LOL

Stacy and I had a recent conversation about "my type" of humor.  The best word to describe it is caustic.  You could also say, witty, sarcastic, dead-pan, etc.  Caustic really fits the best because it literally means to burn or corrode. 

After discussing and praying about it, I was reminded of a sermon last year where our pastor was talking about stewardship.  Usually, this has to do time or money, but he brought up an interesting example of how he stewarded his personality.  He had to become more friendly, personable and even forced himself to smile while at church which was outside his normal personality.

My whole goal in this life is to know Christ in the Apostle Paul's words or to become more like Christ.  The question became:  Was making a caustic joke getting me there?  The answer was no.  I don't know if it was necessarily a sin, but it could unintentionally hurt the feelings of the recipient or more likely it could be perceived as mean-spirited by a third party.

Honestly, as of right now, I haven't quite figured out how to handle this.  Is it okay with my friends and family who know my personality?  Or when hanging out with my buddies?  With guys-being-guys, it's almost a form of communication like women going to the restroom together.  It's definitely going to be trial-and-error with the Holy Spirit and my wife guiding me along the way.

I do know that my first step is not doing it on Facebook.  I think this is where most people can be offended because they can't see your facial expressions, hear your tone of voice, or may not even know you.  Of course, what good is Facebook if you aren't making political rants or poking fun at people (sarcasm)?  I actually used Stacy as a filter today.  I text her to ask if "this" was okay to comment.  She says, "No.  That's funny because it's true, but NO!"

Finally, this may seem like small potatoes to some of you, but a friend in our Connect Group said, "God is like a light.  The closer you get, the brighter the light.  That brighter light reveals sin.  You take another step closer and it reveals another sin that you didn't even know was there because you were too far from the light before."  Here's to taking another step closer and becoming more like Christ.

...and no Stacy says, I can't tell you the joke she turned down, so don't ask. ;-)