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A Failure to Communicate

 By: Zach Collins Have you ever heard the story of the preacher who was trying to illustrate the ill effects of alcohol and tobacco? In one sermon, to illustrate this fact, a preacher decided to put a worm in some alcohol and a worm in a sealed jar of cigarette smoke. By the end of the lesson, the preacher showed the assembly that both the worm in the alcohol and the worm in the cigarette smoke were dead. So, to bring home the application in his sermon, the preacher decided to illicit a congregational response by asking the question, โ€œSomeone please tell me, what does this mean?โ€ To which, a young boy replied, โ€œIf you drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes, you will not have worms.โ€  We can all reasonably conclude that this was not the message that the preacher was trying to elucidate to the congregation. Nevertheless, in the response of this little boy, we see a common struggle in the church today, the ability to communicate.   Though unintentional, I often find myself sticking the metaphorical โ€œfoot in my mouthโ€, not with the words that I use, but by the sentences that I form with those words. I suppose that it is just a characteristic that is innate to imperfect human beings. Peter often stuck his foot in his mouth. On one hand, Peter confessed Christ as โ€œthe son of the living Godโ€, while on the other hand, he denied that Jesus would be resurrected from the dead (c.f., Matthew …