No joke!

So much talk of Scrabble, I know... you may be tired of it, but it's what I do. I told you that with my illness it has been the only way I've had contact with the world. It's hossum (as my son's friends would say.) I have met a lot of Christians, a whole lot of Canadians and a lot of folks that I would consider friends. Maybe we're all a bunch of freaks and geeks, but we're a mish-mash of society and it's been interesting to say the least.

If you play long enough, you will get pretty good. You will learn the tricks of what goes where and what you should never do. If you are fortunate enough, you will play people who are better than you and they will school you. You will have many losses, but learn new tactics. You are always bettering your game and I think that's why we all like it so much. There are some drawbacks to throwing yourself into a pot of society though. I have heard more double entendres playing Scrabble than I have heard in a lifetime. I don't know what's wrong with college boys, but it terrifies me for my daughter... they have but one thing on their minds and they are driven to make that point. I have deleted many a game because of it, but I have also made friends in spite of it.

Often sounding like their dialogue was taken from one of the T-Birds on Grease, they press on as I change the subject or gloss over a comment. How many times I have said, "I have a daughter your age" or "I am a member of the AARP" I don't know, but I guess they have to meet their quota's. There was one boy who I genuinely cared about. Don't know why... something about him seemed sad... like he needed a mom. I don't know his whole story, but he had a baby out of wedlock and we had gotten to the point where he realized he needed a new script with me. So I got to know him... a little I s'pose.

One day, I was reading my friends list status's. I never really do that, but I was bored. I came upon his and it was a shockingly bad joke... about Jesus. My mind raced... I hated having that on my page, where anyone could read it. I came to a quick decision and deleted him as a friend. It may have been the wrong choice... I don't know, but it just seemed that my love and loyalty to Jesus was questioned in that moment. I sent him a note and simply said, "I don't think you know how much I love Jesus." He said he thought He was a great man, but that he didn't really die on the cross... that those stories were make believe. I told him that He was my god... that I doubted he would have made a joke about Muhammad or Buddha for fear of offending, but that Jesus was always an open target.

I've lost a few Scrabble friends... it's always sad, but I do hope taking a stand for the Man Who died for me, was the right choice. Maybe this kid will come back and apologize. Maybe God will use what happened to speak to him that He is real... that the Bible and the stories he's heard have survived for thousands of years because they're true. Last night, when I went to bed, I read in Matthew that familiar verse, "If the salt, loses its saltiness, what is it good for?" Such a fine line between not expecting others to know what you know and experience what you've experienced, and recognizing when someone has willingly made themselves an enemy of God... please pray with me that like a lamb who's been lost and alone, this kid will find his way into the arms of the Shepherd Who loves him.