Did you hear that someone recently paid nearly $100,000 on eBay for a Cheeto that looks like a gorilla?
(Yes, I did too say a Cheeto that looks like a gorilla.)
Well, it WAS a Flamin’ Hot Cheeto and the gorilla it supposedly resembled WAS Harambe, the PETA poster-boy ape killed in a Cincinnati zoo because he was dragging around a child who accidentally got into his space.
So now $100,000 seems completely reasonable, doesn’t it?
Uh, no. But doesn’t that story sum up the crazy world we live in?
In fact, there’s so much craziness going on it’s hard to take in a steady diet of news without beginning to question your own sanity.
It reminds me of the old ’80s TV show, “Newhart.” In that series, Bob Newhart’s character and his wife ran an inn in rural Vermont where they constantly encountered all manner of weird people. But because normal Bob was the “different” one, he frequently questioned his own sanity.
I think a lot of us feel that way these days.
Maybe when scientists study those new planets they just discovered, they’ll locate the common sense gone missing on Earth.
I keep a file folder of crazy tidbits gleaned from the newspaper. The contents are simultaneously entertaining and disturbing. For example …
The trendiest health fad in Peru and Bolivia is frog juice and yes, it’s just as disgusting as it sounds. Vendors drop frogs in blenders (anyone remember the old “bass-o-matic” skit on “Saturday Night Live”?), grind them up with a couple of condiments, and otherwise sane people guzzle it down, believing it cures all kinds of bodily afflictions.
The next clipping in my file is about a men’s body spray, called “Flame,” which was sold for a limited time—probably real limited—by Burger King Corp. It was marketed as “the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat.” Because doesn’t every woman want her man to smell like a cheeseburger? I’m guessing there were no females present when that idea was birthed.
Those are honestly just the first two articles I came to in my crazy file. There are plenty more.
But even before I can finish a good eye roll, I realize I might well be included in someone else’s crazy file. After all, I’ve spent the past 40 years of my life following a God I can’t prove exists. And to some, maybe many, that makes me nuts.
I would never pay $100,000 for a Cheeto, drink frog juice, or buy meat cologne for my hubby, but I do believe Jesus is who He says He is, did what the Bible said He did, and will fulfill every promise He made. If that makes me seem crazy, I long ago decided that’s okay. And it’s not surprising, since the one I follow, Jesus, was considered crazy by some in His day, too (see Mark 3:21).
So what do you think? Is it crazy to follow Jesus with all your heart, soul, mind and strength? Your answer reveals what you really think about Him.
If He isn’t everything He claims to be, then was He a lunatic or a liar? There really is no other option.
But if He is the Son of God and the “way, the truth and the life” (see John 14:6), as He boldly claimed, then who are the crazy ones: those who are all in with Him or those who mock and reject Him?
Lord, liar or lunatic? It’s the most eternally important conclusion any of us must ever reach.
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” – 1 Corinthians 1:18