L. A. HAPPENINGS—Charles Anderson Sunday was an encouraging day of worship for us here at Laurel Avenue! In observing the pattern of worship found in the New Testament and seen in the example of the early church, we do our best to imitate that practice here every Lord’s Day. And there are several important acts of worship that we are careful to observe each Sunday. As I said a Sunday or two ago, though, I truly believe the Lord’s Supper is our primary act of worship. You can worship every Sunday in your singing, and you can worship in your prayers, and in the words you hear in the sermon. But, when you get right down to it, Communion is really when we worship. This is where we remember why we’re here. It’s a memorial – it’s a reminder to us of what the Lord has done for us. So, I appreciate it when, periodically, the men who offer the communion meditation take the time and make the effort to cause our thoughts to explore more deeply the amazing sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for us. And to be reminded that it wasn’t the Roman nails that held him on that cross, but God’s love! We had a great time at the Ice Cream Supper last Sunday evening in the fellowship hall! I think we had about 30 folks who came to enjoy the festivities. REDIRECTION, REVIVAL, AND RETRAINING One of the most famous revivals ever recorded occurred in South Wales in the early years of the 20th century. It’s reported that a hundred thousand people came to Christ in less than a year’s time. Now, that’s a significant percentage of the population at that time. What kind of effect on society that would have today I’m not sure, but it caused major changes in 1904-05. Almost-empty bars were closed for lack of business. Which caused magistrates to see their courts emptied of criminals. Men were no longer thirsty for liquor, but for the Lord, causing a substantial drop in crime. One unusual effect I found interesting. Miners even had to retrain the mules that worked in the coal mines. Many of the animals had been trained to respond to vulgar commands. But when the men got cleaned up, their language did as well, and the mules had to learn a new vocabulary, a cleaner vocabulary. When you sincerely come to Christ, it will bring revival to your heart and change to your life. It may even bring about a need to retrain some mules!