The Wonderful World of Disney

Yes, it is true. I, being an Assemblies of God minister, did in fact enter the Disney Land Resort. And can I be honest? I didn't feel one bit of guilt about it. Ok, I am joking a bit. Anyways...

Before our trip, I made the vain attempt at trying to find discounted tickets to the park on line. About the only thing I could come up with was hotel and park combo's and with that you had to stay multiple days. During this search I ran across a website where it was stated that the reason Disney doesn't offer discounted tickets is because people will come anyways.

So, in my brilliant state of mind, my immediate reaction to the comment was "well that is dumb!" But, weeks later, as I entered the park and witnessed the joy on the face of my 3 year old daughter at the site of Tinker Bell flying through the sky with the backdrop of fireworks was enough to make a grown man cry. Or the uncontrollable excitement that Reghan experience as we watched the parade and the princess march by; the look on her face was priceless.

At that moment, I understood the statement, people will come anyway. Young and old alike, millions of people weekly are enthralled with the wonder of Disney. And as I sat there and watch the parade flow by and my daughter jumping up and down and screaming, I thought why isn't it that way in the church? People don't just come anyways. It seems like we have to really coerce someone into coming. Maybe I am raising more questions than I have answers for. But I guess I struggle with the fact that people just don't come to church anymore. Now we can blame that on our changing culture or whatever we want to blame it on. But the reality is, the buck stops with each and everyone of us as individuals. The life that we live and demonstrate to others speaks volumes. If you get anything out of this short blog post, get this: Live a life that people want to emulate and not a life that they would want to distance themselves from.