The ten lepers weren’t hoping for the good life. They weren’t camping out in front of the local shops in order to hoard more things they didn’t need. They didn’t camp out in front of Best Buy for a bigger TV. They couldn’t live in their own home. They didn’t camp out in front of Farm and Fleet for good deals in their Toyland. They couldn’t be with their families. They didn’t camp out at Wal-Mart or Target or the mall. They weren’t concerned with the trivial things that can be purchased there.

n the movie, “Talladega Nights,” driver Ricky Bobby is saying grace with his family around the dinner table. He addresses his dinner prayer to “Baby Jesus.” He defends his prayer by saying that he likes the Christmas Jesus best. He tells his wife that when she says grace, then she can pray to the “grown-up Jesus,” or “teenage Jesus,” or “bearded Jesus.”

A small band has left the church and are now gathered at the cemetery. They are gathered together to lay to rest the body of their dear brother in Christ.

They understand what this place is. It is a quiet place. It is a solemn place. It is the place where so many of their Christian brothers and sisters have been buried. The grandfather who died in his sleep. The mother who lost her battle with breast cancer. The teenager who fell asleep behind the wheel. The infant who was never able to celebrate her first Christmas.

Eligah Christian had a $100,000 warrant out for his arrest. He was wanted by the Alaskan police for fraud, 15 counts of theft, and 21 counts of issuing bad checks. Understandably, the police wanted to catch Mr. Christian. Also understandably, Mr. Christian didn’t want to get caught.

This past April, an Alaskan State Trooper spotted the 49-year-old Mr. Christian around the town of Wasilla. The officer turned on his lights and siren and began to pursue him. It wasn’t difficult to keep him in sight. And, it certainly wasn’t considered a “high-speed” chase.

Let’s face it, Christianity is not for everyone.

If you are a religious person who looks down on those who are not as faithful in worship as you are, who doesn’t understand why other Christians struggle with sin so much, who can detect the angels’ clapping their wings at your record of obedience, and who has led such an exemplary life that you’re sure you’ve landed a spot on heaven’s honor roll, then you’ll feel like you are slumming in Christianity, for Jesus calls, poor, miserable sinners, not those who sport homemade halos.

There are Christians who kiss the crucifix, yet I have yet to see pious lips laid on the Ten Commandments. There are no telltale lipstick markings left on Moses’ two tablets of stone. Instead of kissing them, many want nothing to do with them.

Case in point: under the cover of darkness, a two-ton granite monument of the Ten Commandments was removed from the Oklahoma Capitol grounds earlier this month.

Some people hate the Ten Commandments. Others mock them. Most ignore or endure them. We certainly don’t kiss them in adoration and love. Why not? Because the Law condemns, that’s why.

In the beginning. Nothing. No light. No darkness. No time. No space. Nothing … except God.

And God said, “Let there be light!” And suddenly there was time and space and light and darkness!

Last week I was talking to my confirmation class about discipline with the Fourth Commandment. I asked them what would be the proper discipline for different age children if they did something naughty. For a 1-year-old they offered these disciplinary gems:

We don’t know her name. We only know her as the Israeli servant girl to Naaman’s wife. This little girl had been ripped out of her parent’s hands by bands of raiders from Aram. Her parents knew her and loved her, but she remains anonymous to us. That does not mean that she was unimportant or powerless, though.

Maybe you have seen the videos on YouTube or through your Facebook feed. They are videos of deaf people who hear sounds for the first time. Doctors put cochlear implants into people’s ears. When the implants are activated, the deaf person can immediately hear their first-ever sounds. The videos record the reactions of these people hearing voices for the first time in their lives.