Okay time for 3 totally unrelated things.
One: A children’s sermon gone slightly awry.
I was the guest speaker in a church recently, and I was asked to do the children’s message. I wanted to talk about Saul’s conversion in Acts chapter 9. To illustrate my point (and keep the kids’ attention) I brought in two stuffed apes that jabbered when you squeezed them. I had them in a big bag, so the kids couldn’t see them until I pulled them out (one represented the pre-conversion Saul, the other was the Saul who became a believer). At the appointed time, the little kids came down front. They looked up at me with their cherubic little faces, and right before I began to speak I had a flash of insight–they probably thought I had gifts for them in my big white bag. Well, we had a problem at that point: there were 4 kids, and I only had 2 apes. And both apes had great sentimental value to me.
I got through my little message, but I did feel a little bad for the children. At least what I shared with them was very upbeat–Jesus loved Saul, and He loves the kids, too.
And I still have my apes, so there’s that.
Two: 4 bits of presidential trivia in honor of July 4–and it’s only mostly depressing.
1. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on July 4, 1826, which was the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. By the way, this was a coincidence, not irony.
2. James Monroe also passed away on July 4.
3. Our 12th President, Zachary Taylor, got really sick on July 4, and died 5 days later.
4. On a more upbeat note, Calvin Coolidge was born on the 4th of July.
For more trivia (and stuff that mostly isn’t about death), buy Hey, It’s Presidential Trivia! on Amazon or for Kindle. Get it on your iPad with the Kindle app.
Three: No update here–Tim Tebow is still awesome.
In other news, NFL star Aaron Hernandez was allegedly involved in a conflict with a guy several years ago, and his University of Florida teammate Tim Tebow tried to make peace. Wow. Nobody’s perfect, but Tebow really does seem like a decent guy. He says humble stuff, he works hard, he stays upbeat, and now we learn he’s a peacemaker. Seriously, what a great role model–not just for kids, but for full grown people, too.
Hey, make wise choices over the holiday weekend.