My daughter is in her junior year of high school and therefore gets recruiting letters from about 127 colleges every day. It is really hard for a school to stand out in the pack; some schools don't even try. My daughter has figured out which schools have hired the same marketing firm and send out exactly the same mailers on the same days. Surely they realize that the smart students they are after are too smart for marketing that stupid.
Today, however, she received a truly remarkable mailer. On the front is a full color photograph of a girl about my daughters age in a beautiful grove of trees in full autumn colors. The girl is smiling and throwing leaves in the air and at the bottom of the picture the leaves have spelled out my daughters name. The thing that caught my attention is that her name is spelled correctly which rules out a standard mailer; there are like five people on earth with that spelling. On the back were two well written paragraphs that begin with "Hi Brittainy. Are you looking for a college that's unique?" And then the clincher, the only web address for more information was a customized URL that included her name. That is pretty impressive if you ask me.
The only downside is that when we tried the website it did not work. All of the time and expense was useless because not only did the custom website not work, there was no other website on the mailing for the college. It was all or nothing. They promised something very cool, but they weren't able to deliver.
Growing up in church we sang a song that went like this:
I'm so happy, here's the reason why
Jesus took my burdens all away
Once my heart was heavy with the load of sin
Jesus took my burdens gave me peace within
Now I'm singing as the days go by
Jesus took my burdens all away
What a sweet deal. If I become a Christian Jesus will trade my burdens for instant peace and I can spend the rest of my life with a stupid grin on my face singing a happy tune. I know a lot of very sincere Christians who still have burdens. I know Christians in Kenya who have lost both of their parents to AIDS and have nowhere to live. I met Christians in India who wake up every day wondering where their next meal will come from. I have a friend who is one of the strongest Christians I know who struggles every day dealing with her husband's slow and painful death. I wonder what went wrong with the "no more burdens" formula?
We do so much damage to the Kingdom of Heaven "selling" something Jesus never promised and trying to obscure the reality of life in a sinful world. Whether we are marketing a new church, promoting a program or talking to a neighbor about Jesus I think we need to be very honest about the real deal. Life with Jesus isn't instant and eternal bliss, but it is ultimately fulfilling.
What's the most overblown promise you've heard about Christianity?




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