Billboards on Life's Highway

Traveling the highways, we see lots of billboards.  On our last trip to Baytown Texas for my son Aaron’s wedding, there were hundreds of billboards.  Not too far from Aaron’s apartment is the world’s largest gas station named Buc-ee’s.  Of course, it is the largest.  What else would you expect from the state that boasts the largest of everything? 

Buc-ee’s is known for billboards by Texas interstate highways with simple and humorous slogans.  One of my favorites is:  Two reasons to stop at Buc-ee’s, # 1 and #2.  The Baytown Buc-ee’s is 60,000 square feet, sits on 18 acres, has 96 gas pumps, and employs 200.  Buc-ees also has the cleanest bathrooms.  Two employees' sole purpose is cleaning the bathrooms 24 hours a day for #1 and #2.

From three hundred miles from Baytown, we started reading the billboards.  The billboards were better than the GPS.  The ideas behind the billboards: When motorists pull in to use the restroom, they are like to buy.  For me it means how far I was from Aaron.

There is a large billboard on I-110 in Pensacola, Florida advertising the Andrews Institute that says, “The world comes to Gulf Breeze.”  It is true people from over the world come to Gulf Breeze to have surgery.  I know I went there.

As a kid, I remember a barn north of Jemison that had “See Rock City” painted on its tin roof.  For several years traveling with the Bethel Baptist Builders, I have seen dozens of old barns with the “See Rock City slogans.  I have been by Rock City on many occasions, especially with the Builders, but have never been there.  My destination is the Builder work site and I resist the temptation thinking that one day Rock City will be the destination.

Billboards are very tempting.  My friend Michael Mason has a chapter in his book True titled 1-800-2good2Btrue.  He says, “That if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”  As a traveling evangelist, he says that he sees motels with rooms for $19.99 per night.  He writes, “Chances are, many of those people at those motels are not there to sleep.”  He and his wife have stayed in rooms with worn carpets, stained bathrooms, and dirty sheets.  He asks, “Is sleeping on clean sheets really worth over a hundred and fifty dollars a night?  Probably not, but peace of mind is priceless.”

Many years ago, on a building trip with my home Association, we were headed to Granger, Wyoming.  On I-80, we started seeing signs inviting us to visit the Little America truck stop.  The closer we got to Granger, the more inviting the billboard became. 

Little America was an oasis along I-80 before truck stops were common.  At Little America, there is a hotel, restaurant, post office, convenience store, repair shop, and other trucker amenities.  We were expecting something more by reading the billboards.  We were kinda disappointed at first.  Before the trip was over, it was truly an oasis.  Way back, when we were there, that is where we showered after working all day on the Granger church.  There were no facilities or other amenities at the church.  Little America was a welcomed relief after working in skunk dens under the church all day.

Michael Mason believes billboards line the highways because the highways are filled with lonely, empty people trying to find their niche in life. And advertisers know people are desperate to find happiness and will do whatever it takes to find it.

There are signs with: 1-800-divorce, all you can eat buffet, $9.99, ice cold beer, Cracker Barrel 18 miles, World’s Largest Adult Bookstore exit 666, Exit here for Gator City, Visit Silver Springs, and my favorite, Accident/ Injury, Call Alexander Shunnarah 1-800-808-****.  Shunnarah is everywhere.

Long before Ricky Nelson was a traveling man. There was the Apostle Paul. On his missionary journeys, he had a traveling companion named Demas.  Demas had potential, but the world captivated him.  Rather than being in the presence of God, he chose the pleasures of the world.  He read one too many billboards that distracted and tempted Demas and he got off at an exit and never returned.

 

Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me:  For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia (II Timothy 4:9-10 KJV).

 

On a Builder trip to Pikeville, Kentucky, there was a billboard in the mountains advertising a plumbing business.  It was an eye catcher.  “We repair what your husband fixed.”  Ain’t you glad that we serve a God that repaired what you and I try to fix after we fall prey to Satan’s billboards.