Wow, I didn’t realize life could be this great.  Gas prices continue to drop, the holidays are upon us, Crossings is only 7 weeks away from our first service at 4MS…and the Turn or Burn truck is back…except this time, it’s BIGGER, BADDER, and MEANER than ever!!!

Remember the first Turn or Burn Truck?  If not, take a minute to check it out.

It’s been a few months since the Turn or Burn truck has been seen.  Then, about a week or so ago, my friend John told me he actually saw a Turn or Burn JEEP in Knoxville.  Yes, a Jeep Wrangler.  Weird.  Wouldn’t you know it, less than a week later, I’m on my way to work on Monday morning, and I see this on the corner of Lovell Road and Lexington Drive.

You can clearly see…it’s different.  Bigger.  Meaner.  It has evolved from a 16ft to a 24ft truck.  Now, granted, the other side of the truck is blank.  Just a yellow truck.  Maybe their faith promise holy fire yest ye answer to the flames offering didn’t meet expectations.  Who knows.  But this is a monster.  Physically and spirtually.  So, for your viewing pleasure, I took close up pictures of the left, middle, and right side of the truck, so you can more clearly see the details.  You’ll be able to see where one section ends and the other begins.  Look at the gentle wording.  The calming imagery.  Let the message soak in.  And then tell me how you feel.  Here goes:

If you’ve been reading this blog for more than a few weeks, you’re aware of just how much I LOVE door-to-door evangelists, bicycle riding evangelists, street preachers, gospel tracts, and so forth.  

Two weeks ago, before seeing the movie “Eagle Eye” with Erin at the Pinnacle theater in Turkey Creek, yours truly needed to use the restroom.  This is what I found on top of the toilet paper dispenser inside the stall.  Made for good bathroom reading. 

Just in case you can’t read it clearly….basically, it reminds you that there’s nothing more you need to do in order to go to hell.  It’s already a given that you’re on your way there….unless, of course, you believe upon Jesus and take a moment to pray something like….okay, okay.  I’m calm.  I know we all need Jesus.  I know that without Him I’m definitely on a one way ticket to hell.  But can you imagine one day being at church, camp, or a conference, and hearing a stirring testimony from a guest speaker, and it starts with, “I was a sinner.  I was on my way to hell.  Until one weekend I went to see Nights in Rodanthe with my wife.  And before the movie, I realized I needed to go number 2.  While doing my duty, I noticed a gospel tract on the toilet paper dispenser and thought, ‘what the hell, I’ve got a couple of minutes’.  And ‘what the hell’ was right, because I realized then and there that brimstone was in my future.  Then I prayed a prayer, left the restroom, and decided immediately with my wife that we would exchange our tickets and go see Fireproof instead.”

So, for those of you who’ve been with me for a while….remember the Turn or Burn truck?  Here’s what I wrote about it back in January.  Not surprisingly, I still see it about 2-3 days out of every month right down the road from where I work.  However, recently, it appeared right down the road from where we live.  We were on our way to Erin’s parents house, when, lo and behold, there was the Turn or Burn truck sitting right in the middle of the Walmart/Ingles parking lot in Halls.  There is nowhere this truck doesn’t go.  I’ve talked to people who’ve seen it in south Knoxville as well. 

Well, I couldn’t resist.  The BVD was in the car (it always is).  And so was the camera (it always is too).  So, in what will likely be the most oxymoronic picture of the BVD tour, I couldn’t help but get a picture with the “Beliefs, Values, and Dreams” award in front of the “Turn or Burn” truck. 

Oh yeah, I spent $47.46 to fill my tiny little car up with gas yesterday at Weigles. 

The last poll I loaded onto this blog – which, at this time, is still listed on the left hand side of the page – asked: “If Jesus were alive and ministering today – as opposed to 2000 years ago – is it possible that we wouldn’t even know he was here?”

This is not meant to be a controversial questions, just one that caused me to think about our culture today. Imagine if Jesus were born 31 years ago. That for the last 2000 years, God’s people were still anticipating the birth of the Messiah.

Now, let’s think about a few things. There are over 6 billion people on the earth today. Billions more than were alive in Jesus’ day. Could Jesus just get lost in the shuffle? Church as we know it now would not be what it is had Jesus not been born 2000 years ago. What would it be? We don’t know.

Assuming Jesus were still born in Bethlehem, even if He performed miracles and did all the same things we know He did, would we recognize Him for who He is? Or would He just be dismissed as another religious figure, a “so called miracle worker”, a “television evangelist”, or a person who heals people who “obviously aren’t really sick or in need of healing.” Would we see Him as a fanatical middle eastern Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, or Jimmy Swaggart? Would we, as a people, be so sick of waiting for the Messiah that we just didn’t believe He would come….or would we be so excited for Him to finally come that anyone who did anything deemed as “miraculous” suddenly received our praise as “the one”.

I don’t know. It’s totally hypothetical, really, but really tweaked my interest once I thought about it.

What do you think?

I work in west Knoxville. Once you get off the interstate, you turn right onto Lovell Road, go about 100 yards, then turn right again onto the road on which my place of work is located – Lexington Drive.

Then, if you’re coming from Lexington back to Lovell, here is what you see: