Where I came from, folks thought a subdivision had something to do with a math problem.

Hello and welcome once again to my long running assault on words emanating from my little corner of the mind boggling blogging information highway. (I was actually looking for a way to use boggling blogging together.) It's Tuesday, January 28, 2014 and I am thankful to be able to greet you once again. I cannot deny my upbringing and my heritage. Folks that live in any particular area grow up with their own slang. I used to listen to radio programs from all over the world. I often enjoyed listening to a call in talk show program broadcasting from Brisbane, Australia. I will tell you this: Those Aussies do have their own version of slang! But, we all end up being engaged in word play that characterized the world around us from the perspective of the area where we lived. Here's a sample from my Louisiana rural upbringing: Being too big for your britches meant someone who thought too highly of themselves. Someone who couldn't sing a lick was said to not be able to carry a tune in a bucket. Someone in high cotton was a wealthy or prosperous person. The use of the word right as a qualifier: "That fellow is a right good ball player." You need that like you need a hole in the head obviously refers to something for which there is no necessity. A person considered to be not so attractive was said to have fallen out of an ugly tree, hitting every branch on the way down. I didn't say everything was kindhearted, but, it was a way of using words to communicate and often they did paint a colorful picture.

One of the things we learn as believers is to discard thoughts, ideas, and sayings that do not reflect the love and heart of our Savior. I will not deny the amount of slang I was exposed to growing up that was in many ways based on hate. Those kinds of thoughts can become ingrained. It takes effort and God's help to rid ourselves of these degrading kinds of images portrayed in slang. This is part of our growing in the grace and admonition of the Lord. In fact, being around people who claim to walk with the Lord but who use these kinds of hateful colloquialisms, well, there's a big disconnect somewhere folks. I'm not looking down on them but I do know we all need to project wholesome words if we are to reflect the change that Christ has made in our life. Even as I write this, I am reminded of some of these idioms and figures of speech that are not only incorrect, perhaps racially insensitive, and even mean spirited, but more importantly, they are totally outside the boundaries of how God would have us to conduct ourselves. This tells me we never can remove them from our memory banks but we can reject them and refuse to use them in our desire to influence a lost and dying world. Amen.

First of all, I had no idea that this would be what I would be sharing today, but, I am typically surprised along with everyone else. I will tell you this. Unlearning or better put, un-practicing stuff is one of our greatest challenges in attempting to live the life that would be pleasing to our Lord. Part of this is realizing our need to unlearn some things. It's not always the other fellow. Mark Twain had this to say, "Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits." How true this is in the way that most of us see it. But, we can change. We don't have to stay the same. Easy? Not really. But with God's help it can be done and it is worth it because of the potential for good that can come out of a changed life. Okay. What's that? No. I do not have a 1-800 number for you to call for a tape from today's sermon. Thanks for asking, anyway. Now, we all have our own fish to fry and that has to do with the day that is before us. Do your best with God's help to make it count for time and eternity. Amen.     .....More later.