This morning my family and I made our annual trek to the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California. We don’t actually watch the parade, however. Rather, we come early in the morning and view the floats close up. Then we watch the parade in the comfort of my sister’s Pasadena family room. (Photo: Jesus on the Lutheran Hour float, in a suitably prayerful posture.)

I was surprised by one visitor to the parade. Jesus of Nazareth showed up. Somehow, the Lutheran Hour folks managed to get him to ride on their float. The theme of the float is, fittingly enough, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

I must say I was impressed with Jesus’ full head of hair and manly beard. I never knew before that Jesus had blond hair, though I’ve seen that sort of thing in some Northern European paintings of him. If you’d like to see a close up of Jesus, you can view it here.

Happy New Year!