My friend, Emily, heard a joke the other day that goes like this.

Q: What kind of car would Jesus drive?

A: A van that seats 13.

Now, I wouldn't necessarily call this a funny joke, but somehow it sparked a lot of discussion between me and the friends. First, we pictured Judas banished to the very back seat. You know, the one that faces the opposite direction of everyone else. We saw bumper stickers of the expected fish and some with catchy lines like "What Would I Do?" or "Honk If You Love Me!" or "Jesus Recycles" plastered to the van. Also, we imagined Jesus wearing a t-shirt saying "I'm With Stupid" with a magic arrow that always points to Judas. Jesus could even start his own lucrative line of merchandise. As he tours countries with his disciples in a traveling road show, they could earn their keep by setting up and manning the merch table at each location. He could even promote himself through MySpace. Now, I see Jesus wanting speakers on the outside of the van so he could blast Christian rock to let people know he's around, kind of like the ice cream man, but Em scoffed at this. She thinks Jesus is too cool for Christian rock and would put on Wolfmother or something. This led to a debate about the musical tastes of Jesus. Yes, we are smarties who use their time wisely.

If you haven't seen "Little Miss Sunshine," you should. It's hilarious and a little sad, and I love it. I could totally see Jesus driving the VW from that movie.

Life continues. On one of Em's moving days years ago, she showed up at the U-Haul place to pick up her truck. The lights were off, the door was locked, and she noticed a sign, scribbled on notebook paper, taped to the window. It read "Left due to stress." I would like to give that a try one day.