Hanging out with the famous

I am not above name dropping as witnessed by some of my preceding entries. But this week I met a very famous person. I guess we should define "met" I was in his presence, I saw him with my own eyes, I spoke to him and he to me, I shook his white-gloved hand. We didn’t have a deep conversation and I didn’t get his autograph but I did meet him. He even gave me a Christmas ornament for my tree, with some coupons on the back so I could save money the next time I was in one of his places of business. I met a person that has appeared on Television countless times, is a house-hold name around the world, I have seen pictures of this man on display in my travels to Europe and Asia as well as all over North America. He is a spokesperson for a gigantic international corporation and here he was coming to address the students at Bible Center School. Oh, and you know him too, he is easily recognizable – yellow one-piece jump suit, large red shoes, bright red curly hair, flour-white face, red nose – you know your typical celebrity type. And just so you won’t jump to this line and figure it out without reading all the gifted prose above I will give you his name spelled backward: dlanoDcM dlanoR

Yes it was he of hamburger fame, he of Saturday morning cartoon commercial break fame. It was he and I met him. OK, OK, lest you think I am crazier than I really am, I do know that RM is a fictional character and there are likely several RMs running around the country on a company expense account. I did find it somewhat humorous that RM was giving the third-graders a little talk about a healthy life-style, this was from the same character that has pumped more cholesterol into American’s arteries than all the other fast-food joints combined! Yes, this was just a pseudo-celebrity.

But, what is a real celebrity. What is so special about someone who can sing well, or write a book, or act in a drama or tell a joke, or throw a football or who has won an election, or made a lot of money, or done some heroic deed. When it comes right down to it a celebrity is just an ordinary part of the human race that is known by more than an average amount of other humans.

I assume that if you are reading this you are a non-celebrity. And all of us need to remember that God is not impressed with fame. The Bible states that He is not a respecter of persons. He treats us all fairly. And for those of us who are His children. He delights in us, He writes us fan mail, He is our biggest cheer-leader. To most we are not famous, influential or important. To God we are. Thank Him for it.

Oh and by the way, Julie and I were at the mall last night and saw Santa Claus, in person, with my own eyes...

(From Dec. 16, 2005)