-          That person is about as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

-          The rain came down in long knitting needles. (Enid Bagnold, National Velvet)

-          Her parting words lingered heavily inside me like last night's Taco Bell.

-          I feel about as helpless as a trombone player in a phone booth.

Speaking of phone booths, Brian McLaren has used pay phones as an analogy for our churches. Not all that long ago, there were millions of pay phones in the United States. These days they are nearly extinct. Now, if we're not careful, we might decide that pay phones are disappearing because people don't make phone calls anymore. But we know that's not true. Today, the number of cell phones exceeds the number of "land line" phones, pay or otherwise. In fact, more phones calls are made now than ever before!

Likewise, in our churches, our pews are likely to be less full than they were a generation ago. But that doesn't mean you should then make the leap to believe that people no longer value religion or spirituality. A recent Pew Research survey found that twenty-somethings are more spiritual than their parents.

Our churches are the pay phones of the post-modern era. The question is, are we about pay phones or making phone calls?

I'm still pondering the answer to that question.