Crazy Jesus question #1 – “At what age did you know you are God?”

Thinker (Photo credit: paukrus)

Our young adult group had an interesting discussion last night. I gave each person a blank piece of paper and asked them a series of nine questions about Christmas and Jesus’ life. I instructed them to write the answer to each question, fold the paper just enough to cover their answers, and pass the paper to the right for the next question. It’s a great way to have people answer honestly because of the safety of anonymity.

We ended with a question that got great responses: “If you had one question that Jesus would answer for you – absolutely anything – what would it be?”

God the jokester

Zechariah & the angel (Photo credit: Lawrence OP)

I love scaring my kids. Creeping ninja-like to avoid the sound of creaky floorboards . . . waiting in silence for several minutes at just the right spot, and then . . . “Raaaaaaa!”  Recently, my daughter Jess jumped and threw all of her laundry in the air, and she and her accouterments fell to the floor. I’ve taken to getting video records of their reactions (which are hilarious), but I won’t share them with the world so as to avoid expensive therapy.

Zechariah, who would become the father of John the Baptist, was performing his priestly duty when an angel crept up on him in Luke 1. It was his turn to offer incense before the Lord alongside the daily sacrifice.  It’s an honor that priests had only once a lifetime, if they had a chance at all.

It’s a miracle! (or is it?)

Are you amazed? Josh is a teenager in our youth group at Evangel Baptist Church. This video was taken during our Compelled retreat a few weeks ago at Camp Burton, a little bit east of Cleveland.

Fined for Faking

English: Photo of basketball player, Reggie Evans. Wilson Wong photo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Reggie Evans of the Brooklyn Nets made NBA history the other night. He’s the first man to be fined for flopping.

Basically, flopping is when an athlete pretends to be hit hard and falls to the floor. The effect of light contact with a player from the opposing team is greatly exaggerated in an attempt to convince the officials that a foul has been committed. The intended result is a penalty enforced on the other team. The National Basketball Association is cracking down on it.

A little perspective: Anton Ego isn’t such a bad guy

“I don’t like food – I love it! And if I don’t love it, I don’t swallow.” – Anton Ego

The animated film Ratatouille has a character that fascinates me. Anton Ego is a food critic that downgraded Gusteau’s restaurant from five stars to four following the death of its owner and namesake. Gusteau’s famous line was “Anyone can cook.”  The rat, Remy, who is the star of the movie, guides Linguini’s (Gusteau’s son, who couldn’t cook) actions by tugging on his hair from inside his hat to create impeccable meals. The rat is actually the cook, but only Linguini and Remy know.

Ego is perceived as one of the bad guys in the movie because his motivation flies in the face of both the lovable Gusteau and the high aspirations of Remy and Linguini. But it becomes clear by the end of the  movie that this food critic is truly in love with the art. As the line quoted above shows, Ego won’t give his approval to something just because everyone else does. When he shows up the next night to fulfill his duty as a critic, the waiter asks him for his order:

So, kiss a little longer

Kissing Black-tailed Prairie Dogs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

An article on Yahoo! gives six ways that kissing is good for you:

1. Your pearly whites stay cleaner
2. Keep a younger looking face as you age
3. A revved up metabolism
4. Your immune system gets a healthy boost
5. Improved mood and decreased stress levels overall
6. A natural source of pain relief

In a totally unrelated strain of thought – I was at a youth retreat with 37 of our high school and middle school kids and five (very brave) adults from our church last weekend.  The theme was “Compelled,” based on 2nd Corinthians 5:14-15:

My celebrity look alike

Who is your celebrity lookalike? People amuse themselves by finding who they resemble in the world of fame and fortune. I’m not in the practice of doing this, but the new glasses I got last week made it unavoidable. My wife chose them for me and, despite my hesitance, I went with her suggestion. Her odd choices have a history of landing in my favor, like her decision about whom to marry. I’m not usually on the front end of fashion trends anyway.

While in the store choosing frames the eventual winner made me think of old pictures of my Dad, or of some guy on the tv show Mad Men (based in the 60s).  But, the most glaring resemblance is . . .

Take voting seriously, then take it easy.

(Photo credit: jsmjr)

What are you going to do if the right guy doesn’t become president?

One women told my wife that there would be, and should be, riots. Really? It’s not a bad thing to feel disappointed.  And yes, the president has a lot to do with our ability to pursue happiness. It may even be a matter of life and death for some. But, how much hope will you lose if things don’t go your way? That says a lot about what you put your hope in.

My daughter the running back

Jess in the backfield

Yep.  You heard me.  My daughter, Jess, who turned 14 years old yesterday, is a starting running back for the football team at Boardman Center Middle School.  In her first game ever she ran for a 70 yard touchdown.  Then she ran for two more touchdowns in the same game.  In total, Jess racked up about 150 yards on the ground.  I tried to get the video clip onto WordPress, but you can check it out on my facebook page on today’s date.

Her school splits each grade into two teams – one white and one maroon – for academic and other purposes.  Kids on the same team will have more classes together and share the same teachers.  Every year the 8th grade girls hold a Powder Puff game.  It’s a flag football game that pits the girls of white against the girls in maroon.  As you can imagine, bragging rights among Middle Schoolers is a pretty big deal, and so was this game.

The most annoying political maneuver yet

I’ve been introduced to a new, rather annoying political tactic.  In the mail on Saturday there was one of those official looking notes that include instructions on how to open them properly along the perforations. Someday I’ll open one along the longer side first just to see if it self-destructs or something.  Those types of envelopes are usually from debt relief companies telling me that I have only a couple of weeks left to take them up on the fabulous offer that they have been nagging me about. I just throw those away, expecting that I’ll receive another urgent letter saying the same thing in a couple of weeks.