Exhibit “A”

I’ve had several emails and comments from readers about the last two posts I have done. On our son Andrew’s birthday, I wrote an open letter to him about turning thirty. Rather that fill in all the details of numerous stories I could have written about escapades he has been engaged in, I decided to take a different approach and just talk about all the biblical references about turning 30. As much as I would like to, it would be wrong to chronicle his life without his permission, so I’ll just have to wait on writing that post.

And honestly, I had quite a bit of feedback from many of you. Unfortunately, many of the comments no longer make it to the site, because about half of our readers now subscribe and when they “reply” to me, I get an email, and it’s private, not posted to the comments section of TBTB. So, even though it looks like there are only a few comments, there is more traffic than you might think. And that’s great – because when you spend as much time writing as I do, it feels good to know somebody out there is reading the posts!

In particular, I wish to point out Jonni’s comment about my post on Andrew. Jonni is one of our daughter Jill’s friends, in Oklahoma, and I have never met her in person. But one thing is for sure – she is an avid follower of this blog. And every so often, Jonni writes me about her reaction to certain posts. And the other day, she wrote me wondering if Andrew had done some of the things I did when I was young. Although she was nice enough not to mention the specific post, she made a not so veiled reference to a post I wrote on April 1st of this year, about 5 really dumb things I have done in my earlier years. And sure enough, the things Andrew has done probably don’t measure up to some of the things I did – but then again, I don’t know everything he did!

And then, of course, I wrote the already famous post about Big Brother. We had just finished Bible study, which I teach on Thursday evenings in our home, and I wanted to get to writing the post. Janet and I cleaned up the kitchen after everyone left and she decided to get caught up on the show. I guess I got a little amped up. And, coincidentally, you guessed it, Big Brother is on in the background again tonight (recorded earlier I think) as I write to you this evening.

Well, since that post I have heard from many of you that you love the show. I already knew that….that’s why it is so popular. And I promise not to reveal names of those who find this show the greatest thing to rock our modern world. But on Friday evening, Janet and I went out to dinner with friends of ours, Roger and Judy, and of course, the conversation turned to various blogs. Judy admitted she had never watched BB, but she now thought that she would have to tune in to see what it is all about.

Horror of horrors, it didn’t occur to me until just now that I may have actually increased the viewership of that program; especially if Judy likes it (Judy – please say it ain’t so). Therefore, once again, I have done something that may have had unintended consequences. And isn’t that the way it is in our lives? Sometimes, we just don’t think through all the alternatives and we end up doing something that has a consequence far different than what we set out to do.

Even when we try to think things through, sometimes we just don’t remain disciplined and we do something very different from what we set out to do. Why is this? I have used the humanity defense quite a bit lately, but this is another case where it fits. And you know by now that I feel a Bible verse coming on, don’t you?

So, here it is, from one of the greatest, most zealous Christians who ever lived. In Romans, Paul was discussing his life, and the things that he had trouble doing. In Romans 7:18-19, he admits that he has no control over his body (sound familiar? – it does to me). Paul tells us, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”

And as I re-read the posts that reveal some of my antics throughout my life, I really have to chuckle. Honestly, I am not as bad as it sounds. Really. Now that I think of it, I probably could have done things a little differently growing up, and now I feel compelled to write another post on some of the other dumb stuff I have done, but that’s for a later date.

In the meantime, my encouragement tonight is to back off a little on the judgement thing. I tend to get a little wound up on that and admit that it is one of my many faults. In fact, I actually went back and took out a line in my blog the other evening about “Dick” being an idiot, because I really did feel bad about my choice of words. But those of you who got the email in your inbox got the original, before I changed it. So, I am sorry about that. And my prayer is that all of us may think a little more before we just run off and do stupid stuff – and that includes putting our mouths in gear before our brains are engaged. I know that I am not alone on this, but as the title of this post states, I am “Exhibit “A”…. Have a great day in the Lord.