One of my favorite late Christmas presents was having my blog hacked. To make things even better, everything was deleted.
EVERYTHING!
So, I’ve got a lot backed up, but it is taking time to rebuild everything because this guy really did a number on me.
So thanks for your understanding, and we’ll be up and running soon.
And Happy New Year!
*Every Friday, I answer questions that people ask in the comments section. Feel free to add your own answer or ask a new question for a future post.
This week’s question comes from Randy, “Where do you see humor in the Bible?”
I know for a fact that God has a sense of humor. Why? Because I have a sense of humor.
I am created in God’s image, and humor is a part of that image. Therefore God is the original comedian (and the best comedian to boot!)
The Bible definitely has some passages that make me laugh, so here we go…
1) The Magical Calf (Exodus 32) God’s people convince Aaron to build them a golden calf, which is definitely a mistake. When Moses finds out he is furious and demands an explanation. Aaron, who was in charge, has the cheapest cop-out answer of all time and it cracks me up: “Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
This is on par with telling your teacher, “my dog ate my homework” or telling your mother, “the cookies must have eaten themselves.” We figured out those excuses don’t work when we were 7, but apparently Aaron never got the memo.
Source: Wikipedia Commons
2) The Talking Donkey (Numbers 22:21-42) A guy named Balaam was blatantly disobeying God. He was so stubborn and worked so hard to ignore God that God enabled the donkey he was riding to speak.
You know you’re life is heading the wrong direction when you need a donkey to be your psychiatrist.
3) Divine Bathroom Break (1 Kings 18:20-29) The Prophet Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a duel. Both the other prophets and Elijah would take turns calling upon their god to send fire down and consume a sacrifice. The prophets of Baal went first and spent all morning acting like middle school girls at a Bieber concert trying to get Baal to pay attention, but no one heard. Elijah, sensing a chance at eternal humor, said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”
Turns out Baal is not real. Owned.
4) The Eager Disciple (John 13:1-20) No one wanted to impress Jesus more than Peter, but somehow his eagerness caused him to miss the point. When Jesus came to wash his feet, he undoubtedly wanted to prove his humility and said, “you shall never wash my feet!” Jesus responded by saying, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” This caused Peter to freak out, and so he went to the next extreme and said, ”Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Way to stick to your guns there Peter.
Of course, I can’t hold it against him. I spend so much time trying to impress God that I forget I don’t need to impress Him. Thanks to Jesus, He is already impressed with me.
Where do you see humor in the Bible?
*Special note: Yesterday I had a guest post on a sweet new website called Dear18me.com. The concept is genius: different people submit letters they would write to their 18 year old selves and it is very interesting. So go check it out!
During the summer of 2008 I had the good fortune of visiting New Zealand for four weeks and it was incredible. My favorite part of the trip was the week I spent working on a sheep farm. New Zealand seems to have more sheep than Scrooge McDuck has gold coins. In fact, when I was in the country, the human population was four million and the sheep population was thirty million.
That is a lot of sheep! If they ever get smart, they could easily lead a revolution to take over the island country.
Meet George and Mildred, potential revolutionaries
After one week with these wooly creatures, however, I can safely say that they will never ever get smart. Even if they got a hold of that intelligence formula that made the Apes rise up, their brains would be near useless. I grew up learning about sheep in the Bible and heard they were not smart animals. Nothing, however, could demonstrate their denseness as much as a first hand experience.
Let me just say that every stereotype you have ever heard about sheep is true. They are the stupidest, most foolish, and most obnoxious animals I have ever spent time with.
Ironically, God compares us, His people, to sheep all throughout the Bible.
Yeah. Not very encouraging, right?
After about 5 minutes in the sheep pen, I looked up to the Heavens and told God that I was so sorry. Why? Because even though they were driving me crazy, I knew I had treated God the same way they were treating me.
Apparently, I need a shepherd just as much as a sheep does.
The sheep I worked with were pregnant and about to give birth (when a sheep gives birth it is called “lambing”). We needed to prepare them for lambing, so every day we ventured out into the thirteen hundred acre farm with the sheep dogs and corralled some sheep into a pen. Here we gave them vaccinations for various diseases and a tasty mineral supplement. These were helpful to both the sheep and the lambs they were carrying because it would enter the lambs’ bloodstream before they were even born.
The True Modern Day Shepherd
I had the task of wearing a sweet jump suit, hopping in the paddock crowded with sheep, and giving each one of them a shot. Needless to say, it was very up close and personal. Some handled receiving a shot well, but most of them freaked out before I could even get close to them. They tried to escape when there was nowhere to go! Instead of taking the shot, which caused a little bit of pain, they would ram (pun intended) their heads into fences, jump on top of other sheep, and even buck their head back in attempts to break the needle.
There are so many times in my life when I sense God approaching. Sometimes I know what I need may hurt, but I don’t want the pain! And so I do anything I can to avoid God: I run into fences and give myself far more pain than He wants me to experience. Although the “vaccines” may be painful, they are good for me and necessary for my survival. Knowing this, I still often choose to do whatever I can to escape.
Fortunately, I cannot escape God, just like the sheep could not escape me. They may have resisted for a few minutes, but in the end they felt the needle. God is infinitely more resolute and powerful than I am, and when He wants to do something in my life (or your life), He will get it done.
We have a choice: When God wants to teach us something we can submit or fight. Since He is going to accomplish His will either way, I think our best bet will always be to submit.
I learned several other valuable lessons from sheep, so over the next few weeks I will be posting them. If you want to hear more about them, make sure you subscribe!
I love the summer. It is my favorite season. Why? Because it is the best season. Some people like Spring, Fall, and Winter, but they are all wrong. Summer is simply the best, it is science. If you need convincing, here are some reasons:
1) No School!
Granted, I am no longer in school. But there is still a sense of freedom associated with summer. I think I will stay up later than I am supposed to on summer nights for the rest of my life. Being married to a teacher is an added bonus, because I still get to feel the thrill of no school through her.
FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!
2) Warm Weather:
I live in Atlanta. Some people think it is too hot here in the summer, but I disagree. Nothing beats surviving the “treacherous” winters here and celebrating summer by wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Sure, I sweat a little bit more and need to shower at least twice a week, but that is all part of the thrill.
If I could wear shorts everyday, I would.
3) Summer Movies:
Ever since Jaws, the summer has been a time for incredible action movies to be released. Every year I am more excited for the summer’s releases than the last year. While many of them turn out to be disappointments, this year has actually genuinely impressed me. Some historic summer releases include Inception, Back to the Future, Independence Day, Jurassic Park, and of course the Sandlot.
My favorite summer robot
4) Vacation:
Summer and Vacation go together like Han Solo and Chewbacca. In fact, Morgan and I just returned from a wonderfully restful trip to the beaches of Mexico. I am really not sure how you could not like the beach. Listening to the waves, surrounded by beauty, going in and out of sleep as you relax, palm trees, and the list of awesomeness goes on.
Checking out Mayan Ruins in Tulum
5) The Braves
I love the Braves. Every summer I watch way too many games, attend less than I desire, and am convinced they will win the World Series again. In past years, I’ve probably been a little too optimistic, but this year I am sure I will be right.
Celebrating the Braves 10,000th win!
So here is to you summer! You are coming to an end far too early this year, but I look forward to our glorious reunion next year.
Your Turn: What is your favorite part of the summer?
It is no secret I am a raging fanboy of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I’ve read the books several times, have several copies of the movies, and even visited New Zealand, the location the movies were filmed. I will say, however, that I have never actually dressed up in a Lord of the Rings costume (at least in Public), so I guess my fandom has limitations.
A couple days ago, The Hobbit began filming. It is still a couple years away from being released, but no doubt there will be fanatics like myself surfing the internet desperate for news over those years. Here are a few reasons why you should be excited about this film:
1) Its from the same people who made Lord of the Rings: I know some people don’t like these movies, but some people don’t like puppies either. These films are still one of the most well done epic stories. It was incredible how the quality was sustained over 3 films and in each part of the film. The directing, acting, set design, cinematography, music, script, action, special effects, and everything else was done so well and worked together to form an incredible piece of art. I mean, the third film won 11 Oscars! Those same people are making The Hobbit. Awesome.
2) Gandalf is back: Gandalf is my favorite fictional character. Why? Because he is quick to laugh, but is solemn when he needs to be. He celebrates life, and is relentless in his pursuit of preserving it and giving others a better life. He seems like a regular old man, but when he chooses to can reveal his hidden power. Despite having this power, he is always humble and spends time with the creatures in Middle Earth who seem like the least important: hobbits.
I love the AOL Keyword in this photo
3) New Zealand: Once again, the movies are being filmed in New Zealand. I love this country. It is more visually stunning than any place I have ever been. Check out some of my favorite pictures from New Zealand here, or check out the one below:
New Zealand is Middle Earth
4) The Hobbit: The Hobbit is one of my favorite books. I even remember being a kid and reading it with my dad. I have read it a couple times since then and have loved it more each time. Although it is a prelude to The Lord of the Rings, it is a very different type of story. It is more about seeking adventure, or accepting adventure when it comes knocking at your door, than it is about the doom of the entire world. It is therefore more light weight, but also more fun. Bilbo Baggins is a classic character who believes he has no worth in him outside of making a delicious breakfast, but based on a small inkling inside of him, decides to go off on an incredible journey. Though he regrets it many times along the way, by the end of the story he finds within himself courage, wisdom, determination, and more. Bilbo is the classic story of a guy who had a kairos moment, and despite the fact that it was crazy, he went after it. We have a lot to learn from this 3.5 feet hobbit.
5) It has to be better than the Hobbit I grew up with: (in fairness, this is actually pretty good for a 34 year old cartoon).
6) Gollum: I think he will look better than ever, which is pretty amazing considering how good he looked previously. Plus his voice will be much better than in the above cartoon.
Looking back on my life, I have had some epic failures. Considering most of them are funny, I decided it was time to share some of them. But first, congratulations to Kyle for winning the EvanForester.com bowl! He filled out the survey (which was very helpful by the way, more on that later) and will now enjoy free iTunes.
And now, some epic fails…
1) In fourth grade I was playing Capture the Flag. I wisely chose to run at full speed, but failed to look in the direction I was running. I looked forward just in time to see the tree I ran into, which proceeded to knock me out. When I finally came to, the entire 4th grade was staring at me laying on the ground with a massive bloody lip.
2) In 6th grade, I jumped off a swing. It was a rather high jump, so it took me a second to stand up. When I did stand up, I managed to time it so well that the swing had made its way back in my direction and hit me in the face, knocking me over. Again, a bloody lip. This time, even my teacher laughed at me.
3) In 7th grade my first girlfriend dumped me because I was “too boring.”
4) In High School I had a perfect record. Somehow I managed to get out of every kind of trouble a student can get in. Unfortunately, my perfect record was ruined when someone left a bag of pretzels in my physics class. I received a detention for eating.
5) I applied for a part time job in college. My best friend let me use his resume as a template. I changed everything on the resume, except for the phone number! When they called to set up an interview, my friend answered and everyone was very confused. Somehow, I still managed to get the job.
What about you, do you have any epic fails you need to get off your back?
First let me say that my title may be a bit of an exaggeration. But then again…maybe it wasn’t. Either way, it is one of the best stories you’ll read here and also a great story about friendship.
I have been friends with Daniel Mondl my entire life. Last weekend, I had the honor of being the Best Man at his wedding. During the Rehearsal Dinner, I shared this story because I thought it demonstrated a very noble quality of friendship that Daniel has exhibited well over the years.
In 2008 we went to New York City with another friend, Zak Beard. We were walking in Central Park and noticed they were filming a movie of some kind and thought it was cool to see. We were distracted, however, by a crazy man with a Scottish accent yelling at the film crew. We didn’t catch everything, but as he walked away he shouted, “The names Blund, James Blund!” Then, with all the malice he could muster in his voice he said, ”And I am liscensed to kill.”
Naturally, we thought this hilarious. A few minutes later we arrived at the Bethesda Fountain. You have probably seen it in movies because it is rather famous. Being a group of three guys, we realized we had not taken any pictures together and decided our mothers would probably like one. The fountain seemed as good a place as any so we started walking down the stairs to get to it. As we walked, our paths crossed with none other than…Blund, James Blund.
The Famous Bethesda Fountain
Considering the fact that he was so funny, I thought it was a good idea to ask if he wanted to be in our picture (I often make poor decisions for the sake of a laugh). At this point, my friend Zak walked away out of embarrassment (I have a way of causing people to do that). James, however, seemed happy about it and agreed. When he introduced himself, however, things turned South. When I said, “nice to meet you James Blund,” I apparently said his name wrong. I’m still not sure what his name really is, but he got very angry (probably due to the fact that he had too much to drink that morning). (Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever used parentheses this many times in one paragraph. Probably a sign of poor writing).
Next thing I know, Blund is in my face yelling about how Americans have no respect and threatening me with the fact that he was licensed to kill. He was trying rather hard to intimidate me, but I refused to back down and held eye contact with him. I was a tad nervous, but even though Zak had moved away and did not know what was going on (he was distracted by something else, I will get there shortly), Daniel was right there next to me. I knew that if this guy made a move, Daniel would be on him instantly and when Zak saw something amiss he would run over as well.
Eventually this crazy guy decided I needed to show him some respect by bowing to him. At this point I decided it was time to just walk away, so I did. He started following me of course, ranting about his special license to kill, so I moved towards Zak so he could know what was happening.
Now, you may be asking yourself, “where was Zak?”
He was under a bridge watching some other guy wearing nothing but a loin cloth sing chants (Gotta love New York!). Once we were under the bridge, Blund ranted for a few more seconds and then said the following in his malicious voice, “All’ight, I am going to leave now. But not because of you (he points to me)…but because of him! (he points to Daniel) You should respect him, even more so than me. You owe him your life!” He then trounced off to find someone else to bother.
We were talking about the experience to Zak when suddenly the man in the loin cloth spoke up in a voice that could have been mistaken for Michael Jackson’s. “Umm…Excuse me? What was all that about?”
I replied, “Ahh nothing, just some crazy guy.”
“I too know what it is like to be persecuted, and it is not fun. But do you know why I think he left?”
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“He left because this is a place of peace. His dark soul could not stand it! So he left. Now, I think you should call the police about this man before he hurts someone.”
“You really think so?” I was under the impression that this sort of thing was normal in New York.
“Oh yes!” the loin cloth man responded, “I believe the number is 411.”
Daniel looked at me, trying to decide if the guy was joking. “Uhh, Do you mean 911?”
“Oh yes! I believe that is it.”
That was our cue to move on. We left, called the police (which led to nothing), and finally took our picture. Daniel, of course, reminded me for the rest of the trip that I owed him my life. He was especially keen on reminding me of this fact whenever we had to pay for something.
Who knew how much this picture would cost?
Although the loin cloth man may have been right about the area under the bridge being a place of peace, I think the reason that Blund really left was the fact that my friends stood by me. That, in the end, is a huge part of what makes a good friend. We may not agree on everything, but when all is said and done a good friend stands by you and supports you no matter what.
I think this applies in marriage as well. My wife and I don’t always agree, but at the end of the day we will both stand by each other. I think sometimes people forget how important it is for your spouse to be your best friend. It makes life so much better! When you put the other person first (be it friend or spouse) and stand by them even when doing so puts yourself at risk, you will each be blessed in amazing ways.
How would you define a good friend?
The other day I walked into Best Buy to check out their Camera Lens collection. Big mistake. While I didn’t buy a camera lens, I did stumble upon Season 6 of LOST on mega-sale and then I found the new Goldeneye game for the Wii. I am not an impulsive buyer. In fact, I am rather cheap. But if you have been around here for a while, you know why I had to get LOST (click HERE or HERE to learn more). Goldeneye, a “remake” of the classic N64 Game, was an instant grab as well, and this blog post is dedicated to the reason for that “need.”
1) The first video game I personally bought. I remember when the N64 came out in 1996. I believe I was in 4th grade. I worked out a deal with my mom where I would save up my money and pay for half of it. To a 4th grader, $100 was almost insurmountable, but somehow I managed to scrounge together enough change over several months to pay my part. We bought the system and the first game we got was Goldeneye and I was about as ecstatic as this kid (of course, he didn’t have the self-satisfaction that I did for personally investing):
2) One Player Mode: When I arrived home my best friend was waiting for me. I calmly told him, “DUDE! I JUST GOT THE NINTENDO 64 WITH GOLDENEY!!!!” Unfortunately for him, we only had one controller so he and my brother could only watch. It did not matter, we were all mesmerized by the stunningly lifelike graphics. This was the first, and only time, that my best friend was content to sit there and just watch me play.
3) Unlocking the Cheats: Paintball mode, one shot kill, Tiny Bond, and Invisibility mode all made the multiplayer more enjoyable. Unlocking them was the real thrill however. There were a couple levels that consisted of me running with my finger on the fire button in steady stream all the way to the finish, only to realize I did not minimize civilian casualties. But, after enough attempts every cheat was unlocked. That was a glorious day for the Crown.
4) Proximity Mines at 3AM: As far as I’m concerned, there are few gaming experiences in the world better than playing proximity mines in the Caves at 3 AM. You could never see where they were and constantly blew yourself up. Nothing could have been funnier to a middle schooler who was up past his bedtime.
5) College: College Goldeneye was actually rather disappointing. After playing games like Halo or Call of Duty, the controls for Goldeneye had become extremely dated and difficult to use. I mention this memorable moment for the few people out there who were Goldeneye purists and refused to ever play those weak imitation games. In college, it paid off for them because they were automatically cooler when they owned everyone in Goldeneye. Not sure how much it helped them find a girlfriend, but it definitely gave them street cred in the dorms.
Do you have any great memories surrounding Goldeneye64? Anyone played the new one and love it as much as me?
All this week I have put a spin on our biggest fear. We typically fear failure, when really we should be more afraid of succeeding in something that does not matter. First I made fun of my most useless successes and then I went deep and talked about how it is better to fail at something that matters than succeed in something that does not.
Today, in honor of Halloween, I will be talking about those things that I was most afraid of growing up. As a kid, the world can be pretty scary. While I can’t remember the biggest list in the world, there are several things that haunted my dreams for years that I now laugh at. Here they are…
1) The White Witch: In 4th grade, I risked certain public humiliation because there was a copy of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with the witch’s picture on the cover. I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was staring at me and wanting to turn me into stone, and so I made the foolish decision of asking the teacher to turn the book around in front of everyone else. I had long feared the White Witch, and i think these psychotic portrayals of her had something to do with it:
Check out the first 2-3 minutes of this one, and remember to always say no to Turkish Delight:
I still get a little nervous at 5.5 minutes with this clip. I don’t care if it is poorly animated. I used to practice diving in bushes in case I ever heard bells approaching.
2) Gollum: In 4th grade, I made my first attempt to read through Lord of the Rings. I made it about half way and had to stop, but not because it was a monstrously large book. It was because I was so terrified of Gollum. Tolkien wrote him a bit scarier than the movies portray him (at least to a 4th grader). No matter how hard I tried, I could not shake the idea that there were two glowing eyes coming out of my closet. Here is a clip of the Gollum I grew up with:
I have since faced my fears, however, as you can see in this picture below:
My meeting with Gollum in the Weta Cave
3) E.T. This one is actually a shout out to my wife, who, to this day hates it when people point at her because it reminds her of ET. Now, I always liked the little guy, but with scenes like this I can understand why some may not:
So what about you, what were you afraid of as a kid?
