We rut-bound Christians tend to focus on the same details of every Bible story, without looking between the lines for other twists on the tale. So I always enjoy poking around where ministers, for whatever reason, don’t bother to tread.

After feeding the 5000, Jesus went off somewhere by himself. John 6:16 says the disciples climbed into their boat and set sail for Capernaum. That’s when the storm came, and Jesus did his water-walking thing.

But I’m wondering: Why did they take off without Jesus? I’m sure it wasn’t an oversight. The Bible says, “It was dark and Jesus had not yet joined them.” So, they just abandoned him?

Perhaps one of the disciples (probably John) argued, “I think we should wait for Jesus.” To which bullheaded Peter responded, “No, we’re leaving. He should be more conscious of time. We told him when we planned to head back to Capernaum but he hasn’t shown up, so tough. He can take a cab.”

When Jesus finally climbed into the boat after scurrying across the waves, I’m guessing his first words were, “Hey guys, what’s the deal? Why did you leave without me? What were you thinking, huh?”

On this Canada Day, I want to honor my Canadian friends whose find country provided many indispensable inventions for the world. We’re talking more than Justin Bieber. And we’re talking more than obvious inventions like hockey, snowblowers, snowmobiles, and the hockey mask.

That’s only the beginning. Canadians have also furthered intergalactic civilization by giving us insulin, paint rollers, garbage bags, plexiglass, pagers, peanut butter, the Blackberry, Superman, the sport of basketball, AM radio, Smarties, foghorns, sonar, Trivial Pursuit, lacrosse, Easy Off oven cleaner, alkaline batteries, caulking guns, the wonderbra, and numerous comedians.

So a big thank you from your friends to the south. We promise not to annex you until we absolutely must have all of your oil.