I love words – speaking them, writing them, hearing them, reading them.  Henry Ward Beecher believed that “all words are pegs to hang ideas on,” and Mark Twain believed that “a powerful agent is the right word.”  I confess: I can spend hours searching for a powerful peg.  And it is extremely satisfying to find one – or two.

I admit that I can get caught up in the minutiae of grammatical and theological detail when attempting to construct sermons, doctrinal statements, vision statements, newspaper columns, or even a grocery list.  Whether listening to a political speech or a song, I am running the word data through my mental processor in an attempt to understand, concur with, debate with, or simply enjoy what is being heard.  My wife surely wishes I was as attentive to her words.