Charlie's Filter

there was this thing about charlie, probably stemming from his simpleness...he would, well, say things funny. he once told me how he liked it when "someone was playin' the tangerine, they was" and another time he said, "uh huh...i had to jake the lock open...i did"

he just had a way with words.

he also wasn't very good with names. not that he forgot them, he just didn't use them alot. for months (maybe a year) i was "the rev." i told him my name at least a few times, but he stuck with "the rev."...i thought it was a cultural thing.

we rented our building to another congregation, and the pastor would often come to the building and practice the piano. "mike....the piana' playa's here", charlie would always announce, even when he knew i knew. it was just something he did. the phone would ring, he'd say "mike, ring ring, wayne's on the phone..." "mike....jackie gleason says 'to the moon, alice; to the moon"... ok charlie, ok.

i told charlie, "charlie, the piano player's name is trevor. you should call him trevor. ok? call him trevor, not 'the piana' playah' ".

"sherwood? his name is sher-wood?" and sherwood he became. "mike, the piana playah...er, sherwood is here" charlie would announce. ok. hey, at least he has a name, i thought.

one day trevor and i were having coffee discussing whether we should be addressed as "pastor mike/trevor" or just by our names. trevor was always irked that charlie called him sherwood, and, well, who could blame him? who wants to be named after a forest? "charlie", he asked "waht should people call me? trevor or pastor trevor?" "well, i don't know..." strawled charlie "pahstor sherwood?"

trevor.
sherwood.
trevor.
sherwood.
TREV-OR.
SHER-WOOD.

it was quite the comedic scene, i had to leave the room i was laughing so hard.

i don't know what kind of scrambled egg filter charlie had that juxtaposed the letters of trevor's name into sherwood. i don't know what charlie was thinking...did he think he was saying trevor? or did he think we were saying sherwood? i don't know. but every time he spoke it, it was sherwood.

we all have filters. filters formed from our up bringing...how we heard our mom or our dad or our brothers or sisters...or filters formed from not having a mom or a dad or a sister or a brother. our reactions are often determined by our filters...fallible as they are.

we need new filters. we need to filter what people say to us in light of God's word and Christs's character being formed in us. regardless of what this or that person intended, what does this mean to me as a child of God? if they are saying something bad, then Christ is my defender. i can trust Him to bring those words to naught. He is able to confound my enemies!

and if it isn't bad, then we are wasting our time in making it bad.