Don't Be Stupid Like Me

One of my favorite sermons to preach is one about self-control and how Jesus dealt with it. I don't often get angry enough to lose control, but today I did and it bit me in the butt.

Ok, so, Britt and I've been reading this particular set of books for many years. There are seven books in the series and we've anxiously awaited each of the books that have been released. Very recently, the last of the books was released, but our copy has yet to arrive. We've avoided any news that might give away the ending, but tonight it was all ruined. We thought that there was no way that any of our friends would give away the ending, and I'm sure the girl that gave it away didn't do it intentionally, but we were wrong. Through a post on myspace, she said something that indicated the answer to everyone's question about the book. Now, if someone does something to upset me, I usually just get over it and go on. But, if someone upsets Britt, as this did, the I can sometimes have trouble dealing with it. So, I ignoring the Spirit leading me to cool off and think through the reactions to the problem, I picked up the phone to call my friend and politely encourage her to remove the offensive material. I picked up the phone, scrolled to her name, and dialed. A woman's voice, very similar to that of my friend's, answered and I began to talk to her. I went quickly through the pleasantries, not noticing that she sounded confused about the call, and very soon arrived at the subject I was concerned with. I was never rude or mean, at least not in a way that couldn't be denied, and valiantly defended my cause. She began to deny the offense. I saw a vulnerable position and pushed my advantage. After I read her exactly what she had written twice and received two denials, my brain returned to normal functioning capacity. I realized that I was not talking to who I thought I was talking to. It was another friend of the same first name who also happens to be my fearless leader's wife. Not only that, but she was sitting at NC2 at the time and I'm sure that she was surrounded by a group of people that I would not want to embarrass myself in front of like that. I apologized profusely, this is not the first time that I have embarrassed myself with this very same person in much the same manner, and am now currently living in shame.

Think through what you do before you do it. Recognize what is worth embarrassing yourself over. If you happen to call the wrong person and very politely chew them out for something that they had nothing to do with, let it be over something that they can be equally enraged over. Now, the worst thing that has happened to me today is not the ruining of several years of waiting, but my own stupidity. To both people of the same name, I'm very sorry. And believe me, my shame will last through the ages. Especially since I've managed to compound my shame by posting my stupidity on the Internet. Go me.

1st Saved

Ok, I know it's been a long since I've blogged, but it's been kind of busy. Every two weeks for the last six weeks we've had an outreach event for Pathway and that has kept me busy. Two of them were ok, but this most recent one was awesome. We had a "Day at the Beach" at Agri Park and had between 9 and 11 new families come by. We also had at least one family who was very interested in Pathway. For DATB, we had two groups come up: one from Lonoke in Morrillton (my sponsoring church) and a college group from East Union. They were here from Tuesday til Sunday. We had a great time of Worship and a devotional that morning and they headed out. Then, at 5 that evening, a group from Antioch arrived. Everyone else, with the exception of the first group of the summer, had been up to canvass, invite to events, and work events. Antioch was here strictly to do surveys for us, which is great, because they just came back from Super Summer where the theme and their classes were all on Apologetics (the study and defense of faith for those of you in Rio Linda) so they were pumped to get out and do some active Christianity. They've been excited, but tonight took the cake. One group was out knocking on doors and came across a lady. She invited them in, they shared the plan of salvation, they offered to pray with her, and she accepted. Things are going great in Fayetteville, but things are busy in Fayetteville. Go door to door. It's easier than you think and you may not reach anyone going door to door, but you're not going to reach anyone sitting on your couch reading this either.