the writing in the sky

to the pastor or church responsible for the sky writing plane over disney:  while visiting the magic kingdom, my wife and i, along with my two sons, noticed the writing.  at first, we thought it was part of the "disney experience", but as the writing spelled out "g..o..t..o.." we figured it to be some sort of advertisement.  then the "j..e..s..u..s.." appeared.  aside from it not really making that much sense, we also noticed the reactions of many of the people around us.  they ranged everywhere from rolling eyes to indifference.  the following messages of "u..+..God..=..:)" and "t..r..u..s..t..j..e..s..u..s.." went largely unnoticed.  while your intentions may have been good, your methodology was significantly flawed.  i can imagine God saying to you when you get to heaven, "i give you an 'a' for effort, but next time, use that thing i put between your ears and be a wiser steward of the money that i have given you."  i think about the hundreds or even more that you spent on that plane and pilot to write ignored messages to uninterested patrons, and ways of how that money could have been better spent.  for all practical purposes, you would have done better to stand in the bell tower of your church and ring the bell for everyone to come, and you would have gotten the same effect, at a much cheaper price.  instead, you could have used that money to feed the hungry in your town (there are plenty), to buy bibles to give to those without, to fund a missionary to go on a mission trip, etc.  the point is, Jesus said that whatever we do to the most lowly of people, we do to Him. 

if you could have seen the looks of the people that were turned off by your message, you would have deeply regretted your attempt.  you essentially became one of the priests that ignored the man beaten and bleeding in the street that the good samaritan stopped and helped.  you took the easy way out, as so many churches do today, and avoided getting your hands dirty, and tried to proselytize from afar.  have you not heard the adage, "people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care"? 

next time, think about your investments.  choose to love people in person rather than saying "we love you, but not enough to actually do something that would benefit you."  follow the example set by our Saviour, who chose to come to us, suffer alongside us, and die for us, rather than writing "God loves you" in the sky with the endless natural resources at His disposal.