Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Part of being a good Christian is retaining a good sense of humor. File this post accordingly.

The Bible says we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." Last night at the Olympics we had this on display when Jamaican Usain Bolt smashed the 200 meter (or metre if you lean European) record. Here's what one of the Jamaican coaches had to say about this:

"You have people who are exceptions," said Stephen Francis, the coach of Bolt's main Jamaican rival, Asafa Powell, the former 100 world-record holder. "You have Einstein. You have Isaac Newton. You have Beethoven. You have Usain Bolt. It's not explainable how and what they do."

You have Einstein . . . you have Usain Bolt. Classic and I thought very funny. Even the guy's name seems a freak of nature for a sprinter. The American sprinter Walter Dix was asked about Bolt's performance in the 100 meter race earlier in the week and said, "Well... that dude can run." That was funny too.

Reminds me of a joke that one prominent pastor told me he heard from another prominent pastor. A zebra dies and appears at the pearly gates where he encounters St. Peter. The Zebra says, "St. Peter, can you help me with something? I've always wanted to know if I'm a white zebra with black stripes or a black zebra with white ones." St. Peter says, "Well, wait here, I'll check with the Father, and be right back." When St. Peter returns, he says, "The Father said 'You are what you are'." The Zebra, somewhat perplexed, asked, "How does that help me?" "Well, clearly you're a white zebra with black stripes," responded Peter. "How do you know that?" the zebra asked. "Because," said Peter, "if you were a black zebra with white stripes the Father would have said, 'You is what you is.'" Who the joke came from makes it even better, but discretion is the better part of valor.

In other news, related to my previous Saddleback post see Dan Henninger's insightful column in today's Wall Street Journal. In world news, the Russians don't appear to be intending to leave Georgia anytime soon. They have committed to pulling back but only to a buffer zone around the breakaway republics that appears based on a remarkably flexible definition of 'buffer'. The Georgians may indeed need to take some responsibility for inappropriate behavior of their own but I'm still smelling some classic Soviet doublespeak in the latest pronouncements from Moscow. President Bush apparently is still insisting that the Russians leave all of Georgia including Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia. Well.... let's either position some boots on the ground to facilitate or let's just admit we're not going to do anything about it.