I Love a Parade

Our church had a float in the Dodge City Holidazzle-formerly-known-as-Christmas Parade.  It was my idea.  (The float, not Christmas).  It was the result of weeks of negotiating between myself and God Himself. 

I would not have gotten the idea except the Dodge City Chamber of Commerce lady handed the parade info to me while I was working at Dodge City Federal S&L.  You know, to deliver to the STP.  Which I did.  We (meaning he and someone else) should have a float in the parade I told him.  Because Christmas is really our holiday and we should celebrate right out in front of God and everybody.  We agreed that would be a good idea, but who could we snooker, er, ask to organize such an undertaking during this busy time of year.  (Plus, we've never done that before.)  We didn't even have an idea.  And, besides, I was going to be out of town that weekend.

That's when I got the idea.  To go along with the Treedazzle Holidazzle-formerly-known-as-Christmas theme, we could do the Legend of the Three Trees Story.  And we could hand out little chocolate treasures and copies of the story to all the spectators.  Okay, maybe God Himself gave me the idea, but I knew what to do with it.  I took it right to the Youth Pastor's Wife and suggested she do something with my great idea.  She politely declined and I politely told God Himself that I had tried my very best.  And besides that I was going to be out of town that weekend.  Sorry God.

Then that meddling Mark Batterson in his meddling Wild Goose Chase book wrote about how God Himself talked to Moses on the back side of the desert from a burning bush.  And how God can show up anytime and anyplace, and when He does, that place is holy ground and I should take off my sandals. And I, like Moses, had to make a few more excuses.  How could I build a float?  How would I light the trees?  Where would I even get three trees?  And remember I'm going to be out of town that weekend.  Sorry God.

Then the STP himself preached an advent sermon about redeeming the distractions this Christmas season and I had to sigh and try one more time. (I also had to remind God Himself that we now had less than a week to put this whole thing together.) So I took my great idea to my small group and in my small group (which really is quite small) we had three trees, lights, a trailer, a generator, and an almost free evening to put the float together.

So Thursday night we did just that.  I had a little bit of trepidation that we could not, in fact, pull this off, and that it might be an embarrassment to the church and maybe to me if anyone found out it was my idea.  And God Himself had to remind me that He had not asked me to be successful, just obedient.

So Friday night I was indeed out of town and the Three Tree Float floated down the main street in Dodge City in my absence and the whole thing was orchestrated by God Himself.  When I asked, the STP said he did not notice any of the parade spectators in their bare feet.  I guess they did not realize they were standing on holy ground. 

(The next thing God asked Moses to do involved a snake.  Makes you wonder what's coming next, doesn't it?)