The Moment I Realized I Can't Cut It

2011 July 28

by Tyler

A few weeks ago I emailed some of the key people I serve with at my church with the subject of the email being: “Where Are We At?” One of them wrote me back and said, “Come on Tyler, you know how to write, you can’t end a sentence with a preposition.”

In that moment I thought, “I can fake and it and say I did it on purpose, after all it was just a subject line.”

But the reality is I don’t even know what a preposition is. I’m the guy who hardly paid attention during English class and still uses his mom to edit his important papers for school.

It was in that moment I realized how much I can’t cut it.

When did you realize that?

Filed under: the rest...

http://seth.heasley.net/blog Seth

Don’t let the grammar snobs get you down. And for the record, it’s perfectly acceptable to end with a preposition. (Not really the point here, but thought I’d throw it out there. Pick up a June Casagrande book; she’ll make you feel better.)

I realize it every time I serve on the worship team. And pretty much every morning when I wake up…
http://dubdynomite.com dubdynomite

The problem with grammar that is completely correct is that it does not sound very conversational. If you write in a conversational style, you are going to misplace prepositions and dangle some participles in the process.

I am more bothered by people using the wrong word(s) than their sentence structure (loose/lose, their/they’re/there).
http://www.manofdepravity.com Tyler

Agreed, bad spelling mistakes drive me crazy too.
http://melindalgroth.blogspot.com/ Melinda

I was the kid in school that everyone loved to make fun of, blame, prank and exclude. The question that you posed makes me shudder, simply because I have been painfully aware of being unable to ‘cut it’ for most of my life.

A blog post that offers commenting options is an offer to have conversation with others. An email with a question, sent to a team or community is a launch of written conversation. With that in mind, I am thrilled when people choose to communicate with me, in a positive way. That is inclusion. The representation of that inclusion (word choice, sentence structure, spelling) does not matter. It is the intent, the inclusion, that means so very much.

Does this remind anyone of how we respond to those who attempt to be welcomed into a church family but don’t fit the man-made proper protocol or definition of a church-goer? Are we distracted by the perceived incorrectness? I’d rather be a welcome mat than a reference book.
http://felizadriana.wordpress.com Adriana Féliz

Love this entry. It’s not so much about “grammer” … as it is about our incomplete identity w/out God. Reminds me of Isaiah 64:6. None of us can cut it.
http://yourwifey Rose Braun

to me you cute it.
http://yourwifey Rose Braun

or cut it…. or both
Alan

Take Greek… trust me you’ll learn more English than you ever did in high school… Last someone called me on ending a sentence in a preposition I politely asked, “What’s wrong with that?”

Peace bro…
Alan
http://www.manofdepravity.com Tyler

Greek will continue to be Greek to me. Not a part of the program I’m in at school.
http://www.manofdepravity.com Tyler

I’ll take both.
http://www.manofdepravity.com Tyler

Just to be clear. Love and respect the guy who said this to me. I see what you are saying Melinda, just wasn’t how I felt afterward. It was a humbling “I can’t cut it” rather than a disrespected and unvalued “I can’t cut it.” Certainly God wants one and not the other for us.