Anyone who is on Facebook has probably seen this YouTube video (The Dreaded Stairs) popping up on people’s pages. I didn’t pay much attention until a fellow Christian educator (thank you Donald Schell) shared it on the NAECED list-serve with the comment, “Engineers offering a startlingly non-verbal invitation to fun, creativity, and play and produce a startlingly large result for behavior change that looks like it may also have provoked an enhanced sense of community and consciousness as well.  After I watched it, I was thinking of some the ‘shoulds’ the engineers didn’t touch.  ‘It would be better for people and for society if more people used the stairs.’  ‘We should encourage everyone to use the stairs if they can.’  ‘I’m making a new year’s resolution to use the stairs.’  etc.”

Donald concludes, “What chances are we missing to lead change without any ‘should’ at all?”

So I wonder, how do we engage children, youth, AND adults in engaging with the Biblical story and building a stronger relationship to God? Are there ways we can encourage others to try a new set of stairs instead of the easy-way-out of not exerting any energy by taken the escalator?