Glad to be Here

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Text (Psalm 122:1) I rejoiced when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord."(New International Version)

Thought starters

How are you today? I’m glad to be here today, are you? Would you rather be somewhere else? Do you think of other things while you are in church or your Worship Center?

I wonder if God wants your mind to wander while you’re here?

What is this picture of? It is the United States Navy’s Blue Angels. Have you ever seen them? Sometime you see stories about them on television. This picture is of the planes on the ground parked before they perform.

There are two things the Blue Angels do before each performance. They sit around a table just like you do in Sunday School so they can look at each other. The leader or Commander of the Blue Angels then leads them through the entire performance with their eyes shut. The Commander counts down all the different turns and special things they do. He times it out just as if they were in the air flying. Then after they go over the performance in their head, they go around the table and each pilot gets to say a few words to the other pilots. The first thing they say to the other pilots is always "I’m glad to be here!" Then they talk about what they see that they or one of the other pilots can do to make the show better.

When a reporter asked the Commander why each pilot said, "I’m glad to be here" the Commander said "It is very important to let the other pilots know that you are focused and not worried about something else going on in your life. When you are flying at 400 miles an hour and sometimes 40 to 48 inches apart you would like to know that the pilot next to you is totally focused on what they are doing."

The lesson on being focused, from the Blue Angel pilots, is a good lesson for us today. Each time we walk into church we should say "I’m glad to be here" letting God know and maybe our teachers that we are focused on what God has in store for us to learn today. So, are you glad to be here?

King David said it best in Psalm 122, verse 1, I was glad when they said unto me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord." Or, in today’s words "I was glad when my mom and dad said, "It’s time to go to church!"

Prayer-Dear God, We are glad to be here. We are focused for what you have planned for us to learn today. Amen

Hymn-"God Is In His Temple" ¾ William T. Matson

Prop-photos of the United States Navy "Blue Angels" I got them at blueangels.navy.mil

Video/Computer Screen-digital photos and video of the "Blue Angels" also available at blueangels.navy.mil

by William Bode