“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)

Last week I wrote about church transfers who leave churches out of dissatisfaction, and the importance of dealing with any unresolved issues before becoming a member of a new church so that the same pattern will not repeat itself.  One common frustration with people who leave churches is the general feeling that nobody cares about them.  They aren’t able to make it to church for three weeks, and nobody calls to see how they are doing.  They ask for prayer for something important happening in their life, and nobody checks in to see how things turned out.  Most churches talk about being a family, but what kind of family forgets to look after a brother or sister who is nowhere to be found for an extended period of time?  What kind of family turns a cold shoulder to a son or daughter going through a difficult time?  For those who expect a church to care for each other as a family, it can be disillusioning and hurtful to experience such neglect.
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If you were paying attention to the news over the past few months, you may have been shocked to see Google acquire the rights to YouTube, a popular on-line video-sharing website, for the staggering sum of 1.65 billion dollars.  If you had never heard of or visited YouTube before, let me share a couple more astounding facts about this phenomenon – first of all, it was founded in February 2005.  That’s right – after being in existence for only a year and a half, its three founders sold the rights to YouTube for over one and a half billion dollars, the greatest get rich quick scheme ever.  Secondly, by July 2006, 65,000 new videos were uploaded to the website every day by people around the world, while 100 million clips were being viewed daily.  The most popular video, called The Evolution of Dance, has been viewed over 38 million times since it was added nine months ago.

Is your head spinning yet?

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The sun is shining on the autumn leaves, reflecting a tapestry of reds, yellows, and oranges around the assembled crowd, as the young man stands, smiling. The last bridesmaid has taken her place to his right, beaming at him, and the winding path before him now stands deserted. And then, from over the hill and out of his line of sight, comes the faint noise of horse’s hooves, and soon enough he can just make out the horse and buggy coming around the bend.

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