Another communication principle is to anticipate the response of the hearer and try to word your communication in a way that they will understand.

Dr. Sam Sasser once received this note following a meeting: “Pastor, knowing you cannot eat sugar, I am sending this box of Christmas candy to your wife and nuts to you.” Now, the sender didn’t mean to say: ‘Nuts to you!’, but that’s how it came across. Anticipating how they will receive it is part of communication.

Another minister forgot the names of the couple he was soon going to marry, so he said from the pulpit, “Will those wishing to be united in holy matrimony please come forward after the service.” After the service, thirteen old maids came forward.

How we word things is important to the hearer. Do you have another example of such miscommunication?

Tags: communication, humor

Several years ago Rev. Kim Tracy and I travelled to Manaus, Brazil, to dedicate a church building New Hope had helped to finance. We were Sunday morning guests of the mother church downtown, a mega-church of the Presbyterian variety. Kim was a musician and was getting ready for the sound check just prior to the service, which was already packed with several hundred people. He wanted more sound in his monitor, so jestered upward with his thumb to the sound man in the back. He continued to pump his thumb up and down waiting for the appropriate volume.

The missions pastor of the church shook his head and kept advising, “Don’t do that.” When Kim finally got the desired volume, he ceased his jesturing. Kim was later humiliated when we were told that the thumbs up sign in Brazilian culture is an obscene jesture, equivalent to the middle finger in America.

The communications principle in this story is to beware of your jestures. People may read more into your wink than that you are making a joke. Body language says a lot about your demeanor and what you are thinking. So, think before you yawn or fold your arms.

Got any further illustrations of body language goof-ups?

Tags: communication, humor, missions

A young boy and his stepfather had difficulty communicating with each other. The man was outgoing; the boy was quiet. The elder loved to fish; the youngster loved to read.

The stepfather, wanting to get close to the boy, took him on a fishing trip. The boy hated it but didn’t know how to tell his stepfather directly. So he wrote him a note saying he wanted to go home. The man looked at it and then stuck it in his pocket.

The fishing trip continued for 4 more days. When they finally returned home, the boy shared his frustration with his mother and told her that his father had paid no attention to his note. His mother said to him, “Son, your father can’t read!”

Part of communication is being able to understand what the other person is thinking. The stepson misunderstood his stepfather’s message when he put the note in his pocket as rejection. Have you ever felt rejected or hurt by someone’s actions that may have been a misunderstanding?

Tags: communication, misunderstanding

Raymond Ricci recalled that when he was General Manager of a Russian-American radio station in Moscow, they sometimes had to record bilingual commercials for advertisers. Once, when Billy Graham brought his crusade to Russia, he had an ad script that included the phrase, “The body is weak, but the spirit is strong.”

Raymond wrote the commercial out in English, and his secretary translated it into Russian. Later he asked his program director, Vasily, to review it. “We have a slight problem,” Vasily said, chuckling when he came to that phrase. “In Russian, it says, ‘He can’t stand up, but he has good vodka.'”

The communication principle here is that we have to communicate in the language of the hearer, but we have to listen in the language of the speaker. How many have innocently hurt another’s feelings by a poor choice of words. Let’s be careful with how we say things.

Tags: humor, language

Mr. & Mrs. Brown had a heated argument. Bitterness set in and they refused to speak to each other. Upon retiring for the night, Mr. Brown handed Mrs. Brown a note which read, “Call me at seven in the morning.”

When Mr. Brown awoke, it was nine o’clock! As he jumped out of bed he saw a note beside his own: “Its seven. Get up, you bum.”

This week and next we’ll take a look at some communication principles. The principle found in the above story is, whatever mode of communication we use, we can expect people to respond using the same mode. If we communicate in writing, we can expect a written communication back. If we email someone, we expect an email response. If we telephone someone, we expect a call back. If we insult someone, we should expect more insults back. If we are caring, we can expect a caring response. We set the mode (and mood).

Tags: communication, humor

After the flood at our house, I went to Home Depot to buy some bleach, since its the best way to kill mildew. Wouldn’t you know it, there wasn’t a bottle of bleach in the place; they were sold out! Everyone had the same idea.

While there I noticed the huge array of cleaning products on the shelves. There was a cleanser for everything. Some of the toughest stain problems have simple home solutions you don’t see advertised in the stores. For example, glycerin can remove ball point pen stains, boiling water removes berry stains, ordinary vinegar is great at removing crayon marks, and lemon juice works miracles on rust stains.

But the most serious of all stains can’t be removed by anything found around your house: its the stain of sin. Tears can’t erase it and zeal won’t take away the guilt. What can wash away my sin?

“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Meditate on this today.

Tags: forgiveness, sin, stain