Monday, June 06, 2005

The Church That Fumbled (Part One)

Because of our church's summer schedule, we had the opportunity to visit another church yesterday. This is a church that is fairly large, is very creative, and generally does a great job with just about everything they do. But on this Sunday, they fumbled. Twice.

The first fumble happened before we ever entered the building. As we were driving up on the main road there was a big and clear sign with the name of the church and an arrow pointing the way. "Big and Clear," I thought. Then I noticed another sign with the name of a different church with an arrow at the same turnoff. This church meets just on the other side of the parking lot. "Hmm, not too clear," I thought.

Then we came to the parking attendant. He was smiling and friendly, and directed us to turn right. "What if I was going to the other church?" I thought. Anyway, as we followed the parking attendant's direction, we encountered another parking attendant, also smiling, who directed us to a parking space. When we got out of our cars, (we were two families), the smiling parking attendant proceeded to tell us that this was the parking lot for families with small children and that next time we should park on the other side of the building. His smile didn't keep me from thinking, "Then why did you direct us to park here? It's not like we were given a choice...."

Maybe the sign on the main road should have said, "Parking for Families With Small Children." Then I would have thought, "That's a pretty good idea," instead of "Dude, you need to get your act together."

Not the end of the world, but a fumble, nonetheless.

I'll tell you about the second fumble in part two...

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