We went to Pensacola for a baby shower with Jill’s family and friends.  While that was all well and good, (we got so much stuff we had to bring a different car home to fit it all!), there were two things about the trip I wanted to talk about.  (I’ll talk about one now, and the other next week.)

First, that Friday we went out to the beach and watched the air show.  Pensacola is the home of the Navy flight team, the Blue Angels.  And they were absolutely amazing.  As we’re sitting there waiting for them to show, the anticipation was building.  Then faintly in the distant you could make out some extremely small dark objects flying parrallel to the shoreline.  Suddenly you see them make a sharp turn toward the beach.  They begin to grow and grow, and in the blink of an eye, they’ve buzzed straight past the beach in perfect formation!  It was absolutely incredible.  These million dollar airplanes and playing chicken with each other, and then swerving at the absolute last second, missing collision by mere inches.  But the part I liked the best were the 4 planes that flew in tight formation.  They’d come by where we were sitting and everyone would bank at the exact same time.  It looked like they were connected and they were one single unit.  There is something about watching man and machine working in harmony that really got me thinking.  We as the church should strive to be in perfect harmony.  Watching the single plane loop and twist was amazing, sure, but seeing four planes, inches apart doing the same thing in perfect harmony leaves you with something you will never forget.  A friend of family always says, “Two combined influences will have a much greater impact than two single influences would have.”  When you begin to think about the way this applies to our faith, we need to be taking the initiative in influencing others, every one of us.  The impact of a sermon, or a worship song will be even greater on a lost person who has been impacted by a person on a relational level.  We as the church need to understand that our influence on the lost is just as important as the worship service.  We need to all be in small groups, growing together, bringing others in to get that relationship as well.  We all need to be serving.  CT⁰⁸:S was a great way, but if we stop there, and wait till next year, then we have missed the point.  We can serve year round everyday.  And this creates the harmony that we should be in.  Two combined influences.  When we start being the church, the gathering of those who love Jesus, nothing can stop us!