Laugh Out Loud

First, I just want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beloved, OLD friend, Yvonne Lammers a.k.a. Welmers. Love ya!

Now, laugh out loud to yourself, by your self.

That´s what I did when I read David Crowder´s final ancedote as he wrapped up his book "Praise Habit".

After bending to the flattery of a friend, he purchased a red T-shirt that was labelled "Ancient Chinese Secret" with the supposed aged wisdom hidden in "Chinese" markings below it. The same day of purchase, he wore the shirt to a meeting of pastors.

Following the meeting, another friend commented on his bravery. He didn´t understand until he turned the T-shirt sideways and realized that the markings read, "Go "F" yourself!"

While I laughed at the poor misfortune of the well known worship leader, I was reminded of another story that my pastor´s wife told me. While visiting a pool, her husband, the pastor, had not brought his bathing suit. On an impulse buy, she bought him some styling trunks covered with palm trees. After a time of splashing and playing in the water, he waded onto the dry land, shook off the wetness, and revealed a whole lot more then he intended. The water had turned the tropical trees into naked, bathing beauties.

These situations would be embarassing to anyone, but somehow, it´s stinking hilarious when it happens to someone in the ministry. I like how Crowder draws an analysis between his humiliation and semiotics (the study of signs and symbols of all kinds, what they mean, and how they relate to the things or ideas they refer to). He had examined that T-shirt with a serious amount of perusal, but he never saw the hidden message. Someone else had to point it out to him. My pastor and his wife could never have known that there were nude women lurking beneath the trees unless the water had revealed them. Once discovered, all they could see was the underlying message. The initial impression was lost and the real intent of the "symbols" became blaring and obvious.

It is our tendancy and responsibility to examine the signs and symbols around us. Still, we don´t always notice the actual truth of our own situation unless someone else helps us to look at it from a different angle. Sometimes, I am embarassed by what God, family, and others have to point out in my life, but I still need their insight...I still want their insight. To paraphrase Crowder, the real message, the thing that is scribbled barely legible, and underlying is always there. We need rescue by others and mostly, by God himself.

This is where I am. Trying to unscramble the signs and symbols that surround me and determine what they mean for my life and my future. If you perceive something that I´m missing, turn my T-shirt sideways or throw me in the water.