Goober

I have a story for you! So one of the coolest people in the world and I were arguing about how to spell goober/gouber. In fact, Microsoft Word recognizes goober but not gouber as a word. Any ways, we were yelling, punching, pinching, slapping, and even kicking. Actually, none of that is true, in reality, we made fun of ourselves while we texted each other. Lame right? However, we think it just means we are freakin awesome.

Needless to say it made me want to know more and who was right. So the first reasonable thing to do would be to search Wikipedia right? Well, I learned a lot. Goober (yes that spelling) is another name for a peanut. Who knew? If you add an ‘s’ to Goober you get a brand name chocolate-coated peanut. Also the brand Goober is a food product that combines peanut butter and fruit preserves (jelly for us common folk). Well that doesn’t answer my question of wanting to know more about goober, however, it did show how REASONABLE people spell the word. I mean I was spell champ in 8th grade.

So the next thing that any academic would do is look up the word goober in an Urban Dictionary. Here is what that said. “Basically a goober (let me emphasize the spelling again. Hah) is just a kindhearted, rather oblivious goofball. It’s a term of endearment really. It comes from the ancient Scottish verb ‘to goub,’ which has to do with doing a dance and smiling sheepishly while doing so.” Well, if my friend were to be Scottish I would accept the spelling gouber, but she’s not, however, due to the origins of the word, I will agree to disagree (like our text earlier).

When I think of a goober, I think of someone who is being silly and who is a goofball. I have been called a goofball my fair share of times, in fact, my mom used to call me that a lot. I mean, I am only a goofball or a goober around those that are my friends or family. The people I care about. Then it made me think, am I goober with Jesus? I mean I am close to Him. I love him. Or better yet, is Jesus a goober in my relationship with him?

Why should I be a goober with Jesus? Bare with me here. If Jesus is a friend, I should treat him like I would any other friend. I don’t want to have a fake friendship; therefore I will be a goofball with Jesus. I will have a playful friendship with him. One that we can laugh at things that happen in our lives, act silly, or even be undignified like David was. In fact, the verb to goub was about dancing crazy. Being undignified is like being a goober for Jesus. Jesus wants a REAL relationship with you. If that means cracking jokes at each other, so be it, if it means, playing hide and go seek, just know that Jesus will always find you, and if it’s his turn to hide he just stands by you. (That just made me think of the next Open Mic) Who doesn’t like to play? So many times know we think we need to be serious when it comes to Jesus, but I don’t find that to be true. I imagine Jesus in heaven, looking down at me, HIS FRIEND, laughing and saying ‘Oh Mic, you little goober.’ It would be my honor to be a goober around Jesus, because it means I am comfortable around him, it’s a sign of endearment.

I think Jesus is a goober as well. Jesus is definitely kindhearted, and I can see his disciples when he had 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread and said he will feed 5000 people. I can hear the disciple’s kid around with him calling him a goober for his silliness. I think Jesus wants to have a playful relationship with us. He kids us, he jokes around with us. One minute we think all is well, and BOOM there is a surprise a twist in events. That is when we look at Jesus and think “Oh Jesus, you goober, you really got me!” The other option is to blame him, but that just makes us dwell in the current situations. Plus Jesus has our backs, and he may play practical jokes on us, or maybe they seem like practical jokes because what Jesus is doing in our lives is not what we wanted. There is the key word, WHAT WE WANTED! Jesus when he throws in a surprise is being our best friend, a REAL friend, one that he can honest around and love and be a goober. He has our plans and we may think we know our plans but we are so wrong, so maybe what we see as a practical joke from Jesus is simply our desire to control our lives.

I like being a goober and so should you. Have a playful relationship with Jesus. Love Him! Enjoy the time you have with him. If Jesus is not someone who you can be a goober around, it is so simple. First, ask Jesus to be a friend and a leader and guide in your life, and he will. Tell him you love him, like you love your other friends, and before you know it you and Jesus will be two goobers interacting with each other.

Booger Christianity

Yes you read the title correctly! I like to take weird things and relate them to God. Can you guess what I used this time?

This time of the year, people's sinuses kick and yes we get boogers in our noses. There is nothing to be ashamed of. It's life. I wouldn't suggest standing around with your finger in your nose all day playing putt-putt with the boogers, and definitely am I not saying you should have a mid-day snack with them. Yuck!

However, in order for you to understand why I chose boogers let me explain some stuff about them. In order to understand boogers we need to start at its origin and that is mucus. Mucus is a good thing. It is slimy and gooey and can be multiple colors. Sounds fun already huh? Mucus is all over the nature. When it is in our noses it's a thick, sticky, wet pudding-like gunk that coats your skin and hairs. Mucus is very important with every breath we take. Each time that you take a breath; there are three very important things that happen.

1. The air that you breathe in is cleaned by tiny hairs in your nose, trapping little bits of dirt and dust and germs that come in through your nose.

2. As you breathe, the air is made slightly wet. Your nose having damp passages does this.

3. The next thing that takes place when air enters your nose is that the air is warmed. This happens because the blood flows through the lining of the nose and gives off heat.

Even though these three actions are to keep you healthy, germs can sometimes get into your respiratory system. The germs start growing in your nose, throat and lungs. You have a cold! When you have a cold the linings of your nose and / or throat swell. Thick, clear liquid called mucus forms and its purpose is to wash away the germs. The mucus builds up and blocks the air passages. This is what causes a stuffy nose and a cough.

Boogers are dried-up mucus and dirty nose debris. They can be small, slimy lumps or big, dry, brown clumps. Either way, boogers are filled with the junk that’s in the air you breathe. Dust, pollen, germs, sand, fungi, smoke, small particles from outer space! The good thing about your mucus is that it helps trap all this junk and keep it from getting close into your lungs.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had something in our lives to help keep the bad out? I mean, boogers are all the bad things that our nose and nose hairs are keeping out of us. The things that might harm our lungs and other things inside us. There are bad things in this world that can harm us. Maybe not physically but maybe spiritually. It would be nice to have a filter of sorts to keep the bad out and keep us clean and pure. How do we not let the life around us get to us, and us fall victim to it? Stereotypes surround us, and they are an evil thing. How can we keep those out of our lives? How can we keep the other possible downfalls in our lives out? What I am about to say may be blasphemy but sue me if it is. We do have a filter, we have Jesus. Jesus is a booger. If we live our lives like Jesus, these bad things around us, this world around us will be defeated and we won't be a victim to it. Jesus us a booger because he takes the particles that are going to be detrimental to our Christian life, like gossip, cheating, lying and so on and gets rid of them. Now it takes us to blow our noses to actually get rid of them. Jesus helps us with the first part, but it is also our part to fully get rid of those bad particles. Jesus will not play nose hockey and get rid of our particles that we pick up, but he will collect them for us, and make it easier to get rid of. I think of it this way. When I lie, Jesus catches all the particles and clumps them all together; however, if he just got rid of them for me, I would not learn a thing. He wants us to get rid of our particles. So I then have a choice, continue to lie until I can no longer breathe, which is what happens when we sin all the time, we feel the pressure, or I can breathe in deep. I must get rid of those particles first. I must pick them or blow them out. Shoot you can even do a snot rocket for all I care. I just recommend that you get rid of them.

Next time you go to pick your nose or even blow your nose remember that those are the particles that are potentially harmful to your body. Then remember that Jesus keeps you safe from those things in your life that are potentially harmful and makes it easier to get rid of them because he clumps them altogether for easy removal.