Electronic Polar Bears

I came across an odd story this morning from the Riverfront Times, a St. Louis new blog. Apparently, the St. Louis Zoo hasn’t had much good fortune in the area of polar bear longevity. The zoo’s last polar bear, Hope, was euthanized last April when veterinarians discovered she had cancer. In May 2005 a polar bear named Churchill ate a fatal amount of cloth and plastic. Churchill died during stomach surgery. Just five weeks after that, a bear named Penny died from infection. She had two dead fetuses inside of her uterus. Zoo officials didn’t know that she was pregnant. According to a commenter on Riverfront Times, zoo keepers can only observe the bears from about the same distance as visitors This is due to safety reasons and not the zoo’s negligence.
The very strange part of this story, which references a photo from the Post-Dispatch (Google it!), is that employees with James Trogolo Co. installed a family of electronic polar bears where the real bears once lived. I can’t decide if this act is in bad taste. Evidently, James Trigolo Co. installed the electronic bears to promote their holiday decorations. Due to a rebound in the sale of commercial decorations, James Trigolo Co. is opening a new office in downtown St. Louis (exciting stuff... I know).
The world should not have to be subjected to a pale imitation of Jesus Christ. When Paul said, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” in 1 Cor. 11:1, he wasn’t telling the church in Corinth to work on a good voice impersonation or to do a couple things like Jesus would. He was telling them to become an exact reflection of the character of Jesus. In 1 Cor. 12, Paul tells us that we are the body. The Spirit of God dwells in us and we are witnesses in every way that we allow the Spirit to be seen in us. (1 John 5:6-12). Too often we use our imperfection as a crutch or exit strategy. We all are able to be Jesus for people that have yet to get to know Him. Don’t wait for others to be Jesus.