Interesting that this year the majority I’ve seen have been on the humurous side.  So here are some just for fun.

Tim Hawkins ponders some of the strange things Christians sing around Christmas.

I don’t know if you know Johnny and Chachi, but they’re hilarious here in their medley of Christmas songs.

If you are still yearning for more Christmas music medley action, here’s another funny one.

So that’s enough Christmas music forwards.  There was one forward that really moved me.  This is one by the skit guys and it’s definitely funny, kind of a an Office-style interview with a guy who is getting ready for his part as Joseph in a living nativity.  So go ahead and enjoy the funny stuff, but keep paying attention and be ready to think about what he says at the end.  I’ll let it hit you like it hit me so I’m not going to quote the impact statement.  But think – “Could you have done it?” and, “How do you feel about a God who did?”

Here’s the text that’s generally attached to the forward-

This machine was built as a collaborative effort between the Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of
Engineering at the University of Iowa . Amazingly, 97% of the machines components came from John Deere Industries and Irrigation Equipment of Bancroft, Iowa, yes farm equipment!

It took the team a combined 13,029 hours of set-up, alignment, calibration, and tuning before filming this video. It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian..
At no time does a ball fall on the floor.

I really enjoyed watching this video and my mind was going in some interesting directions as I pondered spiritual thoughts that could be attached to this machine, the way it was transformed from machine equipment into something that plays beautiful music, etc.  But then I thought, “you know what, something seems a little odd about this video, I better do my due diligence and check to make sure it’s true.”

Of course, I was disappointed when I found out that this was another bogus forward.  The video is actually a computer animation entitled, “Pipe Dreams”.  Still interesting, but not nearly as cool.

So here’s the question that comes to my mind now- why do people do this?  Think of all those forwards out there that don’t just manipulate the truth but include compelte falsehoods.  Sometimes forwards work a little like the game telephone, but to get to this point, where a school of engineering, a school of music, and farm equipment, is invented, I’m guessing it takes someone just lying.  Why?  Why do you think people are inspired to create false forwards, to take stories and claim they’re true, to manipulate videos, etc?  What is it in the human psyce that makes people want to do this kind of thing?

Is it simply a desire to see if they can get others to believe the fiction they create?  A desire to be a little famous?  Every time I read a forward I like I’m hopeful, but always a little skeptical too.  It’s an interesting study of human nature, and the brokenness of sin, to see the manipulation that happens via forwards.

And at the same time, it’s interesting to see how often forwards are sent on with the desire to uplift or create joy. The other side of human nature also exhibited.  I guess in a forward like this, we recognize both natures present, just as they’re present in us.

Just a funny little joke at first glance.  I’ve read it before, but when it was forwarded to me recently for some reason I read through it again and it made me think.

This boy didn’t know anything about Jesus, but when he saw him nailed to the cross (the plus sign) he immediately got that serious business was going on (yes I know it’s a joke, but let’s get into the story a little).

The cross is serious business.  The idea that we have a God who was willing to send his son to die, a God who was willing to endure the pain of the cross, all for us, that’s serious.  I think of Dietrich Bonhoeffer who wrote a book called, “The Cost of Discipleship”.  It’s a profound book for many reasons, but I’m always thinking back to his discussion of grace where he challenges us with the idea that grace is not cheap.  Yes, grace is God’s gift to us, but it wasn’t cheap.  Grace was in fact very costly.  The cost had to be paid by Jesus. That meant suffering death, a horrible and painful death.  That meant suffering the pain of hell, the consequences of all our sins.

So how do we live with these realities?  We realize how serious God was – if God was willing to pay the cost, we should be willing to give him our time in thanks and praise as well as with our hearts and hands in mission.

  As you look at these pictures (the two on the right are from this artist, the one on the left is my wife’s painting based a picture she was shown), what’s your reaction?

I’m curious, because the two on the left were included in a forward I saw which stated that they’d never seen much art with Jesus laughing.  That’s kind of interesting because it goes to our understanding of Jesus.  Is he the stern teacher?  The resolute, but sorrowful savior?  The righteous one?  When you think of Jesus how do you picture him?  When you read the stories of the Gospels, do you see him smiling?  When you pray to him, what’s he look like?

It’s good to see all sides of Jesus, but we definitely want to keep this side within our framework- the Jesus who was  real man, who did laugh and joke, who did welcome the little children, who did have friends, and who even calls us friends.

That’s what I thought.  Here’s the funny one, the first ever tech support guy.  It does make one think about how technology is a part of every age.  At the same time, technology today changes so much more quickly.  How long would the printing press dominate?  Hundreds of years.  I just saw John post a comment on Facebook wondering when people are going to quit making conference calls and just go to Skype.  Conference calls sure didn’t get that long in the sun when we want to replace them already with Skype or some other conferencing technology.  It’s interesting to see the Church trying to get a grasp on new technologies, not just to ride the wave, but also to do theology in a new type of world.  Some are doing a great job.  Some raise some important concerns, but seem to reject things out of hand without fully grasping the technology.

Here’s the serious forward.  As I was watching this there were a number of pieces that came to mind, but I guess what most confronts me right now is this- the man is in a hole.  He has a problem.  It’s a very real problem and one that results in death if not solved.  How often do we truly look at those around us, look at what they’re doing, the spirituality they’ve developed, etc, and see them in a hole, without the tools to survive?

That’s the final quote from the soldier in this video Tangle forwarded to me.

This man was a leader and God put him in some incredible situations to lead.  I’m sure God equipped him with skills to do this, but finally what it came down to for him, when he was literally in the midst of battle and trying to lead men forward is this- you cannot lead unless you yourself are being led.  You have to trust in a Lord greater than you.

What challenges are you facing in life?  Are you taking something on and trying to do it alone?  God has equipped you, but ultimately we need to trust in him as our leader, even as we lead those around us.

This is an incredibly powerful story of a man returning a photo to the daughter of the man he shot during the war.  I can’t imagine the horrors of the war in which all of these people were involved.  I don’t know the man’s whole story.  Certainly in war, killing is part of what happens.

And yet this story speaks of how painful that is.  This story speaks to us to think of “enemy” in a different light.  This story I think reminds us that we want no enemies and we want no wars. That doesn’t mean these things will happen in our sin broken world, but it does remind us to look at things through a different set of eyes.

And most importantly of all, it begs the questions.  Who do you need to forgive?  Who do you need to ask forgiveness of?  All is possible through Christ who gives us the ultimate forgiveness.

In all honesty, sometimes I kind of resent forwards like these.  They’re so confrontational and ask us to get into hypothetical or night unrealistic situations.

But during my devotions today, I was reading something by a Daniel T. Niles and as he was discussing Peter walking on water, he had this to say- “And the moment Peter jumped into the sea Peter was faced with two alternatives, either to look at Jesus or to drown. . . . Don’t deceive yourselves into believing that you have faith in Jesus Christ unless you know the experience of having been at a place where you were faced by two alternatives: death or faith.”

Now that’s challenging too, and again, I reacted against it for a little.  Then I started thinking a little more.  Just becuase this sounds extreme doesn’t mean that it’s something we can’t relate to.  In reality we all have to make this decision, and not just once. It’s not really a conversion thing.  The reality is that we’re confronted with situations in our lives on a daily basis that are serious- will we jump along with Jesus and the life he has been showing us or will we walk away and choose death, death wrapped in temptation.

That’s some pretty tough stuff, but as we journey through Lent, I think this kind of introspection is helpful.  Are we making decisions right now, especially now, that say, hey God, I’ll trust you, or are you trying to sit in the boat, or maybe even grasping at temptations and their false promises?

Have you read the, “Keep Your Fork” forward before?

This is a classic that I’ve always loved.  Is it based on a real story?  From the digging that I’ve done, probably not.  It seems that it’s related to some other tales about people keeping forks for dessert, and then some people started to use this as an illustration in messages about heaven.  The story we’re familiar with was popularized in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books.

As with many of these forwards, sometimes it’s kind of disappointing when we find out that it’s not likely based on true events.  At the same time, this forward’s truth does not really rest on whether or not there was actually a terminally ill woman who made such a request.  The illustration is still true.  We need to live today with the anticipation and urgency of people who know we’re headed towards something even better in the life to come.

What does that mean for us right now?  How do you live with a “keep your fork attitude”?  And today on Ash Wednesday, in the season of lent, we often think about sacrifice.  As people who have the best yet to come, sacrificing today so others can share in that joy forever is not much to ask.  So as you’re pondering your Lenten sacrifices, think about how your giving something up can be done with a “keep the fork” attitude- my sacrifice will help others enjoy eternity in heaven.

So let’s get this going, go ahead and start posting some of the stories and forwards that you think would be fun to check out with a little more depth.  They can be silly and cute, seriously theological, or anything in between.  And yes, I know you can check out veracity on a site like Snopes.com but we’ll push this discussion farther than that as I indicate above.