mr. yuk was a character created by the children’s hospital of pittsburg to prevent kids from getting into potentially hazardous situations at home. so, for example, parents would put a mr. yuk sticker on that bottle of draino under the kitchen sink so that little bobby would not drink it.

but, man, the psa they came up with. it’s probably the craziest, and scariest, psa ever. i think it goes beyond “scared straight” into trauma territory. a sample lyric: “home is full of bad things that can hurt you very much”… yikes. after watching the ad, i might sleep with the lights on. watch for yourself. if you dare!

just got back from a couple of retreats… one in seattle and one in dallas. retreats can be such spiritual highlights for many people, and it’s really a privilege to be a small part in that. however, retreats also remind me of how my heart has been moving more & more toward the importance of walking with God in the ordinary & everyday… experiencing God in the highs (and the lows) is important and necessary, but i think lasting transformation of our heart & character happens when we learn to seek Him in the boring old routines of our everydays lives…

retreat themes are great. i’ve seen all kinds – ranging from the goofy (“hello, my name is..”) to the simple (“first love”) to the just plain theologically wrong (“jesus is my security blanket”… no, seriously). my friend’s church in seattle settled on the theme “24” to reflect the heart of learning to walk with God 24 hours a day – not to compartmentalize our faith, but to allow Christ to be the foundation for everything….

speaking of 24, how about all those emmy nominations? i’m not sure if this past one was my favorite season, but that scheming president turn was pretty great tv. i wonder why lost was snubbed, though? i suppose lost might have suffered from some kind of sophomore slump this season, but it was still pretty compelling stuff. i wonder how much they’ll pull back the curtain on the island in the next season. on one hand, it’s kind of nice to get some concrete answers so that we’re not frustrated all the time (try watching the prisoner!)… but on the other hand, things can definitely turn downhill after revealing too much (see x-files).

anyhoo, i’ll never forget these couple of retreats – if only for the crazy skits the students created. more than one featured jesus and satan fighting. but not the old-school, carman-type boxing match… no, it’s been updated for the zoolander set, with jesus and satan breakdance fighting. one skit in particular has the jesus-character take off his shirt within the first four seconds. so wrong on so many levels….