Communications Blog
Eileen Hodgetts

Thought for today
“So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!” James 3:5

I’ve been thinking about rumors. Where do they come from? (I ended a sentence with a preposition, but I understand that is now considered cool.) So back to rumors … Sometimes I think they must be beamed from outer space by a race of beings who just want to confuse us and set us against each other. The other day I had the interesting experience of being in on the beginning of a rumor. Admittedly I didn’t see the little green man who beamed down and planted the rumor, but I’ll bet he wasn’t out of the parking lot before I heard what he had to say.

It was the week before Father’s Day and there was a rather splendid Harley Davidson motorcycle in the Commons behind a rope barrier. No surprise there; it was just to give off a manly ambience in preparation for Father’s Day. So Graham and I went to the Lakeside Café to get some coffee. Sunday is great for this; we arrive in time for a pre-service coffee and stay for a post service feast. Blessings on whoever first thought of the Lakeside Café. Anyway, we sat down and I overheard a conversation that went rather like this:

”They’re raffling that motorcycle. I wonder who gave it.”

“Wow, that’s great. It must have cost a fortune.”

“Yeah, but the tickets are $20 each”

“So who does it benefit?”

“Urban Impact”

At this point I was getting a little hot under the collar. Why hadn’t someone told me about this wonderful motorcycle raffle? After all I am the Communications Director. I’m supposed to know these things. I’m even supposed to communicate them.

So I slam down my coffee and march over to the motorcycle to check this out. And there is the motorcycle in all its glory. On loan from Chuck Miller. Not being raffled. Not a mention of a raffle. And certainly not a $20 price tag. By the time the service started John Guest was forced to make an announcement to say that the motor cycle was not being raffled.

Fortunately this was just a harmless rumor; but it was quite frightening to see it grow from speculation to fact in a matter of seconds. So the moral of this story is: Read the Sunday to Sunday, read the website; read the weekly e-mail update, and even read this blog. If it’s not in any of those places, it’s probably not true.

And one more thought for the day: "One reason a dog is such a lovable creature is his tail wags instead of his tongue"