“I” after “I” after “I.”

Tuesday October 7^th, Philippians 3: a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.  7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  How many “I’s” did you count?  Have you ever known someone with an “I” problem who fills their conversation, about God, the church, family etc. with “I” after “I” after “I.”?  The trouble is that we listen to them and then go away with a firm commitment to use “I” less often.  When we assume to see a little success we think we have it made. We wouldn’t want to appear soo prideful.  Sometimes it is also a ruse to simply do less.   Garrison Kelleher would point out that most Lutheran’s rather than having an “I” trouble have the opposite trouble.  We are so worried that we might slip an “I” in there that we never volunteer for anything.  Somehow it would be nice to strike a balance between “Look what I did” and “I will just sit here and wait for God to do it, I don’t want to seem too prideful.”