Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

Pastor Bob said a few things this Sunday that really stuck with me.  He mentioned trying to remember times when words had hurt, and when words had healed, when words had built up, and when they had torn down. 

It’s crazy, at least for me, that words are just sound waves,  what we say is literally ‘hot air’ exiting our lungs, over our vocal chords and with our tongue, lips, and mouth we form some noise, that we understand to mean something.  It’s really astounding when you think about it.  I mean I don’t understand Russian – those sounds mean nothing to me – a person could say the meanest thing, or the nicest thing to me in Russian and it means nothing. 

But when Pastor Bob said to think about it, and remember.. I could.  I could remember the amazing amount of pain some of the words inflicted.   I remember the overwhelming Joy some of those words caused, and I remembered the times where simple words completely changed my life.

I love my Dad.  He is truly an amazing human being.   He was loving, strict, expected a lot from us, but supported us in everything we wanted to do.  My dad was never short on praise.  As a matter of fact, I kind of grew tired of the constant, “nice Job out there Bret,” or the “wow, I am really, really proud of you son.” And so when I was 10 or 11 and tried to permanently borrow some stuff from a Grocery store, the store manager being mad, the police officer giving me a good scare – all were nothing in comparison to the 5 words that came out of my Dad’s mouth; “I’m really disappointed in you.”  Again – just air, just sound waves traveling from one human to another; but amazing power.  What those 5 words meant were way, way more than a father being upset, they were a lifetime of work, a family history, 10 years of doing his best, all represented in the terrible decision that his 2^nd son had made.  Nothing in my life up to that point had hurt me that much.  Needless to say – those words changed me,  they changed me forever; I never wanted to hear those words again, and I still don’t.

I remembered being a junior in High school – it was my 2^nd or 3^rd game as the Quarterback for the 2^nd largest, and 2^nd ranked high school in the state of Idaho.  I was apprehensive to say the least – scared out of my mind to be honest.  I could play – but across the field on the other sideline was a living legend, he was good,  he was going to Stanford, and he had already been in sports illustrated. (He eventually went to Arizona State, and played in the NFL for a while: Jake Plummer) I was also on the outside; at big schools juniors don’t start – especially as quarterback, and double especially when the senior quarterback started when he was a junior.  But there I was – in the middle of the game against the best team in the State, a 16 year old boy on the gridiron with 21 other MEN.  It was a simple play, a little play action rollout to the right with the Tight end running a little Sit route;  and I threw a perfect pass to his feet.  Because I had rolled out towards our sideline, I was about 10 feet from our head coach.  He looked at me, shook his head a bit, said something I can’t write, and paused for a second.  He looked at me and very calmly yelled, “Do it Again.”  This wasn’t practice, this was the middle of the biggest game of the year the two top schools, both undefeated, and he just yelled out so everyone on the field could hear, “DO IT AGAIN.” I was shocked;  do it again? Coach Drake looked through me to my soul somehow, and gently said, “Throw it to him this time.” And I did – the ball drilled the Tight end right between the numbers, and we moved the chains.  And again;  just words – just a bunch of  carbon dioxide leaving a little old man’s body.  But what they meant….  They meant, “I know you’re scared, but I know you can do this.”  They meant, “You may not believe it, but I know you’re good enough to be out here.”  They meant, “We believe in you.”  I was never scared, like that again, ever.  I never walked into a huddle or on a basketball court, where I did not think I belonged there.

And finally – I need to wrap this up.  On a hot fall evening, I sat down alone in a giant, quiet house to a plate of cold food.  I was, to be honest, a little tipsy (drank too much) a little late (only 2-3 hours) and a little grumpy. (See previous) My little ones must have been in bed, and who knows where my wife was, probably taking a nap somewhere.  Then she showed up at the other end of what seemed like a very long table, and started in on me.  “Where have you been, I don’t get why you have to work so much, blah, blah, blah.” Ya, I did, but it was all part of the deal – it got us the house, the cars, the boat – the stuff we wanted. The conversation got increasingly heated, and in the end I remember yelling to my wife, “What do you want from me?”  Simple, life changing… through tear soaked eyes, my beautiful wife looked at me and said, “I want you to be the man God wants you to be.” And that was it – nothing has affected my life more than those words that my wife spoke to me close to 8 years ago.  They reminded me how much she loves me, they showed me how much God loves me.  They reminded me, that God had a plan for my life and I was not on it. Those simple words, all in what seemed like an instant reminded me of everything that God had done for me, and how much I had done against him.  God called me home, redeemed me back to him thru my wife that night, and I’ll never be the same again.

So…Ya, I remember, I remember many, many times where words changed my life.  I remember times when they hurt, I remember times when they healed, and I remember times when they changed the very definition of who I am, and will be.

I would love to hear stories of how words have effected your life.  Please feel free to share your stories in the comments section.