H. Henry Williams

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Just a heads up that there might be a delay in publishing comments until I return from Haiti. I'm hoping I can access the site there, but we'll see.

"To Be Honest With You"

I don't like that phrase. Raises the hair on the back of my neck. Still, I catch myself saying it sometimes. When someone begins a sentence with "To be honest with you..." I always want to ask, "Would you normally be dishonest with me?" (I hate to admit it, but sometimes I do ask it. I can be really irritating at times.)

So, when I got this comment via email regarding my use of "Trust me..." in my previous post, I couldn't agree more. (Call us picky, and, trust me, you'd be right. To be honest with you, I wish I wasn't so picky, but I am what I am.)

Let me give you my reaction to phrases that start with "Trust me,...."

This phrase raises more then an eye brow with me when I hear it.  It just raises so many questions, like "Couldn't I trust you before?"  "Why did you need to strengthen your statement?"  I think of Jesus saying, "let your yes be yes and your no be no... do not swear..."  "Trust me...." sounds like that to me. 

Also this phrase and the importance of being trusted, plays a key role among people who really want something, but who perhaps can not really be trusted, and so by invoking the "Trust me..." attitude forces others to decide if they are willing to risk something with that person they might not otherwise risk, or risk affecting their friendship with him/her...  We usually don't risk alienating our friends, coworkers, acquaintances, or even strangers we might just begin getting to know.

I thought you might want to know this sort of thing.  Especially since you are a man of integrity. 

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Why Blog?

I’ve been talking about doing this for over a year. It’s become a joke with some people. I’ve hesitated for a number of reasons that will be clear to anyone who knows me or reads future posts.

• I hate to fail at anything. If I can’t sustain it or no one reads it, I’ve failed.
• I’m afraid of the time it will take or saying the wrong thing.

So why am I doing it now?

• I need to find more ways to communicate with our growing congregation, especially ways that  communicate my heart and our vision.
• As I enter my second decade of ministry here at Five Oaks I don’t want my fear of failure or anything else to hinder our church.
• Ann Paulson, our Communications Director, said, “I need to know today if you want a link to your blog on the new website.” Funny how deadlines help. Thanks, Ann.
• John Westurn, our Executive Pastor, was out of town when Ann asked about the link. He’s always making fun of me for wanting to blog, and I felt free to take the plunge! So there, John. :)