My wife won't get horses, cattle, or sheep

Googling yourself might be one of the more self-indulgent things a person can do. I don' t do it often (really, I don't), but today I was checking up on a high school classmate of mine (Susan Werner) who has recorded a few CDs. I knew her a little bit, but actually graduated with her brother, Mark, who I knew well. I tried finding Mark, but there are a lot of Mark Werners out there. Anyway, it's almost 5 p.m. on a Friday and my energy is draining so I googled myself to see what I'd find. Interestingly, the first thing that came up for "Christian Coon," was the last will and testament for a Christian Coon in 1795. He left most of his land to his children, Christian, Henry, Gertrout, and Lovice. Yes, Lovice. To his beloved wife, Elisabeth, he left his household goods (or, rather, the goods he hadn't already left to his son, Christian) and horses, cattle, and sheep. Sadly, my wife will be empty handed when it comes to livestock if I die before her.

One other interesting thing I found. Apparently there are a few coon hunters out there who like to get together and share the faith. Yes, that's right, Christian coon hunters. I wonder if I should be concerned. Probably not, though a t-shirt from one of those groups would be nice. Oh, the fascinating ways one can waste time on a Friday afternoon.

Yes, OK, yes, it's my birthday

I never know what to do about my birthday. By that I mean to I trumpet it so that others will wish me a happy birthday or do I just keep quiet about it, secretly hoping that others will somehow just know that it's my birthday. I've done it both ways so I figure this will be a year that I trumpet.

38 years ago today, a very young husband and wife (18 and 20) welcomed me into the world in Cedar Falls, Iowa. A few days later we went home to our trailer home while my dad went to college and worked at a meat packing plant. Mom stayed home with me. From humble beginnings, new life can be formed. And it was. And I'm thankful, so very thankful, for God's presence in my life from those first moments and the way God guided my parents as they guided me.

I have a beautiful wife, two cherished children, and I get paid to preach, pray, and pontificate. What more could I ask? Happy birthday to me, indeed.

God's P.R. people

God needs a good public-relations person right about now. Two articles in the last two days make me think that.

The first article came yesterday morning and it was about, of all things, the football game between the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers. The last quote of the article was from the Colts' kicker Mike Vanderjagt: "I guess the Lord forgot about the football team." Let's review where this comes from. First, let me say for the record, and I don't think I'm going out on a theological limb here, I don't believe God really has a rooting interest in any sports event. Let's just say for fun, however, that God wanted the Colts to win last Sunday. That wouldn't be a big stretch, especially considering the Colts' coach is Tony Dungy, by all accounts a strong Christian, who has gone through one of the most horrendous things a parent can go through--his 18-year-old son committed suicide about three weeks ago. I can see God thinking, "Hmm, it would be great if the Colts could win this thing. Let's see if I'm needed. The Colts are favored to win anyway so maybe they won't need My help." But the Colts did need help. They fell behind, but were trying to make a valiant comeback. Fairly late in the game, however, the Colts' quarterback was intercepted by one of the Steelers who caught the ball, fell down, got up, fumbled the ball and then recovered it. The instant replay showed pretty conclusively that he caught it and then fumbled and recovered it. It should have been the Steelers' ball, but the referee said, no, he never intercepted it and it was still the Colts' ball, much to the surprise of everybody at the game. I could see God being a part of that one (if God wanted the Colts to win, that is). Near the end of the game, things were looking bleak for the Colts. They were behind by three points and the Steelers only needed one yard for a touchdown with about a minute left. God the Colts fan might say at this point, "OK, they really need My help now." The Steelers gave their ball to their running back Jerome Bettis who hadn't fumbled the ball all year. Guess what? He fumbled, the Colts recovered got the ball down field with just a few seconds and brought in the aforementioned kicker, Mike Vanderjagt, who is one of the most accurate kickers in the league, to kick a field goal. God might say, "OK, I've done enough, Mike, you can make this, it's up to you." But he missed and missed badly. Colts lose. Imagine God being disappointed. After all, God wanted the Colts to win and obviously intervened a couple different times to make sure they did win. And then Vanderjagt says, "It's extreme disbelief. From the..interception reversal to Jerome's fumble, everything seemed to be lined up in our favor. I guess the Lord forgot about the football team." If I'm God the Colts fan, I have a little talk with Mike Vanderjagt.

The second article was in today's paper. New Orleans mayor C. Ray Nagin said this: "As we think about rebuilding New Orleans, surely God is mad at America. He's sending hurricane after hurricane after hurricane. And it's destroying, it's putting stress on this country. Surely, he's not approval [sic] of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he's upset at black America also. We're not taking care of ourselves. We're not taking care of our women. And we're not taking care of our children."

Is God mad at America? It's a perfectly good question to ask. Is God mad at the world? If I'm God, I use my PR person (which may be you and/or me) to put out this statement: "I'm very mad that there's war, hunger, poverty, injustice, depression, and loneliness. Who wouldn't be? But please do not infer that my mode of punishment is killing innocent people via natural disasters. I thought people knew better. Sadly, people do too good job of punishing themselves. I'm doing all I can to help you put a stop to that. That is, when I'm not helping the Colts."