Wacky Wednesday

The following is an attempted recap of a five to ten minute exposition given to the youth at my church tonight:

Bro Ferd has asked me to expound a bit on the topic of wackiness and I haven’t had much time to prepare but I’m going to wing it and hope that I’ve enough Word in me that it leaves a bit extra to share with you.

Merriam Webster defines wacky as follows:

Main Entry: wacky
Variant(s): also whacky /'wa-kE/
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): wack•i•er; -est
Etymology: perhaps from English dialect whacky fool
: absurdly or amusingly eccentric or irrational : CRAZY
- wack•i•ly /'wa-k&-lE/ adverb
- wack•i•ness /'wa-kE-n&s/ noun

The word eccentric is defined as follows:

Pronunciation: ik-'sen-trik, ek-
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Medieval Latin eccentricus, from Greek ekkentros, from ex out of + kentron center
1 a : deviating from an established or usual pattern or style b : deviating from conventional or accepted usage or conduct especially in odd or whimsical ways
2 a : deviating from a circular path; especially : ELLIPTICAL 1 b : located elsewhere than at the geometrical center; also : having the axis or support so located
synonym see STRANGE
- ec•cen•tri•cal•ly /-tri-k(&-)lE/ adverb

The word peculiar is defined as follows:

Pronunciation: pi-'kyül-y&r
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English peculier, from Latin peculiaris of private property, special, from peculium private property, from pecu cattle; akin to Latin pecus cattle -- more at FEE
1 : characteristic of only one person, group, or thing : DISTINCTIVE
2 : different from the usual or normal: a : SPECIAL, PARTICULAR b : ODD, CURIOUS c : ECCENTRIC, QUEER
synonym see CHARACTERISTIC, STRANGE
- pe•cu•liar•ly adverb

So we see that wacky is a bit off the beaten track. I daresay that some of you find adults to be crazy, eccentric, peculiar or downright wacky and I’ll bet that sometimes adults treat you the same way. It might be because, they don’t understand the hairdo, the tattoo, the dress code, the lingo (a/k/a slang) or the gizmos and gadgets which are second nature to you.

At times we find that the things God ask of us appear to be a bit wacky, or even if they’re not wacky to us … to our friends or unbelievers … we might appear a bit out of step … or whatever the current word is for “not fitting in” or “not fitting the mold”.

If there’s one thing, I want you to come away with tonight is the thought of what you answer to. When you’re among your homies or homettes and the greeting is “Hi ho” and the rest of the sentence is not … “it’s off to work we go” or it might be “hey *itch” or the not so cleverly disguised “bee-atch” and there are no female dogs around, or it maybe for the guys, the famous line from the movie “what’s up my n*gg*r!”

The word peculiar appears in the scripture and further to the above description it has an old fashioned meaning which means special, as referred to Israel and to you and I, who are the children of God.

So now, when you hear the term wacky, think eccentric, a little crazy and most of all peculiar, which means special and then think about yourself and what you answer to.

Does what you answer to make you feel special? Do you exercise your right to be treated with respect? Does it seem hard? Might it set you apart? That’s alright. Alright you ask? Yes … alright.

Because when you think of the alternative … answering to the name of a characteristic that is not you or does not describe you. Every time you do so or let it slide, while you eat away at yourself inside, you lose a bit of you … the part of you that is special. Before you know it… so much of you is lost that being called outside your name doesn’t even bother you anymore… and then … since that doesn’t bother you … you start searching out things, people or maybe even places that will substitute, fill in or replace the part of you that you’ve lost.

That’s how A students end up as alcoholics, addicts, prostitutes or maybe even dead. Because they’ve embraced a duality (living two lives … being one person at church and home and someone else at school).

No need to become the class nerd or whatever the word is today … however, you can keep it real and still be who you are by letting your people know that you know you are special (no … not yellow bus special) and as such you expect to be treated as such.

The Word says:

For the grace of God (His unmerited favor and blessing) has come forward appeared) for the deliverance from sin and the eternal salvation for all mankind. It has trained us to reject and renounce all ungodliness (irreligion) and worldly (passionate) desires, to live discreet (temperate, self-controlled), upright, devout (spiritually whole) lives in this present world, Awaiting and looking for the [fulfillment, the realization of our]
blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One), Who gave Himself on our behalf that He might redeem us (purchase our freedom) from all iniquity and purify for Himself a people [to be peculiarly His own, people who are] eager and enthusiastic about [living a life that is good and filled with] beneficial deeds. Tell [them all] these things. Urge (advise, encourage, warn) and rebuke with full authority. Let no one despise or disregard or think little of you [conduct yourself and your teaching so as to command respect]. ~Titus 2:11-15 (Amplified Version)