Telling Phrase 25: "It is finished!"

When Jesus uttered these words on the cross He wasn't just saying, "I am finally about to die. This pain is excruciating." Instead, what he was really saying was, "I have completed my mission to give everyone the opportunity to have their sins paid for." The Godhead (God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit) had planned to redeem man since Adam and Eve had sinned in the garden. In my opinion this is the most telling phrase, and the phrase that is the cause for the most joy, hope, and freedom of any statement that has ever been uttered. It is also an excellent phrase to end my posts on for the day. :)

Telling Phrase 24: "Once you but Cutco, you will never have to buy a knife again!"

This statement of phrases is one that I use almost everyday as I sell kitchen cutlery to people. This phrase tells people a couple of things. 1) First it says, my knives are guaranteed forever. 2) It says, "If you buy anything except for Cutco, it will need to be replaced. 3) Cutco knives are so good that once you have them you won't need any other knives of any variation. All of these statements are true which is why I believe that I have such a marketable product to sell.

Telling Phrase 23: "Help! I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!"

This telling phrase is the famous catch phrase of Life-Alert. A company that makes what I call a 911 necklace. This phrase was another phrase that was used for many things in my house, as we often had students over from my parent's church youth group. This was often used by people who had fallen down while playing variations of tag. It was also used to exclaim things such as, "Help! I'm about to drop this heavy box!" This phrase was basically used to indicate that someone needed immediate assistance, or that someone had just done something stupid that would merit a decent sized scar.

Telling Phrase 22: "All Roads Lead to Heaven"

This phrase is an underlying idea that many relativists believe is true. Are all major religions going to end up in some sort of eternal reward for having compassion, being good, and living in a way that doesn't harm or hinder others or their freedoms? This phrase implies that some sort of reward is in store for everybody. I believe that this telling phrase is far from the truth, as most of you would have already gathered from what you know about my beliefs.

Telling Phrase 21: "The War of 1812"

This phrase has become a telling phrase to me. It doesn't just indicate part of America's history to me anymore. Instead, it says one or more of three things. 1) I wasn't listening. 2) I am really ignorant. 3) I hate obvious answers.
My reason for including this goes back to an experience that C.T. and I had at Cherokee the other day. During C.T.'s story, he asked the kids a few questions to get them involved. One of the questions that he asked was, "Do you know what war the Settlers were fighting in 1780?" One of the boys raised his hand very fast as if he had been waiting all day to give the answer. The boy quickly blurted out, "The War of 1812?!" It may not have been so funny if it weren't for the fact that these were fourth graders who had nailed every question that we asked them. For instance, I asked them if they knew where Germany is. One little girl raised her hand and said, "Eastern Europe?" Of course what really made it humorous was that the only real clue that they had about what war C.T. was talking about was that it took place in 1780.

Telling Phrase 20: "Wrong Button"

This phrase was often uttered by my dad as we watched T.V. when I was a kid. He would constantly turn the channel at the worst possible moments. The long NFL football pass would be floating through the air. The bad guy would be aiming his gun at the good guy, the last leg of The Amazing Race would just be starting. This phrase became an expression that meant, "Oops, my bad" in my family's interactions.

Telling Phrase 19: "Preach the Gospel. If necessarry use words."

This trite little statement is something that I heard over and over again in Bible College. Although it is well-intentioned, it is also often misunderstood. For Christians, Christ commanded his disciples to go into all nations proclaiming the Good News that Christ died and became our atoning sacrifice, thereby giving us the opportunity to accept his forgiveness and mercy. Most people know that actions speak louder than words, but many Christians refuse to tell the message of the Bible because they say that they would, "Rather witness through their actions." That's the lazy way for Christians to spread the Gospel though. It makes it so they don't have to speak, handle objections, and know the words of the Bible. At the same time, sometimes actions do preach the greatest sermons. It takes a mixture of the two.

Telling Phrase 18: "Take the Log Out of Your Own Eye"

This biblical expression is often misunderstood. It basically means, make sure that you are not calling someone out for a problem that they have if you have the same problem AND you aren't aware of it, or you are aware of it and you are not trying to correct it. Many people take this to mean that, "It's no one place to judge because nobody's perfect." That's not true. Good judgment is necessary. Holding people accountable is a great practice that takes courage. Telling someone that they need to change something if they plan to grow as an individual can be very helpful for everyone involved. It is when the adviser is not taking their own advice that the problem presents itself.

Telling Phrase 17: "It's Obvious Proof that Your Dying, Living Proof that the Camera is Lying"

This string of a couple telling phrases comes from Paramore. Basically, the basic inference that lies behind these phrases is... The media makes stars try to be fake so that they can appear great, but that makes them miserable because they aren't being genuine, which makes them feel dead inside. The media continues to put you in the limelight whether you want it or not. I can relate to this. As Tony spoke about one day in class, it is difficult for ministers not to be seen as church celebrities. People love to see ministers as either perfect, supposed to be perfect, hypocritical, or in need of termination. It is rare for people to see ministers as just genuine people that make mistakes just like everyone else, well at the same time trying to raise the bar and do things right. Typically ministers are striving for perfection so this mentality only reinforces the fact that they are screwed if they aren't perfect.

Telling Phrase 16: "Monkey See, Monkey Do"

This is a classic phrase that basically relates to the idea of the blind leading the blind. It is a mock against people that are reactive rather than proactive. In The Dave Matthews song "Proudest Monkey," they use this line to indicate that many people often leave the quiet, peaceful life of the country, and move into the city, where they find themselves overwhelmed by noise and busyness. They don't stop though because they are to busy doing what everyone around them is doing. Sometimes people forget that they are capable of making their own choices. This also causes people to blame their consequences on fate, or some negligent higher power.

Telling Phrase 15: "I try to ignore the lazy."

This statement is also made in song. Flo Rida includes this line in a song in which he sings about a really warped view of the world. This line amuses me because the song is all about going out and being a hard worker and earning food, but its clearly expressing that laziness is morally wrong while at the same time, he keeps repeating what he is doing for a living... namely being a drug lord. The lyrics to his song, "Gotta Eat," are all about taking the initiative to roll your own joints, and plant your own weed, rather than having other people do all the work for you. Seems like an awfully strange paradox to me.

Telling Phrase 14: "If she's a clue, I'm an answer."

Keri Hilson's way of saying I'm one step better than the competition. This phrase has a strange implication that it is better to have the answer handed to you than it is to find it for yourself. Some people might think that, that's a stretch, but the mindset of getting something for nothing is re-affirmed in the most subtle ways through entertainment.

Telling Phrase 13: "Text me"

This phrase can mean one of many things. It could mean a) I want to talk to you. b) I'm putting you on the back-burner because my other priorities are more important than you. or c) Let's get together... This is not to b confused with sexting which, as indicated in the word, would imply more than just dating. It's one of those phrases that can be very easily understood.

Telling Phrase 12: "That's What She Said"

This phrase is linked to one of the more inappropriate one line jokes that has been popular this past year. Typically, it is used as a sexual joke, but at Bible College, it became used for randomly non-sensible things such as, "Hey did you do the extra credit assignment?" "No, but that's what she said." As long as someone followed the statement with a prolonged, "OHhhh!" then people would all feel awkward and try to think of how what they said could have been taken in a sexually inappropriate way. After a while, they would realize that the people saying "That's what she said" were merely playing a joke on them so that they would feel awkward. After I graduated, they made a rule against using the statement because of its "negative connotations." Students continued to say it anyway, and some were fined, others were "written-up" (kind of like getting a demerit). At least that's what she said.

Telling Phrase 11: "I killed him Gilbert"

This phrase from "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" starring Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio was used constantly by the high school youth group that my dad worked with as a minister when I was just a kid. This phrase was used to express confessions of any kind. The context in the movie is when Arnie (DiCaprio) is playing with a grasshopper. He uses the mailbox as a guillotine to behead the grasshopper. At first he thinks that its hilarious, but when he realizes that he had done something mean, he runs to his older brother Gilbert (Depp) and cries. As he cries he confesses over and over again, "I killed him Gilbert."

Telling Phrase 10: Carrot Cake or My Chocolate Creation?

This phrase was a significant one for C.T. and myself. As we were doing a Storytelling activity at Cherokee Elementary School, we were offered the two choices in this phrase. We answered carrot. When we returned to the school for more storytelling yesterday, we were each handed individual, home-made cakes. I don't remember carrot cake ever tasting so good. CT and agreed that it went very well with the meal that they bought us from Firehouse. Needless to say that the next time I hear this phrase, I will think back to my new favorite elementary school.

Telling Phrase 9: In the Beginning

The first 3 words of the most influential piece of literature ever written, these three words infer that before anything came into existence, God was.

Telling Phrase 8: The Box, Frank, the Box

This phrase comes from the cartoon "The Rescuers Down Under." My family and friends always said this phrase when someone was looking for something that was right under their nose. Basically, the inference underlying the phrase is a sarcastic, "Are you blind?"

Telling Phrase 7: Book of Life

Many people know that a common reference to the Bible is "the Book of Life." This phrase indicates that those people that use this phrase either are a) misusing it, or b)people that believe that the only way to experience the continuation of life beyond death is to believe the words that are found in the Bible. Of course, that is my take, and I believe that Jesus is THE only way, truth, and life.

Neologism 25: Intaxication

This is the other one from Bob Levey that I thought was funny, but at the same time its kinda sad.

Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with. [...]