When I was a child, a big circus came to town. They set up the big top on the site where the Butler Elementary School sits today. That was only a block away from where we lived, so us kids were fascinated sitting on our side of the street watching the elephants assist in the heavy work. When the big show opened, of course we didn’t want to miss a thing.

I remember watching the lions in the center ring with the lion tamer cracking his whip and holding those big cats at bay with only a stool. How did he do that, I wondered. The answer is an old lion-tamers trick. The stool has multiple legs. As the lion tamer holds those legs out to the lion, he focuses upon his enemy, and becomes so confused and disoriented by the multiple focus points that he can’t move. He won’t attack one leg without making himself vulnerable to the others. All his energy is neutralized. So he just sits there.

I think its possible for such a thing to happen in churches. If there are too many things for the church to focus upon, it can become disoriented and not know what to do. So it just sits there for fifty years doing nothing, because it can’t decide what to do. What is the primary focus of the Lord’s Church (any church)? Let’s stay focused.

Tags: circus, focus, vision