Our Themes for March:                                                  A.M. – Hope – Possessing a Positive Mind                                                P.M. – Doors of Opportunity    We enjoyed a beautiful Lord’s Day last week with 190 Christians and friends gathered together for worship and fellowship.  Our attendance was down, I think, due to the holiday weekend as well as the beginning of spring break.  Back on February 3rd, in my article I commented on how much our attendance has increased (We averaged 206 in January).  Let’s all make a special effort to be here for every meeting for study, fellowship, and for worship.  We honor God with the gift of our presence, with our voices singing and praying, with our open Bibles, minds, and hearts as we hear the word preached, with our financial offerings, and with our  remembrance of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection in the Lord’s Supper.    John tells us a very revealing story about Thomas, one of Jesus’ apostles, in John 20:19-29.  On the first day of the week after Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples were together.  Jesus was there and showed them His hands and His side.  What a blessing!  Someone was missing.  Where was Thomas?  In verse 24 John specifically points out that Thomas was not with them when Jesus came.  When Thomas heard that the disciples had seen Jesus, he doubted.  Eight days later the disciples were once again together, and this time Thomas was present.  Jesus came again.  He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here…look at My hands…reach your hand here, and put it into My side.  Do not be unbelieving, but  believing.”  Thomas believed.  It is true that Thomas may have been sick or possibly sitting with a sick family member.  It is also true that Thomas may have gone fishing.  Where he was we do not know.  We do know where, he was not.   He was not where he should have been; and because of this, he missed a wonderful blessing.    The same is true today.  When the church meets together for worship and study, every member should be present and actively involved in worship.    This lesson reminds me of my own commitment to be at the right place at the right time doing the right thing.  Back in June of 1979, I was sitting on the third pew from the front of the auditorium of the church of Christ in Hamilton, Alabama, the right place at the right time doing the right thing.  A young Christian woman walked into the auditorium from the south entrance, and my life changed forever.  That girl was Cynthia Lynn Palmer, now Cindi Burleson, my wife.  I have often  wondered about that day.  What would my life have been like if I had decided to be somewhere else on that Sunday morning?  I’m glad that I made the right choice.  God is truly gracious, full of mercy and kindness to His children and to all who trust and obey.    On Sunday morning we will continue in our series “Possessing a Positive Mind – A Spiritual Mind, Being Positive in Spite of Things.”  In our day it is so easy to get caught up in the “rat race” and spend too much time and energy on material things and not enough time and energy on spiritual things.  When you look at Philippians 3, you will find that Paul counted his past as “all things loss.”  He lived in the present pressing toward the mark.  He looked into the future with patience as he waited for the Savior.    Our series on Sunday evening is entitled “The Doors of Opportunity.”  We will consider Door #3 – Pick a Pattern, a Model.  It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  Abram had the stars and the sand.  King David had a  vision for the Lord’s house.  Paul lived his life as a picture to the Philippians (4:9), to Timothy, his son in the faith (2 Timothy 3:10), and to us today (1 Corinthians. 11:1).