Tricks and Treats – Steve Legg
Tuesday 9th May 2017I do comedy magic. If you don’t find it funny, it’s just magic. Now, of course, it’s not real magic, it’s just tricks.
My occupation does tend to raise a few eyebrows when I introduce myself to new people. Even my wife, Rebekah, laughed and answered, “No, really, what do you do?” when she was first chatting me up. (If you stop reading for a second and listen hard enough you will hear her protesting across time and space that she never chatted me up – but as a man, I can assure you – she did.) She recovered admirably when I insisted that I use tricks and for many years escapology to communicate the Good News of Jesus to young and old all over the world.
And I get to work with great characters, too. I’ve met and made friends with so many people who share the same passions as I do. Perhaps one of my greatest and longest-standing friends is the well-known singer and author, Ishmael.
One particular time, we were sharing the stage in a large, thousand-seater auditorium. Part of my act was to get a child up and ask them to give me one of their socks, eventually placing it in my magic bag and attempting to turn the single sock into a pair. Of course, everyone knows that I can, so I put my hand into the bag and bring out a – pear. Pretty straightforward and very juvenile, but usually sufficient to raise some laughs and a round of applause.
Not this time, though. Ishmael had decided that he wanted to be the funny man – he had seen me do the trick before and had tampered with my bag. I’d called a young lad up onto the stage, was rude about his socks and played with the audience until I was finally ready to put my hand in the bag and announce as usual, “Ladies and gentlemen, you all witnessed me put one sock into the bag, now here, as if by magic, I have a…” But instead of pulling out a pear as expected, I pulled out a… battery, which gave me quite a shock (boom, boom).
I was flabbergasted. The battery must have weighed the same as the pear and I hadn’t noticed the switch at all. I yelled, “Ishmael, I’m going to get you!” and ended up chasing him around the stage like a mad Duracell Bunny, which everyone found hysterical, and most probably thought was planned. It wasn’t, and I was thrown just a bit, but the audience loved it.
Our lives can be like that – we can create routines, build traditions and make plans but things will come along and catch us off guard. Events break into our world and throw the plans out of the window, crashing through our routines as though they were made of nothing at all.
We like to protect ourselves with family and friends, with nice houses and cars. We work at careers, but still things happen beyond our control. Good things and bad things – the daughter we’ve doted on brings home a boyfriend with a ring through his nose; illness comes; or our spouse tells us they are leaving us for someone else – things that rock our world and shatter our dreams.
When we align our lives with Him, when we give Him control of the plans, then we can relax in the knowledge that no matter what life throws at us, God is with us and will never leave us as He guides us on the adventure He has in mind. Instead of spending our time building fences around our neat little lives, let’s sit back and watch to see what amazing surprises God has in store, whether that store sells groceries or electricals.
And never trust Ishmael with soft fruit.
Steve Legg
Follow Steve on Twitter at @stevelegguk
International baffler and funny guy Steve Legg celebrates 29 years on the road in 2017. In that time, he has visited over 23 countries and made hundreds of TV appearances as he uses a unique mix of tricks and comedy to communicate the Gospel to young and old.
Steve is a regular contributor at major Christian events and festivals including Spring Harvest, New Wine and the Big Church Day Out to name just three. The author of 13 books, in 2007 Steve also launched Sorted Magazine, the world’s most wholesome lads mag. This innovative lifestyle magazine gets given out in tube and rail stations, gyms and health clubs, bars and restaurants in London as well as airport departure lounges globally.
Find out more about Steve at stevelegg.com or about subscribing to Sorted Magazine at sortedmag.com
