God’s Messengers

Churches are more numerous and prominent here than we were accustomed to in Southern California. The same goes for the signboards out front that pastors use to communicate weekly messages to their flocks.

As you drive around the area, it’s hard not to read these signboards to see what the latest missives are. I suppose they also provide a clue as to where the pastor might be coming from, should you decide to attend a service on a Sunday.

Food for thought -- or belief

Some of the messages are broad calls to follow religious guidelines:

God is everywhere
So pray anywhere

Think biblically
Behave spiritually

Others seem more like counseling advice to all the laypeople out there:

God made wrinkles
To show where smiles have been

Listening may be the most
Loving thing you do today

Occasionally a reference to local conservative politics creeps in:

Heaven’s riches
Are tax free

God end abortion
And bring revival
To America

And once in a while a pithy pun surfaces, making me suspect there’s a newsletter for pastors that includes suggestions for their local signboards:

In the dark
Follow the
Son

Come inside
We are prayer
Conditioned

Perhaps the most common messages simply conjure the image of Jesus. I can’t help wondering if some of these are the church-signboard equivalent of placeholders, posted the week the pastor was extremely busy or just worn out:

Redeemed by Christ
The crucified!

Jesus to know
Him is to love
Him

Jesus Loves You
Parking
Across the street

New Visitors

Thanks and welcome to the many who first read about this blog on L.A. Observed. I’ve included most of the comments I’ve received below, with a response or two to the ones that caught my fancy the most. I plan to continue this rather personal and opinionated chronicle of my life here in southern Ohio, focusing on food (as always), the animals in my life and my observations on the unique and fascinating culture of the region. I hope you’ll stay in touch.

Snake!

Saw a snake in the back yard today; I’m a little surprised I haven’t seen one here before. At first I thought it was a branch lying in the grass, but then the shape changed and I grew suspicious. I watched as it approached the house — attended by a cardinal and a robin who hopped along nearby, seemingly not knowing quite what to make of it.

Apparently it likes our yard

The snake was all black with a white chin, about three feet long. Eventually it came into a pile of firewood near our screened porch, and poked its head up between a couple of logs. We regarded each other from a few feet apart — I could see it darting its tongue in and out, tasting the air, trying to figure out what the heck I am.  In a few minutes, Violet became aware of it and started barking like crazy. The snake didn’t like this and ducked its head down into the wood. Then it slowly moved off.

With the help of a website on Ohio snakes, I ID’d it: A black racer, common here in southern Ohio, nonvenemous (although it can be aggressive), eats frogs, lizards, birds, small mammals and other snakes. We’ve had heavy rains in recent weeks, followed by warm, summery weather, so I wasn’t too surprised to see it. We have a chorus of frogs in the evening from the areas of the yard that are still soggy, and I’ve seen several box turtles crossing nearby roads. It’s a great time of year if you’re a reptile or an amphibian.

An Unusual Apology

I stopped into a local convenience store today to get an ice-cream cone. They were having a 2 for 1 special — buy one scoop, get another free. What the heck.

As the girl behind the counter bent over the ice-cream tubs, she started to cough. She turned her head away so that she coughed behind her, but still, I was a little nonplussed that someone serving me ice cream had just coughed in the vicinity of my scoops.

The girl looked up at me. “I’m sorry,” she said by way of apology. “I’m choking on my spit today.”

Oh. Thanks.