Just for Fun — Let’s Twist Again!

Thanks to my friend Don for this video:

 

Time for a Great Commercial — Geico and the Walrus (just for fun!)

Yes, a walrus in net would stop most NHL slapshots! “Duncan, stay up! No sleepies!”

 

Great Geico Commercial — Just for Fun!

No comment needed, really. Just brilliant. And fun. Have a good day!

 

Time for a Great Commercial! Excitement!

We are not recommending that anyone play the SC lottery!  But what a great commercial.  Life not too exciting?  Rent a fire-breathing dragon!  But be careful with the neighbor’s cat!

I don’t want to be an excitement junkie, but we often underplay the sheer excitement of being a follower of Jesus, don’t you think?  And, maybe, just maybe, one day we’ll get to ride some dragons!

 

UNLIKE JESUS! One Area Where Jesus-Followers Excel (Part 14)

Let’s think more about this idea of FUN, shall we?  Healthy, human life must include a strong factor of FUN!  Many Jesus-followers that I know and have known are sober, somber, and somnolent (a word meaning sleepy)!  We simply “don’t get out much.”  We seldom have FUN with each other, much less with the world (its citizens).

There is, of course, a fear factor.  For many the fear is that, if we spend much time with sinners, we will become like them.  We will adopt their sinful habits.  We will compromise our morals.  And that risk is very real.

However, Jesus spent time with sinners.  And He did not cave in to their sinfulness.  Perhaps the real struggle with many Jesus-followers is not a fear of compromise, but a refusal to spend their time with the lost.  They may not be tempted to drink or curse or philander, but they simply don’t want to be in uncomfortable situations with those who do.  Comfort, not conformity, is the issue.

I’ve been in situations with my unsaved tennis friends where they have offered me a drink.  I don’t make a bit deal out of my tee-totalism.  I tell them that if I were to drink a beer, I’d probably throw up on the court!  And so I have a soft drink with them.  Companionship, not sinful compromise, seems to be what they are seeking with me.  (By the way, Jesus drank with sinners.  Yes, my Baptist friends.  He did.  Afterall, He was charged with being a drunkard. But let’s not get bogged down in that issue.).

We will continue our discussion on this critical topic in our next post.  BUT I’D LIKE TO ASK YOU TO DO SOMETHING RIGHT NOW.  In the Comments’ section below, please describe briefly one relationship that you have with an unsaved friend.  Really.  (to be continued)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNLIKE JESUS! One Area Where Jesus-Followers Excel (Part 13)

Let’s face it.  Most of us Jesus-followers aren’t following Him in being a friend of sinners as He was.  Matthew 11 is quite clear that He wore that charge as a badge of honor.  We’re often afraid of what other Christians will think of us if we spend too much time with lost people.

One of the excuses we use is TIME.  But the bottom line is that each of us has 24 hours in the day.  And we can’t (and shouldn’t try to) get around the fact that Jesus spent TIME with sinners.

We also looked at the fact that we have forgotten THE ART OF FRIENDSHIP.  In our self-absorbed culture, we tend to focus on me, myself, and mine.

We are looking at various excuses we Jesus-followers use for not following Jesus in this crucial area of being a friend of sinners.  Sometimes Christians are confused about THE WORLD and our place in it.  There is a great difference between being a friend of sinners (as Jesus was) and being a friend of the world (which James 4 condemns)!  We fail to properly define the world and end up, ironically, embracing the world’s values but avoiding its citizens!

Let’s begin a brief discussion of the issue of FUN!  What do you do for FUN?  I was once asked to interview a candidate for the position of dean of our seminary and I asked him two simple questions:  (1) “Please tell me about your unsaved friends.” (He candidly admitted that he had none).  (2)  “Please tell me what you do for fun.”  (He said he didn’t have time for fun).

Somebody needs to develop a theology of fun!  God made us to enjoy His world and that includes FUN!  Mike Witmer’s Becoming Worldly Saints is a tremendous help in this area.  We are to enjoy the world God has made.  There is a fun-factor built into each of us.  Hmmmm.  What if we were to spend time with sinners — and have FUN with them? (to be continued)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life Is More Than “Angry Birds!”

I’m a 61-year-old grandfather of 1 and 1/2 grandchildren (my son and daughter-in-law produced our 1st grandchild Ryland and our daughter and son-in-law are eleven weeks pregnant — that’s the 1/2) and I must confess:  I love “Angry Birds.”

Twelve million copies of Angry Birds have been sold with 30 million free downloads.  The franchise employs forty people full-time.  If you don’t know of this game, where have you been?  I got my copy when my brother “bumped” Droid phones with me, sending me the application wirelessly.  Ain’t technology grand?

I recently bought the game ($4.99) for my laptop — and the graphics are great.

By the way, the birds don’t look particularly angry as they eagerly climb into the slingshot and prepare to be hurled against glass buildings so that little green pigs can be blown up.  They look determined, purposeful, happy.  The sound effects are outstanding.  The game really is fun, even for bird-lovers.

I’m not a crusty old curmudgeon, but life is more than a video game, even if that video game is “Angry Birds.”  There is a place for diversion, for play, for fun.

We read in I Timothy 6:17 that “God has given us all things richly to enjoy.”  Surely this includes technologically-advanced video games.

For me the key is not to become enslaved by anything, especially by those things that are good diversions.  We read in I Corinthians 6 where the Apostle Paul is quoting the Corinthians who said, “I have the right to do anything.”  His response is, “yes, but not everything is beneficial.”  He agrees that “I have the right to do anything” — “but I will not be mastered by anything.”  Even by “Angry Birds.”

Discussion Question: When does a healthy diversion become an unhealthy addiction?