And Pascal quite famously casts belief as the ultimate wager: Faith is a gamble, and thereвЂ™s no point in hedging your bet.ДЄs Norm once put it in his unique perspective, вЂњYou just have to hazard a guess at that point. Paul acknowledges that if Christians are wrong about the Resurrection, then they are fools with nothing to show for it. There is the parable of the foolish rich man, whom Jesus rebukes for hoarding his wares instead of enjoying the fruits of his work. Why should he fear financial ruin? Life can kill you, but it canвЂ™t eat you.Д¬ertainly, this attitude should apply to a well-ordered Christian life: thereвЂ™s a certain invitation to go вЂњall inвЂќ as Christians. His entire life became house money, every subsequent second one he wasnвЂ™t expecting. NormвЂ™s personal cross made his gambling problem easier to explain. Interestingly, he did so without ever mentioning his earlier misfortune.

But Norm turned the old Christian principle of вЂњmemento moriвЂќ into an art form, making it his life mission to point out the murderous elephant in the room. So much of modern life, it seems, is spent feeding the illusion of immortality, as if we were once the part of the universe immune from decay.

His close brush with death made it impossible for him to ignore it, and it became a recurring theme in his comedy. What fans initially mistook for a tic was actually lingering pain from the operation. During subsequent standup performances Norm would occasionally stroke his abdomen. Norm was first diagnosed with cancer in his 20s and lost more than a quarter of his stomach in the attempt to stop it. White hair is the signal to get your affairs in order.вЂќ But he lived most of his life with an earlier warning than that. He knew better than anybody that there is no river long enough that doesnвЂ™t contain a bend.ДЄt one point in his recent special, Norm jokes, вЂњI never want to dye my hair. But he had some justification for such an attitude, which informed his faith as well. Norm was famous for his gambling addiction, having lost his life savings three separate times and once tossing his winnings into the New Jersey surf so he wouldnвЂ™t gamble them away, too. But as Norm himself pointed out, if something is true, it is not sentimental. He wasnвЂ™t casual about it either, once asking Jane Fonda if she believed in the вЂњHypostatic Christ.вЂќ This often surprised many of his longtime fans, who couldnвЂ™t square how someone often vulgar and with no truck for the sentimental could have a sincere spirituality at the same time. Norm also happened to be something of a Christian, albeit of a Chaucerian strain. Just say the words вЂњ Moth Joke вЂќ to any man sitting alone at a party and it might salvage his night. Perhaps best known for his years as the face of вЂњSaturday Night LiveвЂ™sвЂќ Weekend Update, over the years Macdonald earned a cult of followers, this author included, who loved him for his laconic wit, unconventional structure, and comedic principle in the face of corporate meddling. All in all, itвЂ™s perfectly fitting for the man himself, who knew that sometimes the only sane response to a fallen world was a healthy dose of maladjustment. Late comedian Norm MacdonaldвЂ™s new Netflix special is self-deprecatingly titled вЂњNothing Special.вЂќ It isnвЂ™t for the faint of heart, the easily offended, children, the elderly, or even the marginally well-balanced.

Little misfortune choices