I like to watch the food channel on TV, guess maybe because I like to fix and eat good food. It might not look like it but I rarely eat at any fast food places. Even love McDonald’s French fries. They are the best.
Two of my favorite shows are Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and Restaurant Impossible. Restaurant Impossible is a show about Chef Robert Irvine, who goes into a failing restaurant and in 48 hours and $10,000.00 later he has transformed it into and new and exciting establishment. Complete with a new menu. Each time before he takes the owner back into the restaurant with their eyes closed, he gives them a little pep talk and then asks them “are you ready to see your new restaurant?” Obviously they all answer yes then he says open your eyes. And every time, and I mean every time, the first words out of their mouths is “oh my God”.
Years ago I accidentally smashed the tip of my thumb off in a hydraulic clamp on a paper cutter and the first words out of my mouth, as I saw my fingernail laying on the bed of the cutter, were “Oh my God”.
Why is it with joy or anguish we utter, shout, or scream the words “Oh my God”?
We see a fatal accident on the highway and it’s “Oh my God look at that accident”
We see a tragedy on TV involving 20 children being shot in an Elementary school and we say with great sadness and grief, “oh my God”.
I’d almost bet the winner of the publishers clearing house million dollar prize says, as they are standing at the door being handed the check for a million dollars, “Oh my God”.
Several years ago I printed a poster, designed to put in cubical work spaces, that had a rainbow in it on a shoreline, with the waves banging again a huge rock and the letters omG in the waves. The comment I got back when I showed it to a young single mom was “I like it, it’s a cool poster and I must get omG text to me at least 4 times a day.”
If you watched the Hugh Herr video on www.ted.com (see Steve Jobs blog) you will notice that the young woman,who was walking with bionic legs for the first time, says “Oh my God,” as she takes her first steps.
Why? Why are we always saying “Oh My God?”
I thought it might be biblical so I looked up “oh my God” in the bible. Guess what?
Nothing, nada, not one single “Oh my God” in any translation. Now there are 142-153 “My God’s” in the bible depending upon which translation you look at. I suppose in some translation somewhere there has to be an “oh my God” but I couldn’t find one.
But I did find three places, in the bible, where “MY God, My God” appears.
First in the old testament in Psalm 22:1 where it says, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring?”
Jesus repeats part of that scripture while suffering on the cross by saying, “My god, my god why hast thou forsaken me?” as it recorded in both Mark and Matthew.
So why is a natural reaction for us in both times of joy and times of grief?
Habit, maybe. Picked it up from our parents? Maybe. Maybe there is something inside us that tells us to reach for God in times of joy or in times of anguish. Next time you scream, shout or whisper the words “oh my God” think about why you said it.