And We Both Laughed

I mentioned yesterday that I knew God has a sense of humor. I know this for a fact. I have proof. But first I have to tell you the story.

A few years ago I was speaking at the STC Conference in Anaheim. On my way back, I stopped off in Utah to see some friends. They gave me the grand tour of the state, and we had a great time. One of the sights we went to see was Goblin Valley, an area of stone formations with unusual shapes.

If you remember the movie Galaxy Quest, you'll recognize this area as the setting for their conflict with the rock monster and those cute pig lizards.

It's typical for visitors to play hide and seek among the rocks. There are well-worn paths so you can't really get lost. At one point, I wanted to get a picture of me with some of the rocks, but I couldn't find any of my friends, or anyone else at the moment. My camera had a time-release shutter setting, so I concentrated on finding a flat rock about waist height on which to set the camera so I could run around in front of it when the shutter clicked, and take my own picture.

I was intent on finding the proper place to set the camera so I didn't pay much attention to the background. When I saw the right rock on which to set the camera, I activated the timer on the shutter, hustled to a position directly in front of the lens and hunkered down so my face would be in the shot.

It was only much later, when the film was developed, that I noticed what else was in the frame.

No human hand took that photo. No human selected the location -- I wasn't paying the slightest attention to the rocks around me. The rock itself was placed there millions of years ago, and of all the thousands of rocks in that place, this particular rock was the one that happened to be in my photo.

So that's how I know that God has a sense of humor and is willing to share it with me. We had a laugh together. And now you've been let in on the joke. Cool, eh?