It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, wait a minute, no it was the best of times. We had a marvelous two weeks in June on vacation. We spent time with our daughter Shannon and her husband Trevor. We traveled to their home in Nashville, Tennessee, picked them up and then spent a week with them in Florida. We had great, warm weather and thankfully no car problems, even though we logged over 4,000 miles. Shannon and Trevor send their greetings. Thanks for your prayers and to Bill Abeler and Phil Gerth who preached in my absence.

Time with family, now that the kids are moving away, is very special. What is also fun is doing life different and being a tourist, a traveler, a visitor for a time. So, although we were on vacation, I decided to pay attention to the way we were welcomed in many different situations throughout the trip, and relate it to ministry. I watched as we were welcomed and our experience was interesting. We were welcomed by our Aunt and Uncle, our daughter and son in law. We were welcomed by gas station attendants on the intercom (that was hard to accept at $2.18 a gallon) and by hotel clerks. We were welcomed by a bus driver, an astronaut and even a giant gator. It was good to be aware of others welcome because it could help me improve my welcome. On this trip I found three simple keys to the welcome:

1) The people had a great smile and/or a pleasant voice.
2) The people appeared to be genuinely glad that we were there.
3) The experience that followed the welcome supported our initial positive feelings.

We loved the gracious welcome by our aunts and uncles in Rockford, IL and even more the blest time we had togehter. It was important both that the hostess was nice and that the food was good (no bugs in the salad please). We appreciated the welcome by the desk clerk but we appreciated even more a comfortable bed. In one motel to remain unnamed, I noted that the lobby was wonderful and inviting but when we got to the room, only the late hour and our weariness allowed us to stomach the condition of the room. It was important that the official greeter at the door of the church was friendly, but it was more important that the people in the church didn't see us and treat us as intruders to their church family.

It was a good experience to think about how I wanted to be welcomed and what it meant to me. I encourage you as you travel and visit both churches and businesses, to notice what they do and bring back ideas for yourself and our church. Christ was the best example to how we can welcome people into our world. may we be challenged to be seen as people who know how to make someone welcome in the name of Christ.


Pastor Craig