I suppose someone had to be blamed.

In case you missed it, last night the Missouri Tiger football team played its bowl game against the Iowa Hawkeyes. It was, from an impartial viewpoint, a fantastic game that went down to the wire, a thoroughly entertaining matchup of evenly matched teams that was determined by just a few plays.

Unfortunately, the Tigers were on the short end of a 27-24 final, and it was at that point that Mizzou fans did what sports fans are amazing at: looked for a scapegoat. Believe me, I know what this is like: my favorite sports team (the Cincinnati Reds) has exactly six winning seasons in the last twenty, and my favorite college (Purdue) has never won a National Championship in any sport that anyone cares about (sorry Women's Basketball). Point is, I know a thing or two about dealing with losing, and finding a person to blame is one of the first steps.

So, who was to blame last night? Was it the 'NFL-ready' quarterback who threw not one, but two horrendous interceptions, accounting for a 14 point swing in the game? Was it the defensive line that allowed a true freshman making his first start for Iowa to run for 219 yards and two touchdowns? Was it the starting center that was suspended for violating team rules? Was it Coach Pinkel himself for coaching conservatively, particularly in a first half when Missouri fell behind?

Of course not. In the minds of many fans, it was the referees, who made precisely one controversial call that may or may not have been correct.

This type of irrational short sightedness would be funny if it weren't such an indelible part of the DNA of mankind. In the earliest story of mankind, God makes a man and a woman who live in paradise. Not happy to live in perfect harmony with each other, the world around them, and their creator, they both make the choice to do precisely what God has asked them not to do, committing the first sin and presenting the need for Jesus to come on the scene countless years later.

When God confronted them about their decision, however, the blame game began. Adam, the man, blamed first his wife, and then, God for giving him his wife. It wasn't his fault; he was set up! Eve, for her part, blamed Satan's temptation for her sin. She was just a poor, innocent woman who was victimized by someone out to get her. God knew the truth, and neither excuse had any effect on the end result, but from that moment forward, people developed a nasty habit of blaming everyone else for their problems.

Is your marriage on the rocks? It must be your spouse's fault! Having trouble at work? You just have a mean boss and spiteful co-workers! Kids in trouble at school? It must be that the teachers have it out for them, and their friends are a bad influence! Unfulfilled in your spiritual life? Your church just isn't 'feeding' you and there must be somewhere else you can go. It's the same story, again and again and again. Instead of taking responsibility for our own mistakes, we constantly find someone else to must be at fault.

Here's the truth: there is much you cannot control in life. But most of your life is absolutely, positively within your control. If the Missouri Tigers had played better during the hundreds of plays prior to the controversial call, the game could have been theirs; if Adam and Eve hadn't made the choice to succumb to temptation, sin wouldn't have entered into this world; and if your life isn't what you want it to be, right now, there are literally countless decisions you can make to effect change in your life. It's entirely up to you.

The best news of all is that God understands that we're flawed, and that's where grace comes in. Despite all the drama and needless problems we bring into our lives, God still, time after time, gives us a chance to get back on our feet and make the right choice. Because of His love, we're given chance after chance after chance to make the right choice.

And if we don't take those chances? There's no one to blame but ourselves.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I was 'that' type of person.

Sure - I've never been the 'manliest' man in the world. I can't rip a phonebook in half with my bare hands or make my own furniture from wood and sheer force of will. You'll never see me covered in grease, drinking a Budweiser and talking about fuel pumps and carburetors. But still - I thought I was more of a man than this. 

A few months ago I came home from an out of town trip to find that my wife had been introduced to 'Gilmore Girls' by one of her friends. She was hooked, and she asked if I'd be willing to watch it with her. My first reaction was to make fun of my wife for not only watching such drivel, but for expecting me to do the same. The reasons were simple: the show was,

a.) Originally on the CW/WB;
b.) About a soul crushingly annoying single mom and her whiny, self-important daughter;
c.) Marketed to teenagers; and, most importantly,
d.) Intended to be enjoyed exlusively by people with ovaries.

Needless to say, this was near the bottom of my list of shows I wanted to watch. But trying to be a decent husband, I decided to give it a shot. At first, it was horrible; the show's writing was lazy and predictable, the side characters were even more irritating than the main ones, and every male in the show was a quasi-offensive caricature of why men are evil. But I gave it a real shot, and soon, I was hooked. Fast forward to last night, and the Snyder house got a bit dusty for both my wife and me during the emotional series finale.

Now, I understand that if I got in a time machine and told the 2004 version of me that I was not only watching 'Gilmore Girls,' but getting emotionally invested in it, that I would absolutely punch myself in the face, tell me to grow a pair and re-evaluate where my life has taken me. But the fact is I never wanted to be a 'Gilmore Girls' person; it just happened.

Life is funny like that sometimes, and when it comes to Christianity, it's often the people you least expect who are the most avid about their faith. And it's been like this since the very beginning; take, for example, the Christmas story. Consider the main characters:

- Joseph and Mary, an unwed couple with an illegitimate child;
- A group of lowly shepherds that were both on the social fringes of society and excluded from Jewish worship;
- Non-Jewish scholars who majored in astrology.

Think about that for a moment. In most churches, a couple like Joseph and Mary would, at best, be looked down on as 'sinful,' and at worst, be completely and utterly unwelcome. The shepherds took a job that ensured they had little to nothing to do with God or religion. And the magi were not only 'not God's people,' but practiced an occult superstition that would cause most Christians to accuse them of witchcraft today. Not exactly the church choir, eh?

The message, though, is amazing: God's kingdom is not just for the 'religious' or the 'church people.' God's kingdom is for everyone, whether they're welcomed by society or feared. It's open to faithful church goers and people who would never darken the door of a chapel, and it's intended for people whether or not they've got a vast collection of skeletons in the closet. Good, bad, and in between, Jesus is for everyone.

You may not think you're a good 'church person,' and that's okay; I never thought I'd like 'Gilmore Girls' either. But our definition of who is and who is not worthy to be in God's kingdom needs to be impacted less by our own prejudices and pre-conceptions, and more by the words of an angel to a group of religious outcasts nearly two thousand years ago:

I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The savior - yes, the Messiah, the Lord - has been born today...

When good news is for ALL people, that means everyone can say 'amen.'

Amen.

When I was in high school, my favorite show on television was The X-Files. Like every other teenager in America, I spent entirely too many precious hours wasting away in front of ridiculous shows, but this one was different. Somehow, it didn't seem like a waste of time to follow the exploits of agents Mulder and Scully, and so every Sunday evening, I made sure I cleared my schedule to be able to spend an hour watching Fox 59.

That said, it goes without saying that the concept of aliens fascinates me. Sure, the entire concept becomes incredibly creepy when one considers the tales of those who claim to have been abducted, what with the paralysis and anal probing and all, but still - the mind is boggled when thinking about the infinite possibilities of life in the vastness that is the universe. What could they look like? How technologically advanced might they be? Would they think and act and feel like people? And my faith has done little to suppress my curiosity; after all, if God made this planet and everything in it, why would He stop with just Earth? Why not have millions of 'Earths' with millions of races and species and peoples? The whole idea is absolutely fascinating.

You can imagine, then, how exciting it was a couple weeks back to stumble across this headline: 'Are Aliens Among Us?' To make a long story short, NASA researchers have stumbled upon evidence that life is possible in areas and environments that we never before thought possible, and therefore, have exponentially increased the likelihood of life on other planets and worlds - even those that look nothing like the one we inhabit.

This is, of course, a groundbreaking discovery that should lead to even further discoveries. It's incredibly interesting, thought-provoking, scientifically significant... and, unfortunately, practically irrelevant.

Now, I'll grant that space exploration has contributed to society in all sorts of ways. I enjoy satellite TV as much as the next guy, and cell phones are pretty much essential to every day life in the 21st century. And while we're on the subject, it's tough to watch the original moon landing and not feel like you're watching something bigger than your day to day mundane existence. But the truth is that while NASA has undoubtedly made life on earth more convenient and exciting, perhaps the cost has outweighed the benefit.

If Wikipedia is to be believed, the United States has spent the equivalent of more than $790 billion over the past 50 years, averaging nearly $16 billion spent per year. And even in our times of economic difficulty, that number isn't getting any smaller; for 2011, NASA has an operating budget of $19 billion.

All this begs the question: no matter how exciting it is to discover new worlds and new possibilities, wouldn't that $19 billion be better spent elsewhere? I don't know, maybe towards cancer research or education. Or maybe as part of a workable and viable health care reform that more than half the country can get behind. Or, maybe - just maybe - as part of a system of government aid to help the impoverished and homeless among us? It seems to me a bit inconsistent for our nation's leaders to look past myriads of problems here at home only to pour tens of billions of dollars towards space exploration. We're looking past what's tangibly in front of us for the sake of what's potentially far away.

Unfortunately, this isn't just a problem with the government and NASA, but instead, is a major issue plaguing the church as well. The good news, though, is that while I can do little to nothing about government spending, I can absolutely do something about how I live my life.

Jesus had a theological discussion with a religious expert one day who had a simple question: what does God expect out of those who will live eternally? He already knew the answer, however: show love for God and love for your neighbors. The man then asked a simple follow up: 'who is my neighbor?'

In other words, the man was asking point blank, 'What people should I care about? Who is worthy of my charity and grace? Which people are the ones that are valuable enough for me to invest my time and resources helping?' Jesus answered with a story, and the point of that story was earth-shattering for the man: whoever you encounter is your neighbor. Whoever you see, whenever you see them, they are your neighbor.

You may not be able to impact the entire world with your life, and chances are really, REALLY good that you'll never know the truth about the mysteries of the universe. But what you CAN do is love you neighbor. To whomever you see, whenever you see them, you can absolutely show love, grace and compassion. You can be the person God wants you to be, no matter if you're in Ashland or Mid-Missouri or America or anywhere else. You can make a difference in the small sphere you have power over; you can love your neighbor.

Focusing on what's potentially out there is always more exciting than paying attention to what's tangibly in front of you. But it's high time that we, as a people inhabited by God and His Spirit, spent more time with our eyes on the ground than our heads in the clouds.

After all, while the truth is definitely out there, what we already know for sure is right in front of us. 

I really hate the world today.

That may not be a very 'preacher-y' thing to say, but it's the truth. For the past couple days or so, I've been incredibly moody. I've been constantly on edge, frustrated over anything and everything. Maybe it's because it's so unbelievably cold outside that I haven't felt my toes since Saturday; maybe it's because I signed Life Insurance papers today that told me that my life has roughly the monetary value of the cost of about three innings of pitching for your average Major League starter; maybe it's because I'm just being a petulant, self-centered jerk. I don't know. But regardless of the reason, I really hate the world.

But when you think about it, it's pretty easy to conclude that this should be more than just a few day affair. After all, we live in a world of wars and famine and crime and injustice and death and destruction and ignorance and violence. We live in a world where the majority is needlessly oppressed by the whims of the few who really have power, where innocent people suffer for the benefit of the wicked. We live in a world where Katy Perry and Lady GaGa make money recording music they didn't write and can't sing; a place where Ghostbusters 3 can't get off the ground while Michael Bay can make three films about Shia Lebeouf and his parents under the name Transformers; a society infatuated with 'vampires' that sparkle in the sun and athletes who are 'insulted' to be offered tens of millions of dollars to be terrible at their jobs. And worst of all, we live in a world where the church has responded to the world's ails with either apathy, hatred, or meaningless blogs on church websites.

In short, the world sucks.

And that is, strangely, what keeps me coming back to my faith time and time again. Sure, I believe in God because, logically and scientifically, it only makes sense that a universe as vast and a planet as delicately balanced as ours has someone or something responsible for their existence. And as we just spent the last month talking about at ACC, the evidence for Christianity is stronger than that of any other religion ever known to man.

But more than anything, my heart beats to the drum of Christ's teachings because unlike people like me, he saw good in a world of bad; he found light in a world of darkness. And no matter what his followers (including this one) do to try to ignore that fact, his optimism is the basis of the very kingdom he came to proclaim to mankind. There's a reason the most famous passage of the New Testament starts with the words, 'for God loved the world,' after all. Jesus taught that God isn't just real, but instead, he also infinitely good.

On days like today, that fact keeps me going and gives me hope. It may not fix everything or make me feel completely better, but it helps me keep the perspective that maybe things aren't so bad after all. Heck, if the creator of the universe can find something good in what we see around us, then maybe the problem isn't just with what we can see.
 
Maybe the problem is how we choose to see it. 

When I was in fifth grade, my teacher wanted us to be solid citizens and students. Therefore, she did what any reasonable person would do: she bribed us with food. Once a month, she took a few students out to lunch wherever they wanted, and while I'm not even sure exactly what the criteria was to win such a prize, I remember how excited I was the day I had earned a lunch away from the terrible cafeteria of Hose Elementary School. And for our meal, I talked the other students into going to my favorite place to eat that the time: Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers.

Now, in hindsight, it was a poor choice. After all, there are roughly three dozen better places to eat in my hometown than a fast food chain. But I have to admit - even today, I'm a big fan of Wendy's, and it's not just because they have the best training videos in the history of fast food. No, it's more than that. At Wendy's, unlike other fast food joints, it seems like the food is really food; their Spicy Chicken Sandwich and Bacon Cheeseburger is second to none, and when you top it off with a Frosty, it's a tough meal to beat. I am unashamed to say that I am a big fan of Wendy's.

So you can imagine my dismay when I saw the recent ads that promoted their new 'Natural Cut' French Fries. As the ad says, they're simply 'Russet Potatoes and Sea Salt.' This in and of itself isn't a big deal, though it certainly begs the following question in my mind:

WHAT IN THE WORLD HAVE WE BEEN EATING ALL THESE YEARS!?

I mean, Wendy's is now proudly proclaiming that their fries are made out of potatoes and salt. What were they before? Shoe laces? Turnips? The gross skin on the outside of elk antlers? Seriously - what were the old fries made out of? It reminds me a lot of the recent Dominos Pizza ad campaign that basically says, 'hey, our pizza used to be absolutely terrible. We're proud to say that now, it's not nearly as horrible as it once was!' It's one thing to improve upon your product; it's quite another to throw the last several decades completely under the bus in the process.

As it turns out, though, this is not unlike what it means to be a Christian. See, the entire point of Christianity is to help those who need it. In other words, if we were sinful people in need of saving and redemption, there would be no reason to follow Jesus in the first place. So, there was a time in the life of every Christian (and, truthfully, every person) when their lives were as miserable as Dominos Pizza or Wendy's fries made out of a lampshade. Our flaws and mistakes are what made becoming a Christian necessary in the first place.

But once we're Christians, we leave that old life behind. No longer do we have to worry about the mistakes we've made without Christ, and when you get right down to it, no longer do we have to worry about any other mistake we'll make. After all, as we're told in the New Testament, you,

were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. - Colossians 1:21-22

If you're in Christ, you're holy. Blameless. Without a single fault. Period. It doesn't matter if in your past you were the worst person in the world; what matters is now, through your faith in what Jesus has done, you're no longer that old person. You're simply russet potatoes and sea salt, no matter what your past tasted like.

This is the hope of the Gospel, the promise of Jesus: God's love, grace and mercy is for everyone, no matter how far away they've strayed. And Jesus' spiritual influence doesn't just make you a 'good' person or give you a fleeting feeling. Instead, he makes an eternal change to make people like you and me perfect.

And that, friends, is much better news than any new addition to Wendy's menu.

I think I owe you an apology.

Okay, so maybe not you personally. But to be perfectly honest, after all the phone messages I listened to this afternoon, I wouldn't be surprised. See, there are few things I do worse in my job than monitor the phone at the church. I have tons of excuses why - after all, nine out of ten calls are either telemarketers or politicians or people asking for information I don't have anyway. And most people, I figure, have my cell phone if they really want to get ahold of me. Besides, no matter how long I'm here, I'm just not used to listening to voicemails. Growing up, we didn't have an answering machine (seriously!), and I'm just not accustomed to checking one.

See? I have lots of explanations as to why I don't always answer the phone and rarely listen to messages. But the truth is, they're just cheap excuses.

Today, I listened to messages from the past month, and the truth is, I missed a couple calls that were pretty important. And because I've held on to excuses for so long and haven't simply changed my phone habits, I missed out on a couple opportunities to really help people. That, in a word, sucks. And I'm truly sorry.

Unfortunately, excuses are a common human plague. We can justify just about any action with a lame reason, and when we do, nearly all of us can fall asleep at night without losing even one dream. We're great at making excuses for our actions, especially when it comes to spiritual decisions.

The truth that we all have to face, though, is that God has removed any grounds for us to make any excuse. The Apostle Paul wrote about this very notion to the ancient church at Rome, saying,

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes... But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. - Romans 1:16, 18-20

Those words ring more true today than ever before. Our advancements in science and archaelogy support the New Testament record in ways that most people never realized; the gospel has gone out to more people in more ways than at any time in history, especially in America; we live in an age of mass information, where every side of every debate can be seen with the click of a mouse and the clattering of a few keys on a keyboard. The truth is that you can find the truth, if you take five minutes to look.

There's simply no excuse to not have an understanding or belief about God, and there's no excuse for Christians to be living lives that don't reflect Jesus' teaching. We have every advantage known to man, and it's high time we all used them. Have a question about God? Ask someone, or ask several someones. See a need that you feel someone should do something about? Find out how to help, and get to it. Have a friend or family member you want to share your faith with? Pick up a phone, or write an e-mail, or send a text or leave a message on Facebook, or get a cup of coffee or do any number of things to communicate with them the truth you know.

From today forward, I'm going to do my darndest to return everyone's messages and answer the phone consistently, even if 'dardnest' isn't really a word. The truth is, I have no excuse.

And neither do you, no matter what it is you need to do.

'He's supposed to be pretty good.'

The mind is a funny thing. I may not be able to remember someone's name who comes for the first time on Sunday morning, and for some reason, I can never remember to take the trash out on Monday nights. But for whatever reason, I'll never forget the first time I learned who Drew Brees was. It was 1997, and I was riding in a car with my dad. We were listening to the Purdue Boilermaker football team on the radio as they were on the road against Toledo, when the backup quarterback from Texas entered the game. I asked who he was, and my dad told me simply, 'he's some kid named Brees. He's supposed to be pretty good.'

The reason he became my favorite athlete is simple: timing. I was in high school when he was at Purdue, which means I had little to convince me that sports weren't more important than anything else. And as I watched nearly all of his starts (and half of them in person at Ross Aide Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana), I realized that no athlete had ever made me more excited or brought me more joy to watch. I celebrated his rise to the top of collegiate record books, and I agonized when no matter how good he was, it seemed like Purdue was never good enough to win 'the big one.'

But in 2000, his college career was over, and I had a choice to make. I could 'follow' Brees to the NFL and root for him there, or, I could stay true to my 'hometown' NFL team, the Indianapolis Colts. I chose Brees and his new team, the San Diego Chargers. And while it sounds strange today, that was a terrible decision at the time. Brees was terrible at first, not only losing his job, but causing the Chargers to draft a long term replacement for him. His last game as a Charger ended in injury, leading him to sign with the only team that actually believed in him, the then-terrible New Orleans Saints.

You know the rest of the story. Five years later, the Saints are the reigning Super Bowl champs and Drew Brees is not only considered one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, but when I go to my mailbox this afternoon, I'll find the Sports Illustrated Issue declaring him their 2010 Sportsman of the Year. I think it's safe to say that being a Drew Brees fan is a pretty easy thing to be these days.

But what makes this so fantastic is not that it's easy today; it's that it's been difficult in the past, and I stuck with it. Sure, sports are trivial diversions, but I have to admit: there's something satisfying about being a fan through thick and thin and seeing it finally pay off. There's something that feels really great about being loyal in the rough times, knowing that that good times eventually came.

As Christians, it can be really difficult sometimes to stay loyal. The actions of our brothers and sisters around the world (not to mention what the person in the mirror does) can make it nearly impossible to take pride in calling yourself a 'Christian.' The mainstream media and pop-culture 'scholars' have done everything they can to make a mockery of faith, and after hearing for the 800th time that 'no educated person can believe in God,' it can be pretty easy to believe it. And in the church, the place that God intends there to be a supportive community of friends and family, people can only get along for roughly 15 minutes before they fight and bicker and complain and find a reason to bail. I'd make a joke here, but the truth is, it's really not funny.

But it's also true that when spiritual victories DO come, our loyalty makes them all the sweeter. And one day, the ultimate victory will be apparent to everyone, believer and non-believer alike - the return of Christ. And when that happens, those of us who stuck it out through thick and thin can welcome the kingdom of God with open arms, no matter what it may look like.

Loyalty pays off, even in something that's as trivial and unimportant as sports. And when it comes to the kingdom of God, that principle is true: when we hang tough through the difficult times, we'll have all the more to celebrate during the good ones.

And make no mistake: the 'good' times are a whole lot better than a trophy or a magazine cover.  

 

It's that time of year again - it's time for shopping and Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer on CBS and tacky lawn ornaments and nearly breaking your neck trying to put lights on your roof and trekking several miles through the woods to find the 'perfect' tree and arguing with family over what day you'll 'celebrate' the holiday with your aunt and uncle and all sorts of other, semi-fun and quasi-excruciating things. It's the holiday season!

And with the holiday season comes another December tradition: Christians complaining about how everyone's trying to steal the holiday season from Jesus. For the next month, you're going to hear countless Christians complain about the term 'Xmas,' taking 'Christ' out of 'Christmas'; you'll hear believers say 'Merry Christmas' with a pretentiously condescending tone to anyone who may have the audacity to utter the words, 'happy' and 'holidays' in the same sentence; you'll listen to sermons and read articles in which preachers denounce every non-Jesusy symbol of the season, from Frosty to the Menorah to Santa Claus (despite the fact that 99% of Christians teach their kids that Santa is real). It's a holiday tradition like no other, and perhaps I'm overly cynical, but I have to admit that it gets really old really fast.

Never mind that 'Xmas' is actually an abbreviation based on the Greek term for 'Christ.' Never mind that we live in a religiously neutral and free society where not everyone is a Christian, and therefore, there ARE other holidays during this time of year. Never mind that the first recorded mentioning of Christmas as a Christian holiday comes over 300 years after the resurrection of Jesus, rendering the custom as a pleasant, but wholly unnecessary exercise. Never mind common sense and reason; we Christians LOVE to get offended whenever we feel like we're ever so slightly disrespected!

Perhaps I'm being a bit too harsh on my brothers and sisters in the church. But I find it fascinating that while we get our feelings hurt and post angry Facebook statuses and plaster passive-aggressive signs outside our church buildings, when the early church saw a multi-cultural society like ours, they used it to their advantage. Consider the preaching of Paul in Athens. 

Athens was not at all unlike America. They valued their freedom, specifically their intellectual and religious rights, and they welcomed all sorts of different belief systems. They stood for tolerance, and despite the fact that human nature reared its ugly head quite often, the ability to choose was something they held dear. When Paul arrived, he was invited to speak before the people, and when he did so, he didn't criticize their idolatry or blast their misuse of God's name; instead, he used their culture to his advantage. He quoted their prophets and referenced their idols, and he lovingly and gently preached the gospel of good news to all people.

And when he did, he was mocked. He was laughed at and belittled, and people thought he was crazy.

But whereas you and I may get offended, Paul was undeterred. He understood that their insults weren't directed at him; they were directed as his beliefs. And if his beliefs were the truth, they didn't need defending. The truth is, after all, what it is, with or without or arguing for it. The result for God's kingdom was phenomenal: while Paul was soundly made fun of, there were a few who believed and began to follow Jesus. All in all, it was a resounding success!

The bottom line is this: it's not our job to always be right, and it's not our job make sure Christianity is respected by everyone. It's our job to lovingly and graciously emulate Christ, and in doing so, share the good news of peace and compassion from our God with anyone and everyone who will listen. Unfortunately, we're shouting so loud in defense of our own customs and narrow viewpoints that the truth of the gospel is drowned out, year after year.

If you really want to honor Jesus this Christmas, start a new tradition: embody in your own life what Jesus taught, and look for opportunities to share with your loved ones, acquaintances and enemies why you're living the way you're living. Leave the shouting and bickering to the world, and instead, live out the good news of glad tidings to all men.

When you do, you'll find it really doesn't matter what anyone else calls it.