Pistachios and Aspens

I have three kids, one 4, one 2, and one 5 months. There are some things I've learned that are difficult to teach you kids as a Christian, and especially as a pastor. Peoples expectations and level of offensiveness are so different from person to person. My son who is two is speaking quite a lot now, however his speech is that of a two year old. Spaghetti is pronounced by him as spsgeffi. Car is pronounced far and so on. As parents we try to teach him the proper way to pronounce words. We normally do this by breaking longer words down for him. If he is trying to say grandma, which he pronounces fama, we will break it down into grand - ma. He loves Dora the explorer, however his version of explorer is more like, fora (he like the letter f is seems) 

If have recently learned however that there are some words which are difficult to break down for him. 

I like pistachios from time to time as does he. The other day I tried breaking down this word 

and realized it didn't sound that great. At least I could see some people getting offended over it.

There are only a couple of ways to break this word down piss- tachio, or pist- achio. Either way

you can see the problem. This is the same with many words I've discovered. Like that little dog

with the funny name, what's it called, a Shitsu? Or that beautiful tree the Aspen.

It's funny how things affect people differently. Some people would think this is humorous, while

others would be offended by the simple thought. As Christians it seems we often let small issues

separate us. Differences in doctrine between denominations for example, not the big issues,

but often it's the small differences, like the way the other church takes the offering, or the

songs they sing in their worship. I am not a big fan of the numerous groups, denominations,

and levels we have built around Christianity that we must fall into.

I often myself get caught up in the stereotypes we have for each other who serve the same God,

and will spend eternity in the same place. I'd like to get to a place where I can see other Christ

followers as just that, people who have decided to follow Christ, same in purpose, in passion,

and in faith. We can do so much more working together in unity then apart. 

Anyway, this has simply been a thought on my mind this evening.