Mark 7:24-37
James 2:1-10, 14-17

Comedian Mike Birbiglia has a great line. In the early years of his comedy it became a sort of signature line in his particularly vulnerable style of story-telling.  In one version of a set called “My girlfriend’s boyfriend” he’s interrupted a story about a woman he recently dated to talk about the first girl he fell in love with in high school.

I find that when you fall in love, you tend to overlook certain red flags. One of them was that she would say really mean stuff to me, but then she would pull it back. She’d be like, “no one likes you at all. Only kidding.” Or, like, “you’re like a nerd, but you’re not even smart. Just joking.”

Second red flag with Amanda was that she was a liar. And I don’t… I don’t mean that in an offensive way.

The final red flag with Amanda was that she told me not to tell anyone that she was my girlfriend.    

I know. I’m in the future also.¹

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