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Eras and Pearls

When you were young was there ever a song that played on the radio that had a catchy tune and whose lyrics you thought you knew but you weren't quite hearing them correctly? One of those infamous tunes was Bad Moon Rising by CCR in which my friend Mark clearly heard, "There's a bathroom on the right!" Mark was also certain Dobie Gray was singing, "Give me the Beach Boys to free my soul." Beach Boys? Are you serious? With so many wonderful songs out there why on earth would he be referring to the Beach Boys? I had a lot of laughs at Mark's expense.

Mark wasn't the only person I knew who had trouble with the lyrics. Here are some of the classics I remember. "Hold me closer, Tony Danza." "On a dark desert highway, cool whip in my hair." There were songs with lyrics that weren't really meant to be understood. Good Morning Starshine comes to mind and of course, Louie Louie. I dare not speculate what the Kingsman were really singing let alone how they were misheard.

Moving from California to Kentucky has made mishearing things a bit of a challenge or an art form I can't decide which. My friend Barbara who is also from California moved to Kentucky and took a class to become an insurance agent. Imagine her surprise to hear the teacher of her insurance class talk a lot about insuring against pearls. Pearls? When did pearls become risky? The light turned on for her as she began to think with a southern accent.... not pearls..... perils!

Just to prove that I am not above mishearing things, yesterday my pastor was preaching about what I heard as eras. He has a lovely Alabama accent and as my friend Barbara would say, I have California ears. It took me a while to figure out he wasn't talking about the eras of the Judaizers but the errors of the Judaizers, which makes much more sense.

Speaking of my pastor, if you want your socks blessed off and to be excited about studying the book of Hebrews please listen to this sermon. He is just beginning the study and I am looking forward to more.
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