The Carolinas though…The billboards alone are worth the trip.
You see, just south of the North Carolina border, there exists a traveler’s mecca that’s wholly unique.
I’m talking about South of the Border. For anybody who’s driven on I-95 in the Carolinas, you KNOW what I’m referring to.
It’s a stylized rest stop that covers a square mile. It has everything from restaurants and indoor mini-golf (yes, an 18 hole indoor miniature golf course), to fireworks, shops, motels and campgrounds. You can find a US Post Office there and it even has its own police and fire departments! The 165 foot tall Sombrero Tower makes it impossible to drive past at night without sunglasses on.
The whole place is lit up like Las Vegas, and the HUNDREDS of billboards that advertise it begin over a hundred and seventy-five miles away. Some of the more popular billboards read: Pedro’s FIREWORKS! (Does yours?), Keep yelling, kids! (They'll stop.), Pedro's Weather Forecast: Chili today - Hot tamale!, Keep America Green! Bring Money! And on…and on…People hear so much about this place, that by the time they actually see it on the horizon, they often decide to check it out.
If you had a billboard, what would it say? If your life were a billboard, what would people read? Would it attract people or repel them?
We believe that crazy acts of love are appropriate billboards for the Kingdom of God. 1 John 4:11-12 reads: “Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.”
The second part of our vision deals with this very topic.
Love, Redefined
Love is the melody and chorus of this song. Taking the example set by Jesus, we focus on loving and serving people as they are and where they are; no strings attached. Our motivation is to love people simply because they are loved by God. Instead of trying to get people to come to church, we bring the church to the people. When we tell the good news by BEING the good news, we offer Jesus in person to a world that is weary of being tied to religion. Living our faith in this manner results in light invading darkness. We believe that the love of God is realized with every kind act, every addiction broken, every injustice made right and every truth proclaimed.
May you light up your world with God’s love this week.
Joe
Matthew 5:13-16
“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.
“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
Matthew 5:43-48
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.
For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
1 John 4:7-21
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.
If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.
NLTse
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