Hubby and I really enjoy going to the Salmon Days arts & crafts festival each October. This fabulous street party is held near the salmon fish hatchery and celebrates the salmon returning from the ocean to spawn.
It is always fun to stand on the bridge and gawk in amazement at the huge salmon in the stream below!
It is fun to see all the unique craft items which people have made and are selling in all the many booths up and down the streets. So much creativity! So many beautiful items! So much originality!
Here you can see an art piece which hubby and I picked up last year at Salmon Days. I love this orca whale. It sums up everything about living in the Pacific Northwest … the forested landscape, the Puget Sound, filled with fish & octopus & crabs & jellyfish underwater, and traversed by ferries above, and an eagle soaring high overhead.
Here is another fantastic find from a few years ago. This gift was perfect for a very special small friend of ours!
At Salmon Days, musicians belt out their musical creativity from stages. And the food trucks! … so much amazing food available … and always, fresh salmon cooked over charcoal fires! And apple dumplings … fresh-hot out of the oven and topped with vanilla ice cream … yum!
The whole experience is a lot of fun! People bring their furry friends … and it is highly entertaining to see pooches and puppies being carried in both front-pack and back-pack doggie-carriers, as well as doggie strollers.
There is one part of Salmon Days which is not fun. It is those who feel like it is their calling by God to carry tall obnoxious signs and to yell loudly into microphones at all the people. Abrasive! It is abrasive I tell you!
Yelling … to everyone who passes by about judgment in hell! Yelling … as they read passages from the Bible (which I hold dear!).
Yelling … with a know-it-all, judgmental attitude.
Yelling … without any compassion or kindness.
Yelling … without any approachableness.
As hubby and I were in the area of the festival where the abrasive yelling was the worst, we happened to stroll past a booth which was proudly selling t-shirts and sweatshirts with the message boldly emblazoned: “Destroy the patriarchy! Save the planet!”
Destroy the patriarchy??
Hubby and I were both shocked by the message boldly displayed on the shirts. And at the same time … as we were processing this shocking message being advertised for wear, the entire family-friendly-environment of the festival was being ruined by an abrasive, unthoughtful, know-it-all, judgmental man yelling Bible through a microphone at everyone!
The general consensus of everyone at the festival was that they wanted the loud abrasive yelling to stop. No one likes to be yelled at. Especially at a fun, family-friendly event. It was totally inappropriate and uncalled for!
And I have to admit, in that moment, the message on those t-shirts seemed to be accurate.
The women selling the t-shirts promoting: “Destroy the patriarchy! Save the planet!” were not loud; they were not abrasive; they were not rude, or unthoughtful towards the people strolling past.
In that moment, those who were advertising the worst message actually seemed more believable … because they were quietly minding their own business, they had paid to have a booth set up like everyone else, and they were being completely appropriate.
If someone is truly a follower of Jesus Christ, then their behavior will match Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ did not go around loudly yelling condemnation and judgment at the crowds! Jesus was not abrasive. Jesus was not rude or know-it-all. Jesus was not unkind and unthoughtful in order to shove His beliefs down other people’s throats.
Jesus was gentle! Jesus was very wise and appropriate in social situations.
Jesus showed respect towards all people!
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” – 1 Peter 3:15
“The Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct … leading them to a knowledge of the truth.” – 2 Timothy 2:24-25
The fruit of the Spirit (aka – the evidence of the power and work of the Holy Spirit in someone’s life) is: love … peace … gentleness … kindness … etc.
