Category: Of Random Interest

Too Cool

After losing his bid for a third term as president, Teddy Roosevelt led an expedition to explore and map the 1,000 mile long River of Doubt. Three men died on the journey–one from the river and two from the actions of others on the team–there’s a book about it. The preacher in me can’t help pointing out that when you journey down the river of doubt it’s not the doubt itself that is most likely to kill your spiritual health–it’s how you respond to it.

Chris Rock gets it…

In 2 Corinthians 6:14, Paul explains why Christians shouldn’t get romantically entangled with someone who doesn’t share their deepest values. Every year it seems that I have to hammer this into students’ heads. They’re involved in foolish relationships and they just can’t get (or refuse to get) why it’s a bad idea.

So I was thrilled to stumble upon Chris Rock’s Bigger and Blacker special on Comedy Central. He had a bit that expressed the underlying logic beautifully (if you are familiar at all with Mr. Rock’s work you will be unsurprised to hear that I have edited the text slightly for family-friendliness):

Whatever you into, your woman gotta be into, too, and vice versa… or the [thing] ain’t gonna work. lt ain’t gonna work.

That’s right. lf you born-again, your woman gotta be born-again, too.

lf you a crackhead, your woman gotta be a crackhead, too… or the [thing] won’t work.

You can’t be like, ”l’m going to church, where you going?” ”Hit the pipe!”

That relationship ain’t going nowhere.

Two crackheads can stay together forever.

Students take note. When stand-up theologians and stand-up comedians make the same arguments you know your position is indefensible.

Kyle Lake Died

Sometime last year I read a helpful little book called “Understanding God’s Will.” I googled up the author, one Kyle Lake (pastor of the church David Crowder attends–University Baptist in Waco), and emailed him a short note thanking him for taking the time to write the book. He wrote back to me and said thanks, which I thought was pretty classy of him.

So I was pretty shocked this morning to read about his death. He was about to baptize someone and he reached to adjust the microphone which then sent a current through his body, killing him in the baptistry.

Wow. He was about my age and he just dropped like that while doing a fairly routine part of his job.

My heart goes out to his family and his church. This has to be an incredibly hard time for them. And that poor woman who was getting baptized–I wonder how she’s processing all this?