Skip to main content

Word Up

Today is Yogi Berra's birthday. He is 84 years old. Besides being a Hall of Fame baseball player, he has some great sayings, some of which you probably don't even know are his.

"It ain't over 'til it's over"
"It's like déjà vu all over again."
"When you get to a fork in the road, take it"
"Always go to other people's funerals otherwise they won't go to yours"

And one that has a lot of truth to it; "You can observe a lot by watching"

While it sounds silly, since observe and watch are synonyms, I find it appealing. How many times have you jumped into a situation before recognizing what was going on? I often put my foot in my mouth simply because I did not get all the facts before I reacted. And, as we have each experienced, once you have said something, you cannot take it back.

This is why Paul warned Timothy in his second letter, "Words are not mere words, you know. If they're not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul." I saw blank stares when I tried explaining sound waves to my 7 and 5 year old the other day. If only sound waves were always pleasant. Sadly, few people realize how powerful their words are.

Each day we can build up or tear down. All with our words. We may not see immediate impact, but that should not fool us into thinking they have no impact. 'Words are not mere words.'
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Studies on the Go...Genesis

To be honest, I had not heard of Studies On The Go before being offered a review copy by my god friends at Youth Worker. But since I’m always looking out for study ideas, I said yes to this opportunity. Studies On The Go by Laurie Polich-Short has 30 studies. This particular edition is on the book of Genesis. Any book of the Bible can be daunting when you’re trying to interest and impact teenagers. But Genesis increases that difficulty due to the many questions that arise on the topic of creation. On top of that, you have the many stories of questionable characters that we often call heroes of the faith. Each study comes with great questions, not mindless Sunday School questions where every answer is Jesus. They also come with an optional activity to take the lesson a step further and create true impact. Add to that a weekly plan for students to go deeper and you have a winner of a study in one little book. If all the book studies are as well done as this one, I’d ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What Are You Capable Of?

I fancy myself to be just like Batman...without the money, the cave, the vendetta, the car and the cool belt. Other than that, we're pretty much the same guy. Does it help my case that I have a boy wonder? It's my son, but I'd take him over a dude in green tights any day. I've also imagined myself to be similar to Superman...you know, but without the super strength, speed, or that thing he can do with his eyes. Oh, and I'm also not from another planet. But he was a reporter and I like to write, though that hasn't been proven much by my blog. At least, not compared to what I used to write. The first time I write this post, it sounded like an apology. But that's not really the message I want to convey. Yes, I wish I were posting more. I also wish I had super strength or a cool utility belt, but those things aren't happening right now either. Maybe some day . The truth is I have been keeping busy. I'm not sitting back, sipping lemonade. I've never c...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Facebook Maybe

Granted, I'm a pastor. I have Type-A tendencies. Ok, my tendencies border on freakish OCD behavior patterns, but... Few things bother me more than the Facebook 'maybe'. I suppose I could go on and on about the grey areas of our society and the refusal of people to accept absolute standards. I could discuss the great need of people to accept that what is wrong for one person is likely wrong for everyone. I should certainly be concerned about mentioning that someone might have sin in their life. But I don't believe the Facebook 'maybe' is quite sin. Perhaps if I were coming up with new sins, I would add this to the list. But alas... Some might think the Facebook 'maybe' did not exist prior to the Internet, but they would be wrong. When I was in high school and asked a girl out on a date, I would normally be told that if they had no other plans, if nobody else called them, if there was nothing good on television and their hair did not need washing, then per...
5 comments
Read more