Paper Signs in the Dark

I was out for my evening walk when it suddenly felt like rush-hour was diverted through our small, quiet neighborhood. Which is exactly what had happened. There was some kind of accident, along with a semi-spill maybe, and a section of the main road was closed off for a couple of hours. Like ants being diverted from their main pathway, cars darted off on various routes through the neighborhood until they found themselves from one side to the other. (It's actually a pretty simple semi-circle if you don't take any turns, but a lot of people don't know that, apparently.)

There was one area that was particularly troublesome. There's this street lined with houses that parallels the main road that looks like you could just scoot on by to the other side, with a bonus view of whatever the action was. But it's really a dead end, and pretty narrow since a lot of cars are parked in front of the houses. So lines of cars kept turning onto this road, only to creep their way past the others who had recently discovered their mistake and had turned around. As I watched for a few minutes on my walk, it was starting to drive me nuts.

So I ran home, wrote out a couple of crude signs, grabbed some masking tape, jumped on my bike and pedaled back out to the troublesome street. (Yeah! Just like Buttercream Gang! Only I was by myself...and I'm a girl.) I was going to tape the little signs up on a stop-sign post or a light-post and go home, but it was pretty clear that nobody could see it very well, so I just grabbed the signs and stood in the street, motioning them on, and giving directions: "Go straight, it'll curve around. This is a dead end.

A few neighbors were walking about, trying to figure out what was going on, and it was interesting to note how they reacted to my neighborly gesture.

Some joined in for a little while, also letting people know it was a dead end. (Especially the ones who had decided to ignore me.)

Then there was an elderly lady with a couple of small dogs who seemed to be trying her darndest to get me to stop what I was doing. I couldn't tell why, but maybe she felt sorry for me. At first she told me my sign was too small, so no one would see it on the post. It would do no good. Then, when I was holding it, she said it was getting dark, so no one would be able to see the sign. Then she finally said, "I don't think any more cars are coming, you can probably go home." But I just smiled and said I was pretty sure more cars would be coming (and they did).

A lot of walkers and joggers passed by and cheered me on, or expressed their sympathy noting it would be nice if there could be a big sign to put in the road, or something (I agreed).

Eventually, darkness came, and the neighbors disappeared. But the cars were still coming, and the road was still blocked, so I stayed and kept motioning people on and giving directions when needed. At some point, a car rolled up with two ladies who were also from the neighborhood. They said they had noticed me out there, but couldn't really read the sign, so they wanted to know if I needed help. I smiled and told them I knew it wasn't very readable any more, but I could still motion people on and they got the message. I told them I was happy for them to help if they wanted. They nodded sympathetically, turned around, and drove away.

At last I noticed the road was unblocked and cars were flowing through again, so I picked up my bike and pedaled back home. It was quite the unexpected adventure, and I actually really enjoyed it!

Somehow, in reflecting on all this, my brain made a connection with the calling we have as Christians to help people find the right direction through Jesus Christ. There's probably a thousand ways to do this, but we work with what we've got. Sometimes we have time to prepare and strategize and can be "more effective," and sometimes we just get out there as fast as we can with our tiny paper signs. We may not do it perfectly, but at least we're out there trying. And yes, some will still choose to go the wrong way, but a lot of people will go the right way and be really thankful that we did what we could.

On the other side of the fence, unfortunately I am pretty quick to criticize methods that seem to do more harm then good, in my opinion. But am I running in to help those who are at least stepping up? Am I making a more readable sign? Or am I more comfortable commenting on why it won't work, or why it's unnecessary?

Paul says something interesting in Philippians 1 about those who are sharing the message of Jesus with not just inadequate or frustrating methods, but who clearly have the wrong motives. He mentions that because he was in prison, the message was being preached even more. Some preached out of sincere, loving hearts; others preached out of jealousy, trying to get attention, and intending to make Paul's chains more painful to him. But Paul basically says, "I don't care. As long as they preach Christ, I'm happy."

If we don't like how it's being done, or we don't trust the one's doing it, maybe we should just take it to Jesus and ask Him to give us our own sign in our own neighborhood, and be ready to be jump in whenever He calls. He'll show us the need, show us what to do, and we won't have time to worry about how others are doing. Just as long as Jesus is lifted up as much as we can, and others are saved some time and heartache on their journey to finding Him.

Simplistic, maybe. But these are things I need to think about, at least. Trust me, this one is pretty much just for me.