Jon Acuff's Blog, page 153

#1 in 2010: The soft X.

(This post and the R word post were the two most popular posts from 2010. With a book deadline for me this week, I thought I'd push pause on writing a new Serious Wednesday and share the soft X again today. If you missed it the first time, I hope you like it. If you saw it the first time, I hope it still starts a conversation. Fresh SCL will return tomorrow.)

The soft X.

I cried in the Chicago Airport.

And these were not tough guy, lumberjack, I just punched a mountain lion in the face with my bare fist kind of tears. These were sad and tired and give up tears.

I was flying home from a conference in Chicago. I had been the closing keynote speaker and it had gone really well. That's not what I was crying about though. I was crying because of what I knew would happen when I landed.

I knew I would take the train to my car, grab work clothes, change in the handicapped stall and then disappear into a sea of cubicles. I didn't hate my job, not at all, it just wasn't what I felt called to do. The Stuff Christians Book wasn't out yet, but the site was doing well. I had this completely different life starting to develop and it was hard to go back to work and act like Chicago had all been just a dream.

This was long before the opportunity at Dave Ramsey. This was a doldrums period where I was just writing and writing and writing, but things weren't happening the way I thought they would.

I sat in meetings about TPS reports and budgets and would get frustrated with God, wondering if he even saw me. Wasn't he the one who put this burning in my heart? Wasn't it his call that I was answering? This wasn't how life was supposed to go.

Have you ever felt that way?

Has there ever been a situation where you had an expectation that you felt like God simply wasn't meeting? I think most of us have experienced that.

Right now, someone reading this blog is mourning a marriage that fell apart. You wanted to be the first in your family to have a grandkid for your parents, not the first to get divorced.

Right now, someone is in a gray cubicle and the degree they got, the passion they followed in college is a million miles away from how they spend 40+ hours every week.

Right now, there's someone struggling with an issue that refuses to release it's talons even though you're occasionally able to shake it for a few "good weeks."

Right now, someone had to send out wedding cancellation notes, because it's off.

Right now, there's a man who feels a lot less than a man because he doesn't have a job and can't provide for his family.

Right now there are a million different versions of "Don't you see me God?" happening. And so we doubt and get angry and lonely. But we are not the only ones with expectations that go astray.

In Genesis 48, the same thing happens to Joseph, of the double rainbow coat fame. He has brought his two sons to his father Israel for his blessing. We don't understand this culturally because we don't really do this anymore, but this was a critical, massive thing that was about to take place. Manasseh was about to receive Israel's blessing. That was what should happen. That was what Joseph expected.

Joseph the faithful. Joseph the former slave, former convict, former saved all of Egypt from death and destruction. Joseph had a great track record at this point. He was a deeply wise man of God. He knew what was about to happen. By lineage, by tradition, by faith, Manasseh was about to get blessed by Israel.

Only he doesn't.

It doesn't happen that way. Instead of doing what he should have done, Israel crosses his arms and forms an X, placing his hands on the heads of the wrong children. He blesses Ephraim, the wrong son in Joseph's mind.

And in 48:17 we see what happens: When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim's head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.

Joseph has lived his entire life with one belief about how a blessing is passed down. This is his, "I got my Master's Degree in teaching, I should get a teaching job" moment. This is his, "People get married after college, that's what they do," moment. This is what he's always been ready for and it goes the exact opposite way.

So Joseph, like me or you trying to fix a mistake, says, "No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."

And how does Israel respond? Does he say, "Oh, I am failing of sight and made a mistake?" Does he reply, "Thank you for correcting this situation?"

No.

He says simply, "I know, my son, I know."

And that is an incredibly tender thing to say as someone's expectations crumble.

And I think it's something God still says to us, even today.

"I know, my son, I know. I know, my daughter, I know. That thing you wanted is not going to happen. Not the way you've always dreamed. I know this hurts. I know this stings. I know you feel like I am distant or not aware of where you are and who hurt you and what you think life was supposed to be like. I know in moments like this you doubt that I can count the hairs on your head or have your best in mind. But please, I am not done. I have barely started to reveal your life to you. I am the God who satisfies your desires with good things. That is me! And when it comes to your hopes and your fears and your dreams, I know, my son, I know."

I think of this moment as the "soft x."

I think of the tenderness of Israel with his arms outstretched and crossed. I think of our desires and our dreams and the times they don't work. Because those times will come. God is not an ATM, bound by our whims. Christ promises us that in this world we will have trouble. But above all, when I think of that soft x I think of a God who wants to tell you he hears you, he loves, he knows you. He is not disconnected or disinterested in who you are and who you want to be. Today, he says,

"I know, my son, I know."

When Lil' Wayne defines the gospel.

Lil' Wayne, you rapscallion!

Out on bail, fresh out of jail, wait, that's Tupac. Those were his words. But it was Lil Wayne's words that knocked me over recently.

In an interview he did in Rolling Stone about being in jail, he summarized the gospel in a really beautiful, unexpected way. He also talked about how he dominated at UNO so much in jail that other inmates stopped inviting him to games. When he would catch them playing and ask why they didn't tell him about the game, they'd say, "Oh, we thought you were asleep." To which Lil' Wayne would respond, "Right – like you can't look in my cell and see I'm right there. We ain't got no doors!"

Lil' Wayne spent a lot of time playing UNO in jail. And when he wasn't throwing "Draw 4′s" he was apparently reading the entire Bible cover to cover for the first time.

When asked what he thought about it, he said:

"It was deep! I liked the parts where some character was once this, but he ended up becoming that. Like he'd be dissing Jesus, and then he ends up being a saint. That was cool."

What a great description of the gospel. "Some character was once this, but ended up becoming that." I was lost, but now I am found. I was once blind, but now I see.

Whenever I read stuff like that, whenever I hear celebrities describing brushes they've had with the Bible or God or the gospel, I always have the same reaction:

"Hey, I know that guy too!"

Like connecting the dots between mutual friends with a stranger, I feel like shouting, "That's my God you're talking about. I know that guy! You would love that guy if you got to know him. He's awesome!"

Naysayers will say, "Lil' Wayne's not a Christian." Or "A celebrity mentioning God shouldn't hold any different weight than your next to door neighbor mentioning God."

I'm not saying that.

I'm saying that I love it when God gets an unexpected shout out. And that I could crush Lil' Wayne at UNO.

Have you ever done that? Have you ever seen a celebrity mention God and felt like giving God a high five in excitement?

When Lil' Wanye defines the gospel.

Lil' Wayne, you rapscallion!

Out on bail, fresh out of jail, wait, that's Tupac. Those were his words. But it was Lil Wayne's words that knocked me over recently.

In an interview he did in Rolling Stone about being in jail, he summarized the gospel in a really beautiful, unexpected way. He also talked about how he dominated at UNO so much in jail that other inmates stopped inviting him to games. When he would catch them playing and ask why they didn't tell him about the game, they'd say, "Oh, we thought you were asleep." To which Lil' Wayne would respond, "Right – like you can't look in my cell and see I'm right there. We ain't got no doors!"

Lil' Wayne spent a lot of time playing UNO in jail. And when he wasn't throwing "Draw 4′s" he was apparently reading the entire Bible cover to cover for the first time.

When asked what he thought about it, he said:

"It was deep! I liked the parts where some character was once this, but he ended up becoming that. Like he'd be dissing Jesus, and then he ends up being a saint. That was cool."

What a great description of the gospel. "Some character was once this, but ended up becoming that." I was lost, but now I am found. I was once blind, but now I see.

Whenever I read stuff like that, whenever I hear celebrities describing brushes they've had with the Bible or God or the gospel, I always have the same reaction:

"Hey, I know that guy too!"

Like connecting the dots between mutual friends with a stranger, I feel like shouting, "That's my God you're talking about. I know that guy! You would love that guy if you got to know him. He's awesome!"

Naysayers will say, "Lil' Wayne's not a Christian." Or "A celebrity mentioning God shouldn't hold any different weight than your next to door neighbor mentioning God."

I'm not saying that.

I'm saying that I love it when God gets an unexpected shout out. And that I could crush Lil' Wayne at UNO.

Have you ever done that? Have you ever seen a celebrity mention God and felt like giving God a high five in excitement?

Proverbs 31 Wife – 3000 and 8 edition.

There are only three types of Bible verses read at Christian weddings.

1. Proverbs 31 – Which paints the Biblical picture of a wife.

2. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 – Which paints the Biblical picture of love.

3. Obscure 2:1-5– Which paints the Biblical picture that your friends are "not going to go with the typical verses and instead picked a passage that no one in the history of mankind has ever read in a wedding."

I'm a fan of all three, but recently realized that there are a lot of things I love about my wife that are not mentioned in Proverbs 31. I thought it might be fun to remix Proverbs 31, or "Message it" if you will.

Here are 5 ways I would remix the "Wife of Noble Character" description:

1. She does not dress a dog in "ensembles."

I'm not sure if this is Biblical, but when Proverbs 31:24 says, "She makes linen garments and sells them," they should add "but does not weave matching ensembles that both she and her purse dog wear." Every time I see a dog wearing a sweater/sock/visor combo I hug my wife and tell her I love her.

2. She will tell you when your blog is whack.

A Proverbs 31, 3000 and 8 woman will not only read your blog, she'll tell you when something you wrote is horrible. I'd tweak Proverbs 31:11 to say, "Her husband has full confidence in her, because he knows she loves him enough to dive in front of the WordPress 'publish' button and prevent him from sharing nonsense with the Internet."

3. She will never let a brand fool you financially.

Proverbs 31:27 says, "She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness." At our house we'd add, "and does not eat chips from Walmart after realizing Santitas redesigned the bag, reducing the portion size from 13 ounces to 12 ounces without reducing the price." Who sees that stuff? My wife has skills! Manufacturers call that "value engineering." In order to make more money they just decrease the portion when no one is watching. Ohh, Jenny Acuff is watching Santitas. You too Costco, no longer giving cups for water and Macaroni Grill, removing the ice cream from the kid's meal and now charging separately for it. Jenny Acuff sees all.

4. She will wear heels even if it makes her taller than you.

And it does, in heels, my wife is taller than me. But I once heard a counselor say, "The one thing a husband wants to know is that he is enough. That his masculinity, the way he provides for the family, the security he gives is enough. The one thing a wife wants to know is that she is not 'too much.' That she can be as beautiful and as powerful and as you unique as God has called her without overpowering the relationship. That her husband is enough to handle her becoming everything she can become." Well, Jenny can become taller than me when she's in heels, but I love that she'll wear them anyway.

5. She won't let you be a jerk on Twitter.

Proverbs 31:23 says "Her husband is respected at the city gate …" I don't know if I'm respected at the city gate of Twitter, but if I am, it's only because my wife won't let me be a jerk with my tweets. She certainly doesn't see all of them, but she regularly saves me from saying something mean, stupid or both. I'm not saying you should talk about your shared Twitter commitment in premarital counseling, but I love the one we have.

What would you add to your own list of Proverb 31 traits?

If you're married what is something you as a wife do? As a husband, what do you appreciate about your wife?

If you're single, what do you hope is true of your marriage in the future?

Let's remix the Proverbs 31 woman.

#2 in 2010: The Jesus Juke

(I was surprised by the reaction to the phrase, "Jesus Juke." People emailed me t-shirt designs, it got turned into a hashtag on Twitter, #JesusJuke, and became something I actually say in conversations, e.g. "The guy just juked me." I didn't expect that to happen, but let me clear up one misconception. Don't confuse a rebuke with a Jesus Juke. One in does in love and causes change, one is done in pride and causes shame. They're antonyms not synonyms. Thanks for all the great comments the first time around on this one!)

The Jesus Juke

Weird things happen to me when I fly. If you followed me on Twitter you would know this because I tend to have "tweet explosions," when I'm at airports.

Last Sunday morning, as our plane lifted off the ground, the person behind me started to play what sounded like a pan flute. Just as we began to soar above the clouds, we were greeted with a Zamfir melody from what I can only assume was some sort of satyr. In his defense, the flight attendant did not say, "Please return your seats to their upright position, carefully stow your carry on luggage and put your pan flute back in its elk skin satchel." He had every right to play that beautiful wooden instrument and play he did.

At another airport I went to, a humongous bodybuilder spent his time in the terminal doing ferocious push ups right beside me. I tweeted about it and folks told me to prove it with a photo. Not likely. One of my rules for twitter is never snap photos of people who can snap you. And this guy could have broken me in half like a thin blogger branch.

But in all the responses from people asking me questions about the terminal B2 bodybuilder, one stuck out. It was different than the rest, but is something I am growing familiar with.

I call it the "Jesus Juke."

Like a football player juking you at the last second and going a different direction, the Jesus Juke is when someone takes what is clearly a joke filled conversation and completely reverses direction into something serious and holy.

In this particular case, when I tweeted a joke about the guy doing pushups, someone tweeted me back, "Imagine If we were that dedicated in our faith, family, and finances?"

I was fine with that idea, I was, but it was a Jesus Juke. We went from, "Whoa, there's a mountain of a man doing pushups next to the Starbucks at the airport," to a serious statement about the lack of discipline we have in our faith and our family and our finances.

I don't know how to spell it, but in my head I heard that sad trumpet sound of "whaaaa, waaaa."

And that wasn't even a bad Jesus Juke. I didn't mind that statement at all. That guy seemed fine. I've heard much worse. I once tweeted about going to see Conan O'Brien live and how big the crowd was. Someone wrote back, "If we held a concert for Jesus and gave away free tickets, no one would come." Whaaa, waaaa.

Chances are you've experienced this. Someone pulled the Christian version of the Debbie Downer, they threw out a bit of Jesus Juke on you. If you have, or even if you haven't, there are three things we all need to know about this particular move.

1. It generates shame.

The Jesus Juke is a great way to tell a friend, "I wish you possessed the uber holiness I do and were instead talking about sweet baby Jesus in this conversation." It's like a tiny little "shame grenade," you throw it into an otherwise harmless conversation and then watch it splatter everyone in guilt and condemnation.

2. It never leads to good conversation.

I've been Jesus Juked dozens of times in my life and I've never once seen it lead to a productive, healthy conversation. You might think it will before you juke, but what usually happens is just raw amounts of awkwardness, similar to how I felt sitting in a theater watching the Last Airbender.

3. I've never met someone who was "juked to Jesus."

I once tweeted, "No one's ever said: 'The way you bitterly mock other Christians helped me begin a life-changing love of Jesus' (Be kind)." I wrote that because I wanted to remind us that our jerkiness never led folks to Christ. I don't think our jukes do either. I don't really see it as a conversion technique. It's more of a conversation killer technique.

I hope we all keep talking about Jesus. I hope we talk about him lots and lots. I hope he defines our life and conversations. But if I tell you that when it comes to My Little Pony, I tend to prefer Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie and that Toola Roola has been riding their coattails for years, please don't respond, "You know who created ponies? Our Lord God did, that's who."

Has anyone ever pulled a "Jesus Juke" on you?

What's your favorite quote?

Last week, someone tweeted a picture that blew me away.

A guy named Ryan in Canada with an organization called "Hungry for Life" put a quote from my new book on the wall of their offices. Here is the photo:

The quote, which I shared online a few weeks ago says:

"If you're going to risk and maybe fail, fail at something that matters. Fail gloriously so that even in failure, lives change." I was deeply humbled by that and excited too because the book hasn't released yet and I think it's going to be a lot of fun when it does.

That photo got me thinking about quotes. It seems like we all have favorite Bible verses, or quotes from people that inspire us.

One of mine is from a counselor I went to in Atlanta named Chuck. He said:

"Wrestling with God is not a bad thing. It's impossible to wrestle with someone who is far away from you. You can only wrestle someone who is close to you. Sometimes we interpret it as failure, but I think God sees it as intimacy."

What's a quote you love? Maybe you have it as the signature of your email or even tattooed on your arm. Is it Twain? Or King David? Or a million other people?

What's your favorite quote?

Sermon Note Turning.

(Growing up, I was a sermon note doodler. I wasn't as good as the winner of our "bulletin bored" contest, but I had some skills. I'd draw on additions to the illustration of the church building, fill in all the "O's" and occasionally add mustaches if anyone's photo was in the bulletin. Thick, handsome, Godly mustaches. Now that I'm grown up, I don't do that. Or I do it a lot less often. But it turns out I'm not the only one with a weird approach to sermon notes. In today's great guest post, Robert Campbell points out 4 other types of folks you'll encounter when it comes to sermon notes. Enjoy! )

Corporate Sermon Note Turning

There is a moment in every sermon when you reach the end of the page of sermon notes and everyone turns the page in 'mostly' corporate unison. I call it Corporate Sermon Note Turning. This simple act of paper flipping & swishing through the air often has a even greater success rate than clapping together during a worship song. We're all on the same page, literally. Whether we're flipping through the bulletin to find the notes or actually going to page two of a multi-page sermon, we're all in this together!

After months of studying this phenomenon, I've discovered 4 approaches you might find in your church:

1. The Alpha Page Turner

When it comes to sermon note turning, the Alpha Page Turner dominates. They have to be the leader in everything they do. The Pastor can barely get the last syllable started before this person has furiously filled in the blank & sent cellulose flying. We're talkin NASCAR pit crew kind of speed here. They take it so seriously they pre-lick their fingers for better grip when it comes time for a rapid fire page flip.

2. The Conscientious Objector

Somewhere along the way of modern church history, a pastor heard that people retain 50% more information if they write it down and the age of "Fill in the Blank Sermon Notes" was born. But your Conscientious Objector begs to differ. Don't worry about me, my mind is like a steel trap. To write it down, would be redundant, it's all in here.

3. The Mad Libber

This person takes Sermon Notes to a whole other dimension by ignoring the contents of the notes entirely and instead, they fill the blanks in with random Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Biblical Figures, Quotes from Psalms, etc. Once the last blank is complete, they read the notes from start to finish. The Mad Libber is easy to identify by their snorting & giggling during the sermon. Unfortunately, they don't really contribute anything to the unified sermon note turning experience since they turn pages entirely out of rhythm with the rest of the congregation.

4. The Unfashionably Late

This one is easy to spot. Just wait for the joyful noise of the Corporate Sermon Note Turning to diminish to a faint echo. The Unfashionably Late will suddenly realize they've missed the boat and start scrambling to get blanks filled & paper turned. You might also hear them ask a pew neighbor, "Hey, what was the answer for number 3?"

Have you ever experienced corporate sermon note turning? Does your church use sermon notes? Do you follow along?

#3 in 2010: Not knowing how to tell someone their favorite book didn't completely change your life too.

(This one was funny to me because it happens so often. A friend promises you that a book 180 pages long is going to forever change the very fiber of your existence. And when it doesn't you have to let them down easy. This was the #3 most popular post in 2010)

Not knowing how to tell someone their favorite book didn't completely change your life too.

Christians don't casually recommend books. When we read a book about faith that we like, we say things like:

"This book changed my life."

"That book spoke to my heart."

"That book taught me how to be a man."

We make wildly powerful statements about the wisdom shared between the pages of a book. And that's great. Passion is a good thing, but it does create a potential problem. What do you do if you read the book too and didn't have the same experience?

My middle brother is experiencing that right now. Just the other night he called and asked, "How do I let someone know that the book that changed the fabric of their very soul, didn't change mine?"

That's a legit question, because when you believe that a book changed your heart, you tend to take it personally when someone else didn't have the same experience. You'll get riled up if you loved Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell and someone else thought it had

a

lot

of

fractured rhythm

sentences.

Think I'm exaggerating? Today on Twitter, tweet, "The Shack didn't really do it for me. I don't see what the big deal is." And then prepare for the firestorm.

But again, what do you do if you didn't love the book too?

I have four ideas on how to handle this delicate situation:

1. Talk about politics

Last Friday a friend of mine named Rachel wrote a short guest post about politics on Stuff Christians Like. That one post got 767 comments. Whoa. That's why I recommend going "OG" when you find yourself in an awkward conversation. And although you probably think I mean "Original Gangster," because I'm so street, that's not what I'm talking about. If you ever want to change the topic in a conversation, throw an "Obama Grenade." Simply say, "Hey, what do you think about Obama." Kaboom! There is no way they'll talk about their book when you've just ignited that one.

2. Compliment something other than the content

Call this the "Friends" technique. On that show, when the character Joey would perform in a horrible TV show, Ross and Chandler would compliment things other than his performance. Like the lighting, "Wow, look how great that scene was lit." Same goes here. If you didn't like the book they loved, say something like, "What kind of paper is this printed on? It's got a nice thickness. Feels great to the touch." Or "What's the font on this, is that a serif?"

3. Fall asleep

My neighbor's four-year old will make herself fall asleep if she gets in trouble. Right in the middle of a lecture, she will lay down and fall asleep, waking hours later safely out of the conversation. Yeah, this is going to be weird, at first, but if you're at Starbucks, ball up some napkins into a little pillow and then just start slumbering. Your friend will eventually leave and you get a nap. Win, win.

4. Be honest

Always an option, always an option. Just be honest and say, "This 174 page book by a 32 year old guy with a soul patch taught you how to be a man? Really? Really?" OK, don't say that exactly. Cause that's pretty jerky. But just be honest. And ask what they loved about the book. That's all.

I wrote this list because I've been the guy who loved a certain book only to have a friend say, "Really?"

I love books like, "Bird by Bird," and "The War of Art" but not everyone does.

How about you, what is a book, other than the Bible, that you would say changed your life or really challenged you?

Winner of West Coast Catalyst Tickets

The winner of the 2 free West Coast Catalyst lab and main stage tickets is Seth Rowoldt. Email me Seth and I will make sure you get them.

Can't wait to see a bunch of you guys/girls out at West Coast Catalyst!

The problem every church wants.

I once heard Rob Bell joke that every pastor hopes to have one specific problem – a parking problem. Nothing makes a pastor happier about church attendance than hearing that there are so many people coming that there aren't enough parking spaces. As a pastor's kid, I have to agree. My dad certainly wanted to make sure we had enough space, but I never heard him once complain that too many people were coming to his church. Recently, I experienced another "problem" that every church wants …

The overcrowded service.

A few weeks ago, Blake Bergstrom at Cross Point asked people in the 10:00 service to think about attending a different service. That is always an incredibly awkward topic, second only to the pastor tithing disclaimer of "I never preach about money …except today," but Blake knocked it out of the park.

He covered all the bases: We don't have enough seats, there are people sitting on the floor, visitors are leaving, God will bless you financially if you go to a different service.

He said that last one and it was a brilliant joke to break the tension. If your church ever has this problem, I hope they address it as perfectly as Blake did. But you should know that there are a few things you will think when you are asked to attend a different service.

1. When do I lose my visitor status?

The "please change services" message is about creating more room for visitors. Am I still a visitor? We moved to Nashville last August, so we haven't been going to Cross Point for that long. Is there an official visitor/regular threshold we've already crossed? Like a 90-day probationary period at a new job? Or is "visitor" status based on the amount of time you've been a Christian? If that's the case, I wasn't a visitor the very first time I visited the church.

2. What if they've been lying to me about 10:00 being the best crowd?

Telling a church crowd that they sing louder or better than another service is a time honored tradition at church. I believe that the 10:00 service is comprised of the best singers and most awake members. I believe that because I know I've heard a worship leader say, "It was hard to learn this new song so early in the morning, but you guys are wide awake and this is going to sound awesome." Translation 8:30 service? "All I do is win at 10." But what if I go to the 8:30 service and realize it's all been a ruse? What if they're saying the same thing to the 8:30 crowd?

3. What if the crowd follows me to another service?

Not because it's me or because I smell nice, although I do, but what if everyone at 10 decides to go to the 8:30? And then I have to leave that one cause it gets crowded? So I go to the 6:00, but the traveling gypsy camp of church attendees all ends up attending that one so I have to go to an entirely different campus? The mysterious "Dickson" campus our pastor Pete Wilson is always saying hello to via video. Instead of dissipating across multiple services, will the tide of our 10:00 crowd flow to a new service like a bowling ball going through a hose?

4. Is this like the reverse of a sinking ship?

When a ship sinks, the motto they use is "Women and children first," to make sure that they get into the life boats. Is encouraging people to go to a different service the opposite principle? "Single adults and couples without kids first?" Our house is a well oiled machine on Sunday mornings, balancing the 400 factors that getting kids ready for Sunday School demands. When I was single or married without kids, I'm almost positive I had a leisurely breakfast on Sunday, did the New York Times crossroad puzzle and took a morning jog before getting ready for church at my own pace. (At least that's how I remember it in my head.) Do families with kids get to jump off the 10:00 service last? Or is that just one more way to make it difficult to be single at church?

Ultimately, it's a great "problem" to have and I am really excited to see what's going on at our church. We're trying to figure out which service to go to and all options are open at this point. We passed the age where it is considered trauma beyond trauma for our toddlers to have a different Sunday School teacher each week, so we need to be flexible.

Have you ever been asked to attend a different service?

Which service do you attend if you go to church? Early morning? Midday? Evening?