Numnuts?
Thursday, June 5th, 2008Spelling bees are typically dreary affairs, but every now and then they provide some comic relief. Here’s one such example from this year’s National Spelling Bee winner.
Archive for the 'Interesting' Category
Let’s Hope So
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008The Earth Times reports that "German soldiers are overweight, smoke too much and do not engage in enough sports, according to a report published Tuesday by the parliamentary commissioner for the defence force." Given what happened the last time German soldiers were fit, perhaps their current flabbiness is a good thing.
Moses High on Drugs: Israeli Researcher
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008According to this report, an Israeli researcher named Benny Shanon argues that Moses was high on drugs on Mt. Sinai. Right! How many potheads do you know who are sticklers about rules, let alone 10 Commandments?
The Evangelism Linebacker
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
Trouble at the Inn*
Tuesday, December 25th, 2007For years now whenever Christmas pageants are talked about in a certain little town in the Midwest, someone is sure to mention the name of Wallace Purling. Wally’s performance in one annual production of the Nativity play has slipped into the realm of legend. But the old timers who were in the audience that night never tire of recalling exactly what happened.
Wally was nine that year and in the second grade, though he should have been in the fourth. Most people in town knew that he had difficulty in keeping up. He was big and clumsy, slow in movement and mind. Still, Wally was well liked by the other children in his class, all of whom were smaller than he, though the boys had trouble hiding their irritation if the uncoordinated Wally asked to play ball with them.
Most often they’d find a way to keep him off the field, but Wally would hang around anyway—not sulking, just hoping. He was always a helpful boy, a willing and smiling one, and the natural protector, paradoxically, of the underdog. Sometimes if the older boys chased the younger ones away, it would always be Wally who’d say, “Can’t they stay? They’re no bother.”
Wally fancied the idea of being a shepherd with a flute in the Christmas pageant that year, but the play’s director, Miss Lumbard, assigned him to a more important role. After all, she reasoned, the Innkeeper did not have too many lines, and Wally’s size would make his refusal of lodging to Joseph more forceful.
And so it happened that the usual large, partisan audience gathered for the town’s Yuletide extravaganza of the staffs and creches, of beards, crowns, halos and a whole stageful of squeaky voices. No one on stage or off was more caught up in the magic of the night than Wallace Purling. They said later that he stood in the wings and watched the performance with such fascination that from time to time Miss Lumbard had to make sure he didn’t wander onstage before his cue.
Then the time came when Joseph appeared, slowly, tenderly guiding Mary to the door of the inn. Joseph knocked hard on the wooden door set into the painted backdrop. Wally the Innkeeper was there, waiting. “What do you want?” Wally said, swinging the door open with a brusque gesture.
“We seek lodging.”
“Seek it elsewhere.” Wally looked straight ahead but spoke vigorously. “The inn is filled.”
“Sir, we have asked everywhere in vain. We have traveled far and are very weary.”
“There is no room in this inn for you.” Wally looked properly stern.
“Please, good innkeeper, this is my wife, Mary. She is heavy with child and needs a place to rest. Surely you must have some small corner for her. She is so tired.”
Now, for the first time, the Innkeeper relaxed his stiff stance and looked down at Mary. With that, there was a long pause, long enough to make the audience a bit tense with embarrassment.
“No! Begone!” the prompter whispered from the wings.
“No!” Wally repeated automatically. “Begone!”
Joseph sadly placed his arm around Mary, and Mary laid her head upon his shoulder, and the two of them started to move away. The Innkeeper did not return inside his inn, however. Wally stood there in the doorway, watching the forlorn couple. His mouth was open, his brow creased with concern, his eyes filling unmistakably with tears.
“Don’t go, Joseph,” Wally called out. “Bring Mary back.” And Wallace Purling’s face grew into a bright smile. “You can have my room.”
Some people in town thought that the pageant had been ruined. Yet there were others—many others—who considered it the most Christmas of all Christmas pageants they had ever seen.
*This article by Dina Donohue is reprinted from the Baptist Herald (Dec. 15, 1968).
Motivational Posters for the Emerging Church
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007My buddy Steve Lake links to these satirical "motivational posters for the emerging church." Whatever you think of the emerging church movement, these posters are pretty funny. Here are my favorites:
Bullwinkle Causes Global Warming
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007From Spiegel Online International:
The poor old Scandinavian moose is now being blamed for climate change, with researchers in Norway claiming that a grown moose can produce 2,100 kilos of carbon dioxide a year — equivalent to the CO2 output resulting from a 13,000 kilometer car journey.
Norway is concerned that its national animal, the moose, is harming the climate by emitting an estimated 2,100 kilos of carbon dioxide a year through its belching and farting.
Norwegian newspapers, citing research from Norway’s technical university, said a motorist would have to drive 13,000 kilometers in a car to emit as much CO2 as a moose does in a year.
Bacteria in a moose’s stomach create methane gas which is considered even more destructive to the environment than carbon dioxide gas. Cows pose the same problem
(more…) .Norway has some 120,000 moose but an estimated 35,000 are expected to be killed in this year’s moose hunting season, which starts on September 25, Norwegian newspaper VG reported.
As James Taranto put it in Best of the Web Today: "So not only man but animals cause global warming. Apparently the only way to preserve life on earth is to wipe out life on earth."
What to Expect When You Write about Revelation
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007As you know, I recently completed a Daily Word series on Revelation. Here’s one of the replies I received from an unknown correspondent:
Sir:
In an attempt to prevent people from being distracted from the Truth, as well as a full-scale military confrontation between the United States/Israel and Iran, I suggest that you remove the information about the Revelation of John from your website and replace it with a link to:Thanks,Michael (Daniel 12:1, Sura 2:98 of the Koran, Column XVII of the Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light)
Make of it what you will.
Separation of Church and State?
Thursday, July 26th, 2007
Click on the cartoon for a disturbing article.
What My Blog Is Rated
Thursday, July 19th, 2007
For use of the words hell 6x), abortion (2x), and sex (1x).
Given how much I’ve blogged about Revelation, with all its violence, destruction, and talk about the Antichrist and the Prostitute, I thought I’d get at least an R rating. But, hey, I’m glad this is still a family friendly site–at least if your family is over 13.
HT: Steve Lake
Which Theologian Are You?
Thursday, July 19th, 2007I thought I’d be John Wesley, but whatever…
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You scored as Anselm, Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man’s primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read ‘Cur Deus Homo?’
Which theologian are you?
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