If Dogs Could...

Last Monday, as I drove to work, I noticed a particular billboard. This billboard has probably been there for a long time, and I drive this route every day, but I had never noticed it before. Why had I never noticed it before? you ask (go ahead...ask). Well, first, it is the second billboard of two, and it is the one farther from the road. So naturally I will notice the closer billboard first. Second, it is mostly obscured by trees until you get very close (as you will see in the first picture above - click on it to see a larger view). So you have to work to see it. Third, it is at a sharp bend in the highway, and personally I think it's more important to pay attention to the cars and road than to the billboard. It's a 55 mph speed limit, and we all know I, Jon, interpret speed limits as the LOWER end of the speed restriction. You will rarely catch me going below 55 mph at that bend. (Remember, Keeper always taught me to ACCELERATE into the curves in Pickle's Cordoba. That has become my driving mantra.) So it is very hard to pay attention to billboards at this bend.
It gets worse. Once you notice the billboard, it is almost impossible to read. You see the top of a lady's head with bubbles coming out of it, and in the largest bubble is something she's presumably thinking. But the print in the bubble is so small, you cannot read it until you're about 100 feet away. (Non-math majors, get out your calculators!) - (55 mph)x(5,280 ft/mi)/(60 min/hr)/(60 sec/min) = 80.667 feet per second. So at 100 feet away, you have about 1.24 seconds to read the words in the bubble! It's not gonna happen. I first spotted the billboard Monday, and was able to read "IF DOGS COULD." Tuesday I made it to "IF DOGS COULD DRIVE." Wednesday I was getting the hang of it (and there was no traffic), and made it all the way to "THERE'D BE MORE CONVERTIBLES." Ha Ha funny, now what does that have to do with SCANA (which I had recognized on the billboard earlier)? Thursday I was able to read the text in the upper right, and realized that they're saying SCANA is so dependable, they supply your gas, and you never have to think about it. So your mind is freed up to ponder things like "What kind of car would a dog drive?" So here is the final billboard in all its glory:

Great job SCANA...you're so "off my mind" that it took me four days to read your billboard, and I had to think hard about it a mile in advance so I would be ready to read really really fast. So this got me thinking. Isn't this kinda how I live my life?
At Sparks-A-Rama last week, one of the things the kids (our "Sparks") had to do was yell answers to these questions:

• Who are we? ... "SPARKS!"
• Who for? ... "JESUS!"
• What to do? ... "LIGHT THE WORLD!"

What a good reminder. We who are believers in Jesus Christ are here to light the world, to spread the light of Jesus Christ, to be that candle on the hill (Matthew 5:13-16). But too often we are that billboard by the side of the road. We don't follow the same paths as the world, but are off to the side a little, and we hope those who don't know Christ will see us and find Jesus because of how we live. Most of us (and this includes me) are the second billboard in, obscured by trees, and our print is too small for anyone to see. Yes, we are just like SCANA Energy..."IN YOUR LIFE. OFF YOUR MIND." This is not what a Christian should be. How can we ever make a difference if we don't intentionally talk to people about Christ? We need to shout it from the rooftops and hilltops. Yes, we must live like believers, but we must also GO into the world (outside our cozy homes, or at least bring them into our homes), PREACH the gospel and DISCIPLE those who come to Christ. Those are a lot of action verbs. I have squashed the Spirit for way too long.