If a person skips school too often they call out the truant officers.  Truant officers “ensure that students are attending school and investigate students who have unexcused or excessive absence.”  We don’t have one of those guys for church attendance.  (The Baptist mafia is an urban legend.)  We are admonished in the Word, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching”—(Heb. 10:25 (NIV))  As early as the first century there were Christians who started playing hooky.  They probably had a house on the lake somewhere or they wanted to go to a ball game.  Maybe they were hunting or golfing or had some other first century distraction.  The writer of Hebrews gently reminded his readers that meeting together is for the purpose of encouragement and is intended to be of mutual benefit.   The same is true today.  Meeting together should be a rhythm of the believer’s life.  It should be weekly or he will become “weakly.”  I’m mentioning this today because this weekend is missions weekend and some of you might decide to play hooky.  If you are sick or otherwise involved in some missional activity then we’ll give you an excused absence.  However, if you are staying away because the missional partners are speaking, the loss will be yours.  We’ll be hearing from Bill Brittain this weekend about the amazing ways that children are being cared for around the world in God’s grace.  We’ll hear from Dennis Schermer about missional media and how evangelistic films are reaching thousands of people with the gospel in their own language.  Hopefully you have been praying and/or giving for our missional endeavors and this will be a “dividend report” for you.  If you haven’t been giving and/or praying, you’ll still want to hear what God is up to and the creative ways that God is using the diversity of His body to redeem and restore His image in the world.  Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday :).  Remember, it’s Dinner on the Grounds week too…so, “don’t play hooky!”