Pants on Fire

In our Connection Group last night we played "Two Truths and A Lie".
Have you played it?

Give everyone a pen and scrap of paper. They have a few minutes to write down two truths about themself and one lie (not necessarily in that order).
Next you put each person in the hot seat. In the hot seat they need to read aloud their truths and a lie and the others in the group need to guess which one is the lie.
It's not as easy as it sounds.

There's a new show on TV called "Lie To Me". It's about a bunch of people who solve crimes by detecting who lies and when they lie. They watch facial movements, touching of the face, tightening of the lips etc.
So the challenge for our Connection Group was to watch the person speaking and detect the lie.

Here's what we learned last night:
1) Tabitha is a very GOOD liar (scary!).
2) Melissa is a TERRIBLE liar.
and 3) There are still things that Anita doesn't know about Mitch.

How are you at detecting lies? How are you at lying?
Do you lie to yourself? Do you pretend to be someone you're not? I assure you - we all do.

The point of the game was actually just to get to know each other a little better - no real deep meaning, just an icebreaker. But it got me thinking about lying. Big lies and little lies. How about little white lies?

A few years back someone started an art project where they invited people to mail in a secret on one side of a postcard. The artist was overwhelmed with the response. The postcards started pouring in - and they haven't stopped. The website is now called PostSecret. Check it out, but be prepared to be a little shocked.

Everyone lies. Everyone has secrets. But we all want desperately for someone to know the truth. Maybe we're ashamed. Maybe we're afraid of how people will respond when they know the truth. Maybe we've just told the lies for so long that the truth seems impossible. Yet we crave truth.

Here IS the truth. God wants us to come clean. He wants know our secrets. He wants to forgive us. He wants us to live in community with other people who will see us as we are - broken and messed-up but forgiven and lovable. I hope you have someone in your life with whom you can be honest.

Now - see if you can detect my lie.
Two truths. One lie.
Which one is the lie?
1) I won a thousand dollars but forgot to mail in the winning ticket (from a chip bag).
2) When I was a kid I wanted to be a veterinarian.
3) I lived in a homeless shelter for a year.