Here's looking at you, Chris.

Once upon a time, there was a guy named Chris, who went to a class called Spanish 280. He went on Tuesdays, and he went on Thursdays, and always a strange thing happened. The teacher, who seemed like a nice enough guy, spoke in a different language. Sometimes he would ask Chris questions that Chris did not understand. Chris often found his mind wandering while the teacher babbled on and on in this strange tongue. He tried desperately to figure out what the homework was, but the syllabus was in another language, too.

All in all, class time for Chris was a really boring two hours.

So he began to bring things with him to class to help ease the boredom. He brought his cell phone so that he could rearrange the phone book. He brought his Palm Pilot. Sometimes he even pretended to read the textbook, in hopes that the teacher would stop asking him the strange questions.

But the textbook was in a different language, too.

By the eighth week of class, it was hard to find anything interesting to do with the cell phone or the Palm Pilot. Grasping for some way to stay awake during Spanish class, Chris had a brilliant idea. "Redeem the time -- that's my motto!" he thought triumphantly.

And so, on Tuesday, along with the cell phone, the Palm Pilot, and the funny-looking textbooks, Chris brought . . .

a Bible.

And read it, during class (right on the front row, too). I'm really mystified by this. I think on Thursday I will ask him what he's reading and why (I think I will ask in English).

It would be nice if he was intentionally trying to give Christians a bad name.

Well done, I'll say.

But I fear worse.