A few nights ago I arrived at the meeting house about thirty minutes before time for services to begin. It was a dreary and rainy night. When I arrived a 78 year old brother who lives alone and who drives about 18 miles to services was not there. Without any hesitation I called another brother who had not left home to come to the service and asked him to go immediately to check on this brother. As I had feared, he had been involved in an automobile accident on the way to services. Fortunately, he was uninjured.

But how did I know to send someone to see about this brother? Was there some sort of mystical premonition on my part? Not at all. I just happened to know that this brother would be at the service (unless something drastic had happened) and that not only would he be on time, but that he would be there early. When he was not present thirty minutes early, immediately I became apprehensive.

There were other brethren not present. But T was not surprised at their absence or tardiness. In fact, I would have been surprised to see some of the brethren out on a night like that. When you are not present, do brethren fear something serious has occurred? Or do they know it is your "custom" (Heb. 10:25) to miss the assemblies?

TRUTH MAGAZINE XIII: 6, p. 3
March 1969