Doppelgangers?

Well...all the crazy kids on Facebook are trying to get me to post my personal Doppelganger in honor of Doppelganger Week. (I had to look it up - it is a German word for "look-a-like.") From what people tend to tell me, my top three are below. If it were simply based on muscle tone, celebrity number one would be a shoe-in. I actually never got Ray Romano once until moving to Cincinnati, but now not a week goes by without it. Before that it was mainly Buscemi. I'll take Ray all day long if those are my two choices - no offense, Steve.





The bigger issue here is why we care. I suppose we all want to look like someone whom most people think is attractive...you know, like Steve Buscemi. My wife told a stranger last week that she looked like Bikini Girl from American Idol. I don't think the girl was very pleased.

We concluded our fifteen week journey through the book of Acts this week at VCC. There is one Doppleganger incident there. A time when some people were confused with someone else. In case you missed it...

Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. - Acts 11:25-27

It loses a little something in the translation, but it literally says that the disciples were first called "Little Christs" in Antioch. The people looking in at the Kingdom community from afar said, "Hey, do you know who those people act like?"

"Yeah," came the response. "They remind me of that Jesus who they thought was the Christ."

Some believe that the term Christian was actually pejorative at first. Perhaps the outsiders were poking fun at a group of people who would be so misguided to follow a dead convicted criminal. The disciples, however, wore it as a badge of honor. It was Peter who reminded these early Christians that "If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you."

What's the bottom line for me? I can live with Ray Romano or even Steve Buscemi comparisons...but there is only one guy I'd really like to remind people of someday. (It's not Hugh Jackman either...)