Being a dad can be difficult.  It involves a lot of cleaning gross stuff off of walls, answering tons of questions and praying for patience.  Sometimes these difficult things and others like them can be emphasized at the expense of the joys of fatherhood.  The joys of fatherhood greatly outweigh the difficulties.

Here are a few of those joys.

1.  Toys

I really struggled around the time I entered middle school.  I had all of these cool toys but I was starting to think that I was too old to play with them.  I was right.  (Note: This was in the mid 1980s, before it was fashionable for men in their 30s to play with action figures.)

Twenty years later I’ve been set free.  Because I have two boys, I get to play with some really sweet toys and it’s called being a good father.  It’s sort of like getting paid to test mattresses.

“I really love seeing you and your boys playing with all of those action figures and pretending to blow stuff up.  That’s such a good example.”

“Wait.  My kids are here too?  I mean, thanks.  It’s the least I could do.  Fathers have to make sacrifices and this is just one of many.  Pray for me to persevere.”

The only time this backfires is when I’m playing something with my kids and they leave the room and my wife walks in on me still playing with their toys.  There’s no way out of that one.

2.  Man Time

My wife deserves breaks.  The boys and I call this Man Time.  Man Time typically involves wrestling, loud music, mud and firing our AK-47.  Just kidding.  About the playing in mud part.  Worms lay eggs in that stuff.

Our most recent Man Time took us to the grocery store where we picked up a few things for dinner.  I know, it doesn’t sound very manly until you know how we picked up those things for dinner.  My boys don’t sit in the shopping cart like they’re supposed to.  No sir, they’re standing on the bottom rail and hanging on with their hands as the wind blows through their hair and we zoom down the beverage aisle.  The ladies that work at the store hate this.  But we can’t be stopped.  We live on the edge.  Ridin’ dirty.

3.  Raising Young Men

My wife hates bugs and my boys aren’t too fond of them either.  But if one of my boys sees one, that bug is dead within 30 seconds.  A bug in the house is seen as a threat to my wife’s safety and my boys have made it their job to protect mom.  This is only a problem when we’re outside and every living creature is seen as a threat to mommy.

“No son, the puppy is our friend.  Put the AK-47 down.”

On our last trip to the store, the one where we were ridin’ dirty on the shopping cart, my sons asked if they could buy their mom some flowers.  This made me just as happy as if they wanted to buy me flowers.  Wait, I don’t like flowers.  Bad example.  A cordless drill.  Yeah, that’s it.  What I’m saying is that I have a responsibility to raise boys who will respect women.  When I see them respecting and caring for their mom, I know they’re on the right track.

4.  Gospel Lessons

My youngest son hasn’t been talking for very long.  But at least once a day, when we all sit down together for a meal, I ask him to pray.  He always responds the same way.

“Daddy, you help me?”

And it’s always my joy to help.  This is a repeat-after-me prayer that I actually like.

I’m pretty sure that he has no clue what he’s saying when he follows his dad in thanking God for food, big wheels and Jesus.  But one day he will.

One day my son will probably have his own family to pray over.  And when starts out with “Dear God” and finishes up with “In Jesus name, Amen” maybe he’ll somehow think back to the times when he was a little kid, the kind that liked to hang on to the sides of shopping carts, and his dad taught him how to pray.

On my worst day, I get to teach my two boys how to approach the Living Creator God in Jesus name with the help of the Holy Spirit.

And I think that’s the greatest joy of fatherhood.

This is a good time for people who call themselves Christians to question their faith.  I don’t mean that in the sense of questioning the legitimacy of Christianity.  I mean it in the sense of questioning the legitimacy of their own devotion to Christ.

Gay marriage has been the one issue grabbing all of the headlines over the past week or so.  This may be something that Christians have wanted to ignore for a while in hopes that it goes away.  It’s not.  It has crashed on the church’s lawn and is banging on the front door wanting to come in and stay a while.

After President Obama’s announcement that he supported gay marriage I heard several people, professional pundits and friends alike, say that he just committed political suicide.  The black community, more specifically the black church, would no longer support Obama because of his stance on gay marriage, thus greatly weakening his base.  November is a long way away and time will tell but for now it looks like that hasn’t happened.

Some people were surprised by Jay Z’s recent announcement that he was with Obama on this.  It’s not too common to see a relevant rapper speak out in favor of homosexuality.

But what’s more surprising is the response of those in the church.  Raphael Warnock, the pastor of Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church subtly agreed with the president during his sermon last Sunday.

“There are gay sisters and brothers all around us.  The church needs to be honest about human sexuality.  Some of them are on the usher board.  They greeted you this morning.”

Dr. Ralph Watkins, Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth at Columbia Seminary was more direct with his support of gay marriage.

“As I sit at my table and look into the eyes of my wife, the love of my life for thirty-three years and thank God for the rights we enjoy because of our marriage vows, I can’t imagine a God who wouldn’t want the same for my friends who love as deeply as I love Vanessa but happen to be in same-sex relationships.  I believe that my God wants them to have the same rights, privileges and protection that Vanessa and I enjoy.  I can’t imagine a God who would discriminate against my neighbors.”

One of the common links we see from those churches and church leaders in support of gay marriage, regardless of race and denomination, is the appeal to Jesus’ love for all people, specifically the outcasts of society.  Another is their refusal to accept a literal understanding of those biblical texts condemning homosexuality.

As I said, this is a great time to question your faith.

If the substance of your faith is based solely on Jesus being a God of love and acceptance, you should question your faith.

Don’t get me wrong.  Jesus is a God of love (Ephesians 5:25) and acceptance (Mark 5:1-20).  But he is also a God of wrath (Revelation 19:11-21) and a God that takes marriage, his invention by the way, seriously (Mark 10:1-12).

If all Jesus cared about was loving and accepting people, why was he crucified?  Nice guys that never call anyone out don’t get the death penalty.  Even the most liberal interpretation of the Bible cannot get around the fact that Jesus confronted sinners.  You can call it confronting government officials or the religious elite but the fact remains, Jesus confronted sin.  People didn’t like him.  He made a lot of people uncomfortable.  He went against popular opinion.  Why do some expect him to be any different on an issue like gay marriage?

If you allow yourself to decide which passages of the Bible you will take literally, you should question your faith.

I hear and read a lot of people who say that passages like 1 Corinthians 6:9, where the Holy Spirit through Paul says that those that practice homosexuality will not inherit the kingdom of God, are not to be taken literally.

I’ve never heard a Christian say that a passage like John 3:16 should not be taken literally.

“Well, God didn’t really mean ‘love’ in this passage.  Love was more of a metaphor for his strong emotions.  And he didn’t really give ‘his only Son.’  It’s more like he lost him and really wants him back.  This was really all just a big misunderstanding.”

No one says that.  Christians love John 3:16.  But if we get to decide what we take literally and what we will not, where does it all end?  The resurrection?  The virgin birth?  After all, both of those things happened because of our sin.  At their core, Christmas and Easter are really uncomfortable holidays.

If you’re not willing to love homosexuals, you should question your faith.

The Bible is clear that homosexuality is a sin.  The Bible is also clear that gluttony, pride and adultery are sins.  I do not say this so that we can look past them all.  Instead, I say it so that we will remember that there may be acceptable sins in your church but there are none in the kingdom of God.  You can be an adulterous, arrogant jerk that can’t drive more than 30 minutes without stopping at a Burger King and still be a respected leader in a very conservative church.

“Praise God for Brother Billy.  I know he’s eating himself to death and is cheating on his wife but he sure does love Jesus.”

If it turned out that Brother Billy was gay, he’s suddenly not the man we thought he was.

Christians should not support or look past sin.  But we are called to love the sinner while confronting their sin, like Jesus did (John 4).  If you can’t follow his example by loving even the most flamboyant homosexual, maybe you’re not really following Jesus.

The real issue here is who God is and what you believe about him.  This goes much deeper than one’s opinion on homosexuality and gay marriage.  If God exists solely to teach a lesson to those in power and help the needy get their fair share, what President Obama and Jay Z are saying will make a lot of sense.  Anyone will make a lot of sense if you want them to because you get the final say.  You get to determine how your god feels about things.

But if God has always existed and is currently at work restoring his creation that was damaged by sin and if he demands faith and repentance in his Son Jesus Christ, then we must take what he says seriously.

Even if it means questioning our faith.

Five Things You Will Never Hear Me Say

1.  ”I haven’t had any time to go hunting this year.  I’ve spent all my free time working on my truck and watching WNBA games.”

2.  ”That new P!ink song really moved me.”

3.  ”If the weather stays nice I might go get a hook wet later this week.”

4.  ”Boys!  Stop being so quiet.”

5.  ”That girl on The Bachelorette is one classy lady.”

Five Things No Wal-Mart Employee Has Ever Said

1.  ”Sorry, we don’t sell camouflage underwear.”

2.  ”Can I help you?”

3.  ”So if I understand you correctly, you’re saying that you don’t like standing behind 37 other people in the only functioning check out line.  I feel your pain.  Dale, open up the other 60 check out lines.  These people have got places to go.”

4.  ”Sir, we’re going to have to ask you to put on some clothes before coming in here.  No sir, your bathrobe doesn’t count as clothes.”

5.  ”Thank you for shopping with us, Mr. President.  Please come again.”

Five Things You Will Hear At Wal-Mart

1.  ”Look!  The S on the sign at Wal-Marts must have fallen off.”

2.  ”John Walter!  If you don’t put that gun back I’ll knock you from here to the potato chip aisle.”

3.  ”There’s a good parking spot, baby.  But when you pull in, take up both spaces.  We don’t want nobody dinging up the Mustang.”

4.  ”You stay here and pick out your engagement ring while I go get the Funyuns and Big K Cola.”

5.  ”Thank you for shopping with us, Mr. Kid Rock.  Please come again.”

Five Words and Phrases You Will Use During Vacation Bible School That You Would Otherwise Never Say

1.  March

“Let’s march to the craft room.”

Unless you’re a drill instructor for the U.S. Army you never tell someone to march.  Do they have craft rooms in the U.S. Army?

2.  Craft

“Sheila, where’s your husband?”

“Craft time with the boys again.  You know how they are.”

3.  Activity

“Let’s go to our next activity.”

What exactly constitutes an activity and why does it sound so boring?

4.  Criss-cross apple sauce

“Everyone sit down criss-cross apple sauce.”

This was known as sitting indian style until Rage Against the Machine made us come up with something else.  This is the best we could do.

It has been scientifically proven impossible for anyone over the age of 4 to use the phrase criss-cross apple sauce while maintaining a straight face.

5.  Streeeeeeeeeeetch.

“Okay, everyone reach for the sky.  Streeeeeeeeeetch.”

Across denominational lines, if there’s one constant at VBS it’s that kids will be asked to streeeeeeeeetch.  How’s that for some unity?

In school, picture day was the worst day of the year for me.  Not the day they let you out of class to take your picture.  That was no big deal.  I hated the day that came a few weeks later.  The day the pictures came back.

For most of my middle and high school years I had a mullet and really bad acne.  I trained myself to pretend like my hair cut was really cool.  I was cutting edge, ahead of my time.  Looking back, I really was ahead of my time.  Joe Dirt wouldn’t come out for several more years.  I trained myself to pretend like those huge marks on my face that people made fun of weren’t really that bad.

But on the day we got our pictures back and I sat at my desk staring at myself, I was brought back to reality.  I always wished that the guy in the picture wasn’t really me.

By the time my high school graduation rolled around, I got a haircut and most of the acne cleared up.  This time I wasn’t embarrassed when my senior pictures came back.  There was no mullet and absolutely no acne.  But the pictures were doctored.  Before we saw the finished product, a computer removed all of our flaws.  This time, the guy in the picture really wasn’t me.

The gospel tells me that my identity is not found in my shortcomings, failures or embarrassments.  In Christ, that’s not the real me.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  2 Corinthians 12:9

For Paul, whose thorn in the flesh was almost certainly deeper than any self-image problem, the gospel helped him to understand what he once saw as a weakness as a benefit.  It was in his weakness that he began to know the grace and power of God.

The gospel also tells me that my true identity is not found in the times when I get it right, knock it out of the park or look the part.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.  Philippians 3:8 

When we search for our identity in our accomplishments we become conceited and forget to rely on Christ.  We act as though Christ exists only to save us from hell and affirm us in our position at the center of the universe.  When we place our identity in our failures, we become self-centered and trick ourselves into believing that God doesn’t really care about us.  Both errors divert our attention away from Christ.  One makes us think that we are gods and the other makes us think that we have been abandoned by God.  Both are dangerous.

The gospel reminds me that I was once dead (Ephesians 2:1).  I can try to dress that up all I want but it’s still death.  At the same time, the gospel tells me that God saw me in my death and made me alive “together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5).

I am not last week’s parenting blunder or last Sunday’s sermon.  My true identity dates back a long time before those things, back before middle and high school, even before the foundation of the world when God, in his grace, adopted me as his son through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:4-6).

I am a blood bought child of God.  Bad haircut and all.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 Corinthians 5:21

My mom used to drive a 1970 something Chevy Nova.  It was tan with wood panels and the fabric on the ceiling would hang down on your head.  I hated riding to school in that car and getting dropped off while everyone else was getting out of BMWs.

Sometimes, after a good rain, my mom would take that car down a dirt road with the windows rolled down.  Whenever we drove by a mud puddle, she’d let me roll my window down and stick my head out into the giant splash of nastiness.  The kids whose parents drove BMWs didn’t get to do that.

Our next car was a dark blue Pontiac 6000.  It had electric locks and windows and the fabric on the ceiling stayed on the ceiling.  No more dirt roads with the windows rolled down.  We were in the big time now, until it got stolen out of the church parking lot.  Nobody ever tried to steal our Chevy Nova.

Next in the line of family cars was one we called The Boat.  It must have been 50 feet long.  By this time my mom was pretty sick and sometimes, on the way home from work, her body would lock up and she’d have to pull over on the side of the interstate in Atlanta.  This was the last car she would ever drive.

Those cars remind me of God’s grace.  They make me thankful for having a mom that was not able to afford a car that didn’t embarrass her son but still found a way to make good memories with it.  They also make me thankful for a generous God.  For the three of those cars combined, my mom may have paid 10 dollars and a gallon of her famous sweet tea.  Not many people can look back on their childhood and remember having three cars donated to the family.  It’s like we were friends with Elvis.

Now that I’m grown up, I’ve got my own family car.  It’s much nicer than anything my mom ever drove.  But I’m pretty sure that at some point my kids will be embarrassed to be seen in it when we drop them off somewhere and all of their friends are getting out of their new Jet Craft 200XZ flying cars.

One day my boys will look back on their childhood like I am today.  They may see a few family cars and I hope that in some way each one reminds them of God’s grace and provision.  And like me, I know that they’ll be able to look back at the old family car and be reminded of the faithful mother who drove it.

Happy Mother’s Day weekend to my wife Marsha, the greatest mom the world has ever known.

My wife and I were driving home with our kids late one night and somehow the radio in our car landed on one of those nightime radio shows where ladies call in and dedicate Celine Dion songs to their old high school flame that they haven’t seen in 13 years.  The host of the show always talks in a real soothing voice.

The conversation we listened to went a little something like this.

“Let’s go to Kelly from Omaha.”

“Yes, I want to request a song for my boyfriend.”

“Mmmmkay.  What’s his name?”

“Stuart.”

“You love him a lot, don’t you Kelly?”

“Yes.  I think about him all day long.”

“How old are you?”

“I’m 15.”

At this point, the host’s voice stopped being so soothing and took on more of a scolding tone.

“Shouldn’t you be thinking about school instead?”

“Yes but I can’t help it.  I love him.”

And then the slow love song comes on.

About two seconds into the song, my five-year-old son said, “Man, this is terrible.”

I’ve never been so proud.

But here’s my problem.  I’m sure that “Kelly” really liked this “Stuart” guy and it’s awful nice of her to go to the trouble of calling the boring love station they play at the bank and asking them to play a boring love song in his honor.  But Kelly, if you’re reading this, Stuart wasn’t listening.  No 15-year-old boy listens to the nighttime love song show.  Well, at least not the kind you would want to date.

It’s easy for some Christians to think or act as though prayer works this way.  Our lack of prayer is evidence that we fear no one is listening.

The Bible tells a different story.  When a Christian prays, the Trinity is at work.

Even the holiest and best educated among us doesn’t really know how to pray.  That’s what Paul says in Romans 8:26.  But he also says that the Holy Spirit, “helps us in our weakness” by taking our prayers to the Father “with groanings too deep for words.”

When you pray, the Holy Spirit is at work on your behalf.

And when we pray, we are not alone.  I know that I have a bunch of people who pray for me.  Just a few minutes before I started writing this my wife told me that she was praying for me.  I never get tired of hearing that.  But in Romans 8:34, Paul tells me something even better.  Jesus is praying for me.

Who is to condemn?  Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Sometimes friends on Facebook will post prayer requests.  The responses are usually the same.  ”I’m praying.”  But there’s always that one person that says something like, “Sending good thoughts and energy your way.”

Good thoughts and energy?  That’s sort of like last week’s losing lottery ticket.  Thanks for nothing but I’ve got Jesus praying for me.

And it’s not that Jesus is praying for me to have a good day and to make new friends.  For one thing, his prayers assure my ultimate victory over my enemy.  The Bible calls Satan our accuser.  We don’t know all of the details of how this plays out for us today but there are times in the Bible when we see Satan approaching Heaven with intentions of hurting God’s people (Job in Job 1-2 and Peter in Luke 22:31).  If my accuser ever approaches God regarding me, my Savior and Lord quickly sends him away.

After Jesus informed Peter of Satan’s request, he said, “but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.  And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32).

As if all of this wasn’t enough, it is the death of Christ that takes away my condemnation and allows me to approach God the Father in prayer.

When you pray, you are not alone.  Jesus has already been praying for you.

Finally, at the other end of my prayer, there is a Father who is actively listening.  He promises to give wisdom generously when we ask in faith (James 1:5-6), he delights in giving us more and more of his kingdom (Luke 12:32) and he graciously forgives his children (Psalm 51), just to name a few things.

When we pray to our Father, we do so through the blood of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Someone is listening.

Someone is with us.

Someone is helping us.

We are not alone.

Pray.

Guy #1: “Hey, our church really needs to do more to reach the teens.”

Guy #2: “What if we tried getting to know some of the teenagers in our community?”

Guy #1: “You’re dumb.  I know.  Lil’ Markie!  Today’s kids will love it!  Why didn’t I think of this earlier?  Oh, and you’re fired.”

0:05 – Cue the 1970s game show music in 3, 2, 1…

0:09 – Where’s Lil’ Markie?  We want the puppet!

1:00 – We’re a minute into this and there’s still no Lil’ Markie sighting.  Look man, if we just wanted a guy to sing, we would’ve sprung for Michael W. Smith or Carman but neither one of those guys has a Lil’ Markie.  Get to the point already!

1:09 – Wait.  That’s Lil’ Markie?  Church membership across the nation just went down 25%.

1:13 – What I wouldn’t give for You Tube to invent some sort of technology that allows you to see the facial expression on the other side of those heads.

1:25 – The creepiest sound in the history of church music.  Is there a way we can play that backwards?

1:38 – Watch the guy walking down the aisle on the left side of the screen.  What do you think he’s saying to the guy on the front row?

“Pastor, we’ve got two snipers in the balcony.  Just say the word.”

1:43 – The new creepiest sound in the history of church music.  Played backwards, I’m sure it says something about Jimmy Page, Hotel California and the Illuminati.

The lesson to be learned here is that anything with the word Lil’ in the title is going to be bad.  That goes for rappers like Lil’ Kim, the crazy girl in your fourth grade class everyone called Lil’ Bit and, of course, Lil’ Markie.

Professional athletes and vice presidents aren’t the only people on the planet that say dumb things.  We’re all guilty from time to time.  Here are two examples.

1.  ”I’m really humbled by this.”

This is a self-defeating phrase.  It’s sort of like someone saying, “I’m not going to talk at all today” or a sign that says, “Do Not Read This Sign.”  If you really are “humbled” by whatever “this” is, why are you telling me how humble you are?

Here’s how it usually works.

“Wow!  I wasn’t expecting to win this award.  It’s an honor just to be nominated for a Grammy.  I’m so humbled by this.”

Or my personal favorite, Facebook humility.

Billy Wayne Draper My last tweet just got an RT from @LebronJames and 37 people told me that my sermon this morning was the best they’d ever heard.  So humbled by this.

Why is that humbling?  If I just won a Grammy and got retweeted by Bron Bron, I don’t think it would humble me.

Jay Sanders My last tweet just got an RT from @LebronJames and Jay Z wants to sample this morning’s sermon on his next album.  I am the man!  I cannot be stopped!  Take that suckaz!! SMH!!!!!!!!!!!!! #imahustlababy #jiggawhat

Is there some kind of new secret to humility where the more cool things you have happen to you, the more humble you get?

There’s only one situation that I could see the I’m So Humbled By This Phrase actually being legit.

“So, did you like my sermon?”

“Uh, I guess so.”

“What is it?”

“Well, your fly was down the whole time and you had your mic on while you were in the bathroom.  And George Washington didn’t write the first five books of the Bible.”

“Wow!  I’m really humbled by this.”

2.  ”I’m voting for the lesser of two evils”

The response to this kind of thinking has become its own cliche.

“But the lesser of two evils is still evil.”

And this is true.

Conservatives will use the Vote for the Lesser of Two Evils Phrase a lot this year.

“Yeah, I know that Romney has a questionable record on abortion and gave the state of Massachusetts a health care plan that looks eerily similar to the one from Obama but sometimes you just have to vote for the lesser of two evils.”

In the time that I’ve been watching things, the lesser of the two evils we’ve been told to vote for has gotten progressively more evil.  Where does this end?

“Who are you voting for in November, the Communist or the Nazi?”

“I don’t know.  I may just have to do a write-in.  I don’t care for either one.”

“Oh, come on now.  At least the Communist will only kill some of your family and he may let you keep a few of your sheep for community wool making purposes.  Lesser of two evils, you know.”

This November, even if you don’t really care for either candidate, you should still go to the polls.  You could always do a write-in.  Maybe, for example, you could write my name in.

I promise to be very humbled by your vote.

A while back a friend told me about a really rich guy in Texas that threw himself a huge birthday party every year.  One year he invited The Eagles to play at his party.  I think it costs somewhere around $763 to buy a ticket to see The Eagles in concert so I can’t even imagine how much it would cost to have them fly to your house and play in your backyard.

My first thought after hearing about this was, “Man, that guy is an idiot.  Couldn’t he have used that money for something more meaningful like missions or helping orphans?”

My second thought was, “If I was that rich I’d get Public Enemy.”

Come on, man.  The Eagles?  Really?

This week on the Music Forum we attempt to undo this poor rich man’s mistake by throwing our own imaginary backyard concert.

If you could have any artist, dead or alive, perform in your backyard who would it be and what’s one song you would make them cover?

Kevin Lester

Wow that one is really tough.  Good question.  I’m usually not a fan
of covers except for Dwight Yoakam’s cover of Suspicious Minds,
(better than Elvis ever sang it; not hating on Elvis, just saying) and
the band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes who are exclusively a cover
band.  They can pretty much take anything and turn it into a fast
paced punk song.  Their cover of Johnny Cash’s Sunday Morning Coming
Down is a classic.  It might be fun to hear them cover the Getty’s
In Christ Alone.

Probably what would be better is to hear my friend Casey Harpe cover
Lover by Derek Webb.  There is a small part of me that hopes I die
first so he can sing it at my funeral.

Jeff Merrill 

Glen Hansard (Swell Season, the Frames). This guy sings from the soul. I’d pay to hear him sing A through L of the Yellow Pages, but for a cover I think I’d go with Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.  It’s been covered by a bunch of people, most notably the incredible Jeff Buckley, but I’d love to hear Glen Hansard’s take on it.

Shane Burchfiel

Have to go with either Dave Matthews Band or Eric Clapton.  They can just play their own music.  Jimmy Buffet and Jack Johnson would be fun as well.

Jay Sanders

This one is easy.  I’m going with The Possum Posse.  I would make them cover Buffalo Stance by Neneh Cherry.