The Roaring Jesus
In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.
—John 2:14–15
When my daughter was four years old, she said that when she grew up she wanted to be a “blue doctor.” My second child tells me that he wishes to be a priest. My youngest son, who is now four, has been telling me for some time now that when he grows up he wants to be a lion.
I am not sure from where the desire to be a lion arose, but it probably has something to do with my repeated readings of The Chronicles of Narnia. The lion in those stories is one who loves and one who growls. His enemies fear him, and even his friends do not approach him without caution because they realize that he is not a tame lion. But they love him deeply and he loves them more in return. This is what my son aspires to. He is currently working on his roar and has it down fairly well.
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Thomas S. Buchanan is the George W. Laird Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Delaware. He has studied at UCSD, Northwestern University, and MIT, and has held visiting professorships at the University of Western Australia and the University of Aix-Marseille. He has served as department chairman, deputy dean, and institute director, president of the American Society of Biomechanics, and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Applied Biomechanics. He is on the Board of Trustees of Saint Katherine College, the editorial board of Touchstone, and the board of The Fellowship of St. James.
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