Life Before the Super Bowl

The first Super Bowl took place in Los Angeles on January 15, 1967 between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Led by Bart Starr on the field and Vince Lombardi on the sidelines the Packers won the initial game 35-10. The game was attended by 62,000 people and was shown on two television networks. My, how things have changed. Today 62,000 people mingle around in the parking lot just to be near the game. One television network pays billions of dollars for the rights to televise the game. Non-football fans watch the game just to see the one million dollars per minute commercials. What did we do before January 15, 1967?
The answer is simple: It doesn’t matter. The Super Bowl is what it is: football is huge in America (especially in the South), and it will continue to grow in popularity and in reach. So we roll with it. We enjoy the game and (some of) the commercials and in the process model to friends, family and co-workers that to us, football is not a religion. We can mix football and faith and keep faith at the top of the list. This is a good message, especially this week…because, let’s face it, it’s not 1967 anymore!

Michael McCullar

Humpty Dumpty Was A Good Egg (Or Not)

 

                   Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

           Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

           All the kings’s horses and all the king’s men

           Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

All in all Humpty Dumpty seems to be a Good Egg. British people use Good Egg to signify good character in a person. In America we use the term to signify an excellent breakfast. Mother Goose, however, never stated that Humpty Dumpty was an egg. In fact, earliest versions have this last line:

           Threescore men and threescore men,

           Cannot place Humpty Dumpty as he was before.

Not only does this not rhyme, it damages the age-old idea of a talking egg dressed in early 1800’s British school clothes. Scholars of such things believe the story was borrowed from an even earlier French riddle and Humpty Dumpty was a tortoise. Another view is that this riddle/rhyme was aimed at the King of England who was a bit on the round side and who lost a strategic war. Fast forward seventy-five or so years to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Humpty Dumpty is portrayed as a contemptuous grammar-fiend who argues with Alice. He is an egg in Carroll’s story, but certainly not a good egg.

Good Eggs may be clumsy and prone to fall down, but they are never argumentative with little lost girls. Good Eggs also likely realize there’s no such thing as, as he was before. Good and Bad Eggs change each day. No one is static. We all exist in a state of flux, exacerbating our fluxness with daily decisions and actions. There’s no going back. Plus, we can’t fix ourselves. Lord knows we try to fix ourselves. The self-help publishing world is a billion-dollar business and growing. No amount of glue and precision can piece us together exactly as we were before.

Here’s the takeaway: God can make us better. If it were possible to be put together exactly as before, would that be preferable to better than before? Hardly. We tumble, we fall and we break (spiritually, emotionally and physically) but God can make us new, whole and better than ever. And that’s no nursery rhyme! 

Michael McCullar

Twittering Faith

JONAH: I now understand claustrophobia. Nineveh is probably a nice place this time of year. My new motto: Listen to God.

ADAM: To all my followers I say, watch those choices…lovely fruit doesn’t always taste as good as you imagine.

EVE: He’s right. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but he is sooo right.

JAMES: You think you had family issues! You should have grown up with my brother.

THOMAS: I think I’m right, but I’m not sure. You may be right, but possibly not. I believe you, but on the other hand, is there any proof?

JOHN: He likes me best. End of story. I’m the fav.

PAUL:  And to think, my fifth grade Hebrew school teacher said I’d never be a writer!

While none of the above tweets can be verified by historians, isn’t it amazing that each famous Biblical person seems so, well, uh, human? God used flawed people to great effect. Flawed people like us. People who took hold of the movement and built God’s church. God still needs flawed people. Flawed people like us.

Michael McCullar

Without Geography You're Nowhere

Some of us are math-people while others are stronger in the social sciences. The same distinctions can be made about our brains. Each of us has a brain that has two sides with one side being dominant to the other. Thus, some of us are left-brained and some of us are right-brained. Left-brained people are very ordered and analytical in a strict way; and, right-brained people tend to be less organized, less structured, but very creative, even a bit out there. All of this brain-trivia to say we each have mental strengths and weaknesses and we are quite unique. Think of yourself as a snowflake and you’ll grasp the analogy. No two snowflakes are exactly the same. Billions of snowflakes fall each winter and each is totally and completely unique. Like us. Totally. Completely. Unique.

Don’t feel badly about a lack of geographical skill and don’t feel dumb when math seems like a foreign language (it is!). We need both and we must work harder on the disciplines that are harder for us to grasp. The same can be said about the organizationally-challenged among us (of which I am perhaps the King, at minimum, a Prince). The uber-organized will shake their well-ordered-heads at your seeming lack of stacking and sorting prowess. Don’t be upset because you do the same things when you see their color-coded To-Do-Lists and their desks staged in perfect symmetry with the constellations. Again, we are different and unique. This was God’s plan. Go with it. Be O.K. with it. If necessary, color-code it and place it in the In-Box of life.

So in this new year stop trying to reinvent the wheel that is your life. You won’t find the magic formula to becoming more or less organized, nor will you suddenly acquire the ability to calculate the square root of massive numbers. If we had those abilities, wouldn’t we have already changed our lives? The key is to set much lower goals. It’s true you won’t hear that one on Oprah, but it is nonetheless a powerful statement. Lower the bar and pick your battles.

And, most importantly, make each choice a truly spiritual one. If each New Year’s Resolution were bathed in faith we would have a much better chance of success. If a life change is also a spiritual life change, the equation is so much stronger. No longer is it simply us making a promise for change, it is God in and through us providing the power to be successful. 

Michael McCullar

Resolute…Maybe…Sort Of

Have you made a resolution for the new year? This is the hot time for resolutions and new starts, especially those focused on life changes. Who hasn’t vowed to lose a few pounds or to better use our time? Early January is also the time to debate the overall effectiveness of resolutions. Do resolutions work? Is it possible to effect change for the long haul? Wouldn’t it be easier to purchase newer, larger clothes?

ProActive Change reports that 45% of all adults make resolutions and an amazing 64% are successful after six months. The other view is championed by Mark Shapiro, author of the book Goal Free Living. Mr. Shapiro doesn’t believe in setting goals in general, much less New Year’s Resolutions, and sees the practice as a waste of time. He states that 3 of every 4 people fail miserably in following through on their resolutions.

So who’s right? Are resolutions a positive practice or a colossal waste of time and effort? The answer is quite subjective and falls within the glass is half full versus the glass is half empty argument. The ProActive Change people believe those who make specific resolutions are 10 times more likely to make positive, long lasting changes in life. The key is to be positive and for Christians, to make all resolutions spiritually based. Nothing new there, scripture teaches a positive mindset and a life lived with God at its center.

Who knows, we may actually be able to lose those pesky ten pounds, or be more patient, or save more money, or…or…well, you get the idea.

Michael McCullar, Resolutely Positive in 2012

Hey, It Could Happen

Fast forward to 2056. The United States has weathered wars and recessions and is again sitting on top of the world in education, exports and technology. The nation is no longer a right versus left, split and divided country. The out-going President is stepping away with an unprecedented 92% favorable rating and could easily be elected President of Earth (which thankfully is not yet a position). He is also the first President in modern history to come from neither of the historical wings of American politics. Press from across the globe are clamoring to obtain the first post-presidency interview. In a twist that shocks the old-line press (those who continue to use 2025 computers) and the uber-progressives using implant technology, the President selects a small media firm in the tri-cities megalopolis of Johns Creek-Cumming-Sugar Hill, Georgia (one of America’s most progressive hot spots). The President is a native of this region and spent his first eighteen years there (before going on to earn degrees from Georgia Tech, U.G.A., U.A.B., Oxford and Cambridge). Below is an excerpt from the interview:

Mr. President, to what do you owe your immense success? Honestly, I have been blessed with great parents and family, excellent educational access and the opportunity to spend six months in Congress before becoming president.

You’ve brought America from the brink of extinction in just eight years. How did you do it? Well, my six months in Congress were quite eventful and I was on a steep learning curve. The Presidency was very hard but in the tough times I called upon my early years for guidance.

By early years do you mean the short time in Congress or when your were a 5-Star General, or even when you were a double-Eagle Scout? No, obviously I learned a lot in each of those phases of life, but I am referring to my early years in church, especially in Vacation Bible School.

I apologize sir, but what is Vacation Bible School? V.B.S. was a unique week of emphasis in my childhood church where we learned about following God, living by faith and how to love other people through giving. Something we call stewardship and missions. If I may be so frank, it was a rocking week of fun and study. Shaped my life for sure.

So sir, you equate your success more with a kid’s Bible week than you do with leading our military, graduating from five prestigious universities by the time you were 25 and serving in Congress? Yes, absolutely. You know young man, evidently you never attended a kid’s Bible week as you refer to it, if you had, you’d understand. One can be educated well past their capacity to learn; war is never positive; and, I wasn’t in Congress long enough to learn everyone’s name. I am who I am due to the people who sacrificed their time and resources to give kids like me Vacation Bible School.

So Vacation Bible School changed the world? Oh yes, and in more and better ways than my story. There were five hundred of us back then. I imagine the cure for cancer was discovered by a V.B.S. graduate, plus the lady who solved the world’s water shortage was indeed a V.B.S. person. I asked her at the Nobel Prize event. 

Michael McCullar

The Storms Blew in Questionable Theology but Excellent Response

This article is being written from the perspective of an outsider touring a portion of the recent tornado’s destructive path through Alabama. I drove through two of the lesser damaged cities near Birmingham and the level of destruction was in a word, amazing. The sad reality I felt while viewing the masses of twisted trees and metal was these places wouldn’t make the top ten list of damaged areas across Georgia and Alabama. This was truly one of the worst storms of all time in an area already infamous for being a tornado-zone. The upside of my trip was the sight of church and faith-based relief work in place in both areas. Denominational and church teams were involved in many visible ways. Such rapid and on-going response to people in crisis is one way to share the Gospel of Jesus with the public. This is also a proper demonstration of Christian theology: God doesn’t cause destructive storms but He works for good in the aftermath. The church responding to someone else's crisis is part of the good that God brings to the afflicted and damaged.

Sadly this isn’t a universally accepted view of theology. There are preachers and tons of Christians who place the blame for such storms on God. Growing up I heard this preached and discussed on many occasions. God sent that storm (or insert earthquake, flood, disease, etc.) due to the sin of the people. God was just gettin’ their attention! Thankfully this shallow and wholly inadequate theology (my view) did not stick and I have been able to see the God of the New Testament profiled in the person and teachings of Jesus. This is not a haughty statement of theological superiority. That too would be against the teachings of the New Testament (Romans 14); it is simply a confession of personal theology that does not inadvertently make God out to be a very bad deity.

Imagine your house was totally destroyed in a storm and you were left with nothing but a pile of rubble. How would you feel? Would you want to hear that God brought your loss due to sin or a lack of attention? Or, would you hope to feel the enveloping love of God while standing in the midst of personal tragedy? I’m guessing most everyone would chose the latter. So why do so many people move so quickly to blame God and sin? Well, it’s easy and convenient and very human to require a scapegoat or someone to blame. It’s also true that humans want a concrete handle on even the most abstract events of life. In the case of tornados it might be best to simply apply meteorological science available on the evening newscast: hot air and cold air banging together cause very bad storms.

And to those who are so quick to blame sin or the act of ignoring God for storm damage…why are our houses still standing?

Michael McCullar