The Squared Circle: Make 'Em Laugh!

I have always tended to cheer for the villains ("heels") rather than the good guys ("babyfaces") in wrestling. Part of the reason is that the heels by their very nature tended to be more interesting, more flamboyant. But another reason for my preference for the bad guys has to do with how entertaining a good heel is in the ring. The job of the heel is to make the good guy look good, to put him in a position to make the big comeback and pull out a win (or lose by cheating).

In order to accomplish this, a heel has to have tremendous timing, feeding off the audience to know when the right time is to let the babyface make his comeback. And another key component to a good heel is a sense of comedic timing. A great bad guy makes the hero look good by making himself look comically incompetent.

Notice this classic Ric Flair move-



How can you not laugh when you see that? And how can you not love a performer who can make you laugh? That's one reason I like the "bad guys."

What is conservativism?

How many times have you heard or read the words "soul-searching" after the recent election? As in this headline: "After Romney loss, GOP soul searching begins." There is indeed a great deal of discussion and debate among those who consider themselves "conservative" over the direction of the conservative movement and the Republican Party. But who defines conservativism, and how should conservativism be defined? That is the deeper philosophical issue behind these discussions. 

Sermon: Abounding in Thanksgiving

Even though Colossians is a relatively small letter, Paul says a great deal in the book about giving thanks. Here are some points I drew out of the book for my sermon yesterday morning: