As a child, I used to skip church to watch Popeye cartoons.
Go ahead and judge.
In all fairness to my 10-year-old self, it wasn’t just Popeye. It was the whole Popeye and Friends show, featuring George of the Jungle and Super Chicken. This was, as far as I know, the only place to see Super Chicken and his sidekick Fred, and they were well worth seeing. And the show was hosted by Tom Hatten, who took little squiggles that kids mailed in and turned them into cool cartoons.
Up against all that, church didn’t stand much of a chance. Let’s just say that my walk with Christ lacked a certain intensity in those days. (more…)