These poor Hollywood celebrities... we're always picking on them! Tom Cruise jumps on a couch (not to mention invites his best man to his honeymoon) and we laugh at him. Russell Crowe throws a telephone at someone and we're apalled. Madonna (who of course would make a wonderful mom) wants to adopt a child from a foreign country and we are unsupportive. Jessica Simpson can't read or write and we call her dumb. I mean, gosh, how insensitive are we? What are we thinking?

Ok, of course I'm being facetious here, but you catch my drift. Celebrities do stupid things and we embellish on them, which I would daresay they deserve to some degree.

Well, today's celebrity news is about Lindsey Lohan, (that darn party girl!) who went from the sweet and innocent Parent Trap star to the Mean Girls terror! Lindsey has decided that she wants to clean up her image, and she's turning to a very unlikely source to help her... the one and only Al Gore, inventor of the Internet and Chicken Little of global warming exrtraordinaire. Apparently she typed out a rambling, typo-infested, barely readable e-mail to her pals assuring them that Al Gore, whom she is great friends with though they have only spoken with once (briefly), will help her get her act straight.

Did I mention she's going to AA?

"Hi, my name is Lindsey Lohan and yes, I was quite drunk when I typed out that e-mail."

Ok, now that I've picked poor Lindsey to death, I have to say that I do feel quite sorry for these celebrities. I mean think about, they may have fame and riches, but it can't be a cakewalk. Can you imagine being unable to walk down a street without people flocking you and photographing you? That's a lot of added pressure for someone who is searching for something to satisfy them, as every human being is.

They can't find it in money.

In fame.

In fashion.

In marriage.

In partying.

In alcohol.

In drugs.

And neither can we.

A few days ago I read an interesting interview in USA Today with Will Smith. He talked a lot about his family, including his surprisingly lasting marriage, and to me it was so cool how much he was doing right (with his family and marriage) that other celebrities weren't doing. And then the topic shifted to religion, and this is what he said:

I was raised in a resurrection Baptist church in Philadelphia, and my grandmother was a devout member of the church. The things that I belive are 90% morally what I learned growing up. But the additions that Jada and I have made - we've traveled around the world... we are students of world religions." The paper also says that Smith refers to himself as "a connoisseur of all faiths" and that he believes in the "power of the individual, of the human spirit to overcome."

When I read that I was kind of like... wow... Will Smith, how arrogant for you to pick and choose what you want to believe from all the religions and think that it is good enough for heaven.

But then I realized...

We all do it... even within the Christian faith.

And everyone who isn't a Christian does it, even if they don't realize it. They are retrieving different standards from several places, copying it and pasting it to their own book of right and wrong.

And we're all searching for that one thing that will satisfy us.

Tom, Russell, Madonna, Jessica, Lindsey, and Will have something in common with all of us...

They desperately want satisfaction. They need it. We all need it because God created us to not be satisfied with earthly things, and only by eternal things.

So I don't mean for this to turn into a long sermon... ha ha... I had every intention of it just being goofy and then it got all serious, but the condition of your soul is important. It is the difference between life and death. And the question is... what are you turning to to satisfy your soul?

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoptions as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved." -Romans 8:18-24a