I normally sit right on the center aisle at church, and during the processional this morning the pastor stopped — not something he normally does — and whispered something to me.

“Keep me in prayer,” he said. “I’m about to use Ricky Bobby in a sermon illustration.”

I haven’t actually seen “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” but it apparently has a scene where the title character insists that he likes the baby Jesus better than the adult one.

Sure enough, the pastor used that prayer to point out that many of us are guilty of preferring the cute little baby, who makes no demands on us, to our Lord and Savior. Unlike the uninhibited Will Ferrell character, most of us know better than to say it out loud. So it was a relevant and useful illustration — but I understand why a preacher might have some misgivings about invoking a Will Ferrell / Adam McKay movie!