Over-BLOWN!

Wow, it's blowing like crazy...or is it?

The two guys in the back seem OK with it...

Have you see this recent video?

It's pretty amusing how this weather reporter seems to be struggling to stand upright, while two other people casually stroll through the background of the scene.  One of them is even doing something on his smart phone!   It seems that the severity of the situation at the moment was a bit over stated by the well meaning weather man who was trying to convey a sense of urgency in his report from the field.

No doubt that the hurricane is a serious situation, as the viewer, I hope we are smart enough to figure out that a storm like Florence is not a laughing matter.  Lives have been lost and homes flooded.  We get it, no need to go to this kind of theatrics to achieve the drama needed for common human compassion!  It's windy.  What else would it be?  It's a hurricane!

The whole thing got me thinking about how think we need to sensationalize some issues in order to generate a reaction.  It's probably because we are SO saturated with fearful news, that in order to rise above the collective dismal state of mind, a news story has to be EXTRA imperative in order to keep your eyes focused on the screen long enough to make the commercial sponsor happy.

If you watched that video, how did it make you feel?  Did you not get the sense that you were being manipulated?  Did you feel cheated in some way?  Did it make you lose faith in the reporting?  I hope it made you think about how you view media.  I know the whole "fake news" thing is an easy way to brush this off, but there is something to be said for how take in the reported stories of the day.

Further than that, how does this apply to the way we share our faith?  Do we engage in questionable tactics like what we saw in the video, or just present the gospel and trust that it will do it's work?

I know this is a touchy subject because the Good News is desperately needed and time is of the essence, but let's not be guilty of this type of hype!  The Gospel is what it is, it needs none of our theatrics.  It needs to be presented clearly with respect to the listener, then trusted to achieve it's intended result!

(P.S. You could also include fundraising in this discussion.  I'll let you take it from there.)