We have been very busy in service and fellowship over the past few days in addition to seeing our teachers and children back to school.  We had the privilege of hosting the monthly area preachers’ and leaders’ meeting on Tuesday, the 15th.  This was a great opportunity for me to meet several of my fellow preachers  in the area.   Jon Mitchell,  minister of  the Duncan  church of Christ,  spoke on the topic of “Modern-Day Idols”  and reminded us of our task as  preachers and leaders  to instruct the  church to worship the true and living God, not “the god of my understanding, the god of my feelings, the god of my comfort, or the god of my success.”  I plan to share some of this material with you from the pulpit in future lessons.  We all need to be reminded of the greatness of our God. On Wednesday I attended a Motivation Seminar in Greenville with Jason and Laura Gass, Jason’s brother, Jackie, Dave Pyle, and Angela Johnson.  We heard some really great motivational speakers:   Zig Zigler,  Steve Forbes,  Rudy Juliani,  Steve Spurrier,  and others.   The  best  part  of  the trip was spending time with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Our elders’ and deacons’ meeting on Saturday, the 19th, was a great meeting.  This was my first meeting with our entire leadership/service team.  We are so very blessed to have such great leaders and servants here at St. Andrews Road.  Let’s make sure we let our elders and deacons know just how much we  appreciate their dedication and their  love for Christ and His church.   They spend countless hours in prayer, deliberation, and service helping us to move ever closer to Christ in our lives.  May we dedicate  ourselves  as members  of the body of Christ here at  SAR to make their task happier, easier, and more fulfilling.  We do that by listening, cooperating, and participating in a daily walk together toward heaven. On Sunday morning we will continue in our series entitled:  “God’s Questions to Humanity.”  We will look at God’s question:  “Who Told You That?” from Genesis 3:1-11a.  We will be asking that question over and over again so get ready to listen, learn, and grow to a greater faith as we study God’s word. On Sunday  evening we  will focus our attention on  our wonderful home, Heaven.   I’ve entitled this lesson “Heaven:  News for Today!”  We will consider what is taking place in heaven and on earth right now while we wait on Jesus’ return.  Our lesson text is John 14:1-6.  As you prepare for this lesson, think about heaven as a place of preparation, a place of reservation, and a place of anticipation. Over the next few days you will notice some really big changes as we continue to develop the property behind our facilities.   Think about it.   Have you ever remodeled your kitchen,  your bath, or some other part of the house?  It is true!  You have to tear everything out before you can start remodeling.  During this time you might think, “Wow!  Why did I ever do this?” -- or maybe you think,  “Did I make a mistake?”   When you get through this phase of remodeling, however, and begin to see the room for what it can be, updated and renovated, you now have a sense of renewed vitality to see the task completed.  The other day I stood at the back of our facilities, looked beyond the debris to the plan of what our property will look like when we get everything cleared and refurbished.  It is very exciting to look above and beyond what is seen  to  what is  to come.   Isn’t  that what  we do  every  day as  we look  from this world to our home in Heaven?