Time to Cool Off!
It’s good to be back! Some friends have been asking where Mr. Monkey (Buddy) was and when there would be another video.
Here it is!
“Heat Wave!”
Related articles
- Monday Monkey “At the Zoo” (Episode 22) (therecoveringlegalist.com)
Tag Archives: Humor
Monday Monkey “Heat Wave!” (Episode 24)
Filed under Humor, Monday Monkey, Uncategorized
Relative Recompense
Starving Blogger
Today I went out to lunch. The person I was to meet was a man I had only spoken with on the phone and by email (sorta scary, huh?). He had no idea what I looked like, nor I he (that just sounds weird – is that grammatically correct? – “I he”?).
That’s when I had a brilliant idea – make a sign. I needed one like people use when they stand on the side of the road asking for money (rarely work). So, I got a piece of cardboard, a marker, and made myself look like a beggar. Of course, that’s not too hard to do.
He knew who I was!
Food, Money, Whatever
Blogging is not a something one does to earn a living, at least not normally. I do it in order to give me an excuse to write. I do it because some people would rather read this than trip over dirty laundry while searching for a dust-covered journal. I do it because I love it.
There’s also another reason for blogging – the Message. My hope is that people all over the world will learn a little bit more about what it means to be a real Christian, not one of the fake, stereotypical hypocrites so many use as an excuse to run from Christ.
If I could get paid for doing this I would jump up and down like a circus clown on Meth. On the other hand, if writing would just put food on the table I would be as thrilled as a chocoholic getting a job transfer to Hershey, PA.
But if writing never pays the bills, cures my ills, or feeds me krill (it rhymed, what can I say), I will keep doing it. Every once in a while someone, somewhere, gets a blessing.
Related articles
- Inspiring Blog Award (odetomyabode.com)
- i aM tHE bOMB!!! (barefootbaroness.org)
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Filed under Food, Humor, ministry, Uncategorized
Monday Monkey “At the Zoo” (Episode 22)
Multi-tasking
I am not a great multi-tasker. Once, in an emergency, I was forced to answer a phone, while cleaning house and preparing lunch for a small child – at the same time! Do you realize how difficult that is? I ended up in the hospital!
On the other hand, I do drive a school bus, which requires me to do a great many things at once.
- Drive a 33,000 lb. vehicle
- Yell
- Communicate on a 2-way radio
- Wipe perspiration (sweat) from my eyes
- Watch 20 crumb-crunchers in a rear-view mirror doing everything they can to distract me from my primary job (see first thing on list)
- Tell multiple stories to kindergartners, both true and fictional, but especially fictional (about aliens from outer space taking over the bodies of teenage girls)
Making Videos
I guess making Monday Monkey videos require a little multi-tasking, too. This week I had so much reading and writing to do that I actually broke a blood vessel in my right eye (no joke). I was so swamped, I didn’t know what to do, but I still had to work.
So, when I had to drive a field trip to the Chattanooga Zoo, I knew it would be the perfect time to take Buddy (Mr. Monkey). Maybe I am better at multi-tasking than I give myself credit. Maybe I am as good as my wife? No, I wouldn’t go that far.
Monkey Talks to Monkeys
Filed under Aliens, Monday Monkey
Monday Monkey “Wisdom Teeth” (Episode 19)
My daughter showed me one video on YouTube [Click Here] of a girl who had her wisdom teeth removed. That led to another video, and another, and another. They were so funny (and sad) that I felt Mr. Monkey needed to have surgery.
There’s no deep, hyper-spiritual message to this episode of Monday Monkey. It’s just funny.
However, my wife did ask me, “So, what Bible verse will you use for this?” All I could think of was 1Corinthians 14:27 – If any man speak in an [unknown] tongue, [let it be] by two, or at the most [by] three, and [that] by course; and let one interpret.
With that said, don’t get more than 3 cotton-stuffed monkeys in the same room – we Baptists might get nervous (smile).
“Wisdom Teeth”
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- Dentist Woodstock: Wisdom Teeth Removal (therightsmile.wordpress.com)
- Wisdom teeth (mikinomz.wordpress.com)
Filed under Humor, Monday Monkey
Monday Monkey “Safe and Sound” (Episode 18)
Monkey and I have been through a lot in the last couple of weeks. This video will help you understand why we did not do a video last week. Hopefully, everything will be getting back to normal.
Wait!….What’s normal? I don’t know if I like normal.
“Safe and Sound”
Filed under Humor, Monday Monkey
Monday Monkey “Staring Contest” (Episode 13)
This episode was added later in the day. I apologize for that. Sometimes a man and his monkey can only do what a man and his monkey can do, you know?
Well, this week’s lesson might be hard to gather from the video, but it’s about choosing your battles.
Don’t choose to fight a losing battle. If nothing else, wait for a better time and place to make your stand. Be patient and prepared. Don’t let your enemy pick the battleground or set the rules. As one great general said, “Never enter a battle unless you know you can win.”
However, there is a Hope when all seems lost, when the battle seems hopeless…
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. – 1Jo 4:4
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, [even] our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? – 1Jo 5:4-5
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Filed under Christian Maturity, Humor, Monday Monkey
Shopping with the Monkey (Episode 9)
Off to the Mall…
Believe it or not, I went to the largest mall in Tennessee (Hamilton Place) with a puppet monkey on my arm…and we had fun.
Actually, if you want to know the truth, we went to the mall, but left Buddy (Mr. Monkey) in the van. But once I saw what was for sale in Teavana (the tea shop that replaced my favorite coffee shop), I had to go back out and get our favorite furry friend. That’s when the fun really started.
Note: Kids love puppets. However, parents tend to look with skepticism at grown men who talk to puppets in public, especially when there is no puppet show.
Mr. Monkey and I hope you enjoy the video. If you do, would you please forward it to a friend? We would really appreciate it!
Monkey Picked Tea
I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas. WE did. More than anything, the service at church was extra special. Several gave the gift of worship as they knelt by a manger.
Next week is going to be another busy one, so I am not sure if I will be able to write much…we’ll just have to see. There are a lot of things on my mind, just not enough time.
In the meantime, keep in mind my challenge…100 subscribers by the end of the year!
Related articles
- Monday Monkey Decorates the Tree (therecoveringlegalist.com)
Filed under Humor, Monday Monkey
Monday Monkey – “The Gift” (Episode 8)
This episode of Monday Monkey features my beautiful wife, Valerie. Also, by her side is our little “boy,” Nugget.
I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, then please pass it along, recommend it, forward it…whatever!
Just do this first – warn those who startle easily. Otherwise, you might ought to have an ambulance standing by.
“Don’t Monkey Around with Gifts!”
1Peter 4:10 – As every man hath received the gift, [even so] minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Filed under Christmas, Humor, Monday Monkey
Monday Monkey Decorates the Tree (Episode 6)
We just got our Christmas (not holiday) tree, but haven’t decorated it. That will happen sometime today or tomorrow. It’s not something I look forward to, except for the eggnog.
However, while we were out to church, Mr. Monkey decided to decorate the tree all by himself. Bad idea.
You see, just because he is a monkey, he thinks that climbing a tree is no big deal. What he doesn’t take into consideration is the fact that climbing a tree and decorating it with electric lights is complicated. He should have just waited until he could have help.
Sadly, it’s pretty common for people to think they can handle things alone. Their pride makes them think that they are strong enough, smart enough, independent enough, and perfectly capable of anything, even when they’re weak, hurting, and needy. Pride will lead to a fall.
Mr. Monkey’s Bad Idea
And for the record, it takes help to make these little videos. I can’t do them alone. So, a big thanks goes out to Kevin Miller, my old friend, for giving me a hand this time around.
Filed under Christian Maturity, Christmas, Humor, Life Lessons, Monday Monkey
Bad Week in Lake Wobegon
Yep, it’s been a rough week, here in Lake Wobegon. It seems that all illusions of self-sufficiency are fading away with the realization that I can’t do everything, only a few things, and not many very well.
Lake Wobegon
Some of you never listen to public radio, therefore you are probably googling the afore-mentioned town to determine its location. Don’t bother – it’s fictitious. It only exists in the mind of Garrison Keillor and the imaginations of Prairie Home Companion listeners.
In Lake Wobegon, “all the women are strong; all the men are good-looking; and all the children are above average.” There, somewhere in Minnesota, Norwegian bachelor farmers make flour for biscuits that are “pure, mostly,” and “give shy persons the strength to get up and do what needs to be done.” Everything is great there, even when things are tough. People just know how to handle things in Lake Wobegon…and if they don’t, they just eat more Powder Milk Biscuits.
The Lake Wobegon Effect
Interestingly, there is actually a syndrome which has been called the Lake Wobegon Effect. People that suffer from this think that everyone in their own group are above average, better able to “do what needs to be done.” It is described as “the human tendency to overestimate one’s achievements and capabilities in relation to others.” The effect has been observed among CEO’s, stock market analysts, college students, etc. [1] I bet it is real common with Christians, too; especially pastors.
I Need More than Biscuits
I am not above average. My middle initial is even “C.” Yet, I have been called to do a work that is far above average: imitate Jesus Christ. Now how in the name of all that is Norwegian am I supposed to do that? I’m not even a great actor, much less one who could play the part of the greatest character in the history of history (and before)! I can’t even do all that an average human needs to do, like be a good husband, father, student, or pastor.
This week, if never before, I had to come to terms with the fact that I do not live in Lake Wobegon. In my own strength everything I touch falls to pieces right before my eyes, that is, if it ever gets built in the first place. What am I supposed to do? Eat make-believe biscuits?
I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. – John 15:5
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. – Philippians 4:13
Well, that makes sense, doesn’t it? If we are supposed to live like Christ and do what He calls us to do, having His power and presence in our lives would make all the difference. I wonder why I always stress out when I have so much to do, thinking it can’t be done?
Maybe I’ve been getting too many Powder Milk Biscuits, and not enough Jesus. How about you?
P.S. Your prayers would be appreciated.
Filed under Christian Living, Christian Maturity, ministry, Uncategorized
The Recovering Legalist 