Slow learner

This morning for church, we listened to an old Francis Chan sermon from Cornerstone Church. (The sermon is old, that is; Francis is certainly not old!) It was fun to imagine both Hannah and Mike now out in Simi Valley worshiping there together, in person.

Anyway, the sermon we heard was about THINKING before we speak. He used an acrostic he borrowed from someone who borrowed it from someone else. THINK before you speak:

You see, I was listening. I even took notes. I need this sermon. However, am I a doer of the Word? Apparently not. Before an hour was up, I had already blabbed a hurtful remark without giving it a thought. When I realized it, I apologized to the offended child, but still I don't feel sorrow. I still struggle with the old "...but it's true!" argument.

Lest you find out that I'm the meanest mom in the neighborhood some other way, I'll go on and rat myself out. It went like this. Jonathan and two friends were in my kitchen, asking if they could hook up the old x-box on the bigger TV screen in the family room (adjacent to my bedroom like in the photo yesterday). I simply said "No!" When asked again, very politely, I very rudely explained that I didn't want my whole room to smell like stinky boys. I mean, really! They reeked. Serious B.O.

My son then asked if it would be all right if they played in there as long as they didn't stink. I said, fine, but they would have to have an actual head-to-toe shower, not just spray Axe on their bodies. Those of you with junior high boys know just what I'm talking about. Icky sweet body spray that lingers as bad as B.O. Two boys insisted they had showered just last night. All eyes were on the third boy, who sheepishly mumbled, "You don't want to know." Just as I suspected.

Okay, so the offending child ran home for a shower, and I heard the boys on the phone calling an older friend so they could have four playing at a time. This kid is a senior in high school. I was mortified to hear them ask when his last shower was. Oops. They seriously wanted to have a quiet afternoon of electronic entertainment.

Here they are as I found them after my Sunday nap. I was half-asleep which is why I cut one person mostly out of the photo. You can't tell from looking, but trust me, my room doesn't smell bad at all. Still, did I have to be so rude? Ack.



In the living room, Debbie and Esther were busy playing dolls.



So now I'm going to go back and study my notes from the sermon, and re-memorize those verses about being slow to speak, and about using words to build others up. Oh, why am I such a slow learner?