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By now we’ve all heard about Balloon Boy. Every station is playing the story…over and over and over and over. When new details emerge, we hear those over and over and over and over.

Despite the story being a hoax, somewhere the crazy family behind the fiasco has to be smiling.

They did this for a publicity stunt. What has happened? They got publicity! Even though the story sounded fishy to begin with, the media jumped all over it. They were being interviewed by Wolf Blitzer before the smoke had even settled.

However, thanks to that interview, we now have valuable information that says the story was made up.

But for that family, you can’t buy this kind of publicity. Their appearances on Wifeswap didn’t generate a fraction of this. This morning, Mike Glenn, the Senior Pastor at Brentwood Baptist in Nashville, TN wrote on Twitter: I know it says a lot the Balloon family went to extremes to get their fifteen minutes. What does it say about us that we gave it to them?

Pastor Glenn is exactly right! We’ve made these people celebrities. At first they had our pity, then they had our shame, and honestly now they’re back to having our pity again, just in a different sort of way.

We love our celebrities and wanna be celebrities, don’t we? It doesn’t matter if they’re pure, true, crooked, crazy, or deceiving. As long as they stir up some sort of emotion in us, we either love them or love to hate them.

By now you’ve probably heard the answer to the question. Marge Simpson will be featured on the cover and in a centerfold of Playboy magazine. If you’re asking, “That Marge Simpson?” the answer is, “Yes, that Marge Simpson.” The cartoon character on The Simpsons.

According to the Associated Press, the average age of Playboy readers is 35. The purpose of putting Marge Simpson on the cover of the magazine is to try to appeal to younger audiences. most particularly the “20-something crowd.”

When this news first broke on TV, Internet, and print, it first came across as humorous. People found it funny that the cartoon mom off one of the highest rated TV shows was going to appear on the cover of Playboy.

But can we really look at what’s happening here? A “men’s” magazine is marketing itself by filling its pages with a naked cartoon character. Does that sound sickening to anyone else? I don’t care what your argument is, Playboy is pornography. And Playboy exists because lust exists. As if naked women didn’t do enough to sell the magazine, the company is trying to bring in a younger audience by including pictures of a naked cartoon character. Something is terribly wrong!

And do you think Playboy is only trying to market itself to the 20-something crowd? Do beer companies only market themselves at people who are over 21? Does Seventeen magazine actually try to target girls who are 17? No way. The target audience may be younger, but Playboy knows very well the idea of a naked Marge Simpson appeals to even young teen males. It may be illegal for them to get their hands on the issue, but Playboy knows they’ll find a way, whether through a friend, family member, or the Internet.

Ricky and Lucy couldn’t even sleep in the same bed together on TV. Now we’ve become desensitized that we have to put nude cartoon characters from prime time television in magazines. Ugh…

Here’s something a little different.

Today, Jacob Riggs and I recorded a podcast for The Brink. The Brink podcast is the audio arm of The Brink devotional magazine and small group studies for twentysomethings.

Today’s topics included The Bachelorette, steroids in baseball, a Christian’s view of torture, and your mom on Facebook.

If you’d like to listen, visit thebrinkonline.com or visit the direct link to the podcast by clicking here.

Also, you can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes. We’d really love you if you did that!

Enjoy!

It’s no secret that “Sunday School” is failing in many churches. Numbers are down, it’s being repackaged and remodeled in many churches, and being discontinued in some churches altogether. But why is Sunday School failing? Here are a few of my ideas on the issue:

1. It’s Boring!
Call me unspiritual if you want, but this is the case with many Sunday School classes. Kids, adults, etc. go in, sit in a chair for 45-60 min, and hear a teacher lecture about the Bible. Yes, it IS the Bible, but couldn’t we gain the same knowledge by reading the Bible or other historical book on our own. Hearing someone bring forth biblical commentary for more than 3 minutes puts us to sleep. We don’t want to hear a classroom lecture, or a sermon before the pastor’s sermon is preached.

2. Too Early!
For many people, Sunday School is just too early. If we get up at 6 AM 5 days a week, we don’t want to get up early on a Sunday to come and sit through a 45 minute lecture (see above). Why sleep in Sunday School when we can sleep in our bed? Right or wrong, most people go to bed later on Saturday night than most other nights. By Sunday morning, we’re exhausted!

3. Not Relevant
Part of this falls in line with the “Boring” category. When the truth of the Bible is not made relevant to our lives, we don’t connect with it. Instead, it becomes Bible Trivia that we could find in a bargain bin at a used bookstore. People want to hear how God’s truth affects their life. People want to know how God’s Word should affect the way they parent, love their spouse, treat their mailman, serve coworkers, drive on the highway, etc. People crave discipleship; not Bible Jeopardy. If Sunday School isn’t relevant, it might be just a waste of time.

4. No Connection With Others
People want interaction and want to be able to connect with one another. We want to be grouped with people who are like us and going through the same experiences in life. That mindset should carry over to Sunday School. People need interaction. They want to discuss the difficult issues with one another. They want to question those who are wiser, seek advice, wrestle with difficult issues. If interaction isn’t taking place, why even show up? We could find the same information online or in the teacher’s notes. If we’re not learning from anyone but the lecturer, how much are we actually learning?

5. People Aren’t Comfortable
This can take many forms. Have you ever attended a Sunday School class in a tie and khakis, and then played a game where you had to move around, get down on the floor, and maybe even get a little sweaty? It’s miserable! Have you ever been in a classroom when the temperature was 85 degrees inside…and 75 degrees outside? I’m sure we’ve all had to sit in our fair share of uncomfortable chairs that still continue to give us back problems and maybe even folded up on us when we sat down. Am I saying we shouldn’t play games? Am I saying we should relax the dress code? Make the room more appealing? Make things more comfortable? Buy better chairs? Am I saying all of that? No…but maybe it’s something we need to think about.

6. No One Is Invited
It’s very simple: many people don’t come to Sunday School because they’re not invited. Unfortunately, we’re often ashamed to invite them…because of the other elements on this list.

7. Lack of Preparation
Ever been to a class where the teacher wasn’t prepared and had to read straight through the teacher’s guide because he/she didn’t have time to look at it on the drive to church? If it’s not obvious enough, it becomes crystal clear when the teacher mispronounces names and starts reading the teacher’s instructions out loud. If teacher’s aren’t preparing until Saturday night or not preparing at all, things will flop! You may be able to say “I’m great at winging it,” but how much can the Holy Spirit lead us if we’re “winging” it every Sunday. A teacher needs to put great value in preparation; not only for the lesson, but with prayer for the students. If you’re not prepared, people will know…and that’s when your teaching becomes boring and irrelevant.

8. No Training
Sadly, we often throw a teacher’s book at someone like a Johan Santana fastball. We want to get it out of our hands as quick as possible. In a nutshell, our thought process is, “No one else wants to do this, so I’ll ask someone who will feel bad about saying ‘no.’” We forget about training people to teach, or even finding qualified people to teach. We just need to find “someone/anyone” who will teach. It doesn’t matter who they are, how good they are, or what they know. “Praise God he/she is taking over and it’s out of my hands!”

9. Poor Curriculum
“Is he really going there?” Yes I am! But as an editor of curriculum, I’m not going to call anyone out. I’m simply going to say it’s important to find the best curriculum we can for our students. We need to avoid looking at what seems to be the hottest and flashiest curriculum out there. We need to focus on what teaches the Word of God, follows our doctrine and system of beliefs, and is relevant.

Lessons We Should Learn From Twitter…

1. Even Celebrities Are People Too…
Twitter has allowed us to bring celebrities down to our level. We find out what John Mayer is thinking at 1 AM, we get to hear Shaq’s thoughts on life, and also get to find out what Ashton Kutcher ate for dinner. In many ways Twitter humanizes everything for us.

2. …But We’re Not Quite as Special or Popular as We Sometimes Think We Are
Sometimes we get into the mindset that there are millions of people who are just waiting to get our tweets. We’d like to think people are lining up around the block just to catch what we will say next. We want people to think of us as the “Dark Knight” of Twitter…high anticipation. The truth is, most of your stuff probably doesn’t get read. If it does, it’s probably not getting ready by the people you want it to be read by. Just because you send a Tweet doesn’t mean all of America wants to see it or cares to see it. You ate a tuna sandwich today? Great. But I doubt too many people care. You may reply to Jimmy Fallon or Demi Moore, but do you really think they care or know what you have to say? Maybe they’re not selfish people, but when someone has 200,000 followers, you’re gonna get lost in the background. Don’t let Twitter make you think too highly of yourself.

3. There IS such a thing as TMI.
I don’t need to know every detail about your life. I especially don’t need to know the gross, disgusting, personal details. If you wouldn’t say it to your boss or pastor, please don’t say it to the rest of the world. Also, if you’re going to go on vacation, it might be better if you decline to tell the world where you’re going, how long you’ll be gone, the location of your house, and how your security system quit working yesterday.

4. EVERYONE Has a Blog (and most of them are mediocre)
Is this the pot calling the kettle black? You betcha! The truth is, everyone has a blog these days. I want readers, you want readers, Curt Schilling wants readers, everyone wants readers. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with wanting people to read your opinions. But just remember…it’s 2009. Having a blog is not like having a column for the New York Times. There’s no need to brag or remind us every 5 seconds of your link.

5. We All Want to Be Liked and Loved
Do we Tweet to create a person journal of statements that are less than 140 characters? No. We Tweet because we want people to like us and love us. Why? Because we all have a desire to be liked and loved and share our stories and findings with the rest of the world.

6. We Have Selfish Tendencies
This one is no fun, but it’s true. We often have the mentality that says “Oh! I’ll follow this person and hope he or she will follow me.” Do we care about the person we’re following? Eh, sometimes. Do we simply follow someone in hopes that he or she will follow us and bring more attention to us? It’s possible!

7. Our Speling and Grammar Is Awful
I know Twitter is a nice “on the go” piece of technology, but seriously people, proofread your tweets. Unfortunately it seems like athletes are the worst. This just fuels the stereotype that some athletes have no intelligence and get by on skill alone.

8. Our Lives Are Consumed By Technology
Twenty years ago you had to use a house phone or pay phone to make a phone call. Now you can text, tweet, or call from inside a bathroom stall. Unfortunately we often let this consume too much of our lives. Technology isn’t bad in and of itself. But when we let it take over our lives, it means that we’re sacrificing something else and replacing it with our new technology. Hopefully the things we sacrifice don’t include time with family, time with friends, time spent reading, time spent praying, etc.

If you’ve been reading my blogs, you know I’ve had some recent trouble with Sonic and Taco Bell.

A few days ago I came across a story about a company that seems to be doing everything right these days. If you’ve ever seen a Pixar movie, you know they strive for the highest level of excellence in everything they do. To date, they have not put out a movie that has flopped in the eyes of critics or viewers, and the lowest rating one of their movies has received on Rotten Tomatoes is 75%.

However, this story goes much deeper than animation or a movie screen. The article I read really touched my heart. If you have time, please read the entire article from the OC Register. You can view the article on their website by clicking HERE, or you can read the story below:

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Colby Curtin, a 10-year-old with a rare form of cancer, was staying alive for one thing – a movie.

From the minute Colby saw the previews to the Disney-Pixar movie Up, she was desperate to see it. Colby had been diagnosed with vascular cancer about three years ago, said her mother, Lisa Curtin, and at the beginning of this month it became apparent that she would die soon and was too ill to be moved to a theater to see the film.

After a family friend made frantic calls to Pixar to help grant Colby her dying wish, Pixar came to the rescue.

The company flew an employee with a DVD of Up, which is only in theaters, to the Curtins’ Huntington Beach home on June 10 for a private viewing of the movie.

The animated movie begins with scenes showing the evolution of a relationship between a husband and wife. After losing his wife in old age, the now grumpy man deals with his loss by attaching thousands of balloons to his house, flying into the sky, and going on an adventure with a little boy.

Colby died about seven hours after seeing the film.

With her daughter’s vigil planned for Friday, Lisa Curtin reflected about how grateful she is that Pixar – and “Up” – were a part of her only child’s last day.

“When I watched it, I had really no idea about the content of the theme of the movie,” said Curtin, 46. “I just know that word ‘Up’ and all of the balloons and I swear to you, for me it meant that (Colby) was going to go up. Up to heaven.”

Pixar officials declined to comment on the story or name the employees involved.

THE PREVIEWS

Colby was diagnosed with vascular cancer on Dec. 23, 2005 after doctors found a tumor in her liver. At the time of her death, her stomach was about 94 inches around, swollen with fluids the cancer wouldn’t let her body properly digest. The rest of her body probably weighed about 45 pounds, family friend Carole Lynch said.

Colby had gone to Newport Elementary School and was known for making others laugh, family friend Terrell Orum-Moore said. Colby loved to dance, sing, swim and seemed to have a more mature understanding of the world than other children her age, Orum-Moore said.

On April 28, Colby went to see the Dream Works 3-D movie “Monsters Vs. Aliens” but was impressed by the previews to “Up.”

“It was from then on, she said, ‘I have to see that movie. It is so cool,’” Lynch said.

Colby was a movie fan, Lisa Curtin said, and she latched onto Pixar’s movies because she loved animals.

Two days later Colby’s health began to worsen. On June 4 her mother asked a hospice company to bring a wheelchair for Colby so she could visit a theater to see “Up.” However, the weekend went by and the wheelchair was not delivered, Lisa Curtin said.

By June 9, Colby could no longer be transported to a theater and her family feared she would die without having seen the movie.

At that point, Orum-Moore, who desperately wanted Colby to get her last wish, began to cold-call Pixar and Disney to see if someone could help.

Pixar has an automated telephone answering system, Orum-Moore said, and unless she had a name of a specific person she wanted to speak to, she could not get through. Orum-Moore guessed a name and the computer system transferred her to someone who could help, she said.

Pixar officials listened to Colby’s story and agreed to send someone to Colby’s house the next day with a DVD of “Up,” Orum-Moore recalled.

She immediately called Lisa Curtin, who told Colby.

“Do you think you can hang on?” Colby’s mother said.

“I’m ready (to die), but I’m going to wait for the movie,” the girl replied.

THE MOVIE

At about 12:30 p.m. the Pixar employee came to the Curtins’ home with the DVD.

He had a bag of stuffed animals of characters in the movie and a movie poster. He shared some quirky background details of the movie and the group settled in to watch Up.

Colby couldn’t see the screen because the pain kept her eyes closed so her mother gave her a play-by-play of the film.

At the end of the film, the mother asked if her daughter enjoyed the movie and Colby nodded yes, Lisa Curtin said.

The employee left after the movie, taking the DVD with him, Lynch said.

“He couldn’t have been nicer,” said Lynch who watched the movie with the family. “His eyes were just welled up.”

After the movie, Colby’s dad, Michael Curtin, who is divorced from Lisa Curtin, came to visit.

Colby died with her mom and dad nearby at 9:20 p.m.

Among the Up memorabilia the employee gave Colby was an “adventure book” – a scrap book the main character’s wife used to chronicle her journeys.

“I’ll have to fill those adventures in for her,” Lisa Curtin said.

This morning when I opened Facebook, I had an interesting message from one of my friends. Here’s a sample of what he said (he gave me permission to use this):

David, you are my conduit into the social network world. What do you/your friends do about “messaging” or talking with married women? Women who were friends but are no longer as close. I…include them on “group” messages but never make it seem special. Hmmm. . .those are my thoughts. I bet TONS OF GUYS flirt with married women on here. And some of these women have some crazy pictures!…thanks for being my conduit.

That seems to be a topic that we don’t talk about too often. Our parents never told us “Don’t talk with someone who is married of the opposite sex on Facebook” because that wasn’t an issue 10 years ago. That wasn’t an issue 5 years. In many ways, that has only become an issue in the last year.

Where do we draw the line when communicating with a married individual of the opposite sex through social networking? Should it be off limits completely? Should it be for professional/work-related use only? Is it completely harmless?

Is there a clear line, and how do we know if we have crossed it?

Today is May 19. It’s not a holiday (that I know of) or any other special day, but on this date in 1992 a significant speech was made that signals just how far our society has come since that time.

From 1988-1998, Murphy Brown was a successful sit-com on CBS. It featured Candice Bergen and chronicled her story as an investigative reporter and news anchor. In the 1991-1992 season, the show decided to take a chance by disrupting the idea of the traditional American family. The story line focused on Brown becoming pregnant, but deciding not to marry the father. Instead, she chose to have the child out of wedlock. In addition, the show decided to remove the influence of the father from the story line, leaving only Murphy Brown to raise the child.

You might be thinking, “So what? Big deal! That happens everyday! I can see that on TV all the time.” Yes, it does happen everyday and you can see that on TV all the time, but in 1992, the idea of a woman having a child out of wedlock was foreign and looked down upon.

On May 19, 1992, former Vice President Dan Quayle made his famous speech regarding the story line of the TV show. Quayle criticized the show for ignoring the importance of the father in the home and birthing a child alone. This speech sparked a major discussion in American about traditional family values. In 2002, Candice Bergen even admitted to the Associated Press that she agreed with much of Quayle’s speech. She called it “a perfectly intelligent speech about fathers not being dispensable” and added that “nobody agreed with that more than I did.”

The main focus of this issue is not necessarily about the story line for the show or Quayle’s speech. Rather, it is a deep look into what our society and our media has become. In 1992 it was taboo for TV show to portray a single mother having a baby. Today, we don’t even think about that. While it is the norm, and TV often reflects the norm of society, that doesn’t mean the norm is positive.

We know our traditional values are slipping away. We know the media is taking these values and hurling them into a nosedive, hoping to leave little more than traces of truth in the ashes. 

How far have we come, and how far are we going?

It has come to my attention that there has been some confusion about my recent post on the Day of Silence, and on the article “Breaking the Silence” in CLEAR Horizon student magazine for Spring 2009. Hopefully I can clear up a few of those issues.

First and foremost, let me say that I do believe homosexuality is a sin. I believe the Bible is very clear about this fact. I also do not believe Christians should promote “tolerance” of all lifestyles, religions, etc. I believe God made man to be with woman, and a sexual relationship should only exist within the confines of a monogamous marriage between man and woman.

I am also not an advocate of the Day of Silence. Since the Day of Silence will occur in many schools, I believe Christians should have a plan concerning how they will approach this day. As I said in my previous post, inaction can be dangerous. However, I do not support nor do I promote the Day of Silence.  

I apologize if anyone was confused by anything I said. I have updated the previous post on the Day of Silence to try to clear up some of the issues that came across as blurry.

For more information about this topic, visit Jonathan Yandell’s blog by clicking here: www.JonathanYandell.com and Part II

For Randall House’s followup to “Breaking the Silence” please visit Danny Conn’s blog by clicking here: www.Outpostx.net

While many people are still talking about the Super Bowl, another sports story has come out of different proportions. Unless you’ve checked out from the world for the last few days, you’ve probably heard about the picture that was taken of Michael Phelps at a party in South Carolina. Phelps was photographed smoking marijuana. In case there was any question, Phelps has acknowledged he is the person in the picture. He has since issued a public apology for his actions. 

This whole incident seems very alarming to me, not only because of Phelps’ actions, but also because of the feedback that has been coming through many sports talk radio lines and web sites. Let’s start with the latter…

Many people have been saying this whole ordeal is being blown out of proportion. These people argue Phelps is 23 and is only doing what most 23 year olds are doing these days. The guy has spent his entire life training to be an American hero…he deserves a break.

Others are arguing there is nothing wrong with smoking marijuana. Even though it’s illegal, they claim it’s safer than cigarettes and the whole incident should be completely acceptable. 

And then there’s Michael Phelps. Yes, he did issue an apology, but after hearing him speak in interviews, I’m a little skeptical of any professional sounding written apology. No offense to the guy, but I’m having trouble believing he wrote this apology on his own. Maybe it was sincere, but I’m sure he had a lot of help. Regardless, this apology can only go so far. 

In my opinion, if this was the only case of wrongdoing in his career, he could be forgiven by the American people in time. Santonio Holmes, WR for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Super Bowl MVP, was guilty of a similar thing in 2008. Now, people have vague recollections of the incident and will remember him more for his Super Bowl catch than his drug use…that is, unless he messes up again.

Sadly, in the case of Phelps, this isn’t the first time he’s messed up. In 2004, as a 19-year-old, Michael Phelps was arrested and charged with a DUI. Not only was he driving drunk, but he was not even old enough to drink. As part of his sentence, Phelps had to speak to students at several schools about making choices and the dangers of alcohol. 

Five years later, he’s back in the same situation. I understand we all make mistakes, but some of our mistakes have stronger consequences. After the Olympics in 2004, Phelps was considered an American icon. After the 2008 Games, he was considered a world icon, hero, leader, and role model for many. Whether or not he asked for the role, he was given it because of his accomplishments. Sponsors came out of nowhere to pay Phelps the big bucks so he could endorse their products. Swimming classes and lessons skyrocketed in enrollment from people simply watching Phelps on NBC.

Phelps may not have asked for the attention, but he certainly had to know it came with the territory. After making a stupid decision to drive drunk in 2004, he knew well and clear every move he made would be watched by the country. After winning his record gold medals in Beijing, he had to know he would be put under the microscope even more and be analyzed for every move he made. 

Maybe you think we should cut him some slack. Maybe we’re going overboard on all of this. I actually don’t think we are. DUIs and drug possession are major charges. Not only did he do something stupid to himself, but he also put others in danger through his decisions. I am glad he apologized, but there’s part of me that is just wondering when he’ll do something stupid again. 

Michael Phelps is NOT an American hero. He’s not a role model. He’s not a leader. He doesn’t deserve to be worshiped, praised, or bowed down to. The guy can swim. That’s it! Our country loves him because he swims fast. We don’t love his personality, his humanitarian efforts, his hospitality, his wisdom, or any great attributes. We simply love him because he can swim. 

That may get you on the front of a Wheaties box, but in my opinion, it gets you nowhere in life!

When Charles Barkley made headlines by stating he was not a role model, maybe he was on to something. Parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, teachers, doctors, pastors, youth pastors, etc should be the real heroes. Sadly, Barkley’s recent DUI makes his point more apparent than ever.

Is Phelps’ crime a big deal? It shouldn’t be, because we shouldn’t care. We should care about his inappropriate actions, not because he’s Michael Phelps, but because he’s doing some stupid things. We shouldn’t care about the prestige of the person doing it, because he should never be our hero, role model, or icon to begin with.

(Picture from News of the World)