Jim went to church on Sunday morning. He heard the organist miss a note during the prelude, and he winced. He saw a teenager talking when everybody was supposed to bow in prayer. He felt like the usher was watching to see what he put in the offering plate and it made him boil. He noticed the preacher slipped up five times in the sermon. As he slid out through the side door during the closing hymn, he muttered to himself, “Never again! What a bunch of clods and hypocrites!”
Ron went to church on Sunday morning. He heard the organists play an arrangement of ‘A Mighty Fortress’ and was thrilled by the majesty of it. He heard a young girl take a moment in the service to speak her simple, moving message of the difference her faith makes in her life. He was glad to see they were taking up a special offering for the hungry children of Nigeria. He especially appreciated the sermon-it answered a question that had bothered him for a long time. He thought, as he walked out the door, “How can a man come here and not feel the presence of God?” Both men went to the same church on the same Sunday morning. Each found what he was looking for.