Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath, May 24, 2025
Friday afternoon of this week I was driving home from our local library, where I’d been working on this week’s sermon. I passed by a familiar neighborhood landmark – an old Shakey’s Pizza place which has been closed for several months. That reader board sign has been empty since then, until the message you see above was mounted.
Once I deciphered the letters (and figured out that the second symbol wasn’t a division sign but a plus sign), I realized that a guy whose name’s first initial was “C” was inviting a girl (“Cal”) to an upcoming prom. Or maybe it was the other way around, a girl inviting a guy named “Cal.”
The more you look at this photo, the more you realize the trouble someone took to get those letters up there. In past years, I’ve seen Shakey’s staff teetering high on an A-frame ladder changing the sign. So the prom-inviter had to first of all create the lettering, print it out large enough to be visible, and then ascend somehow and find a way to fasten those letters so they would stay.
And as the sign-affixer tottered down the ladder and anxiously surveyed the result, I’m sure that he (or she) was fervently hoping that the “significant other” would see the message and joyously respond.
You know where I’m going with this, right? Once upon a time, in His final Bible book (“The Revelation of Jesus Christ”), Jesus pictured Himself not at a reader board but outside the exterior door of a house.
“Behold,” He calls. “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20 NKJV) And while the prom-inviter envisions attending a brief high school event with a fascinating partner, Jesus invites the household into the closest possible eternal friendship.
Doesn’t that sound inviting? To read more about this invitation, review the verses at the following link:
https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/salvation