Finding Humor in the Bible

Jan, Marti, and Kyle celebrate the International Day of Laughter by exploring something you might not expect — humor in the Bible. 

From Balaam arguing with his donkey (Numbers 22) to Jonah stomping around like a toddler (Jonah 4), 

to the prayer group that wouldn't open the door for the very person they were praying for (Acts 12), 

the Bible is full of moments that are ironic, unexpected, and even laugh-out-loud funny.  

They also take a detour through God's wildest creation — the octopus — and discuss what animals with personality, seahorses that carry babies, and koalas that sleep 22 hours a day tell us about the creativity and humor of our Creator.  

Closing verse: Proverbs 17:22 — "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

CREDIT to Natxios for octopus Instagram post

•       00:00 — Welcome & Why Laughter Matters

•       01:42 — What Does Laughter Do for Us? (Science + Proverbs)

•       03:15 — What Makes Something Funny? The Group Weighs In

•       05:51 — Balaam's Talking Donkey (Numbers 22)

•       08:56 — The Mocking Boys & Two Bears (2 Kings 2)

•       10:37 — Jonah's Temper Tantrum (Jonah 4)

•       13:09 — Peter Escapes Jail & No One Opens the Door (Acts 12)

•       16:14 — Jesus Sends Peter Fishing for Tax Money (Matthew 17)

•       17:05 — Elisha & the Floating Axe Head (2 Kings 6)

•       18:40 — Elijah Mocks the Prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18)

•       23:11 — God's Creativity: The Octopus

•       27:10 — Animals, Personality & Noah's Ark

•       33:37 — Kyle's Wild Animal Facts (Koalas, Snails, Seahorses)

•       35:00 — Closing Verse & Outro (Proverbs 17:22)

 https://uppbeat.io/t/sky-toes/the-summit

License code: YEMOID7DEYZIE4N3 

https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/bring-the-fun

License code: RTGMHDXPUUOM7EDG

Welcome to Just Talkin' About Jesus.

I'm Jan Johnson, a seasoned believer who loves relationships and, you know, just talkin' about Jesus.

Here you will find testimonies of those who God has changed through his grace.

Stories of feeling unworthy because of being sex trafficked, or of radical redemption of a woman who grew up with abuse, neglect, abandonment and drugs. A story of an abortion survivor. This and more. Lean in now.

Sometimes it's just better to read the podcast content. 

You might not have your ear buds, or it's not a good time to listen, but you can grab

a few minutes to read the gist of the episode.

Not only is a lot of the podcast content in the newsletter, there are also photos and links to the guests information.

There's also content and photos of me and what going on in my life.

https://janjohnsonauthor.substack.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@JustTalkinAboutJesus

https://jan-johnson.com/

https://justtalkingaboutjesus.com/

https://janjohnsonauthor.substack.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@JustTalkinAboutJesus

Thanks for listening!

If you have a story to tell, check out the form on my website- justtalkingaboutjesus.com.

I'd love to connect with you!

No, really.... hit me up!

Transcript

[00:01] Jan: Are you looking for an inspiring listen, something to motivate you? You've come to the right place. Welcome to Women of the Northwest, where we have conversations with ordinary women leading extraordinary lives.

[00:12] Motivating, inspiring, compelling.

[00:16] Welcome, everybody, to Just Talking About Jesus. I have Marty Darkangelo here.

[00:22] Marti : Hi, guys.

[00:23] Jan: Yes. Co host and my son, Kyle Ray.

[00:29] Kyle: Hello.

[00:30] Jan: We are gonna have a fun time today because last Tuesday was the International Day of Laughter. And that just got me thinking. I remember somebody had asked me,

[00:41] is there any humor in the Bible?

[00:43] And it's like I had to think about that, you know?

[00:46] So we're going to talk about maybe some things that are funny or not so funny, but are maybe miraculous or whatever. But I'm. The things that I found to share, I thought were.

[01:01] I could picture like a cartoon of them happening in a cartoon because they're maybe a little ironic or a little, you know, different. Anyway,

[01:14] so that's what. What I thought we would do. And then we'd also. I. I thought I picture creation and God creating things is pretty humorous.

[01:28] So we'll end with some of those things, too.

[01:31] Marti : Sounds good.

[01:32] Jan: Yeah.

[01:33] Marti : Yeah.

[01:36] Jan: So, Marty, you had some comments earlier about laughter.

[01:41] Marti : Right.

[01:42] When I was preparing for our talk, I looked up what does laughter and having fun do to us as. As humans and the Internet, you know, which is always right,

[01:56] of course,

[01:59] says that laughter releases endorphins, it relaxes muscles, it reduces stress, and it boosts the immune system.

[02:07] And having fun lowers cortisol,

[02:10] which is the stress hormone that we have in our body.

[02:13] And it triggers the release of both endorphins and serotonin. It improves sleep patterns,

[02:19] strengthens the immune system, and is also associated with lower blood pressure. So who doesn't need all that?

[02:27] Right? So we should be laughing and having fun every day, and then we'll be healthy.

[02:33] Jan: It's like God knew, right?

[02:37] Kyle: There's a saying, laughter is the best medicine.

[02:40] Jan: Exactly. Exactly. Isn't that cool? I mean, it's just kind of another one of those things that gifts that God gave us to do.

[02:51] Kyle: Could you imagine a world where everything's just dry and there's no laughter at all? My gosh. We'd all go crazy.

[02:58] Jan: Well, yeah, we would.

[03:00] Marti : Our blood pressure would be super high.

[03:03] Kyle: Yeah. Yes.

[03:05] Jan: And just saying right now, the way the world is, we need some laughter. So we need to take our minds and put them on some positive things and.

[03:14] Right.

[03:15] Marti : Yeah.

[03:15] Kyle: When you're talking about laughter from. Everybody has a different perspective of what's humorous.

[03:22] What.

[03:23] What would you say, like a couple Small lines or a sentence that kind of describes what you think is funny just so that we have context.

[03:34] Jan: Sometimes I think something that just catches you off guard in a different perspective of something.

[03:41] Marti : So I have a story.

[03:43] I don't necessarily think this is funny, but my husband thought it was funny. So a couple years ago, my husband got diagnosed with cancer, and he was starting to.

[03:55] I think it was like the day before he started a pretty intense chemo and radiation treatment program.

[04:02] And all of a sudden, all over the house, because we have surround sound around the House,

[04:07] the 1980s song Radioactive Starts blaring out at the speakers of our house. And I'm like, yes, you think that's funny? Okay.

[04:17] Like,

[04:18] we. We had a good laugh about it, but it just reminds me of that one person's laughter and fun thinking is not somebody else's.

[04:28] Not always, anyway.

[04:31] Kyle: I think the comedy, to me is like, irony.

[04:35] Marti : Yeah.

[04:35] Kyle: Where the majority of something should happen, and then that one random thing that goes against the current and it stands out. I'm like, that shouldn't happen. Why does that happen?

[04:46] Jan: Right. And, you know, I mean, we do laugh sometimes if somebody falls or something. It's not like.

[04:51] It's not like you're laughing at them or something, but it's that unexpected thing that happens kind of. Right?

[05:01] Yeah.

[05:01] Kyle: Well, it doesn't have to be laughter at the time of the incident. It could be, like decades later as you're reminiscing about something. Hey, remember that one time?

[05:10] Marti : Yeah.

[05:11] Kyle: That was funny.

[05:13] Marti : Yeah.

[05:13] Jan: Retrospect. It was funny, right?

[05:16] Kyle: Yeah.

[05:17] Marti : I have an older stepson who did something in high school, and it was terrible. And his dad and I were so mad at him, and he's like, you know, in 10 years, you're gonna laugh about this.

[05:29] This is gonna be funny. And at him. And we said,

[05:33] oh, honey, this will never be funny in any decade,

[05:40] and it's still not funny to us.

[05:43] Jan: Okay, well, we'll leave that story for another time.

[05:47] Okay, I'm gonna pause this.

[05:51] Okay. So I'm gonna start with the story of Balaam,

[05:55] which is in Numbers 22.

[05:58] And God said to Balaam, do not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.

[06:05] So Balaam arose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went to the leaders of Moab.

[06:09] But God was angry because he was going. And the angel of the Lord took his stand on the way as an adversary against him.

[06:17] Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, Standing in the way with the drawn sword in his hand.

[06:26] The donkey turned off from the way and went into the field. But Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back into the right way.

[06:34] Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path of the vineyard with a wall on this side and a wall on that side.

[06:40] When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed herself to the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall. So he struck her again,

[06:48] probably said a few words.

[06:52] And the angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow space where there was no the right or the left.

[07:00] When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam. So Balaam was angry and struck the donkey with his sick.

[07:06] And the Lord opened his mouth of the donkey,

[07:09] and she said to Bal,

[07:10] what have I done to you that you have struck me these three times?

[07:14] Then Balaam said to the donkey, because you have made a mockery of me. If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now. And the donkey said to Balam, am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life to this day?

[07:27] Me?

[07:28] It's just me. Don't you know me?

[07:30] Have I ever been accustomed to do so to you? And he said, no.

[07:35] Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way of his drawn sword in his hand, and he bowed all the way to the ground.

[07:43] And the angel of the Lord said to him, why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I've come out of that, come out as an adversary,

[07:51] because your way is contrary to me. But the donkey saw me and turned aside from me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, I would surely have killed you just now and let her live.

[08:05] Kyle: I mean, first thing I want to point out is that the donkey noticed the angel, but the human didn't the animal.

[08:14] A lot of animals can see things humans can't see.

[08:19] Jan: That's crazy, isn't it? Foreign.

[08:22] Marti : It's also funny that Balaam didn't think twice about answering the donkey, right?

[08:29] Jan: Well, he probably talked to the donkey all the time anyway. But, but yeah, but he did just go, wait, wait. He just huh, the donkey top back.

[08:39] Kyle: It's like, is that where Donald Duck came from?

[08:42] Jan: I think. See, that's what I said. It kind of makes me think of like an animated something, you know, to see this all kind of play Robin

[08:50] Kyle: Hood that you showed us as kids, the Disney movie where he' Box.

[08:54] Jan: Exactly.

[08:56] Okay, here's a little short one.

[08:58] Might have missed it along the way. It's in second Kings in two.

[09:03] This is with Elijah.

[09:07] I'm sorry, Elisha.

[09:08] So then he went up from there to Bethel, and as he was going up, by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, go up, you bald head.

[09:18] Go up, you bald head.

[09:20] When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord.

[09:24] Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up 42 lads of their number.

[09:31] He went from there to Mount Carmel and from there to Samaria.

[09:38] Okay, it's not funny, but it's. It's kind of funny.

[09:42] You know,

[09:45] what's the lesson is, do not mock.

[09:50] Kyle: What we were discussing the other day is that God, the creator of everything, Alpha and Omega, has everything at his disposal.

[10:01] Everything.

[10:02] That means Mother Nature, that means animals, that means other humans, that means the environment,

[10:08] that means the solar system.

[10:11] So when you do something,

[10:13] he can pick and choose whatever he wants to make his point.

[10:17] And we're so one dimensional that we think, oh, well, if I do this one thing, this one person's gonna. No, it could be anything.

[10:25] Yeah, you know, like,

[10:28] follow the word.

[10:31] Jan: Right, Right. So what do you have for us, Marty?

[10:37] Marti : Well, I thought that Jonah story was worth at least a smile,

[10:46] where you have a prophet that does not want to do what God is telling him to do so badly that it causes a shipwreck and him being swallowed in a whale for a couple of days,

[10:59] and then he finally does what the Lord has asked him to do,

[11:03] and.

[11:04] And then he's mad about it.

[11:07] And Jonah. The book of Jonah is a very short book, and it ends really abruptly,

[11:12] and it ends with Jonah being kind of in a toddler type temper tantrum, which maybe I think that's funny because I might have done the same thing. I know that I throw toddler type tantrums all the time.

[11:30] Hopefully not as much as I used to, but it was pretty funny to me that Jonah was angry and stomped away and said, I just want to die.

[11:41] And God gave him some rest, gave him some shade,

[11:45] caused a tree to grow, and. And kind of settle him down a little bit. And then the God took the tree away and Jonah was like, I want to die.

[11:54] And then God's like,

[11:57] see ya, and the book is over.

[11:59] So that causes me to think that every Bible, every Bible story is different.

[12:07] Every person is different.

[12:09] The way that God reacts to us is often very individual and different.

[12:14] And you just have to smile and laugh sometimes instead of cry. You just have to choose not to throw that temper tantrum and laugh instead.

[12:26] So Jonah 4 was pretty funny to me.

[12:30] Jan: And I also just with Jonah, I mean, it's not even.

[12:34] It's not that he's mad that he was in the whale.

[12:36] He's not mad about that. He's mad because God allowed people to be saved and he didn't think they were worthy of it.

[12:44] Marti : Yeah, right. And then the book ends where God was like, hey, I just saved a whole race of people. Why are you mad?

[12:53] And it doesn't say that Jonah ever got unmad. It just ends. Right. So he could have been an angry prophet for the rest of his life. I don't know. But there's a lot to learn from that, and it did cause me to have a little chuckle.

[13:08] Jan: Yeah.

[13:09] Marti : And then another story that I thought was pretty funny was in the New Testament, in the Book of Acts, which is full of miracles and just astounding,

[13:24] spectacular events.

[13:26] The apostle Peter had been put in jail,

[13:29] and. And a whole group of people were gathered at a house just diligently praying for him during the night. Well, the Lord,

[13:38] through a series of events,

[13:41] got Peter out of the jail.

[13:43] Peter knows about the house, so he goes to the house and knocks on the door.

[13:48] A little girl answers and was like, peter.

[13:51] So I could just see her opening up the door, seeing Peter, and then just shutting it again, like,

[13:57] what just happened?

[13:59] So she goes to the group of people that are praying for him and says, hey, he's outside. He's at the door. And Pierce keeps knocking on the door. And the whole group was like, it must be a ghost.

[14:12] Well, why didn't they just answer the door? Like, finally they did. But I thought that was pretty funny and a very human response to something that is so out of the ordinary and something that a whole group of people were not expecting that you just kind of get a little bit of laughter over that,

[14:31] mostly because probably would have done the same thing as a human.

[14:37] And that's. That was pretty funny to me.

[14:40] Jan: And that's after they already saw Jesus rise.

[14:44] Marti : Yes,

[14:45] yes. And had.

[14:46] I mean, I'm sure they were. They experienced Pentecost, and they were walking around with flames on their heads and speaking in different languages.

[14:54] And I mean, all of the same just miraculous stuff is happening. And.

[14:59] And then they just forget that Peter could just pop out of jail like that.

[15:04] Jan: So it's like no end to the.

[15:08] To.

[15:09] To the maybe understanding or expectations of the things that God is going to do you know, because maybe we don't live in expectation enough, you know,

[15:19] to. So when it happens, kind of like,

[15:22] wow,

[15:23] what about that?

[15:24] Marti : Right? And before, when you were talking about laughing at something unexpected,

[15:30] isn't that often the case?

[15:33] Like, that was a very unexpected story.

[15:36] A donkey talking is a very unexpected story. You just like automatically laugh because it's nuts.

[15:44] But God operates in that type of a system, a miraculous system, all the time.

[15:50] Jan: Yeah.

[15:51] Marti : So we shouldn't think it's astounding, but we do.

[15:56] Jan: But it's also,

[15:58] I. Part of. I think some of those things, some of those stories is like, what's the real message there? You know, trying to dig into why is that even,

[16:07] excuse me, included in the Bible,

[16:09] you know,

[16:10] and, you know, here's another one. So when Jesus was talking about,

[16:14] with Peter about the tax,

[16:17] tax collecting and whatever, and they're like, where are we going to get the money for that? Whatever? And he sends him off to go fish, go catch a fish. And he brings a fish up and there's a coin in its mouth to pay the taxes.

[16:32] God the provider.

[16:34] Marti : Right. And God could have just given him the money. He could. I mean, the coin just could have appeared in his hand. But instead he.

[16:42] He has the apostles participate in this really quite funny way of getting the tax money.

[16:50] God is just incredible. He's just so patient and kind and funny and he's just amazing.

[17:01] Jan: So there's another one in. In Kings, second Kings,

[17:05] where they're, let's see, who's the people? Elisha again. Is it Alicia? Elisha. Elisha again is with some men who are cutting trees, bunch of trees. And one of cuts starts to cut and the ax head lands in the lake.

[17:22] And then he's upset because he borrowed the axe. And like, oh, no, now what I'm going to do, first of all, I can't cut anything anymore.

[17:31] But it was borrowed. And.

[17:33] And so he tells Elisha, and Elisha goes, okay, show me where it went down. He throws a stick in the water and up floats the iron ax head for him to retrieve it.

[17:44] You know, like,

[17:46] oh, huh.

[17:51] Marti : It's just crazy.

[17:52] Jan: I just think it's funny, you know, I think that's. I think that is like, God's sense of humor is like, oh, you think this is like. But it's beyond our realm of reality.

[18:02] All these things are beyond our realm of reality of how,

[18:06] you know.

[18:07] Marti : Yeah,

[18:08] it surprises us. And those stories click in our head about how God can do anything.

[18:17] So we know that God does these things for a purpose.

[18:21] As reminders of,

[18:25] you know, he just lives in this entirely different realm,

[18:29] thought pattern than we do,

[18:31] and anything is possible for him. And he shows it to us, you know, with coins and fish and.

[18:39] Jan: Yeah,

[18:40] and then I had one last one, and this one I'm gonna go ahead and read because it's just so.

[18:46] It's so funny,

[18:48] I think.

[18:49] And this is where in first Kings,

[18:52] where Ahab sends a message among all the sons of Israel and brings the prophets together at Mount Carmel, right?

[19:00] So he says,

[19:02] Elijah came near to all the people, and he said, how long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if BAAL follow him. But the people did not answer him a word.

[19:13] And Elijah said to the people,

[19:15] I alone and left as a prophet of the Lord. But baal's prophet are 450 men.

[19:22] Now, let them give us two oxen, and let us choose one ox for them and one for us. And we'll cut it up, place it on the wood, and put a fire enter.

[19:32] Put no fire under it,

[19:34] and I will prepare the other oxen, lay it on the wood, and I'll not put fire under it.

[19:39] Then you call in the name of your God,

[19:42] and I will call in the name of my Lord,

[19:45] the God who answers by fire. He is God.

[19:48] And all the people said, yeah, that's a great idea.

[19:54] Marti : Like, they're going to a movie. They. They're getting some true entertainment.

[19:58] Jan: It's like, yeah, let's do it. Yeah, that's a great. When has any of those prophets of BAAL ever seen a miracle happen?

[20:05] Because they prayed to him?

[20:08] I mean,

[20:09] like, okay,

[20:11] so Elijah said to the prophet of baal, choose one ox for yourself. Prepare it. And so they did all of that,

[20:18] and they call on the name of BAAL that morning until noon, saying, oh, baal, answer us. But there's no voice. No one answers. And they leaped about the altar, which they made,

[20:28] and it came about noon. Then Elijah mocked them and said, oh, call with a louder voice.

[20:33] So for he's a God, either he's occupied or he's gone aside, or he's on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened.

[20:42] So they cry out loud and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushes gushed out of them.

[20:51] And it came about when midnight, midday was passed, that they raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice. No one answered. No one paid attention.

[21:03] Can't you see God just standing back On. Yeah,

[21:06] yeah.

[21:10] And Elijah said to all the people, come near to me. So all the people came near, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down.

[21:18] And Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes, of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had said, israel shall be your name.

[21:26] And so the stones. He built an altar in the name of the Lord and made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed.

[21:34] Then he arranged the wood, cut the ox in pieces, laid it on the wood, and he said, fill your fill 4 pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.

[21:44] Do it a second time. They did it a second time. Do it a third time.

[21:48] Just gonna make sure.

[21:49] Just making sure here.

[21:51] And the water flowed around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water.

[21:55] Then it came about at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near. And he said, oh, Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.

[22:03] Today, let it be known that you are God of Israel and that I am your servant and that I have done all these things at your word.

[22:11] Answer me, O Lord, answer me that this people may know that the Lord God,

[22:15] that you have turned their heart and have turned their heart back again.

[22:21] Then fire. The Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was on the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, he's God.

[22:32] Yeah, the Lord, he's God.

[22:36] Marti : That's a hot fire. It's a hot fire.

[22:39] Jan: It is a hot fire. Is that just, like. I. I just think it's hilarious.

[22:48] Marti : God made sure that it was a miracle.

[22:52] Jan: Yeah. I mean, there was. It was. It's. We're gonna make sure. Like, we're really gonna make sure that it's impossible to have happened any other way than.

[23:01] Marti : Than God doing it.

[23:04] Jan: Yeah, exactly.

[23:04] Marti : Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[23:07] Jan: I thought that was funny.

[23:11] I want to share my screen with an octopus. Here's what I think about at creation,

[23:22] when God, the Holy Spirit, Jesus are all up there and they're. They're making animals and trees and plants and all these crazy things, whatever.

[23:32] I could just see him like. Like, oh, look at this bird I made. Look, it's got. It's got really pretty feathers. And it's like the feathers are going to go up and have little eyeballs in them and like a peacock, and they'll go, oh, yeah, that's cool.

[23:46] But look at this one that I made you. A pelican with a long beak and all.

[23:53] I just think they just had so much fun going.

[23:56] Yeah, maybe. Yeah, that's cool. But,

[23:59] you know, I got something better than that, you know.

[24:01] Anyway,

[24:03] so look at. Let's see if I can share this.

[24:08] Kyle: Did they start with the amoeba

[24:13] Marti : or the egg or the chicken?

[24:15] Jan: Who knows?

[24:16] Kyle: Did the chicken come first? Or the egg?

[24:18] Jan: Okay, so here is.

[24:22] Marti : I don't.

[24:23] Jan: Let's see if I can get sound.

[24:25] Speaker D: But here is the strangest part.

[24:28] When an octopus swims, its main heart stops beating completely.

[24:32] That is why octopuses would rather crawl,

[24:35] because swimming tires them out.

[24:38] An octopus is completely colorblind.

[24:41] It sees the world in grey,

[24:44] and yet it can change its skin to match any color, pattern or texture around it.

[24:50] An octopus has no bones anywhere in its body.

[24:54] The only hard part is its beak,

[24:57] which looks exactly like a parrot's beak hidden underneath its arms.

[25:02] Because of this, an octopus can squeeze its entire body through any gap its beak can fit through.

[25:10] An octopus can recognize individual human faces and remember them.

[25:15] In one study, an octopus took a clear dislike to one staff member.

[25:21] And every time that person walked past the tank, the octopus squirted water at them.

[25:27] It never did this to anyone else.

[25:30] It held a grudge.

[25:32] A female octopus lays up to 400,000 eggs and guards them without stopping for up to seven months.

[25:40] She does not eat.

[25:42] She does not sleep.

[25:43] She does not leave.

[25:45] She blows water over them to keep them clean until every single one has hatched.

[25:51] Then she dies.

[25:53] Every octopus you have ever seen was the reason its mother is no longer here.

[25:58] Nine brains, three hearts,

[26:00] blue blood,

[26:01] a body with no bones,

[26:03] and a mother who gives everything.

[26:06] The octopus is not like anything else on this planet.

[26:14] This creature has lived on earth for over 300 million years,

[26:19] and we still do not fully understand what it is.

[26:22] An octopus has nine brains,

[26:25] one in the center of its body and one inside each of its eight arms.

[26:32] Every arm thinks for itself.

[26:34] It can taste,

[26:36] touch, and move on its own.

[26:38] An octopus has three hearts and blue blood.

[26:42] The blood is blue because it uses copper instead of iron to carry oxygen,

[26:47] which works much better in cold, dark water.

[26:50] But here is the strangest part.

[26:53] When an octopus swims, its main heart stops beating completely.

[26:58] That is why octopuses would rather crawl,

[27:01] because swim.

[27:05] Jan: Isn't that crazy?

[27:07] Marti : That's nuts. That's crazy.

[27:10] Kyle: So did the squid come first or the octopus?

[27:14] Jan: Well,

[27:15] yeah. And how many hearts does a squid have? And whatever. I mean, it's just. It's like, wow, how Incredible. Not just the outward appearance of them, but all those details of how would you think to put a brain in each tentacle?

[27:34] Yeah.

[27:34] Marti : As your God.

[27:38] Kyle: Playing around, you know.

[27:39] Jan: Right.

[27:40] Kyle: What happens if we did this combo?

[27:43] Jan: Right. It's just, it's so cool. It's so cool. Kyle, what, what other animal things do you think about with the octopus?

[27:53] Kyle: It can change colors. So what's the animal that we know that changes colors on the top of the planet? The chameleon. Million the chameleon can blend into any environment.

[28:04] So like,

[28:06] you see one thing and it's so unique, but then you see something that's slightly similar but not the same, but the same.

[28:14] Like so close. Almost like, hey, let's try this. Oh, let's take all of These elements,

[28:20] keep a 10 base of the that formulation and create a new creature or something like that.

[28:26] Does it have personality? Like, what's the variation that we're gonna put in this one? Does a chameleon have more personality? No, it's also reptile.

[28:35] You got, so you got an octopus down here under the water that can't come above the water and then you got a chameleon that can't stay in the water.

[28:44] Similar traits. So it's kind of, I think that's ironic or funny in a way.

[28:50] Not just like specifically the animal, but just the,

[28:54] the similarities. I think that's kind of crazy.

[28:58] Something else I was thinking about is like animals with personality versus animals without personality.

[29:05] Like, so I get a babysit my neighbor's dog and at first I'm like, I don't want any animals living here. But you know, he used to bark at me all the time.

[29:17] He, he knew, he could sense that I didn't want animals here for the first month.

[29:22] Then,

[29:23] then I was like, you know, I'm not gonna back down from a dog barking at me. So I kind of like stood my ground and he started respecting me. And then,

[29:31] and it's like, let's go play. Let's go do this, let's go do that. Next thing you know, he's showing up at my door at 2:30 in the morning scratching to come hang out.

[29:40] And they got to keep letting him out in, in their side so they could come hang out with me. And then we noticed there's a problem. What?

[29:48] Why is this so funny?

[29:51] The dog has a personality. If it was just any regular animal or bird or like a snake or like a squirrel even, they're not gonna come try to hang out with you.

[30:03] Some animals have more personality.

[30:06] And another thing I notice is that a lot of people that get pets look like their pets because their personality matching.

[30:16] I don't know, I just thought that was kind of funny, like, has nothing really to do with the animal itself, but the fact that animals have enough personality that someone will get that animal to be their friend,

[30:28] so to speak.

[30:30] Because the personalities match of an animal that can't communicate the way we can communicate,

[30:36] but still has enough personality to where they can make you laugh, too, and they can make you cry, they can make you feel emotions.

[30:46] If it's just like a lizard or something, that's kind of neutral,

[30:50] do you have as much relationship with the animal?

[30:54] You might love it and everything, but if you're not feeling that come back to you. I think that's kind of funny or ironic in a way.

[31:02] Jan: Well, and I think that brings up the idea of some animals being able to communicate like a dolphin or, you know, different animals that can communicate between themselves.

[31:15] Marti : I did a study one time on some animals, and I'm Hopefully I'm remembering this correctly, but dogs have 42 chromosomes.

[31:24] Kyle: Oh, wow.

[31:25] Marti : Yeah.

[31:26] We have, you know, humans, we have 24.

[31:29] And then I'm probably not right about this, but, like, the whale has way less.

[31:37] So the way that the Lord made the. Each individual animal down to the chromosomes is all unique. And when you were talking, Kyle, I was thinking about how,

[31:53] I bet you Noah laughed pretty hard when he saw all of the animals of the world coming two by two and just walking up into the ark. Can you imagine,

[32:04] like a dragonfly flying up and then a rhinoceros and then a fly and that? Like crazy, right?

[32:13] That would be funny.

[32:15] Jan: Yeah, that would be totally funny.

[32:19] Kyle: And now you got to go make friends with them for some unknown amount of time that you just don't know how long.

[32:25] Marti : Right. Yeah. And clean up after them and feed them and. Yeah, yeah.

[32:32] Jan: Well, there's a whole, whole huge discussion. There is, yeah. How did you feed them and which of the animals that came in that maybe were food somebody else?

[32:40] Kyle: Well, yeah, you got to think about, because are they.

[32:43] Are they meat eaters? Are they carnivores or are they vegetarians? You know, like. Because the animals that need to eat meat, then what?

[32:53] Marti : You know what? It doesn't. The Bible doesn't tell us.

[32:56] What if all of those months,

[32:59] God,

[33:00] like the octopus that doesn't eat and doesn't sleep and just takes care of their eggs. What if they just didn't even need any food or water?

[33:09] Kyle: Fasting.

[33:10] Marti : Yeah. For nine months or, you know, whatever. Who knows?

[33:15] Jan: Yeah, but we do know that it was possible, right?

[33:18] Kyle: Because bears hibernate for months and months and months and live off their fat body fat.

[33:24] Marti : Yeah, Maybe they were all hibernating once they got to the ark.

[33:28] Jan: Possible, who knows? We are almost out of time. Kyle, is there one last thing you'd like to leave our listeners viewers with?

[33:37] Kyle: Do a couple surprising animal facts.

[33:41] Maybe they're funny to you, maybe they're not. I don't know. But qualis sleep for up to 22 hours a day because their diet of eucalyptus is so low in nutrition and high in toxins,

[33:51] so their body's constantly tired.

[33:55] Garden snails have approximately 14000 teeth located on a ribbon like organ called the radula.

[34:03] Jan: Whoa.

[34:05] Kyle: Mel. Seahorses are the only animals where the male carries the baby giving birth after the female deposits eggs into its pouch.

[34:15] So the man.

[34:16] Yeah,

[34:17] that's funny though, because, you know, on the sixth day, God created man, but used the rib to make the woman. But if the animals came before that and it was a seahorse and it was a man,

[34:29] maybe he was trying theory there and just said, nah,

[34:32] ain't gonna work.

[34:34] Because if that's the only animal that can do this, you know, like.

[34:40] And then, I don't know. Flamingos are known for being beautifully pink, but they're born gray.

[34:49] I don't know that we could go on forever on this. But that's just a few.

[34:52] Jan: Yeah, yeah.

[34:53] Kyle: Funny things that you might notice about. Yeah,

[34:57] Jan: Marty, anything to leave us with.

[35:00] Marti : I just am going to leave us with Proverbs 17:22,

[35:05] which says, A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

[35:11] So a podcast like this is actually good for us to listen to. It's good for us to smile about, it's good for us to enjoy each other's company.

[35:20] And I know that I'm going to be thinking about female seahorse eggs in a male seahorse pouch all day long now.

[35:36] Jan: Oh, thank you everyone for joining us. And I hope you get a few chuckles out of here. And I would love it if you would comment with some other thing that you think is amazing or funny or along those lines too, that we could share together and bring us more laughter.

[35:52] So until next time,

[35:55] keep talking about Jesus.

[35:59] Bye.

[35:59] Kyle: Bye.