"I thought it was God, but it turned out to be Michigan"

Walking throught the living room in mid-commercial I had an interesting experience.

The TV was on and a commercial showed many Lighthouse images, and although I wasn't listening closely, the voice-over seemed to be in favor of light over darkness - good, positive, imagery.

At the close of the commercial, when the viewer is being invited to experience the light, I was expecting the name of a Church, or the Latter Day Saints, to come up - when instead it turned out that this was a tourism ad for MICHIGAN!

Not sure what to make of that shocker - mainly it was good for a laugh. It was about the 100+ actual lighthouses in The State Up North. Even though I bear the same last name as legendary tOSU Coach Wayne Woodrow, I can actually say some good things about the place. I have known some very fine human beings who originated there - many of whom still have a fondness for the place.

But if this commercial wasn't going to turn out to be about God, couldn't it at least have been about - oh, I don't know - Wisconsin?

My quandary over the lack of a lesson in this scenario reminds me (as SO many things do) of a Peanuts cartoon. Once Snoopy found his water dish empty and there were no humans around. He picked up his dish in his mouth and went and stood under a faucet (which was turned off). As he stood there, it began to rain, & his bowl filled up and he got his drink. In the last panel, Snoopy's thought balloon says, "I'm going to have to think about that one for a while."

Same here.

Also, of course, the title of this piece owes some debt to the classic Children's Sermon story, where the minister asks the kids, "What has a cute fluffy tail and scampers up and down trees and hides acorns?" One kid, obviously a veteran of the front Sanctuary steps where these encounters take place, responded, "Well, it sure sounds like a squirrel, but since this is the Children's Sermon I know it's Jesus."

God - Michigan. Way different.

When I figure out a lesson here, I'll get back to you.

[As always, if this is your first visit to "Leaving Nadderby", I suggest that you click on February 2008 and go down to "Looking Back" as an introduction to the site. I hope soon to figure out the intricacies of RSS & to again let the world know that this is online.]