AT LEAST WE KNOW WHERE THEY ARE
I have grown up loving the music and vocal harmonies of the Statler Brothers. The Stat’s retired as a group some years ago, but their music lives on. A few years ago I ordered a book by Don Reid titled, Life Lessons. Don Reid was the lead singer for the Statler Brothers. Reid was, and may still be, a teacher of a Bible class in the Presbyterian Church where he attends. The aforementioned book is some of the lessons he shared with his class during the Covid period of 2020. In it he has an interesting chapter on Eutychus.
Don Reid tells of his mother being “the moral pillar of faith” in their family. His father, however, slipped through the cracks once in a while. He relates a family story that occurred before he was born. It involved their preacher (Mr. Lowman) and Don Reid’s dad, Sidney Reid. Here is what he said:
“After not seeing him in the family pew for a number of weeks, Mr. Lowman stopped our dad one day on the street and said, ‘Haven’t seen you at church in a while, Sidney. Where have you been?’ ‘Been working the graveyard shift at DuPont,’ Dad replied. ‘I don’t get home till nearly 8 A.M., and I’m afraid if I come to church, I’ll fall asleep right smack dab in the middle of your sermon.’
Mr. Lowman patted him on the back and said, ‘That’s alright, Sid. At least I’ll know where you are.’
Mr. Lowman had Dad’s number, and Paul had Eutychus’s back. But we all know who did it. We all know who brought the young man back from the dead and who saw that our dad was in church every Sunday for the last ten years of his life.”
That’s a lesson well taken. The truth is, however, we are not usually as understanding as the preacher Don Reid mentioned. We want people to be faithful to the Lord and in the assembly of the saints on the Lord’s Day (Heb. 10:25). We want people to be bright-eyed, alert and involved in the worship. If they nod off during the service we might resist the temptation to pounce on them verbally. At least we know where they are!