Should the church hand out flags?

Going out to eat was a BIG — and rare — treat when I was a kid.

When there’s eight children in the family, it’s not cheap for 10 people to dine out for dinner. That’s probably why we sometimes had the chance to go to Pancho’s Mexican Buffet for a meal.

Now Pancho’s is not a fine dining experience for Mexican food. It’s kind of mediocre, but it was cheap, and it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet. Perfect for parents wanting to feed eight kids!

But it wasn’t the food that made me want to go to Pancho’s, it was the flag.

Because Pancho’s is a buffet, the restaurant doesn’t have servers checking on its guests, there’s only a couple who tend to all of the tables. So when you run out of food and want more, all you have to do is raise a little flag on your table. When the server sees your flag up, she knows you need service. The servers won’t come by your table unless the flag is raised.

Needless to say, no matter how full I was, I would eat a little more just to be able to raise the flag!

Not being served unless you raise a flag is an interesting concept. Considering it works for Pancho’s perhaps the church should consider handing out flags to lost, hurting, sick, needy, lonely people. They’re all around the church, but many Christians don’t seem to respond to their need for service. They remain ignored.

Perhaps they need to raise a flag to get our attention. But would you see them even then?

Or perhaps we need to get serious about obeying and following Christ so the lost — of all people! — will not be overlooked by the church.

Scotty