#RealityCheck

 It was about 8:15 in the morning and the pharmacist came through the door with her phone in one hand and headed toward the pharmacy alarm.  She has to unset the alarm or the police will come when she opens that door.  Heading to the alarm is done every single day.  She punched in her code, while still talking and turned and started walking to get her day started.  A few seconds later is saw her turn around and head back.  When she got a few feet from me, she asked, "Did I?"  I nodded yes.  She signed and turned around again.  I understood.

Have you ever been there?  We do things over and over and over again and later we wonder, did I do that today or am I remembering yesterday?  There were a few times that I drove off to work and got a few blocks away and wondered if I had closed the garage door.  I had to turn around and drive back to make sure.  When we are distracted we can do stuff and not recall.

Charles Stanley is noted for saying "Listen" in the middle of a sentence while preaching.  He knew human nature and I am sure it had happened to him.  We can sit in the pew and look so attentive and be a thousand miles away.  We can sing and hear prayers and our minds can be like a double screen TV with two or more programs going on at the same time.  I don't think that pleases God.  He wants your full attention and He deserves it.  Jeremiah was talking to the Lord about the condition of his country in the twelfth chapter of the book by his name.  He said."You" (You being God) "You are near to their lips but far from their mind."  Doesn't that say it all?  The people of Israel were going to services and saying things by rote.  Their minds were far away.  It was all an act.  God was not impressed by their act.

If someone asks you on Thursday what the sermon your pastor preached on Sunday was about, could you tell them?  Was just an empty shell dressed like you sitting in your seat?  It has been noted that getting involved greatly increases your chances to remember something.  If you take your Bible with you to church and read along with the pastor, you have a better chance of remembering.  If you take notes while the pastor is preaching, you have an even better chance of remembering.  There are three parts involved in this action - the ear is hearing, the eye is reading and the hand is recording notes.  You have a three times better chance of remembering.  The pastor has taken hours to prepare and God is using him to speak truth to you.  Church is not a social gathering.  It is a place for believers to gather together to worship the King and hear a word from God that will challenge or encourage or comfort them.  Church is a place to be blessed if you are 'really' there.