Interrobang?!

Are you serious?!
He did what!?

A little over five years ago I started getting e-mails from http://www.merriam-webster.com/ . It wasn't spam, I actually signed up for them. My Senior Pastor, Dr. Larry D. Robertson told me that he got them and not wanting to be behind or outdone :-) I decided I should get them too.

Each day Merriam or Webster or someone who works for them, I suppose, sends me a word with it's definition, pronunciation and then a section called "Did you know?" (which is my favorite part) which tells about where the word came from (usually Latin or Greek).

Well, today's word was "interrobang." Really?!
Long story short, it is a punctuation mark that was made up in the 60s. Ha! Of course it was. It's a combination of an interrogative/interrogation mark (a question mark - ?) and an exclamation mark ! which printers call a "bang."

Here's a picture of one.

Here are some other variations.

So why am I bothering telling you such things? Well, first off, maybe I've inspired you to subscribe to http://www.merriam-webster.com/ word of the day. Click the link and sign up there. A mind is a terrible thing to waste and it will get squishy and lazy if you don't use it.

But actually I'm thinking of starting a campaign with Dell and other computer keyboard makers to include the interrobang on keyboards. We need them ALL of the time.

For instance:
"The Tree" is when and we're missing how many Wednesday nights between now and then?!
New York City schools can give birth control and "morning after" pills to 4th graders without their parents knowing?!
The crazy President of Iran is addressing the United Nations and will once again call for the elimination/destruction of Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish year!?
Gas is how much?! Even at Walmart!?

I'll be the first to admit that some of the sentences above are much more serious than others, but in each case an interrobang fits wonderfully. Perhaps with comments on this post you can add some good sentences that need interrobangs for punctuation.

More importantly, we each should seek ways we can correct the above sentences. I've worked on the first one by adding Sunday rehearsals (see an earlier post Tree Rehearsal Schedule)

What interrobang is God asking YOU to address? Who, me?! Yes! You!

Hanging Around Lookin' Purty

The old man worked for months on his project. He had purposefully chosen a beautiful piece of wood. He carefully cut out the curves and planed the surface to just the right thickness - a little thinner here, a little thicker there. The rough, oil-stained hands made sure the pieces were glued tightly together, gently sanded, stained and polished...

Holes were drilled, pegs were made, a bridge was set, strings were strung and tuned...

The bow was tightened and rosined...

The old man was very pleased with his handiwork and the beautiful sound that was made when the bow pulled the strings.

Grandad Kay was a metal machinist by trade and an old-time fiddler by night. In his retirement years he decided to use his skills to make fiddles. He made several and I'm proud to have a couple of them myself. He's the man I was describing at the beginning of this post.

Fast-forward to 2011.

I was at my in-law's home in Tulsa this past week. I went in the front bedroom closet to look for some wrapping paper - or something - I don't really remember right now - and behind some shirts on a shelf leaning against the wall was one of Grandad Kay's fiddles. "What a shame to have this pretty fiddle hidden in the closet" I thought to myself. "Someone should be playing it."

Before I could get to judgemental, however, it dawned on me that the two fiddles I have from Grandad may not be in a closet, but hanging on the wall in my guest bedroom isn't really what they were intended for either. They may be pretty to look at, (and if I was home I would take a picture of them and post it here) but even though guests in our home can see the fine workmanship, these fiddles still aren't being used for their intended purpose. Someone should tune them up and play them!

Sermon illustration.
So I won't try to pretend I wasn't already headed to a little New Year's Day sermon. Haha.

Many of us are just like the fiddle tucked away in the closet. God intends for us to make beautiful music - and I don't mean just singing in the choir. He created us for a higher purpose than just hanging around looking pretty or being hidden away in a closet (or church building).

We love to quote Ephesians 2:8-9 (Wonderful verses!)
8 For ²¹by grace you have been saved ²²through faith ; and that not of yourselves, it is ²³the gift of God ; 9 ²⁴not as a result of works, so that ²⁵no one may boast.

But we should keep going. Look what verse 10 says
10 For we are His workmanship, ²⁶created in ²⁷Christ Jesus for ²⁸good works, which God ²⁹prepared beforehand so that we would ³⁰walk in them.

We were created for good works. God prepared before we were saved that we should walk around doing good works!

Just like those pretty fiddles were created to make music, God created YOU to do good works. That's why you were saved by grace.

I'm not going to tell give you any ideas of what those good works are. I know you want me to. "Like what?" you ask. That's the Holy Spirit's work in your life - not mine. If I give you an idea you won't bother trying to listen to His voice in your life.

So...

I thought this would be a good post for New Year's Day. Many of us are reflecting on what we did (or didn't do) last year and many are making resolutions for the new year.

Let me challenge you to start the year off by asking God if you've been hanging around looking pretty (so to speak) or if you've been hiding yourself and then ask Him what good works He created you for..

Oh... and then why don't you make a decision to DO something for the Kingdom in 2011.