1287 God 1 - Jesus 0

An interesting thing happened not too long ago that some might call a miracle. Others would call it a random act of nature, because something was struck by lightning. Insurance companies used to call that sort of thing an act of God.
And that’s sure what it looked like. Because what happened was, a bolt of lightning struck, and set aflame, a statue known as “Touchdown Jesus.” The image of the gentle shepherd then burned vigorously to the ground.
It was dispiriting to say the least.
The statue was nicknamed “Touchdown Jesus” by the general public because it was a representation of the upper torso of Jesus holding his hands high in the air in a pose not unlike a football referee signaling a goal. Torso and arms topped out at 62 feet tall.
But here’s the interesting thing. The statue was erected by a Protestant church. The evangelical Solid Rock Church to be exact. You may recall that one of the big reasons Protestants broke away from the Catholic Church was because the Catholic Church was treading dangerously into what the Protestants felt was idolatry—worshipping graven images of the Lord and assorted luminaries.
To the Protestants, praying to a statue of the Virgin Mary was akin to the naughty wander-weary Israelites bowing down to a golden calf.
The Solid Rockers might protest that the statue wasn’t a graven image per se, since it was made from plastic foam and fiberglass overlaying steel, but still...
I’m not sure what it means. God, as they say, works in mysterious ways. Is he trying to tell us he doesn’t like idols?
Or he doesn’t like football.
Let’s just hope there’s no “Soccer Jesus” somewhere that he isn’t destroying by lightning.
America, ya gotta love it.