Randy Wray’s Blog

The hardest question I faced yesterday came not from a church member, visitor or church leader but from my son.

Driving to have lunch with some church members and visitors to our assembly Reese asked me “Dad, if you weren’t the preacher would you skip church on some Sundays?” My first thought? “Son, I am the preacher and I dream of skipping church on most Sundays!” My second thought, one that quickly followed my first thought? “How on earth am I going to answer this question?”

I knew that my standard answer to difficult questions (“When the daddy and the mommy love each other very much . . .) would not suffice. So I took a page from Jesus’ Guide To Answering Tough Questions: Rule #1 Answer a question with a question of your own.

I said, “That’s an interesting question Reese, why are you thinking about that?” He said, “well it’s just that (and he began to name names) skip church every once in a while and that got me to thinking.”

By the way, those of you from Arlington who grace my blog with your readership and are fearful that you were named can send a contribution to my TAYLOR T5 fund and I will keep your name out of subsequent blogs!

His conclusion, which he shared with me while using a friend of his as an example, was this: you can still be a Christian and skip church every once in a while.

I never answered the question. I used the diversion tactic and changed the subject. I’m still not quite sure how to answer the question.