Balaam is my friend

Balaam is an interesting character in the Bible. C.S. Lewis, after his very first sermon, didn't feel that it had gone so well. He reflected, "At least I can take consolation in the fact that the Lord used an ass to convert the prophet!"

I related this story in a presentation to my high school English Lit class. I was surprised when my friend Noel, who had no discernable interest in matters of faith or religion, exclaimed, "Balaam and his donkey! That's my favourite Bible story!" It turns out that his strong interest in English Literature had led him to read the entire Bible so that he might understand more of the Biblical allusions that abound in most Western literature. I thought that was pretty cool.

This Wednesday at our church youth group, we were shown pictures of different times when God spoke to people, and we were supposed to call out the answer if we knew it. Sure enough, Balaam and his donkey showed up. I called out, "That's Balaam's ass!" Some of the youth did a slight double take to hear one of their leaders say "ass". Andrew (bless his heart) gasped and said, "She said Balaam!" I laughed very hard. Youth are funny and so is the Bible. And the word "ass".