Many years ago, when I was dating Anita, her parents hosted a Japanese foreign exchange student. English was a second language for him, and he knew it well enough to survive in school. One of his first desires was to buy a pair of American jeans, just coming into fashion in the early ’70′s. We took him shopping at a trendy new jean store near the mall in Fort Wayne.

Always the frugal (or should I say cheap) shopper, I took him to a section where the price was best and told him to buy those. He carefully examined the jeans, reading every word on the label. He got one of those silly Japanese horror movie looks on his face when he came upon the word ‘Slightly Irregular’. To a long-haired hippie like me, Slightly Irregular meant ‘great bargain’. To a guy schooled on the King’s English who was unfamiliar with American slang, it meant something altogether different. And its hard to tell someone who understands good English that it really doesn’t mean what he knows it means.

In one version, Paul advises us to “Make allowance for each other’s faults” (Colossians 3:13). Who do you know that is not slightly irregular? But if we Christians can make allowance for slightly irregular people, we will not take up offenses quite so easily. Just keep telling yourself, “When I meet that slightly irregular person today, be sure to make allowance for their slight irregularity.” And, perhaps they’ll make allowance for your irregularity as well.

Tags: irregular, patience