Whatever Happened To The Balloon Brigade? A.I.M.'s 4th shot.

NOTE:  This document recently came to me through channels that will remain undisclosed to you, due to the fact that they are largely unknown to me.  I cannot vouch for the validity of its contents.  Since the author is also a mystery to me, I cannot say with any certainty that I trust the motives of what is recorded here.   However, on the outside chance that it can be of any use to you in your ministry leadership role, here it is.

In a village far from wherever you are as you read this there lived a people who were very poor, but very happy; poor because money was scarce, happy because they knew their place and purpose in the world.  Their village had been built on the Southside of a tremendously large sinkhole.  For centuries, people traveling north would fall helplessly into the sinkhole, never to be seen or heard from again.  When this came to the attention of the Ruler of the land, he commissioned a village to be erected on the Southside of the hole for the sole purpose of warning travelers away from danger and death.  And so, the town was raised (not pretty, but functional) and the community developed (not pretty, but friendly and faithful).  They knew what to do.  Their mission was clear; warn people and steer them away from falling into the pit.

The Ruler’s plan worked.  Countless lives were saved.  For several years, the lifesaving village developed new ways of helping travelers avoid the sinkhole on their journey north.  One of the most creative ideas was the “Balloon Brigade”.  Members of the village would blow up bright balloons and place them around the edges of the pit.  This served at least two purposes; it created beauty in a place which desperately needed beauty, and (most importantly) it caught the attention of weary travelers, and saved their lives.

After a century or so, however, something went terribly wrong.  The balloon plan didn’t seem to be working any longer.  Or at least the plan wasn’t working as well as it had in the early days.  Most travelers either didn’t see the balloons, or saw them and weren’t curious enough to inquire as to their purpose.  This trend led to innumerable deaths.  One might think this would’ve caused the village some concern.  One would be wrong.  While it’s true that some in the village attempted to sound the alarm, and questioned the effectiveness of the Balloon Brigade, they were not taken seriously.  In fact, these warnings and wonderings were seen by the village elders as rebellion against the Ruler’s original plan for the village.  “We were built to blow up balloons” was the party line of the day.  So those who thought differently, (i.e. “The village was built to save lives”) were stuck with one of three choices;

1.       Try something new on their own, unsanctioned and unsupported by the village.

2.       Leave for another village that welcomes new lifesaving ideas and techniques.

3.       Stay quiet, pull up a chair, and blow all of their hot air into balloons.

It should be noted that at some point the blown up balloons were no longer even placed on the edges of the sinkhole.  Instead, balloons decorated the inside walls of the village homes and gathering places.  The balloon became the thing.  Much time, energy and money was invested into the production and celebration of balloons.  And the travelers kept walking, falling and dying.

Here is where the account comes to an end.  I have no idea what happened to the village, the sinkhole, the travelers, or the Balloon Brigade.