Be careful what you laugh at…

Better be careful what who and what you poke fun of…. I have a pretty good list of the things I haven taken shots at and what the consequences have been for me. Here is a starter:

• When I was on the debate team at Monterey High School, I used to stand behind the podium in the classroom and poke fun of preachers. I will choose not to share the content in this forum of my mock sermons. Suffice to say that they were not at all reverent! It appears that God has a sense of humor…

• When I sacked groceries at Safeway in high school, we made fun of men who purchased diapers, female products, and other things that destroyed their masculinity in our 16 year old eyes. We laughed and promised we would never do such things. Yeah right…

• When I was senior in high school, my debate partner and myself missed a tournament, because we overslept one Saturday morning. We laughed at that tournament, because it was being held in the small town of Muleshoe. I later spent three years of my career in Muleshoe.  That was my first preaching ministry.  They were most patient…

• I made fun of my sister choosing to go to Lubbock Christian University, instead of Texas Tech in 1976. Thankfully LCU was willing to give me a second chance after I was placed on scholastic probation at Tech in 1982. I was not laughing 6 years later. I was fortunate to graduate with honors in 1984.

• When we moved to Wichita Falls in 1987, we were only 10 miles from the Oklahoma border. I remember on several occasions commenting: I would NEVER live in Oklahoma. We lived in Woodward, OK from 1998 until 2004 and loved it!

• For years I would make fun of the “old men” I would travel with on a long trip. They needed to make more frequent restroom stops, because of their worn out “prostrate.” As I approach age 50 in a couple of years, that is just not funny.

I am more cautious in my humor these days. I still think nearly everything is funny, but I am less inclined to say the word “never.” I am less apt to make fun of groups of people in certain geographical areas. I am fully aware that my humor could be the cause of me having a humbling experience. But that is not so bad either. Humility is a good thing. I need a huge does of it every single day. Flashes of that podium in the classroom at Monterey High School may flash through my head Sunday morning…