WORLD OF WORDS
We live in a world of words. Words are all about us, words on TV, words on the radio, spoken words by family and friends, words printed in newspapers, books, on computers, and words on the Internet. The world of words have turned us into a people who have been overwhelmed, suffocated, and buried in the mounting pile of words. With so many words around us, words tend to lose their meaning, they become unimportant, they no longer have any real value or influence in life.
And there are some words which have more power than others.
The late Pastor Valbracht says in his book, Exit Interstate 0, the following about words, "It was in the early years of my ministry that one Sunday preaching my sermon, and I had just gotten well into the sermon, when a baby started to cry down in one of the front pews. The mother, very much embarrassed, snatched up the baby and started out the aisle aisle. I stopped right in my sermon, and I said, ’Madam you don’t have to take that baby out. He isn’t bothering me.’ She said, ’No?’ Well, you’re certainly bothering him.’
Words do have power sometimes.
In the following story we get an entirely different view of the world of words. "A New York columnist set out one time not long ago to prove that no one really listened to what anyone said at a cocktail party and, when he was invited to such a party, he always would arrive late. When he arrived the hostess greeted him and he explained why he was late. ’I had to stop for a moment and murder my mistress, and it took longer than I thought.’ Without blinking an eye, the hostess said she understood perfectly, ’I was almost late myself, everyone is quite busy. Enjoy yourself. Have a good time.’ As he mingled around the party, someone asked him what I he did for a living. ’Oh, I am the executioner for the State Penitentiary.’ The person continued, ’Well, that must be an interesting line of work. How does business look this year?’"
(From a sermon by Tim Zingale, "The World of Words" 1/26/2009)