Can't believe you said that

You know, people say it way too often to me, "I can't believe you said that." I try to keep it mostly clean. Try to be nice. Generally at least. Not so much if you hurt the people I love. Then I tend to just be blunt. But words really stick with me. How it's worded. How it sounds.
I remember a few things from over the years that still bring me a giggle.
When we first went to our church and Pastor Tom was preaching, one Sunday he was talking about human beings. And having his midwestern accent, he said it differently. My eldest looked at me and said, "what's a human bean?"
And another time, when speaking about a Biblical precept, he said, "you have to let your good overcome their evil." And my husband and I looked at each other and at the same moment said, "my good overcomes your evil." The concept of the sermon was really good. Well, I think so. This is all I can now recall.
Another time, a pastor at our church was giving an announcement about a class that was beginning for divorced people and he said "it's for those of you who are struggling or who aren't struggling but think you should be." hahahhaha. Oh my goodness. I nearly burst a socket
Then there's the time I went to a concert and one of the songs begins, "I can tell by the look on your face that you think I'm anal," and goes on later to say, "my fervent and effectual prayer for your untimely demise." Mercy, I thought the pew I was sitting in was going to fall over with the people shaking so hard.
Today I clicked onto facebook and one of my friends in a box had posted that she had eaten two bakeless cookies and licked the BOWEL. I completely lost it.
Another friend texted me about what to do with porn sausage. Snicker. Um. She meant pork.
One of my friends walked up to a guy and said "hi Dave," and he said, "it's not Dave, it's Gabe," and she said, "well, i knew it was a four letter word." HAHAHA The best part was how she slunk away.
We say all kinds of things. Both intentionally and not intentionally. And often we just can't believe we said it.
I was in college. Had moved to TX and was going to Baylor. I got involved with a group called World Hunger Relief. Very christian. Pretty conservative. I was invited to lunch at the director's house with all of the other volunteers. While there, weather moved in and the director looked out the window and shouted, "oh HELL!" I was stunned. And then he was pointing, "HELL." I was shocked. Until I looked out the window myself and saw the h-a-i-l coming down. Ah. Got it. In Texas why you hear "oh hell," it means that it's hailing and when you hear "oh hail", it means that someone is upset.
And often, we can't believe what we just heard. And maybe we shouldn't. Sometimes it's just a mistake. It's just a miscommunication. Many battles have been started over just such things. Don't allow it. Find the humor.
And if it was intentional.......well......give grace. And if it's a person that is just mean and crass then limit your time together so that you feel more comfortable if you need to. And if it someone who is just plain abusive to others then tell them why and cut off spending time together.
But what I've learned is that generally, it's a misspeak. An unintended or uninformed statement. Learn to see that. You will need lots of grace for the times you insert your foot intio your mouth, so learn to keep a shoe horn handy for your friends.
blessings,
rhonda