The only thing I don’t like is when someone deliberately lies to me. Trust me; this has happened quite a few times in my life.

Sometimes, by accident, they say something that is not true; they just mistook their facts.

Other times, it is a ploy to trick me into getting something from me.

As I often say, if you can’t scam me, you can’t scam anyone.

I must say that I have become very suspicious when someone I do not know promises me something “free”. If you go ahead with these “free” things, it’s like my aunt used to say, “Sonny, there’s nothing free.”

I’m sure my aunt wouldn’t lie to me.

Don’t let this happen, but my opinion is that every time a politician opens his mouth, he is lying. But you didn’t hear it from me.

I had to learn NOT to lie. It has been challenging, but I have been persistent in this goal of mine. There have been stumbles, but I’ve gotten up every time and started over. I don’t lie as much as I used to.

It’s not that I’m intentionally lying, at least I don’t think so. Sometimes I am wrong about the facts.

Like when I talk to the kind lady of the parsonage. I remember he once interrupted me and said, “You’re not lying, are you?”

I was stunned. If there is anyone I am not going to lie to, it is my wife because she will discover the lie at some point. When he discovers the lie, there are consequences, as you well know.

I try not to lie; that’s why I try not to talk too much. When I speak, I am mixing facts from different situations, which ends in confusion. I’m not lying; I’m confused.

The only exception is for fishermen. My uncle, for example, was a great fisherman, or so he told us. If he caught all the fish he claimed to have caught, there would be no fish left in the world. As he was my uncle, I followed his stories.

Besides that, I don’t think there is any reason to lie.

Then there are those situations where you are trying to do something behind your wife’s back and you don’t want her to know because it is a surprise. Have you ever tried to surprise your wife?

Around Christmas is the worst time in the world for this kind of thing. It’s not that I’m lying to you; I just want to surprise her with a Christmas present. I’m trying to hide something from you.

When I got home the other day, I walked into the living room and the kind lady of the parsonage said, “Where have you been?”

That is the question. It’s not about where I’ve been, but where am I going? If I tell you where I am, you will understand the clue because it is Christmas and I am going to give you a present. Is it wrong to hide something like this? Do you think Santa would forgive me?

I have a hard time hiding something from my wife. She knows what I’m doing three weeks before I do it.

Last year, she asked me where I was, and I fumbled, trying to cover my tracks. I don’t think I was that good at it. When we were opening our Christmas presents on Christmas Day, she opened hers and said, “Oh, that’s where you were when I asked you where you were.” Then he laughed. I was relieved.

This year I am struggling with a certain situation. I have had some physical problems, nothing serious. But my wife is the type of person who sees something and is obsessed with trying to fix it. That is a very good quality for her. And I appreciate it. No one can do things like the kind lady of the parsonage.

He often asks me: “How are you?”

I take it as a leading question and reply, “I’m fine, thanks for asking.” As if that would solve the problem.

Then he sees me go to the basket where we have our medicines. I’m in pain so I take the Tylenol and pull out several, turn around and guess who I see.

“What do you need it for?”

Now, I’m in a bind. I cannot lie and yet I do not want to tell the whole truth. What the hell do I do?

“What? This Tylenol? Oh, I’m taking it to prevent knee pain that I might get later this afternoon.”

Then he said, “Which knee does it hurt?”

Now I’m in a dill pickle. So I tell him it’s my right knee. I just hope to remember that the next time I ask.

The next morning, as I was walking through the kitchen, my wife said, “Do you need more Tylenol for your knee?”

Then he asked “the” question, “What knee did you say it was?”

I can’t remember almost anything, she can remember everything, so she had a 50-50 chance of getting it right.

Later that day, I thought about what David said: “Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips and a deceitful tongue.” (Psalm 120: 2).

There is no good coming out of lying. My big challenge is to recognize that I am lying and then do something to correct it.