Welcome home! It was a great Feast. Almost everyone is back except a few that lingered to savor the afterglow and they will be home in a few days.

Now that Feast 2007 let's look at where we are as a church. I want you to hear the words of someone who attended for the first time this year. It's from an email I received from Joe Sattler in response to a message sent to the Prayer Team. Joe and Kristi are active members of the group and he took time to describe his experience.

"The Feast was great. It was a great location... the beach, the convention center, and the seminars, activities, etc... but it was especially good to make new friends and see our kids make new friends. Jacob said several times 'I expected the Feast to be good, but not this good.' Even though this was our first Feast of Tabernacles and we haven't been around the 'Church of God' very long, it's obvious that we are getting involved at a time when God is doing a lot of great things. We are all excited about the Feast becoming a tradition in our family."

Catch that statement, "God is doing a lot of great things" in the Church of God at this time. He's right. One of the defining characteristics of life is movement. God is the God of the living and people who have spiritual life are doing things. We're not a denomination or even a large organization. In fact, some people don't know how to peg us. We don't have the trappings of wealth or success.

Choosing a congregation is akin to a woman choosing a husband. A man looks at a beautiful woman and says, "I could spend the rest of my life with her." A woman looks at a man and says "In spite of outward appearance, he is going someplace. My wagon will always be attached to his so I'm choosing a partner with momentum."

When asked to describe the happiest moment of life, respondents to psychological surveys overwhelmingly talk about a time of momentum. Psychologists define it as "flow". It isn't necessarily a time of great wealth, or the peak of success. In fact, there may have been stress, uncertainty or even fear of failure. But something was happening and it was good.

Call it flow if you want but God placed a spirit in man that makes us want to be "doing" things. After all, we are "human beings" and God's name is "I AM" both of which phrases refer to activity.

Once when Jesus invited a man to follow him, the man said he would as soon as he buried his father. "Let the dead bury the dead" answered Jesus. "You follow me."

I'm thankful to serve with congregations that are alive. If you saw the Young Adult Rally in Destin or the Youth Service in Ft. Walton Beach you witnessed young people with a passion for serving God.

The 4^th Sabbath of each month the Cincinnati congregation has a Young Adult Service beginning at 1:00 pm, 1 1/2 hours before the regular service at 2:30 pm. It's gratifying to see young people taking initiative to worship God.

Come join us for a Super Sabbath!

Until next time,