Quote:
Originally Posted by awareness
I was talking to a brother this morning. He was reminding me of how it was back in the 70s. In those days if you missed one meeting your givenness and devotion to Christ and the Church was called into question. And meetings were serious business. The more meetings you attended indicated the measure of your Spirituality. Those burning for the Lord wouldn't ever think of missing a meeting.
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I remember missing one meeting.
I was in the churchlife less than a year, living in the brothers' house, and someone found out I was an electrical designer. So I was "drafted" to help with the plans for the new expansion of the meeting hall. Working overtime at my day job, making all the meetings and service groups, and being drafted to draft drawings, left me with more work than hours in the week, so I decided to miss the weekly cross-town gathering in Willoughby to meet my deadline for drafting the meeting hall.
It was a common practice among the more zealous young people to promote "functioning of all the members" during the testimony time period, and a few of my close "friends" proclaimed from the front row, "brother Ohio has a testimony!" Silence. A few hundred people looking over their shoulders for me.
Dead silence. Where in the world is brother Ohio? I was an instant sensation. Or so I was told. Everybody in regional Cleveland knew that I had just missed the corporate get together on Sunday night. Was Ohio backsliding? We thought he was such a "good" brother. The Triune God was gathering all His people together to speak to them. How could I miss the meeting?
All kinds of folks came to visit me after the meeting. There I was up in the attic of the brothers' house making drawings for the church. Fortunately for me I had a pretty good excuse.