THE BLOG

In my role as a minister, I never know when a phone call or text is going to prove once again the truth of the old saying, “Life Turns on a Dime.” Such was the case for me one morning a few weeks ago as I was preparing to leave home for work. That’s when I received a text from a fellow staff member alerting me that in the middle of the night, one of our members had suffered a severe brain bleed and was in critical condition in a local hospital. As I made my way to the hospital, I hurt for the person’s family. Not only had this tragedy happened at all, it had happened just days before Christmas. I’d been down this road before with other families, and I knew that survival would be a long shot.

One of the cultural phenomena of our day is gender reveal parties. A whole industry has been spawned out of pregnant couples’ desire, not simply to know the gender of their expected child, but to make a big production out of announcing to family and friends what the gender is. A quick Google of “gender reveal” will generate a bounty of websites ready to give suggested themes, props, games, and food treat ideas to make the reveal as elaborate and creative as a couple desires. When I think of today’s gender reveal functions, I cannot help but smile when I think of the gender reveal function my wife and I attended for both of our girls 40+ years ago. The occasion was childbirth, the location was a sterile delivery room, and the gender reveal was an announcement by the obstetrician when he said, “Congratulations, it’s a girl.”

In a classic B.C. cartoon, The Cute Chick approaches The Fat Broad and asks, “What are you thankful for this year?” The Fat Broad, stirring a big pot over an open fire, shouts, “Are you kidding? Who has time to think about that on Thanksgiving?” While the humor of that cartoon brings a smile to our faces, with their dialogue, cartoonist Johnny Hart hits upon an irony of life.