Good morning and welcome to the last Saturday in March. We all must be having a lot of fun since time seems to be flying by at a very rapid pace. I hope you plan to join us tomorrow morning (in person or on-line) as Pastor Fitsum will be preaching a message on the plentiful harvest. Next Friday evening, we will have our Good Friday service at 7pm. Our Easter service will be at 11am on Sunday morning. Both of those services will be bi-lingual so we can worship together as one church. Also, this is the final week of our 40 days of prayer. Let’s seek to finish strong.
On one of our monthly trips back and forth to Columbia, Aki and I noticed something that seemed kind of funny to us. Although, it could have been we were just delirious from being up since 3 am. As we drove along that beautiful stretch of I-70, mindlessly reading the billboards, a set of signs caught our attention. A business had decided to plagiarize Trump’s campaign slogan and use it for their advertisement. They leased four billboards in a row and in giant letters each had one word taking up the upper 2/3 of the sign. The first one you come to says, “Making.” The second one says, “Smiles.” And then the next two say, “Great Again.” The top 2/3 of the signs are red and white, and the lower 1/3 has the blue with the American flag to enhance their patriotism. Of course, the name of the business is advertised on the bottom as well. All of that is rather catchy and easy to read. But, since we aren’t in the market for dentures in a day, that is not what caught our attention. What made this funny is the placement of the signs. The four billboards they were able to lease in a row also have a business that stands between signs three and four. To make matters worse, that particular business is also advertising for customers. Being a reputable establishment, it also took went with a simple message with bright red letters. So, mounted on their roof are the letters XXX. I don’t think that they manufacture the golf balls that you can buy a lot cheaper than the ones where you can read the name. Anyway, you put all five of the signs in a row and it says, “Making Smiles XXX Great Again.” Does that mean that going there makes people smile again? (Public service announcement-no, you are not allowed to go and test this theory. This is for illustration purposes only.) Or, maybe the denture place is targeting the older dancers so that they can keep working until they get social security. Not sure, but that is probably enough speculation. What all of these does point out is that sometimes things don’t go quite as planned. I doubt if they really wanted the sequence of their four billboards interrupted with a giant triple X. Likely, they whole concept looked good on paper. After all, it may be hard to get four signs in a row. Whatever the case, it provided for a laugh as we drove along.
So, what can we learn from this? If you get up at 3am, by late afternoon, a lot of things are funny. You can get dentures in a day starting at $ 199. Avoid golf balls and run-down looking buildings that have XXX on them. Also, just know that in life not everything will turn out the way that you want it to. Sometimes, it is something that might have been obvious if it was thought through. Other times, it is the unexpected. For instance, who knew that a ship could actually get stuck sideways in the Suez Canal and disrupt the entire global trade system? Things happen in life that can disrupt or forever alter our plans. It really is part of our existence here on this earth. Sometimes we are able to laugh it off. Other times it is far more serious. However, throughout it all, we press on. We trust that God has His hand upon us and is seeking to lead us. Sometimes we overlook that He is continually working in our lives to enable us to become more like Him. Knowing that helps us as we navigate through the adventure known as life.
I have spent a lot of time in my life making plans, obsessing over details, seeking to avoid or mitigate the unexpected. It took me a long time to realize that somethings were not in my power to control after all. Jesus made a profound statement in Matthew 6 that I am still seeking to learn from. Obviously, He is not teaching that you aren’t supposed to make plans or think about the future. It is a good reminder to seek to live out each day and not obsess over what may happen in the future.
Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34)
From our neighborhoods to the nations,
Pastor Larry
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