Being good news

As I dragged myself out of bed at 5:50am this morning and stood outside the church wondering why I get up so early on a Sunday morning and offer to cook breakfast for anyone else who's willing to get up that early, I realise that I'm a bearer of the best news the world can ever hear.

I just wish that I was better at it than I am.

Yesterday we did another free car wash. If you're new to the idea of doing something for free, then you'll have to read one or two other posts to get a flavour of the reasoning. Once again things were quite slow to start and we ended with a flurry. The last car we washed was so dirty, no one was sure what the real colour was until we'd washed it! It actually was that bad.

The thing is, that washing someone's car fro free is worth it just to see their reaction both when you tell them it's free and when they see the difference you've made.

I wonder what they talk about afterwards? Maybe they don't talk, or maybe they wonder why we were doing and then again maybe they are still trying to figure out what the catch actually is. And then there's the people that drive past and look. They don't come in, sometimes they smile, but they don't come in. Do you think they say the themselves, or their passengers, "There must be a catch, it can't possibly be free."

Strange isn't it that a simple four letter world like 'free' can be so misunderstood.

Here's another interesting thing, they were all differentt people compared to last time. No repeat customers. It's a passing trade, so I guess it's unlikely that the same people are going to be driving past at the same time. It many ways this is a good thing. I means we've touched more lives with the kindness of God. If you count our little outing with the stamps, we've connected over 300 people with God's kindnesss through these simple acts.

Now, I know that there is far more to evangelism than washing cars or giving away stamps. But I have a sneaky feeling we're changing some people's mind about what the church is all about. I hope we're beginning to break down some of the barriers that have built up over long periods of time between the church and the people on the outside.

Only time will tell, but in the meantime there a few more clean cars on the road and a few more drivers who can't get their head around why a dozen or so people would give up a Saturday morning to wash cars for no other reason than to show God's love.