PEW OCCUPANCY

7/10/11 My Utmost for His Highest focused today on attending "church services" together. This morning my brothers* and their wives and hubby and I did just that. Adams pew---last row of center section in the family church where we grew up. Special---because as a 78 year active member of Hopkinsville FUMC, our father was a recognized fixture in that pew. Sad---because through hugs and tears, many familiar folks in the congregation commented how empty it had seemed these last 4 months.

With 6 of us very much occupying that row, we commented that either the pew had gotten shorter or we had gotten wider. It was the general consensus that the pew length had been shortened. How blessed I felt to share this "last" visit with family---Mother and Daddy must have been smiling down on us all.

...let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another,...(Hebrews 10:24-25)

Hopefully the next family that "occupies" that pew will be as blessed by that church as our family has been over these many years. Maybe we should hang a shingle to encourage others to try out this special pew, to do more than just show up and warm the red velvet cushion. Encourage them to "grow" spiritually while opening their heart to God's truth. Rev. Williams quoted John Henry Newman this morning, " Growth is the only evidence of life." Living a spirit-filled life requires more than pew occupancy, though that's a good place to start.

*Clifton T. Adams Jr. occupies the pew where his dad, Clifton Thacker "Brud" Adams, sat for many years.