A Sign of the Times

Our little country church sits in the S curve on Highway 26 north of Jennings.  We have thirty something people attending on a typical Sunday morning.  Small in number, but big in love.  It is a loving family, not a perfect church, but a church that loves Jesus and one in which the people love each other.  God's Word is studied and believed that its truths are relevant as ever, and we still sing the old hymns.  It was founded in 1981.

In a recent business meeting, we decided that the age of our sign originally erected at the church's founding is in need of some work.  Rust had eaten away at the tubing that makes up the frame and lichen was growing on it.  This called for immediate attention.  On a recent Saturday morning, we arrived with ladders and a grinder and began grinding the entire sign, roughing up the surface for painting.

Then we primed the sign frame, having to climb way up there to get the top portion.  It was a beautiful day to get the work done.

Finally, we put a thick coat of oil based paint on the sign's frame.  The sign really shines now, but we're not done.

We're going to update the lettering on the sign, adding service times for Sunday School and Morning Worship as well as our church website address.  We're also looking at putting the same thing on the back side of the sign so that traffic southbound on Highway 26 will be able to see it.  We may look at a board beneath the sign that would allow us to put up lettering for Scripture verses and special announcements.  Finally, we'll plan on affixing some solar lighting to the sign so that it is lit up in the evening.

If you don't already have a church home, we'd love to have you come worship with us!  If you were looking for a sign, here it is.

Sign of the Times

On my commutes home, I listen to the radio and to audiobooks.  It helps to pass the time.  I also pay attention to everything going on outside my windows, which includes a lot of crazy drivers.  Whoa!  Sometimes I look at bumper stickers on cars and read billboards - Personal injury lawyers, mostly. 

The other day I-10 was at a standstill and I took a longer alternate route home.  I passed by a club with an interesting, albeit, sad sign out front beckoning patrons to come inside:

I know it is probably too small to read, so I'll post what the sign says:

COME IN AND MEET YOUR FUTURE EX-WIFE

I hate to be "that guy" who has no sense of humor, but that sign makes me sad.  Needless, to say I drove quickly by without stopping.  Certainly a sign of the times.

A Sign of the Times

At a Prophecy Conference that we go to every year, the evangelist, Dr. Dave Reagan, always starts off his talks showing us something that he collects - funny church signs.  I am a big fan of clever wordplay and some churches are just so doggone good at putting interesting things on their signs.  Roadside signs really catch your attention.  Some can really make you smile or even shake your head.  Here are five pretty good ones (before we talk about a sign of our own):

I was waiting at a red light today and heard a loud bang behind me.  Two cars back a car had run into the back of a van.  Everyone got out and appeared to be okay, but the first thing I thought was, "I bet someone was on their phone!"  The sign above is wisdom.  Honking doesn't avert your focus from the road, but texting while driving sure does...

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much!:

Here is a word of warning to thieves who broke into this church:

I can't tell you how many times I've thought what this church put on their sign!"

Whoever thought of this one, I gotta hand it to them.  It's pretty good!:

Long about this time every year, we put up a sign by the road in front of our house and leave it up until December.  It doesn't say anything clever.  It just announces that our hens have started laying fresh, free range eggs.  With spring around the corner, our hens have begun laying and we are averaging about 3 dozen a day.  That count will almost double next month and then will come down in the dog days of summer.  We eat all we can and give away and sell the rest.

In previous years, we had a homemade sign that we made.  After election season, we picked up a politician's sign that had been left in a ditch and painted over it to make it a solid white background.  Then we stenciled "Free Range, Pastured Country Eggs" on it.  Passersby would stop in and purchase eggs.  After they had bought a time or two, we put them on the honor system and put eggs in the fridge in the garage.  They just pick up cartons of eggs and leave money in the fridge along with empty egg cartons.  I like that system!

Our poor old homemade sign is ragged and worn.  This year we found a sign online to purchase for $20 and "upped our egg sign game."  It was delivered to our back door and we put it up the other day:

It is colorful and even has a picture of a happy hen sitting on a nest full of eggs.  The only problem is that she's sitting on some white eggs.  Our hens lay brown eggs and blue and green eggs, but I'm not complaining.  I like our new sign:

We'll have to sell about 7 dozen eggs before our investment is paid off, but the sign is already working.  A customer from last year dropped in to purchase eggs and said, "I was wondering when you were going to put the egg sign back up!"