Things that I learned on vacation . . .

Well, here we are at the end of the week and I have to come home tomorrow to the real world. Actually, at this point, I am looking forward to coming home. I can only stand to have my mind in neutral so long. So the following is what God has taught me on vacation this year:

Customer service is ultimately important. Some of you may have read about our problems in the early part of our vacation. The hotel that we left last weekend was a huge lesson in customer service – very bad customer service. The people who worked for the hotel never – smiled, acted like they were happy that we had come to their hotel, or appreciated our business. They did act inconvenienced, inconsiderate, and basically put out to have to help us. My prayer is that our churches never act like this. Any time we have people come to our church, everything we do should be to make them feel that we are happy that they have come to visit us. I’ll Blog again about this in the future.

This evening Irene and I went to see the new show at the Black Bear Jamboree. The meal and show were both good. What I saw was a group of people who had prepared at length to give their very best to the people who had come to their show. In the past we have gone to the Fiddler’s Feast Dinner Show. The difference that you will experience between the Fiddler’s Feast and Black Bear is this – those who perform at the Fiddler’s Feast also serve the tables. If their service is off when they are serving your meal, your opinion of the show will be settled before the show starts. How many people have already formed that kind of opinion of our churches before they ever get to a worship service? Are we meeting people with a smile? Are we working hard to make sure that they are taken care of or are we to busy doing church to make them feel comfortable?

The biggest lesson that I learned was a shock. It took me almost a full week to calm my mind down and calm my life down. I have been way to busy doing stuff and that is not healthy – physically or spiritually. In order for God to make changes in my life, I have to be still enough to understand Him when He speaks. I am also less effective for God doing a lot of stuff than when I am doing only one or two things that God wants me to be doing.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and slow down and watch the parade or you will miss the bands.