What do you think when you drive down the main drag of your hometown and see this or that organization offering a “Free Carwash.”

I’ll tell you what I think–
If I pull over, then I am going to have to give them something. It’s really not free–in reality they are hoping that at the end of their semi-good exterior cleansing of my vehicle, I will roll down my window–give them a 10-spot and drive away. If I don’t give them anything, then I feel like a total cheap-skate and know that they will talk about the jerk in the maroon American car for the next three minutes.

As an experiment, we had signs made that literally said, “Free Carwash–No Donations Accepted.”

We should have had signs made that said $2.00 Carwash because we would have washed more cars (I think).

I chose to be the one standing alongside the road that I drive almost daily holding one of the signs. I’m not good at this kind of thing. I would rather be at the gas station participating in the washing instead of putting myself out there to “market” what we’re doing. I chose to do this, however, because I wanted to learn about myself by observing the reactions of my neighbors who drove past at high speeds.

People Group #1:
The majority of people paid little to no attention to me nor my sign. These people were the ones who were in a hurry to get from point A to point B and had no time, nor need to get a washed up.

People Group #2:
These were the ones who would look at my sign, then look at me and smile. It was as if I could hear their brains through the sound of the traffic, “Ah, isn’t that cute. There is a grown man holding up a sign for a free car wash. Get a job bro!”

People Group #3:
The Double Takers. These were the ones who would look my direction, look away, and then strain their necks and eyeballs re-reading the sign. “Could it be that there is a group of people doing a carwash that is actually free? No–there has to be some catch. Nobody would waste their time to do something for free without expecting anything in return.”

People Group #4:
I need to get washed up! We actually did have a long line of cars at one point. Surprisingly, people took us up on our offer and let us wash their vehicles (very well I might add!). The washing was usually accompanied by questions such as, “Why are you guys doing this?” “Where are you from?” “You mean I really don’t have to give you anything?”

People Group #5:
The washed (but not for free). We had a lady get into an argument with us because we wouldn’t take her money. Once her car was washed she pretended to drive away and then got out quickly and left a pile of money on the fence next to our washing supplies.

We had a guy who wouldn’t take no for an answer as he offered money. So instead, he pulled out a tin of cookies and made sure that everyone was offered as many as they wanted.

Another guy pulled up to me as asked if he could see the sign up close. I held it up for him to see. After he read it he said, “So I really don’t have to give you anything?” I told me that he didn’t. He said that it sounded like a great deal and then pulled up next to the long line, inserted a Jazz CD into his CD player and cranked music for us. Before long, he had a sponge in his hand and was scrubbing cars right next to us. When I asked him was he was doing he said, “I’ve got to do something!”

Two women saw our sign and went home to pick up their “really dirty car” and brought it back to be washed. After questioning us about why we were doing it and finding out that we were about being a blessing and extending grace to our city they said, “You must be from a church.” I told them that we all happened to go to the same church but that we had committed the week to loving our community. One of the two was from LA and was thinking about moving to our community. When she heard what I said she replied, “When I move back up here, I’m coming to your church. I’ve never heard of a church that just blesses people before.”

Isn’t that sad?

The carwash is an example of God’s grace to you. What people group do you resonate with most?