Why Does God Love................Ellen DeGeneres?

I know I do! Ellen is so funny! My high school science teacher said to me, “Miller, if you aren't the class _ _ _, I don't know who is”, so I was pretty much destined to fall for the quick witted, dry humor of Ellen D. And as an older woman (she was born in January and I in December of 1958), I must give her the respect she is due.

[To see what I'm up to here, read this introduction]

Ellen grew up around New Orleans, and became another victim of divorce when she was 13 years old. Using her innate sense of humor, the Don Rickles teasing type, DeGeneres worked to protect her mother from the ensuing depression of divorce when they had moved to Texas. **Aside** Many couples resist divorce, “for the kids”. I wonder how many more would resist divorcing if they knew one of the kids would be rich and famous one day, and that their divorce, with all of its bitter tasting connotations, would be one of the first things mentioned in the kid's biography. Or, if it weren't for the divorce, would the kid not have gone so far? **

After high school, DeGeneres moved back to New Orleans and looked for work. She tried a multitude of jobs but was never happy as an employee until she worked as an emcee in a comedy club. In 1982, she sent a videotape of her stand-up comedy routine to a “Showtime” contest, and was named the “Funniest Person in America”! That seems to have changed her life a little bit.

It wasn't long then, before Ellen appeared on the Johnny Carson show (1986) and became the first female comedian to be “invited to the couch” after her monologue, instead of being left to leave the stage: A big deal in the comedic, career building, circles of the day.

In the 90's Ellen branched out into television sitcoms, including starring in her own in 1994. It wasn't until '97 that Ellen officially announced that both she and her character were gay, a fact that did not alter the more relevant fact that she was so very funny. When her sexuality became more and more of a prominent issue in the show's story lines, viewers began to complain, and the show was canceled in 1998.

This led to a long depressing period for DeGeneres, when she thought “everybody hates me now”, but then impressed the world with her “witty, respectful and wise” performance as host of the Emmy awards shortly after 9/11.

2003 was the big turn-around year. She published her book, her unmistakeable voice and humor starred as Dory, in Finding Nemo, and the brand new Ellen DeGeneres Show quickly became a hit daytime talk show. Her good humor and common sense approach to the show ("I'm doing a talk show. It's not my job to get into an argument with somebody about religion or politics or sexuality or anything. It is my job to make people laugh." ) made it wildly successful, and it continues to this day. Her one season stint as an American Idol judge in 2010 affirmed her likeability and good natured humor as well.

So what QUALITIES OF GOD have been on display in Ellen DeGeneres?

Have you ever seen a platypus? God, has a great SENSE OF HUMOR! (And He recommends it: Proverbs 17:22, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”) Where else would ours come from, if it weren't part of God's image in us? It is a gift to mankind, and the extra dose of that particular gift that God gave to Ellen is extraordinary. She did not stifle the talent, but invested it, and has been SHARING the dividends freely with us all.

Ellen obviously accepts lesbianism as a viable human option, and has attempted to HELP others be more tolerant of the same by subtly PROSELYTIZING her views. Trying to convince others of the value of something you believe in, is a good thing.

To run off subject for a moment, however, I would add that being sincerely wrong is still wrong. God gives us instruction on how to live for our sake, not His. He can not be mistaken on what is best for us, nor can our rebellion lead him to know that something He knows to be correct, is wrong. I believe that God wants us to live an “abundant life”, and that comes by trusting that His ways are the best ways. Every one of the myriad of ways that we avoid obedience is a mistake that can only detract from an inwardly satisfying life. Most of our sins are more private than others, but every one of them reveals a step away from God's perfect standard, the standard of which an un-seared conscience would remind us.

Ellen's interest in ENTERTAINING us and, as she showed so well on American Idol, in CARING about people, are two more loveable aspects of our God made manifest in her life.