A crew from the TV show Mythbusters was staging an "experiment" in the town of Dublin, California. They were trying to fire a cannonball into some large water containers at a bomb disposal range. Unfortunately, the Mythbusters crew seriously underestimated the dangerous power of a stray cannonball.

According to a newspaper report, "The cantaloupe-sized cannonball missed the water, tore through a cinder-block wall, skipped off a hillside and flew some 700 yards east." But that didn't end the damage. The cannonball "bounced in front of home on [a quiet street], ripped through the front door, raced up the stairs and blasted through a bedroom …. [Then] it exited the house, leaving a perfectly round hole in the stucco, crossed six-lane Tassajara Road, took out several tiles from the roof of a home on Bellevue Circle and finally slammed into [a family's] beige Toyota minivan in a driveway on Springdale Drive."

Regarding the power of the stray cannonball, the owner of the minivan said, "It's shocking—anything could have happened." A spokesmen for the local sheriff's department also commented, "Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy. You wouldn't think it was possible."

Stray words also have tremendous power to rip through communities and lives. Like a cannonball, they create "crazy" damage that you wouldn't think was possible.

I recently preached a message for the beginning of the year titled “Make this the Year of Blessing.” Often what we say and do can go contrary to the desired results and things get out of control.

Look at the newspapers, television and radio call in shows and see what the way of our land is. A constant stream of complaining, criticism and demands for justice! Rather than blessing we even curse the government and other people. Churches and leaders we don’t agree with become targets of attack. The church is rocked with fighting within and without. Demons seemingly have free access. Why?  We Reap What We Sow! CONSEQUENCES OF CHRISTIANS CURSING AND NOT BLESSING!  When we sow judgement we will reap judgement to ourselves. We have left grace and mercy behind and entered back into law, from which we reap justice.  Bitterness and unforgiveness reap judgment as well. We would do well and remember the words of Jesus in Luke 6:37 when He says: "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. NKJV

Don’t let your words or judgements go out of control. The potential damage is not just in others, but maybe in you.