Today is my father's 61st birthday. I'm sure he wouldn't be thrilled that I am sharing this but I already affectionately call him "Old Man" so this probably won't hurt my standing too much. For the record, he doesn't look 61. He actually looks like he's in his early 50's. That's one of the few genetic advantages of being a Eustice male. Now on to tonight's show.....
Meredith and I were on our way over to my parents house tonight for dinner and a birthday celebration when we passed a restaurant on the main drag. It's actually more of a diner/cafe type place. It's not too far from my parent's house and it has been there for as long as I can remember. I haven't been there since I was a boy. The cafe has a light up sign with those spaces to spell words and make unsolicited marketing advances to passers by. This night the sign read "Best fish fry in town." Now that's a pretty bold claim. One which I'm sure many other restaurateurs in the area would dispute. However, it just might be true. I mean, I don't know if it's true or not but it could be.
Most people reading this know that I make my living creating advertising for businesses. So, when I see or hear a business make a claim like that my first reaction is to cringe. Marketing 101 clearly tells us that unsubstantiated claims like "Best service" or "Lowest prices" are little more than cliches that are generally ignored by the recipient of the message. Everybody is saying these things but so few actually deliver. Even if it's true, no one actually believes you. The result of this kind of messaging is that you get relegated to the closet of obscure an unnoticed advertisers. People want you to prove what you say by putting your money where your mouth is. If your fish fry is so damn good then why don't you setup shop outside one day and give it away! That would prove to me and everyone else that your willing to make a sacrifice to prove that what you say is more than lip service. Perhaps they have, but I seriously doubt it. I can guarantee you that I, for one, would be a loyal customer to that restaurant. If the fish fry was really that good, of course.
Now for the much anticipated and telegraphed tie in to Christ-like living. What is it going to take for us, as followers of Christ, to realize that people aren't listening to what we're saying anymore? They have heard it all before. They have heard it from well intentioned people . They have heard it from you and they have heard it from me. The question is have we proved it? I don't mean proved in mathematical, logical, apologetic proofs. I'm talking about putting our money where our mouth is and proving it with our actions. Proving that we believe what we say we do so much that we're not going to waste their time with convenient, polite conversation. Rather, that we make sacrifices of ourselves to prove that we're willing to get the short end of the stick sometimes. To prove that we're willing to go without, or maybe just less, so that others don't have to. To prove that we are willing to be inconvenienced because our faith demands it.
Feel free to read into this personally. I know I will. This is a message to all of us. People will say you shouldn't talk about politics or religion so that you don't offend anyone. Well, I'd rather be honest with myself and my friends and risk the offense knowing that we poured out everything we could when we had the chance to because there will come a day when we will no longer be able to.
It usually holds true that if something doesn't cost you much than you usually don't place much value on it. For certain, talk is cheap. How much value do you think others place on our words when that's all we're willing to give them? Do we really have the best fish fry in town or are we just telling people that we do? Do you think they believe us? Have we given them reason to?
