“THAT’S NOT FUNNY”…

that's not funny

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“Knock – knock”!

“Who’s there”?

“Duane”!

“Duane who”?

“Duane the bathtub, I’m dwowning”!!!

We’d all laugh, my buddy Duane hated that one with a passion. Some things are just funnier when they annoy others. I don’t know what it is?

For the older readers, remember when we were young and one of the pastimes employed by us, the bored, was making crank phone calls?

“Ring – ring”     “Ring – ring” —- “Hello”?

“Is your refrigerator running”?

“Why, yes it is”!

“You better go get it before it gets away”!!!  “Ha-Ha-Ha”!

How about the one we made to the local grocery store or corner market?

“Ring – ring”  “Hello, Hank’s, how can I help you”?

“Do you have Prince Albert in the can”?

“Huh, yes we do.”

“You better let em’ out, he can’t breathe in there”!!!  “AAAHHHH-Ha-Ha-Ha”!!!

I remember hearing them grumble something about “dumb kids” as they were hanging up the phone. I even used my hooligan phone skills at home when I knew one of my siblings was going to call at a specific time, (before the dawn of time and caller ID).

I’d sprint full speed and beat everyone to the phone, barely able to hear my dad yelling about “No running in the house,” due to the rush of wind in my ears as I moved like Flash Gordon toward what no one else in the house really wanted to answer anyway.

I’d pick up the phone and start, “Joe’s Cemetery here, you stab em’ we slab em’, some go to heaven, some go to Helllllo there”! Then the typical annoyed command in response, “GET MOM”!

The truth is not many of us enjoy being the brunt of the joke. That’s not funny. Although I was able to chuckle even as a kid when stuck with a tape tail. You remember, a piece of tape about 3 feet long casually stuck to someone’s low back area while “accidentally” brushing up against them.

Then comes the just fed up with the whole hearing and seeing part of the process. In the end as soon as we would ask someone who answered the phone at the market if they had Prince Albert in the can or Barbara Ann in the wrapper, they’d just hang up on us…

It’s a little like hearing a good song on the radio so often, pretty soon we hate it. Kinda like when Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock N’ Roll” comes on — off it goes…

As Christians, we’ve been delivering the same message with our mouths for so long the secular world wants to turn us off or hang up on us. They’ve heard the lines too many times, they don’t want to hear it again.

The world wants to use a different one of their senses… They want to use their eyes, not their ears. A little more sophisticated world knows what we know — actions speak much louder than words.

My friend and pastor Rick Efird quoted this phrase often, it kind of puts it all in perspective, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Point made. Put up or shut up…

If we’re to be like the One who’s name we bear, then like Christ our bodily actions must equal our talk. We need to walk the walk, not talk the talk.

Our dog Lola likes to eat ice cubes and is under anyone’s feet who opens the freezer door. I asked everyone to quit giving her ice cubes because she doesn’t finish them anymore. Last week, I slipped in a puddle of water from an uneaten ice cube melted on our smooth stone floor.

I almost ended up on my butt and barely caught myself by the edge of the countertop.

My wife laughed…

I didn’t…

I guess some things will never change…