Gateway to Possibility
I can still remember the surprise my brother Paul and I received when two brand new Huffy BMX bikes showed up on our front stoop. Paul’s was yellow and red and mine blue. It had a banana seat and a plastic fuel tank with the word HOMBRE pasted to the side, knobby tires and hopes of being ridden over jumps and up and down hills. I can even remember doing a somersault over a drainage pipe as I misjudged a jump and tried to stop at the last minute. Before the days of helmets and personal action video cameras you’ll have to take it from me, but it was only by the grace of God that I didn’t land on my head and die. That bike was a gateway into an entirely different world where large dirt piles were conquered, and success was judged on who could lay down the longest skid mark.
The bikes were a tool, but more than a tool, they were a gateway into a whole new world of possibilities. Without it I would argue we couldn’t even imagine what we could have done. It opened up the possibilities of ramp building and flying through the air if only for a second or two, but never in my wildest dreams would I have dreamed this. It makes me wonder what tools could be gateways that we are either failing to use or refusing to acquire?
The sheer creativity of this BMX track brings out the kid in me again. Super fun stuff! And turn the volume down for the first few seconds as the guys introduce themselves so that you miss the explicative.
The nature of the comments, and a request for more comments
So, the nature of the first comment yesterday, “People don’t make rational decisions; they make emotional ones. Rational campaigns fail.” is a summary of what Ben Arment took away from a book he was reading written by Facebook’s Paul Adams entitled Grouped: How small groups of friends are the key to influence on the social web (Voices That Matter)
Now, of course the book and Paul Adams’ view is one of the marketer. He states what retail has known forever, which is why everything from condoms to candy to the latest “As Seen on TV” gadget sits at the checkout line. The goal of the marketer is to sell something, and in the end they just want to make a living.
The second comment, “Calling people to repent of their sin and follow Christ should be a rational decision.” is mine only for the sake of sparking a discussion.
On Facebook my friend Beth commented that to exclude the emotional is not giving Christ all of us, and results in what is only a mental ascent. I think I agree with her evaluation; however, I do not think we lead with the emotional as the marketer may because we do not want to sell a product in order to make a living, but rather we want to help make someone family.
In the end, we do not want the King Size M&M’s to get the same kind of attention that Jesus gets when it comes to choice.
And often I think that is where we can fall short as the Church, because we have reduced “repent and proclaim allegiance to Jesus” to a checkout aisle product push when it should be a timely and time consuming counting of the cost (Luke 14:28).
Comment please on these two comments
Do you agree or disagree with these comments:
1. “People don’t make rational decisions; they make emotional ones. Rational campaigns fail.”
2. “Calling people to repent of their sin and follow Christ should be a rational decision.”