It was a foolproof test that had literally never failed. And yet, this time it did.

The children ate the chicken nuggets.

In case you don't have the four and a half minutes to spare to watch the video linked above, here's the recap: Jamie Oliver, a world renowned chef, was attempting to convey to children that not everything they're eating is something that should be eaten. So, he showed them, up close and personal, how chicken nuggets are made. He took a chicken and cut off the parts any normal human being would want to eat: the breasts, thighs, wings, legs, etc. What was left was a carcass of bone, cartilage, skin and filthy nastiness that I wouldn't feed to a dog, let alone a human being. He then proceeded to cut this 'meat' up, blend it together, sift out the big chunks of bone, and make a chicken nugget out of it. The children, as they should have been, were horrified and disgusted.

And then they ate it.

And they were happy to do so.

The chef was shocked and appalled, but that was, perhaps, a bit naive on his part. After all, children are just little people, and people have this nasty habit of self-destruction. We're really good at knowing what we should and shouldn't do; what we're bad at is living wisely enough to actually do what we should and avoid doing what we shouldn't.

We know full well that sexual sin is emotionally and often physically damaging; yet we jump in and out of each other's beds constantly. We know full well that drinking too much alcohol has both short term (the next day) and long term (liver damage, chemical dependency, etc.) effects; yet every weekend, we spend a fortune on booze. We know that harboring bitterness and anger towards everyone we meet just eats away at us and makes others avoid us like a fungus; yet, every time we feel the least bit slighted we make a new enemy. For whatever reason, we human beings are utterly fantastic at finding the very thing that hurts us the most and then constantly doing that thing.

The good news is that God understands. The reason He hates sin is that sin hurts the people He loves - you and me. The reason He gives us parameters to live by is because He wants what's best for the people He created and wants to know - you and me.

Judging by Jesus' short term and long term reactions to the results of our sins (otherwise known as death), I firmly believe that God isn't so much angry with people for the mistakes we make as He is broken hearted. He knows we're capable of so much more, and He wants us to have the best lives possible, both today and for eternity. He doesn't want us eating mechanically separated chicken just because we're hungry; He wants us to enjoy a quality feast. He wants us to have a great life.

That's why Jesus did what He did. Where we fail, He succeeded, and where we knowingly do stupid things, He knowingly sacrificed His life to give us a fresh start -true spiritual freedom, no matter how many stupid things. All we need to do is trust Him

Just do me a favor: don't tell me what's in a hot dog!

I was recently looking through the library at my parent's house (that's right, I said 'library' - as a school teacher, my mom values books more highly than any other person I've ever met), I stumbled across a fascinating title: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. And proving once and for all that I have the coolest mother on the planet, when I asked her what in the world she had this book for, she told me how much she loved it and lent it to me so I could enjoy it to.

Now make no mistake: this is no Twilight. The book's premise is simple: the life of Abraham Lincoln, and by extension, the very history of our great nation, was shaped, more than any other factor, by the existence of ruthless, blood thirsty vampires. As his 'journals' show, every turning point of Lincoln's life, from the deaths of his loved ones to his political career to the Civil War to the Emancipation Proclamation, was an extension of his war on the vampires. Honestly, the book is a hilariously fascinating read, and I'd suggest it to anyone who loves history and gore.

But sadly, it was more than just a good read. Actually, after I finished the book, I couldn't help but think: our nation's history is so sad that I kind of wish this book were true. For as long as people have been on this soil, people have acted in such horrifically evil way that it makes me ashamed to read about it. Looking back on our treatment of the Native Americans and African Americans throughout our history should be enough to make anyone want to blame vampires.

Unfortunately, vampires aren't real, and the atrocities in this nation were acted out by people no different than you and me. The same could be said for any nation or any people group on any continent at any time in history; the sad truth is that people do horrible things to one another.

That's what makes Jesus' teaching so amazing. He lived in a time of racial and religous hostility, in an oppressed Israel occupied by Rome and hostile to their Samaritan and Gentile neighbors. And yet, while he lived in a time with as much tension between people groups as there is today, he still confidently taught anyone who would listent that they were to treat one another they way they would like to be treated, and he still boldly noted that loving other people goes hand in hand with being a person of God. To Jesus, EVERY person - Jew or Gentile, Roman or Israelite, slave or free, man or woman, clean or unclean - was valuable and worthy of love, respect, and grace.

Today, we can learn from the sins of the past. We can choose to treat each and every person we encounter, be them black or white, American or foreign, religious or atheist, gay or straight, rich or poor or anything else, with love. Following Jesus means adopting his value system, and Jesus made it clear that there was absolutely nothing that made a person unworthy of love.

As much as I'd like to blame our past on an evil force like a race of vampires, I can't. The injustices of our past are the fault of people, and we can't change that. What we can change is our present, one person truly following Jesus at a time.

And when we do that, future generations won't have to write vampires into their history books.

I'm always on the lookout for a good topic to blog about. After all, the internet is populated by literally hundreds of millions of websites that you could visit. So, if you're going to stop by the ACC website and spend five minutes reading a collection of thoughts from yours truly, I figure it ought to be well worth your time. And last night, I stumbled upon something that I thought would make a fantastic blog post:

The Insane Clown Posse are claiming to have been Christians this whole time. (note: the language in that link is very, very strong.)

In case you've missed it, the Insane Clown Posse (or, as they're called, ICP) are what's called a 'horrocore' music group out of Detroit. They sing about, as their Wikipedia page so eloquently puts it, 'cannibalism, murder and necrophilia,' just to name a few. In other words, this is the type of band rebellious teenagers would listen to in their rooms while their anxious parents were downstairs wringing their hands. And ICP has been wildly successful, to the tune of more than 6.5 million records sold worldwide. It might not be the scope of the Beatles or Michael Jackson, but it's nothing to sneeze at. So, according to ICP, they've sold 6.5 million CDs with a Christian message to their fans.

As I read the article, my blog took shape in my head: it would be a simple commentary on Christians needing to represent Christ to the world the way the Bible describes, and it would bemoan the negative effect to the kingdom of God that Christians who act like ICP have made over the history of the church. I even thought about taking a shot at their so-called faith, quoting New Testament passages that tell us that you can tell a tree by its fruit. Obviously, I was going to point out, the fruit of ICP tells us what type of tree they really are.

It's a good thing I opened my Bible.

Yes, Jesus taught that a good tree will produce good fruit, and a bad tree will produce bad fruit. But according to Luke's recording of the events, these words were preceded by another clear teaching by the Lord: don't judge other people. After all, we all have flaws, and it's what we see in ourselves that should dominate our thought process. Instead of worrying about what's wrong in the life of everyone else, we should concern ourselves with judging the way our lives are, and working to ensure that we are following Christ as closely as possible. The 'tree,' then, that Jesus explained that we need to judge the fruit of, is our own.

The truth is, it's easier to judge the sins of other people than it is to look at ourselves objectively. And because we're so worried about the sins of others, we fail to recognize the most beautiful aspect of the gospel: it doesn't exist for the righteous. Instead, as the apostle Paul so perfectly worded it, God showed his great love for us by sending Jesus to die while we were sinners.

I have no idea if the members of ICP are genuine in their faith, and I truly don't know if God has used their witness for His glory (or, as so many suspect, if it's done nothing but harm). What is know is this: God's grace and love is big enough for even the worst of the world and the most outcasted of society. Jesus' death and resurrection paid it all, for all. And because of that, every person, no matter what their flaws may be, are valuable in God's eyes.

And that, friends, is the best thing you could read on this, or any blog.

I am not a coffee drinker. As much as I may have tried to deny this fact over the last few years as I've pretended that drinking milk/chocolate/coffee hybrids from Starbucks is the same as drinking real coffee, the truth is that I have never enjoyed drinking a cup of coffee. I blame my parents, as I was raised in Folger-less home. Tea and milk and soda (or, as we called it, 'pop') were ever present; but coffee? Never.

As it turns out, however, I don't dislike everything about coffee. I truly like how it smells. Scratch that - I don't just like the smell of coffee. I LOVE the smell of coffee! I love it so much that I make sure to go down the coffee aisle nearly every time I'm at a grocery store, basking in the wonderful aroma of fresh coffee beans. It's amazing, and for that reason, my wife's newfound obsession with drinking coffee is a welcome addition to the Snyder household. Now when I come home, I'm often greeted by one of the best smells in the world as my wife's fresh brew fills the house. Of course, I can't drink the stuff, and quite frankly I'm not crazy about how Stephanie acts when she's on a caffeine high at 11:30 at night, but still - on the whole, the good of coffee's smell outweighs its negatives.

The point is this: there are very few scenarios in life that you cannot find a silver lining in. Is life easy? Absolutely not. Are our short days on this earth filled with trials and temptations and tragedies? You bet. But because there's a God in the universe that loves us, there's always a bright side to to our pain. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Rome (who, consequently, were living under the oppression of perhaps the cruelest Caesar in the Empire's history),

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:35-39

No matter where you are in your life today, know this: much of your life is going to be no fun. There will be accidents and illnesses and losses and deaths. But when those happen, look on the bright side: if you're a Christian, you have eternal victory through knowing the creator of the universe and his son, Jesus. And just like coffee's amazing aroma makes its horrible taste worth it, Christ's amazing love makes the tumultous journey of life worth living.

And that, friends, is true whether you like Starbucks or not.