Bag of Randomness

Of all the things for me to think about in Sunday school, Superman is obviously uncircumcised.

While we studied Luke 5 this morning, I was struck by how Jesus handled the man with leprosy. Luke says Jesus touched him, healed him, and then sent him to the priest.

That order matters. In Leviticus, the priest was the gatekeeper for someone returning to the community after a skin disease. It wasn’t just a medical check. It was a ritual that allowed a person to come back to worship, to family meals, to ordinary life.

Jesus doesn’t bypass that process. He restores the man’s health instantly, yet tells him to “go, show yourself to the priest.” The healing is complete, but the man still walks through the door the Law provided so that everyone else can see, yes, this person belongs again.

I couldn’t help connecting that to how we talk today about reintegrating people who’ve been cut off from society, like those coming out of prison. Healing someone’s body or granting forgiveness is one thing; helping them reclaim their place among neighbors is another.

Jesus cared about both personal wholeness and the path back into community. Maybe part of following him is looking for ways to make that second step possible for people in our own time.

I updated my LinkedIn profile. Feel free to take a look at it, connect with me, and give me any substantive feedback you think might help.

A lot of folks, the president included, don’t like the new NFL kickoff rules. But, I’ve noticed kickers and special teams coaches are inventing new styles of kicking that make kickoffs more difficult for returners to track and catch. It really came into play in the Rams vs Eagles game. The Rams kicker has this knuckleball of sorts that’s so effective, the kick returner bobbled it on three different kickoffs, affecting field position.

Skyballs, diveballs, knuckleballs: Kickers creating new kicks for NFL’s new rules

Michael Phelps was on last night’s Manning Cast version of Monday Night Football. He and Eli shared stories of how fans have confused the two in public in their younger days. Phelps looks very different today with a beard and a manbun. Hey, if you win 28 Olympic medals, you deserve to wear your hair any way you want without getting poked fun at, even if it’s a manbun.

Phelps also shared, and it came across as genuine, of helping several Baltimore Ravens overcome their fear of water, and that some had never put their head underwater until they met him. He spoke about how humbling it was to teach a 6’6″ 330 330-pound person to overcome their fear.

In case you missed the NFL Today, they went full retro, celebrating 50 years, and even brought in Brent Musburger for a large portion.

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