The Friday Update - Funny Stuff

Happy Friday,

I’m not sure Karl Barth was right when he claimed that laughter and God’s grace are closely linked, but we do see God’s grin throughout the Bible. A childless 99-year-old nomad being told he’ll be the father of nations? An enslaved people being told they’ll be His instrument to bless the world? You and me being promised eternal life? Funny stuff.

Speaking of Funny

Two years ago, it was laughable to suggest IU would go 16-0 and win the National Championship. But they did. Congrats to the Hoosiers.

Thirty Years Later

When I was a college pastor, I cautioned students against binge drinking and premarital sex. Recent studies suggest they’re finally listening. Alas, they're not opting for deep friendships and life-giving conversations. They're opting for more screen time.

This Week’s Question

In a world where Brené Brown's TED talk, You Are Enough, garners 69M views, where countless children's books proclaim, “you are loved just the way you are,” and where every child gets a participation trophy — why is self-esteem so low?

Quotes

1) "The world is out of joint." — William Shakespeare (Hamlet)

2) "Tollers, there's too little of what we really like in stories. I am afraid we shall have to try and write some ourselves." — C.S. Lewis to J.R.R. Tolkien, 1936, before Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia and Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings 

3) “The scientific world in general, and the disciplines of behavioral health in particular, tend to be biased against matters of spirituality and religion. The existing literature is enough to show that these factors have large protective effects against suicide. If another variable had even half the value for any major public health concern, I suspect it would receive substantially more attention.” — David H. Rosmarin, Harvard Medical School (from this paper)

Overheard

1) Intellectual objections to faith are often answerable, personal objections to faith are often valid.

2) Forty years ago, people wanted freedom from the church, the family, the nation and anyone over 30. Today, they seem desperate for advice from anywhere. 

3) Democracy gives people what they want, which means we need to do a better job helping them want the right things.

4) The call to “believe in God” is not a call to agree He exists, but a call to act as if He does.

5) Those who suggest obedience to Christ is “not sustainable” are telling me the same thing Satan does.

6) Reading the comments section seldom promotes faith, hope, charity or sleep.

Without Comment

1) 8 out of 10 young Americans are ineligible to enlist in the military, with the number one reason being obesity.

2) According to a ‘23 Harris poll, 21% of Americans have a prenup, up from 3% in ‘10.

3) According to Nicolas Eberstadt, 50% of Americans receive some form of government subsidy.

4) Google searches for “how to reduce screen time” spiked in ’25.

5) Open Doors’ annual survey of “the most dangerous countries to be a Christian” show little change. Syria jumped from 18th to 6^th, but North Korea, Somalia and Yemen still top the list.

6) Purdue recently added “AI working competency” to their graduation requirements.

7) Inflation, reckless driving and abuses of the legal system has caused auto insurance premiums to increase 64% over the last 5 yrs.

8) In spite of numerous incentives for couples to have children—e.g., cash awards, housing subsidizes for parents, taxes on birth control—China’s birth rate continues to drop. It’s now the lowest since records began in 1949, and for the fourth year in a row, more Chinese people died last year than were born.

9) This Gallup study suggests Americans are not being radicalized, they’re moving to the middle and keeping quiet. In 2025, 45% of Americans identified as political independents — the highest-level Gallup has ever recorded. (Both Ds and Rs came in at 27%.)

10) 76% of Americans report giving to a charity last year (down 5% since ’21) and 63% reported volunteering time (up 7% since ’21).

The Tower of Babel — 2026

This clever 4-minute speech on the value of learning a second language has Gen A laughing at Gen A.

WOTW

Honorable mention goes to some of the hits from the previous video: stan (an overly devoted fan), giga-chad (an often-ironic dig at the hyper-confident, hyper-successful alpha male) and rizzler (someone with exceptional “rizz,” as in charisma). I’m a stan for C.S. Lewis but so low on rizz that I’ve likely never been in the same zip-code as a giga-chad. Full honors go to Stay-at-Home Sons (AKA, trad-sons and hub-sons), a term initially coined by a Jeopardy! contestant and now confirmed by Pew. (More adult sons live in Mom’s basement than adult daughters—which may explain the surge in podcast microphones and gaming chairs.)

Two

Into our world of grey, Scripture often argues the binary. There are two masters (God or Satan), two kingdoms, two paths (narrow and broad), two gates, two conditions (saved and lost), and two final resting places.

Resources

Click here for my sermon on Revelation 14 — which is more than a bit dark and then full of some amazingly good news. And if you haven’t already, click here to save your spot for Lakelight’s conversation with Dr. Meghan Sullivan, a Notre Dame Professor who has secured tens of millions of dollars to help develop AI ethics. You can register to attend in person or online.

Closing Prayer

“Grant, O Lord, that we may keep a constant guard on our thoughts and passions, that they may never lead us into sin; that we may live in perfect love with all humankind, in affection to those who love us, and in forgiveness to those, if any there are, who hate us. Give us good and virtuous friends. In the name of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.” (Warren Hastings, 1732-1818)