“Oh BROTHER!”
I was surprised by my son’s comment. He said it with such sarcasm over a seemingly trivial incident at the dinner table.
“Where did he learn that phrase? Probably the internet, right?”
My wife shot me a half surprised look. “He learned it from you!”
“No way!” But I knew she was correct.
“You should listen to yourself!”
Chagrined, I mumbled to myself, “I have!”
She was correct. I am negligent in my speech patterns, particularly around my son. He has picked up my bad habits, particularly my speech and body language. I don’t like listening to myself, in more ways than I care to admit.
A few years ago, I was attempting to organize my years of accumulated junk and papers when I stumbled upon a cache of old cassette tapes. For a generation born in the 21st century, most are unfamiliar with this form of media storage. Sales peaked around 1992 as CD’s became the dominant form of recording and distributing music. However from about the 1960’s through the 1980’s nearly everyone had a cassette tape recorder, using it, not only to record music, but lectures and interviews. As I shuffled through the familiar music groups of yesteryear: Abba, Queen, and Barry Manilow-one white cassette tape stood out, with the cryptic handwritten title, “My Voice”. Fortunately, I still had a tape deck that could play a tape. Intrigued, I placed it in my player and heard the feeble high pitched voice of a young boy, reading the biography of a famous Japanese general from medieval Japan. The name and topic were familiar but the voice, a stranger. No, wait! It was my voice! I was 11 years old and I remembered that I used the tape recorder to practice a speech I was to give for my social studies class. It was amusing and annoying! I hated the sound of my voice. Still do!
O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Romans 7:24-25 (NKJV)
I am frustrated when I am confronted with the sound and words of my own voice. This is because it is a symptom of a much deeper and serious problem. The Apostle Paul let out an exasperated cry to God when he saw himself as God saw him, a hopelessly lost sinner. Without the sanctifying grace of Jesus Christ, all of us are miserable sinners, separated from God’s love and mercy. There is only one solution. Repent and confess your sins and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
You should listen to yourself!
Yes, I have, and I don’t like it, nearly fifty years ago or today!
Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.
The Bereans Blog 
Hey there! This post could not be written any better!
Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this.
I will forward this write-up to him. Pretty sure he will have a
good read. Many thanks for sharing!
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