Frisco High School ever. I’ve said my [possibly final] goodbyes to my friends and all that. I’ve also done a few things with the yearbook. One thing I’m doing is counting mistakes. I’m rather picky about Dummkopf* mistakes. Those will be here when I finish them; I’m about a third of the way through and I’ve already spotted 62 dumb errors.
Another thing I’ve been doing is signing people’s books with Bible verses. Here are a few:
“Have a ‘fruity’ summer... John 15:1-8
Make like a hawk and prey... Jude 1:20-21
(To a close friend who talks about sick things) The Bible is full of advice that would be useful to you... Leviticus 18:7
Laugh often, but not too often... Genesis 18:15
Y’all are allowed to use any of those that you want to. You’re gonna have to look up the verses on your own, though.
Anyway, just sharing some nerd fun and some Christian fun with you.
Yes, the idea of counting goofs in the yearbook is how nerds have fun.
Ever since Al Fike (my favorite stand-up comedian) said that, it’s kinda turned into my catch phrase. When Al Fike said it, though, he was talking about “how hard it is to praise Jesus while you’re going through some kind of traumatic experience like being beat.” He said that he could have been yelling “Whoo, yes! Thank You Jesus for this whippin!” But let’s be realistic. Does it really make sense to praise Jesus when you’re fixin’ to die!? No. And doesn’t God know it! So now we get to the million-dollar question: Why does God let bad things happen to us? Why is there pain? Or, in other words, if God knows it’s hard for us to praise Him during pain, why does He send it our way?
There are many answers, but the two I heard at church yesterday are my favorites. The first came from a confused little kid: “If God didn’t give us pain, then He’d have to give more pain to Jesus on the cross, and then Jesus wouldn’t be able to come back alive.”
But the second one came from the pastor himself. I’m not perfect, so I hardly remember the whole sermon, but what I do remember is that pain comes from man. We have free will, so it’s our own dang fault we have to endure this stuff; we allowed pain to rule our lives. I like the Princess Bride philosophy: “Life is pain. Anyone who tries to tell you differently is selling something.”
Let’s backtrack real quick. Free will, right? There’s no point in Him creating us if we’re forced to love Him. It has the same effect as giving yourself a gift... it just isn’t as special.
I hate pain, but I’ve learned to accept it. Adios.
There’s more to life than girls. Look back on your past week and that becomes perfectly clear. You often never realize what you’re really doing until you see what the effect is.
Let’s look back on my week, for example. In fact, there are actually some good examples from last night, when I went to a lock-in with Boy Scout troop 216. When I went rock climbing, I felt like I was just going through the motions and whatnot. But after doing some ballaying, I saw that lots of younger Webelos were watching me and following my examples. Several 5th graders that otherwise wouldn’t have understood the concepts of it figured it out by watching me. As “whatever” as that sounds, it helped them get their merit badges for climbing. One more merit badge was added to their Boy Scout “transcript,” which is one less they have to take to reach Eagle rank. Of course they owe it to more than just me, though.
Bees go out doing their own little thing, too... cross-pollinating flowers. They don’t necessarily realize that they are helping with nature, but they are. But, when you look at the big picture, aren’t we all?
So take a few moments to look at the roses you cross-pollinated unknowingly. I know, that ending sounds nothing like me, but I saw a post on my uncle’s blog and had to put it here.
Today, my mom was listening to Mark Levin, an infuential republican talk show host. Why do we need to listen to him, anyway? I mean, our family is already full of ’publicans. It’s not like we need to listen to him so we don’t fall into the evil hands of the liberals. No, we listen to him so we have more ammo against those liberal whackos. (No offense, all you lefties out there.)
This corresponds to why we read the Bible. It’s so that don’t we fall into the hands of Satan (or John Kerry). We will have more meat against that stupid devil (I mean Satan this time) if we read the Bible.
Like I have room to talk. I think the last time the Bible came off my shelf (not for church) was when I tried to read the whole thing through in 5th grade. I still have the bookmark right where I left off 5 years ago... Genesis 6. Hrmph. I’ma try to get caught up next year. Join me... I will post the reading calendar online in whatever format (probably HTML).
Is there anything in life that can’t be related to video games, college football, or something that happened at school? Well, while I’m sure there is, I can find almost any way to make those connections.
Off to my right, my little brother is playing Midnight Club 3. In this game, he has to pick up checkpoints in a race across the city. Often times, he will never see the checkpoint until he is right there. So how does he know where they are? He has a little arrow in the upper-left corner of the screen guiding him. Sometimes, though, he doesn’t look at that corner because it’s inconvenient and he has the course memorized already.
Hey, what does this sound like? The “race” represents life, and that little arrow is the Bible. To take it a step further, there is also music in the background to distract him, and there are other racers who will do whatever it takes to knock him off course. You can fill in the blanks for what those might represent.
I know how insincere this sounds coming from me, but T.V. disgusts me!
A few weeks ago, I happened to see this message displayed before “Family Guy:”
The following show contains animated nudity. Viewer discretion is advised.
Whoa. Animated nudity on network television? Is this what we’re coming to? Trying to get horny off of some animated television show? Even “The Simpsons--” mild compared to what I found on ABC, CBS, and NBC-- is drifting that way. My mom was recently telling me that people boycotted “The Flinstones” when it first came out because it showed Fred and Wilma in bed together. Oh, how times have changed. Even in the ’90’s, that dreadful “B” word was not acceptable on television.
If I ever have children of my own, I may not even let them watch T.V. at all, because at our rate... they’d be able to watch full-fledged porn on network television without my knowledge.
I hate to have to say it that way, but that’s exactly where we’re headed.
Okay, seriously, what would you think if you saw this candy bar for sale:
You’d probably laugh and continue with whatever it was you were doing before. Actually, even I thought it was rather funny. But here’s something I wouldn’t laugh at:
I’m tellin’ you, I did not make this up. This is something real I saw at Mardel last night. Do they really think that people will buy their stuff just because it has the word ‘Bible’ on it? Come on! I looked at the ingredients on the back. They seemed to bear a striking resemblance to Pemmican. Is this what the world is coming to? Slapping the word ‘Bible’ on some Pemmican and saying that it’s “God’s way of getting nutrition?” I’d like to refer you to a post on Musin’spiration, if I may, for you to see that this is not isolated. You may also enjoy a trip to HouseOfDavid.net if you liked that candy bar. (Note the sarcasm...)
This just sickens me... not the ingredients, but the fact that Jesus is becoming a brand. When all is said and done, we will look down on these companies and ask what they thought they were doing. Not that I’m against companies being Christian, but this is not what that means.
©2005-2008 Ryan T. Wilson and Justin Venezio
Ha, ha, ha... wouldn’t that be awesome? If it was an actual wrestling match, Jesus could win in a heartbeat.
I’m decking out in Oklahoma State clothing for Sports Night at my church. We’re doing a thing called Madhouse, which is a 4-week thing with a whole bunch of activities and a different theme each week... and this week is Sports Week, where we wear our favorite team clothing. And guess who my favorite team is!! OSU!! Luckily, I am not short at all on OSU clothes... come to think of it, I don’t think I ever have been. And that makes me wonder about my priorities in life... which do I care more about, OSU or God? I’m not some kind of professional statistical informational dude or whatever, but I can safely say that if I devoted nearly as much of my life to Jesus as I did to OSU, I’d have more Scripture memorized than most top preachers. Shoot, I have statistics about former OSU players that most people don’t have any interest in whatsoever. For example, did you know that in 2002, Josh Fields threw for over 3,000 yards? Did you know that in 2003, Rashaun Woods set an all-time NCAA® record by receiving 7 touchdown passes against SMU? Or that Tatum Bell was the fifth OSU player to lead the nation in Heisman® voting at one point in a season? I bet not. I wish I could remember my Bible as well as I remember former Cowboys that threw it away after graduation! Let me tell you, I would be the ultimate Christian teenager!
Okay, seriously, what would you think if you saw this candy bar for sale:
I’m tellin’ you, I did not make this up. This is something real I saw at Mardel last night. Do they really think that people will buy their stuff just because it has the word ‘Bible’ on it? Come on! I looked at the ingredients on the back. They seemed to bear a striking resemblance to Pemmican.