Some one out there in the wide world of cyber space may wonder if there really is a Cathy Sears. It is my pleasure to let you know that there really is a rubberband carrying CS. I had the privilege to have lunch with her this past Sabbath along with her husband, two boys and one daughter. But I must warn you, the rubber bands are indeed big and perhaps lethal. Although she did not muster enough courage to shoot any of them during the church service. If you see anyone that looks like the picture that claims to be her on this forum, be assured that is not her. She looks nothing like her picture. Her family is fun to be around, in spite of her If any of you get the chance to visit face to face with her, do not miss the opportunity.

Thanks for the pleasure of your company CS and family.

We also enjoyed our meeting with DrD. He didn't even flinch when I told him I had 836 baby pictures of my granddaughter to show him. Maybe he felt sure that I was exaggerating (I was), or perhaps he thought that his survival might depend on being cooperative. (Good thinking DrD. Grandmothers with pictures can be dangerous!) He even made all the appropriate comments, and showed the extremely good taste of proclaiming Aislyn "really cute." As I have never known DrD to lie, I am quite confident that he was not just trying to appease me, but was actually expressing his honest opinion.

DrD's religious liberty sermon was interesting, and history was made in that my husband remained awake through the entire sermon! If any of you ever have the opportunity to hear DrD preach, be sure to make use of it. And be sure to introduce yourself afterward, and tell him Cathy Sears sent you.

Our only disappointment with the day was that our time with DrD was so short. As we were unable to stay until the end of his afternoon meeting, we had only the short time allowed for lunch to actually visit with him. If we ever are afforded the opportunity to meet again in this world DrD, I hope that cirucumstances will allow us more time with you, and better yet, that we might also be able to make the acquaintance of your wife as well.

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

You guys are too cute!

Wendy
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Maranatha!!!

p.s.okay Cathy, now I REALLY want to see a real picture of you.

PS: DrD, I told you that I would shoot the rubber bands if you got boring or long-winded. Lack of courage had nothing to do with it!

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

I'm not sure what long winded is, but I sat down at 12:25. How long does your church usually last? So maybe it was lack of courage!

You sat down at 12:25?
Our preacher takes longer to do the announcements.
Sounds like you made an impression on someone, and you must be interesting, the 'audience' stayed awake.

DrD, you conveniently neglected to mention that you were sharing the pulpit with our Lake Union Religious Liberty Director. You only spoke for 20 minutes. Our pastor never finishes that quickly. Maybe you could give him some lessons?

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

I see that others have a problem knowing when to sit down!

[This message has been edited by Wedntgp (edited February 23, 2001).]

Gerry - Sounds like your church has a lot going on if it takes that long to get through announcements, or your members are really dull that it takes that long to explain the announcements to them.

The secret to keeping a congregation awake is to talk to loudly that they can't get to sleep, or be an overweight bearded attorney (see Linda, I'm not ashamed of being an attorney), that has everyone in shock that you would be allowed into the pulpit, and they can't get to sleep because of that shock.

Cathy - No problem to stop in 20 minutes. When you are batting cleanup, your supposed to get to the plate or pulpit, take a couple of big swings, and run around the bases after hitting a home run, or sitting down after striking out. I guess I did say I sat down. But it doesn't take too long to do either one. But this game (sermon) apparently went into extra innings!

I usually do not attend the 2nd service in our church because it lasts too long. The service starts @ 11:00 am and usually last, no I should say, it does not end at least 12:30 or later.
The preachers the pulpit think they have an important message no matte how long it takes.
I think this is a wrong concept. We are so accustomed to 12 o'clock lunch time, after passing this time nothing penetrates peoples' brain to do any good. All what the people would be thinking about is physical food. The brain is saturated by 12 o'clock, your gastric juice is pouring out and screaming at you.
Seriously, Mrs. White advised not to go over noon with sermon as this does not do any good. She said it is better to end the sermon before rather than after noon. May be many preachers like to hear themselves talking long time.
There was a preacher at our church who resisted ending the sermon by noon, by saying this is a Sabbath, what can you do on Sabbath? One member retorted him by saying you may not have any thing to do in Michigan, but here in Massachusetts, we have plenty to do on Sabbath.
I just couldn't resist posting this statement.