In the services last weekend, I mentioned the enthusiasm of a one year-old boy who "entered in" to his birthday cake. In today's installment of my Messages About Purpose and Strategy, I'll share with you what his sister wrote to me in a hand-made get-well card. She's not quite old enough to write but her mommy held her hand around the pen and wrote just what she wanted to say. Her precious words provide a picture of the kind of encouragement we are to offer in Christian community. She wrote: Dear Larry, Don't be sad. You will be strong and healthy very soon. We pray for you all the time that God will heal your booboo arm. The front of the card features a colored dolphin jumping from the water. When we bring comfort to one another, we experience the liberating love of God in our midst. Consider this passage from 2 Cor. as you think of what our church is to be and do: 1:3,4 - "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." If you are experiencing some deterioration in your health, you may also be encouraged by 2 Cor. 4:16-18 - "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." Remember to pass on God's compassion and perspective to comfort others around you. That's part of how the church is to work.