Outside the Apple Box Thinkers

Today my family and I enjoyed a wonderful time at the "Apple Festival" in Lincoln, AR. It was about an hour away from where we live; and with clear skies and the weather resting at 68, it was perfect.

There's a question I had pop into my head over and over again as we passed the many display tables. Here it is.
"As a Pastor of a church, what would I do here to stand out from the rest of the booths, to be a blessing to people?"

I say this because I saw two, maybe three church booths that were there. They were selling things. One even had a little basketball hoop set up for kids to play.

So if you would, send my your thoughts on what would be a blessing to people in this type of setting while helping to set a positive image for the church and it's members.
I'm asking for "out of the box" suggestions because I do not consider selling items as a way of accomplishing the goal. (My opinion, not saying it's right or wrong; just not my way of thinking)

*Please note, I am not a Pastor of a church-----not yet ;)

Things that make you go, "hmmm."

Do you have a favorite phrase that makes you go, "hmmm?"

Here are a couple I've heard, as well as, have pondered the deep meaning of.

We say an alarm clock is "going off", when really it's coming on.
We drive on a parkway, but we park on a driveway."
We say "we slept like a baby"....but a baby normally is up every 2 hours all night.
Deep questions.

These are things that when you think about it by itself in its entirety, it makes no sense. But because we are accustomed to it, it makes perfect sense.

How about this one: You're at church. You're at the place where dozens, even hundreds of followers of Christ....people who love one another....people who have at least one thing in common...come together for an hour and a half....
Worship ends and the minister tells everyone something to the effect, "find someone around you and love on them."

Again, by itself, it really makes no sense. But in it's context....it's followed out.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we shouldn't say this, it's just one of those funny things that we do.

Do we really need direction to love each other? Has our spiritual programming over the years caused us to be focused on what's happening in the very moment that we can't take it upon ourselves to love one another without hearing Pavlov's bell?

It had for me.
Doing church.
Playing church.
Participating in church.

Here's another. The way you follow the leader will be the way others follow you when you're the leader. For me, I want to be a better follower of Christ. Then maybe, just maybe, I can say what Paul said, "follow me as I follow Christ" and when I look back I will see people loving others not because of what I said or told them to do, but because of what I did.


By the way, if you throw a cat out of a car window, does that make it kitty liter?

(no cats were harmed in the writing of that sentence).