The day after the Oscars: Surprising trivia and the surprising truth of Scripture

The ninety-second Academy Awards took place last night at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California. Now that the Oscars have all been distributed, here are some facts that may be of interest.

Brad Pitt had a one-in-twenty chance of winning his first
Oscar for acting (which he did). This made him the likeliest person to win in
the four acting categories, though one in twenty still seems like remote odds
to me. Few predicted that Parasite would win for Best Picture, showing
that what the oddsmakers predict is often not what the Academy decides.

Joe Pesci was nominated for the first time in twenty-nine
years, Al Pacino for the first time in twenty-seven years, Anthony Hopkins for
the first time in twenty-two years, and Tom Hanks for the first time in
nineteen years. Yet they are four of the finest, most acclaimed actors of our
generation.

An Oscar statuette is 13.5 inches high and weighs 8.5 pounds, but it is worth an estimated 20 percent pay boost to those who win one for Best Actor or Best Actress. Conversely, the Academy, which has first right of refusal, will buy back an Oscar if a recipient or his/her heirs wish to sell it for the price of $1.

I cannot claim to be a movie expert on any level, but I
found these facts surprising and counterintuitive. This should not be
surprising since so much of life is counterintuitive.

The surprising Academy Awards are a microcosm of our
surprising world. If you and I were designing our planet, would we have
included mosquitoes? On the other hand, would we have been creative enough to
create hummingbirds and sunsets over the ocean?

Perhaps the most surprising part of my experience over many
years has been the surprises I find in the word of God.

The surprising truth of Scripture

Before I became a Christian, I would never have guessed that
the holy God of the universe would choose my eternal life over the death of his
Son. I would never have guessed that he would forgive every sin I…