{"id":5228,"date":"2026-02-12T08:57:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5228"},"modified":"2026-02-12T08:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:57:15","slug":"interesting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/12\/interesting\/","title":{"rendered":"Interesting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"432\" src=\"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MostInterestingManReturn-1024x432.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5229\" style=\"width:486px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MostInterestingManReturn-1024x432.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MostInterestingManReturn-300x127.jpg 300w, https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MostInterestingManReturn-768x324.jpg 768w, https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MostInterestingManReturn-1536x648.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MostInterestingManReturn-2048x864.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MostInterestingManReturn-624x263.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>To listen to today&#8217;s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/glennsreflections.us17.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=c4927dfbefb9749e5fef1581d&amp;id=5d4a48dd52&amp;e=5cd2a880e9\">click here<\/a><br>\u00a0<br><em>He\u2019s back.<\/em><br>\u00a0<br>The last time we saw <em>The Most Interesting Man in the World<\/em>, he was boarding a rocket holding a one-way ticket to Mars. \u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>As he waved goodbye to the people of Earth, the narrator of the 30-second TV commercial solemnly informed us, \u201cHis only regret is not knowing what regret feels like.\u201d<br>\u00a0<br>The man behind the advertising myth is the actor Jonathan Goldsmith. Between 2006 and 2016, he hawked Dos Equis, a Mexican brew that desperately needed a memorable ad campaign to stand out from the crowd.<br>\u00a0<br>Goldsmith proved to be solid gold.<br>\u00a0<br>Against a backdrop of gentle Spanish guitar riffs, the mellow-voiced narrator would calmly recount some of the things that make him so very interesting:<br>\u00a0<br><em>When in Rome, they do as he does.<\/em><br><em>If he were to pat you on the back, you would list it on your resume.<br>In a past life, he was himself.<br>If opportunity knocks and he&#8217;s not home, opportunity waits.<br>He is The Most Interesting Man in the World.<\/em><br>\u00a0<br>Then Goldsmith would declare, \u201cI don\u2019t always drink beer, but when I do, I drink Dos Equis\u201d \u2013 before signing off with, \u201cStay thirsty, my friends.\u201d<br>\u00a0<br>The campaign more than tripled the size of the Dos Equis brand. It was no surprise that the company came calling once again after a ten-year hiatus. Would Goldsmith (who is now 87 years old) be willing to star in a new series of commercials?<br>\u00a0<br>He didn\u2019t hesitate: \u201cI\u2019m so excited to reintroduce this character to new and old fans alike,\u201d he said last month, shortly after the first of the new ads debuted during the NCAA national championship football game.<br><br>It\u2019s worth noting that Goldsmith\u2019s real life has actually been, well, rather interesting.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>He was born in the Bronx into a Jewish family of Russian descent. His acting career has featured over 350 television appearances on 45 different series, including 17 episodes of <em>Dallas<\/em>.\u00a0He played five different cowboy \u201cbad guys\u201d who were, at one time or another, shot dead by none other than Sheriff Matt Dillon of <em>Gunsmoke<\/em>.<br>\u00a0<br>He and his wife, who used to live on a sailboat off Marina del Rey, currently have a home in Vermont.\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>They\u2019re active in a variety of charitable causes, including landmine victim support, intervention for trafficked children, and rescuing Siberian tigers.\u00a0In 2017 he published a memoir called <em>Stay Interesting: I Don\u2019t Always Tell Stories About My Life, But When I Do They\u2019re True and Amazing<\/em>.\u00a0<br><br>I just hope I can still <em>spell<\/em> the word \u201cinteresting\u201d when I\u2019m 87.<br>\u00a0<br>So, does Jonathan Goldsmith, the actor \/ adventurer \/ philanthropist \/ man-of-the-world, have any serious competition in the \u201cmost interesting\u201d department?\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>Jesus of Nazareth can give him a run for his money.<br>\u00a0<br>As we\u2019ve noted on a number of occasions, no one knows what Jesus looked like. Not a single physical description was reported by his peers.\u00a0Yet no one doubts that Jesus and his earliest band of followers have been the subjects of more works of art than any other figures in history.\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>Typically, whenever we see a picture of Jesus, we simply know him when we see him.\u00a0\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>Jesus never wrote a book.\u00a0Yet Cambridge, Oxford, Yale, and Harvard were all founded as centers of learning devoted to his teachings.<br>\u00a0<br>In his book <em>Who is This Man? <\/em>John Ortberg points out: \u201cIt is in Jesus\u2019 name that desperate people pray, grateful people worship, and angry people swear.\u00a0From christenings to weddings to sickrooms to funerals, it is in Jesus\u2019 name that people are hatched, matched, patched, and dispatched.\u201d<br>\u00a0<br>Humility, compassion, and forgiveness \u2013 three qualities scorned by the ancient world \u2013 became prominent Western virtues almost solely because of Jesus.<br>\u00a0<br>There\u2019s no end to the groups who claim to be \u201cfor\u201d Jesus:\u00a0Jews for Jesus, Muslims for Jesus, Ex-Masons for Jesus, Road Riders for Jesus, Wrestlers for Jesus, Clowns for Jesus, Puppets for Jesus, and even Atheists for Jesus.<br>\u00a0<br>It\u2019s hard to dispute that for centuries he has been the real-life Most Interesting Man in the World.<br>\u00a0<br>But that\u2019s only a small part of Jesus\u2019 attraction.\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>If he were merely \u201cinteresting,\u201d we could walk away from him and get on with the rest of our lives, the way visitors to a museum might take in a particularly intriguing exhibit, then shift their gaze to the next one.<br>\u00a0<br>Jesus might better be described as the Most <em>Compelling<\/em> Man in the World.\u00a0He challenges our biases, unsettles our plans, and ruffles our feathers.\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>Timothy Keller noted, \u201cJesus combines high majesty with the greatest humility, he joins the strongest commitment to justice with astonishing mercy and grace, and he reveals a transcendent self-sufficiency and yet entire trust and reliance upon his heavenly Father.\u201d<br>\u00a0<br>Historians have long noted the existence of two groups.<br>\u00a0<br>The first group has only a few members \u2013 individuals who founded a new religion or set the world on an entirely new course spiritually or philosophically. The second group includes men and women who have claimed to be divine.<br>\u00a0<br><em>Jesus is the only member of both groups. <\/em>\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>Most members of the first group (such as Buddha, Plato, Muhammad, and Socrates) would never have claimed divinity.<br>\u00a0<br>And the great majority of those in the second group, who did claim to be God, have been written off as despots, cult leaders, or people who probably needed to get back on their meds.<br>\u00a0<br>Jesus is the only person who claimed to be God and whose character, actions, and teachings have persuaded a huge number of people to believe him.<br>\u00a0<br>What we know for sure is that there\u2019s little chance he\u2019ll be headlining a series of commercials any time in the future. \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>But if he did, it\u2019s just possible he might sign off by saying, \u201c<em>Stay spiritually thirsty, my friends<\/em>.\u201d<br><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To listen to today&#8217;s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here\u00a0He\u2019s back.\u00a0The last time we saw The Most Interesting Man in the World, he was boarding a rocket holding a one-way ticket to Mars. \u00a0\u00a0As he waved goodbye to the people of Earth, the narrator of the 30-second TV commercial solemnly informed us, \u201cHis only regret is not knowing what regret feels&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/12\/interesting\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[230,1078],"class_list":["post-5228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-character","tag-divinity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5230,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5228\/revisions\/5230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}