We were sitting at IHOP last night with a group from the church and the conversations were going strong. One of the youth from the church was complaining about a shirt and the fact that it was white and when white shirts get wet you can see through them. Some how the word “best” was used in the conversations and it was misunderstood by someone else who though “breast” was said. Put that together with another conversation that was going at the same time about out church New Year’s Eve party and that no “booze” was allowed and someone thought “boobs” was said, and you can see where this quickly went down hill.
Last Sunday night I was asked about Christmas night, which happens to be on a Sunday this year, and whether or not we would have Bible study that evening. Several times that day and even a few other times that week I had been questioned about why I chose to have church on Sunday, Christmas day, instead of Christmas eve. I was really not wanting to explain it again because there seemed to be no good answer, so I went on a rather lengthy rant about how it was Sunday, it was Jesus’ birthday that we were celebrating, and as I ranted, the lady said, “No, I was asking about Christmas Evening”.
I started a Facebook page called the Naked Birth Research Foundation to help a little boy who needed a kidney transplant. Part of the effort was selling t-shirts that said, Naked Birth Research Foundation. I was wearing one of these in a store and talking to the cashier about the shirt and the cause and this lady behind me got upset with me. She asked me how I could justify selling such a shirt as anything tied to being a Christian, a church member and especially me being a pastor. I asked her what the problem was and she said, “I won’t say that word. I am a good Christian.” She thought it said the Naked BI*CH Research Foundation. After I pointed out her reading error, she was quite embarrassed. I asked her if she wanted to buy a shirt and she politely declined.
I texted a guy who was supposed to do some plumbing work for the church one time and he was amazed that a pastor would talked like I texted. We had a water leak in a wall and I told him to please hurry because I did not know how bad it was, only that there was water coming from under a damp wall. I did not type DAMP though. Once he got here and I told him where the damp wall was he started laughing because he understood that I did not say what he thought I had said.
I see this happening a lot with texts. People who text can’t spell. I know that there are lots of abbreviations and those can be confusing for someone who is not an avid texter, but the spelling is quite atrocious. I think our brains work faster than our fingers and words find their own way onto the screen. My wife has texted me many questions that made me think that she was feeling frisky, only to find out that she just can’t spell or text properly.
What is sad is that there are times when we say exactly what we mean to say and people still misunderstand. I guess as long as there are husbands and wives there will be misunderstanding.
pastortimfowler 
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