distractions

Last night my Keri I loaded the minivan and headed to the Columbus Zoo to see the "Christmas lights". It was the day before it was opened to the public and was "member appreciation night". Free cookies and hot chocolate were on the flier as a way to say thanks for being a member.
What should have been a 30-35 minute drive turned into an 1 1/2 hours in a van with 3 frustrated kids wanting to get there. The traffic leading up to the entrance was moving not much better than a snail in 3 feet of snow, pulling a trailer with one wheel gone. A car had broken down in the middle of the road, which made it feel even more like a congested artery. We get there, walk 3 miles to get the door and find the whole park is so packed we could barely manuever our 13 kid Jeep stroller without injuring some small furry woodland creature. Then after the cold had set in, we found the "what used to be the free hot chocolate and not even a crumb of a cookie" stand. There were soooo many distractions, that it became hard to keep our focus on the kids and their fun. Am I complaining.....yes, a little, but it's for a purpose. We left there saying....."I will never do that again".
How many times have guests come into our church and felt like that? Whether we were totally unprepared for them, or something out of our control left a bad taste in their mouth. It is our responsibility to remove as many distractions as possible so we can to present Jesus in a relevant way. We want them thinking less about "Where will I sit?", and "Will my child be safe?", and more about "What is God trying to speak to me!".

PS - We made it a great zoo night for our kids that we soon won't forget.