Paris – Steve Connally's Brain

I like the Olympics. I always have. As a five-year-old child in 1984, I was able to attend the diving event and track and field in Los Angeles. The competition and the patriotism were inspiring. I remember crying while watching the closing ceremony on T.V. because the Olympics were over.

I still look forward to watching the Olympics and rooting on the United States athletes, so on July 26th, I sat down to watch the opening ceremony in Paris, France. It was quite the spectacle. The acrobats were mesmerizing. The musical acts were all over the place, from pop to rap, heavy metal, and opera. The athlete boat parade down the Seine was different than the normal walk around the track of the stadium. There were, however, some controversial skits interspersed throughout the event. There was a skit about a ménage à trois. There were lots of men dressed as women throughout the show. The part that has made the most waves, though, was what many perceived as a drag queen reenactment of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “The Last Supper.”

This has led to a huge outcry by Christians in America. Many have demanded an apology. Some have vowed not to watch and called for a boycott of the games. My reaction was quite different, though. You may remember my article where I explained a saying I have about being offended. “Don’t be offended unless offense is intended.” This opening ceremony actually fits that criterion. I think they fully intended to offend Christians by mocking one of the big events in the Bible. They wanted that attention and the controversy. Here’s the thing that might surprise you. Even though it checks the boxes for being offensive, I was not offended.

Was it a good thing? Of course not. Did I freak out? Not at all. I do not expect people who reject God to respect God. I do not expect non-Christians to abide by biblical values. Quite the opposite. I expect debauchery. I expect violence. I expect hedonism. This is what the world would be like without God. Instead of complaining, we should use it as a contrast to turn people back to God. We should show it as two different paths we can take.

We are leaving a time when Christianity was the common, widely agreed upon religion, and most people in the Western world shared the same ideology and values. We got used to the expectation that others shared our values. Unfortunately, that is not the case now. We are in a time when Christianity is no longer the dominant value system. Secular leftism is the dominant value system. We are now outsiders in a pagan world.

This has actually been the norm during much of history. Christians were outsiders, not the people in control. How did Christianity grow in the first place? My guess is that a bunch of pagans were living meaningless, unhappy lives and they saw these strange Christians living joyful lives with a purpose. This is the contrast that we need to highlight today. Complaining that non-Christians are not acting like Christians is a waste of time and illogical. We should instead highlight the fact that following Jesus leads to a happier, more fulfilling life and a better society, while the alternative leads to a shallow, meaningless life and a hedonistic, indulgent society.

While this perspective is true on a large-scale, societal level, it also applies on a micro, more personal level. When somebody who is not a Christian does bad things, I am not shocked. Why would I be? They do not have the same standards as we do. It should not be surprising if somebody who rejects the Bible does something unethical in business. Their goal is not to do what is right. It is to do what will be of the most benefit to them. Christians should hold themselves to a higher standard.

Another point that I have heard Christians make is that the French would not have mocked Islam the way that they did Christianity. This is, of course, true. This is a good point to make, but not if we frame it as a complaint. Complaining doesn’t win people over. What does make Christians look good is to point out how great it is that we will not chop off your head if you try to offend us. Christianity makes better people.

Unless the world turns back to God, things are going to get worse. We are seeing things that nobody would have imagined when I watched the Olympics back in 1984. Who would have guessed back then that people would be pushing for men to be able to compete in women’s sports? Vulgarity, crime, and sexual debauchery are just the tip of the iceberg. The marginalization and persecution of Christians (and Jews) will get even worse. There will be more wars and worse atrocities. There will be more suffering.

Instead of feeling shocked and angry at the non-believers who performed this skit, I feel bad for them. If you have rejected God to the point where you will mock Him, your eternity looks pretty bleak. Instead of attacking them for showing sexualized content and debauchery during an event that many parents watched with their children, we should be talking to those parents and pointing out the alternative. This alternative would lead to the more wholesome, yet still exciting and enjoyable path that God provides. In fact, only our path will lead to true happiness.

I am still watching the Olympics, and enjoying the competition. The athletes worked hard for this chance and many of them do want to please God. The next time you see a heathen performance or display and your first instinct is to be offended, instead think to yourself, “I am sure glad I have God and am not like that.”

Hello and bonjour! As many of you who follow me on social media know, I recently took my first trip to Europe, and I promised to share my observations from overseas. It actually started in an Italian restaurant on a baseball trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, in October. After some wine, my girlfriend (now fiancé) asked me if I like the 80s band, The Cure, and if we should go see them in concert. I said, “yeah,” and she preceded to go on her phone and get us tickets. After she bought the tickets, she told me that the show was on December 12 in LONDON!

When booking flights, she decided that we should go across the channel to Paris for a few days after the concert. Here are highlights from the trip, with some observations, pictures, and recommendations!

We arrived in London on Friday afternoon after a redeye flight from LAX. We stayed at the “Grand Royale London Hyde Park,” which was built by King Edward VII for his mistress, actress Lillie Langtry. My favorite part about the hotel was the full English breakfast each morning, which ranged from normal stuff like eggs, bacon, and sausage, to things like sauteed mushrooms, marmalade, baked beans, and of course, many kinds of English teas.
We went on a Paddington Bear-themed double-decker bus tour of the city, which included English high tea with sandwiches, scones, cookies, cheeses, and marmalade.
After getting mulled wine in Trafalgar Square, we wandered the wrong direction back to the hotel, leading to a six-mile walking tour through the streets of London.
Saturday night was the World Cup soccer match between England and France. While I am not a soccer fan, I thought it would be a fun atmosphere to sit in a pub and watch with the English fans. Unfortunately, the pubs were so crowded that many of them would not let anybody else in, and the ones that did were so packed that we could not even move.
Since we were there on a Sunday, we decided it would be cool to attend the church service at Westminster Abbey. The service had a solemn feel to it, with an organ and a boys choir that sounded eerie and echoey because of the giant building and very high ceiling, combined with being otherwise quiet. The most interesting part was the markers for all of the people buried in Westminster Abbey, from kings and queens, to scientists like Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, to writers like Rudyard Kipling and Charles Dickens, to politicians like Neville Chamberlain, who is off to a side, and Winston Churchill, who is actually buried elsewhere, but has a large memorial marker right in the middle near the entrance. I would like to go back when services are not going to read the markers.
The Tower of London was recommended by a friend and I also highly recommend it. I know a ton about U.S. history, but my European history is a little lacking, so I learned a lot. The tower is a castle that was built in 1078 and has been vital to the defense of the city for centuries because of its location along the Thames River. It has been used as a royal residence, an armory, a mint, and a prison, among other things. It now houses the Crown Jewels of England, which you can look at. There are old weapons and armor on display in the White Tower, which is the oldest section of the castle. There are also old torture devices, like the rack, that look horribly painful. You can also see ravens that are kept at the tower because as legend has it, if the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, the Crown will fall and Britain will be lost.
It snowed! We were inside a pub when it started, so we went outside and played in the falling snow, making snowballs and taking plenty of pictures. It was beautiful! For a guy from near the beach in California, it was definitely quite a memorable experience.

One of the other recommendations given to me was the Churchill War Rooms, and it may be my favorite thing we saw on the trip. During World War II, Winston Churchill had a complex of rooms and tunnels built and reinforced under a building in London. Since the Germans were dropping bombs on the city, the allied war effort was orchestrated from the bunker, which included meeting rooms, sleeping quarters, a room for the typists and secretaries, and the map room, which has been preserved in the condition it was in 1945 when they left it, with the original maps up on the walls. It now also includes the Winston Churchill Museum, where you can get a very good look at one of the greatest men in history.
The concert was at Wembley Arena. The Cure frontman, Robert Smith, was quite an interesting looking guy in the ‘80s, and he still dresses in the same style, making him look a little like if my dad dressed in Goth. The set list was strange, because although The Cure has enough hits to spread them around, they saved almost all of them until the very end. In fact, they left, came back for an encore, still did not play hits, left again, and came back for a second encore where they played a bunch of hits in a row. They sounded good, and when they finally did play Just Like Heaven and Boys Don’t Cry, the crowd ate it up and sang along.
Abbey Road! As a huge Beatles fan, I had to go see Abbey Road and get a picture in the famous crosswalk from the cover of The Beatles final album. As Paul McCartney found out, you have to be careful, because you have to dodge traffic to snap your picture!

After London, we got on the Eurostar train under the channel to Paris. My guess was that I would like London better, mostly because they speak English there. I had also heard from quite a few people that Paris is overrated and dangerous. Besides that, I had many assumptions about France being full of rude, snooty people, and of course that the French are wimps and ultra-woke leftists. Here are the highlights from the City of Light.

Pay to pee? When I got off the train, I went to the restroom. There were turnstiles at the entrance and it cost a Euro to go in! How does the whole city not smell like urine?
Here is where my assumptions started to fall apart. We took an Uber to our hotel. The driver seemed like a standoffish grump at first, but then he started using a translation app on his phone. He was a really nice guy, who pointed out sights and gave us some recommendations for places to go. In fact, none of the people we met were rude to us.
Statues! The next assumption that turned out to be incorrect was that the French would be ultra-woke whiners. Sadly, Americans are in many ways far worse. One example is that Paris is blanketed in monuments commemorating their history and the men who were a part of it. Nearly every block has a memorial to Napoleon, de Gaulle, or some other French historical figure. In the United States, we tear down our statues. Point for France!
Street cafes! When I thought about going to Paris, I wanted to sit in a street café, eat, and drink wine. We walked from our hotel to “Le Campanella,” and had a fantastic meal of French stew and a lot of wine. Magnifique!
Museums. I am not a big art museum guy, but everybody who goes to France wants to see the Louvre. The most famous art museum in the world holds many renowned paintings and sculptures, including the most well-known painting of them all, the Mona Lisa. While I enjoyed the Louvre, I surprisingly was more impressed with another art museum in Paris, The Musee d’Orsay. This museum holds paintings by Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, and many more. It was interesting to see how different each artist’s style was.
My last assumption that was shattered was that the French are wimpier than Americans. When we went to the Champs-Elysees on the night of the World Cup soccer match between France and Morocco, there were literally thousands of armed police officers, police cars, and armored vehicles lining the street and blocking shop windows. Apparently, Moroccan fans had gotten out of control the last time they played, so the French put out such a police presence that nobody would dare cause any trouble. In America, we let lawless BLM thugs run amok in our cities for much of 2020, breaking windows, burning buildings, and looting. France for the win!
The Eiffel Tower is obviously a must-see. We had tickets to the top of the tower, but because of weather, the highest platform was closed. We were able to go up to the second observation deck, which is still quite impressive. My girlfriend was a little disappointed because she had hopes of a proposal. That seemed too obvious, though. My proposal came two weeks later and was a complete surprise!
We took a riverboat tour on the Seine, which was beautiful, although very cold!
Moulin Rouge! We got tickets to the famous cabaret theatre where the can-can was born. The show was very entertaining, with strong-man acts, acrobats on roller skates, gymnasts, and a girl who swam with very large pythons.

On our last night, we decided to get a closer look at the Arc de Triomphe. We did not realize that it closes, and we also did not realize that there is an underground tunnel that takes you across the 6-lane, busy traffic circle to get there. We, of course, ran across the road like crazy people. Once we were there, we looked around and read the inscriptions, until a French police officer came out from said underground tunnel and asked what we were doing there after closing. We told him that we didn’t know it closed, and asked if we could use the tunnel to get back across. He said the tunnel is closed, too, and when my girlfriend asked how to get back, he smiled and said, “run.”