I received a Christmas gift basket yesterday. Do you want to know who sent it?

(pause for effect)

The Mormon church.

I won’t say anything more. Just know that I’m laughing right now.

[Note: if you track this blog at all, you'll know why I'm amused. What's inside? That's even better]

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g7H00jNINk]

[ht: LayGuy]

Here, Mormon American Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney claims that his LDS faith will not effect the way he would run the Presidency. He says that his faith does not “exert influence on Presidential decisions.” Ha ha, yeah right.

I’ll tell you this. My faith does influence the way I live and the decisions I make. It must if my faith has any merit at all in my life. I consider myself a follower of Christ first and my status as an American is secondary. Actually I’d say it’s much further back than that.

Here’s how I would order my life. I consider myself a:

1. Follower of Christ
2. Husband
3. Father
4. Son
5. Friend
6. Missionary
7. American

So my question for you is this: How do you order your life? Do you consider yourself a Christian first or an American first…?

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3kr99KcoSA]

I’m always wary of people who like to name drop Jesus when winning an award. When I heard Tim Tebow thanking the Lord twice in his Heisman acceptance speech, I decided to do some research into his background and from what I found, I was really impressed.  He seems to be the real deal.

Tebow grew up in a Christian family, led by missionary parents Bob and Pam Tebow. The Tebows are members of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville. He began his walk with Christ as a 6-year-old and has regularly traveled with his family during summers to the Philippines, where he was born, to lead evangelistic crusades and minister in orphanages.

Although his college commitments prevented him from going to the Philippines this summer, Tebow told the Witness the experiences of ministering there remain with him — and is something he will pursue in the future because “it is a valuable part of my life.”

Reflecting on the people he has ministered to, Tebow said, “Meeting all of those different people who have nothing and are poor gave me an appreciation for what me and my family have and provided me with the perspective of taking nothing for granted. It also allowed me to see the effect that I could have on those people. For some, the belief in Christ is all that they have and is much more important than money or material possessions.”

[BP Sports]

Wow and I thought that nothing good could come from the University of Florida (or South Carolina or Alabama or Tennessee).

Lately, I’ve really been pondering: what does a real Christan look like? Sure, we have our cultural Christians (ones that buy their clothes from the Family Christian Bookstore or watch Facing the Giants), but what does a it really look like to put faith into action. Nothing fake or plastic, or acted. No pretense. Just raw and real. What does an authentic Christian look like?

Here are some word that came to mind: 

Honest /Authentic

Transparent / Vulnerable

Just / Passionate

Compassionate / Loving

Ordinary / Simple

Ultimately the answer is, an authentic Christian looks like Jesus.

Any other words you care to add to the list? 

In celebration of DCB’s new album Remedy, you get a supersized Weekly Crowder.

First, here’s a Remedy taste:

Then, here’s some random Crowderness:

And lastly, Sean had asked me why Crowder hates squirrels. Well Seanny, Christmas comes early this year. Here you go:

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSTfgsjmiW8]