Eddie was a clerk in a hardware store. He made a name for himself as the most inefficient and contentious salesman ever. The atmosphere when he was absent one day was like the tranquil beauty of summer weather after a bad thunderstorm. One regular customer remarked on the difference. “Eddie ain’t just away for the day,” said the proprietor, “He doesn’t work here no more.”<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/NoVacancy.jpg\")
“Do you have anyone in mind for the vacancy?” asked the customer. “Nope,” said the proprietor cheerfully, “Eddie didn’t leave no vacancy.”<\/p>\n
This little story reminds us of some folks in the church. It is so seldom that they attend services that no one really misses them when they are absent. They are such that no great loss is felt if they move to another city. Like Eddie, they leave no vacancy. Others can be absent for only one or two services and they are missed. Why? Because they are dependable. When their seat is vacant people take notice.<\/p>\n
Church attendance is not the only matter of importance in the life of a Christian. However, it is a pretty good index to the temperature of one’s fervor for the Lord. Non-attending members are usually non-participating in other aspects of the Lord’s work. One must fill a place, render needed service, and be a participant before he can leave a vacancy.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Irvin Himmel via\u00a0Guardian of Truth\u00a0XL: 7 p. 4, April 4, 1996 Eddie was a clerk in a hardware store. He made a name for himself as the most inefficient and contentious salesman ever. The atmosphere when he was absent one day was like the tranquil beauty of summer weather after a bad thunderstorm. One…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[356],"class_list":["post-57839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-attendance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28811,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-the-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":57839,"position":0},"title":"Who is the Holy Spirit? (Hamilton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 21, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many people have vague notions about the being we know as the Holy Spirit \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Part of this comes from the descriptions of God. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jesus has a name, but Spirit is more generic term. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God, the Father, and God, the Son, give us relationships that we are familiar with, but how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93236,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/borderline-christians\/","url_meta":{"origin":57839,"position":1},"title":"Borderline Christians","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by B. C. Goodpasture There is a story of a county Superintendent of Education who received three applications for one vacancy among the school bus drivers. He devised this scheme for selecting the proper man. The superintendent took the first applicant to a sharp curve on a steep grade along\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55210,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-bible-doesnt-say-dont-do-it-does-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":57839,"position":2},"title":"The Bible Doesn’t Say, “Don’t Do It,” Does it?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne Jackson Solomon once wrote that \"there is no new thing under the sun\" (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Certainly that saying is true with reference to the arguments that a swelling \"progressive\" element within the church is employing in defense of the idea that the use of musical instruments is permissible\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88978,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-legacy-of-dorcas\/","url_meta":{"origin":57839,"position":3},"title":"The Legacy of Dorcas","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson We don't know much about her-she is mentioned in only one brief passage in the New Testament (Acts 9:36-42). But everything we know about Dorcas is good. She was a disciple. The word disciple means learner. She had learned to live the life of a Christian. She\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55017,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/apostolic-succession-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":57839,"position":4},"title":"Apostolic Succession (Dockens)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bryan Matthew Dockens A number of religions practice so-called apostolic succession. Roman Catholics believe the man they call \"Pope\" is the successor of the apostle Peter. Mormons claim twelve to fifteen apostles at all times. Many Pentecostal congregations identify their preachers as apostles. Such claims are totally inconsistent with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70877,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-was-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":57839,"position":5},"title":"Where Was God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chadwick Brewer The Book of Esther stands out as unique among the Old Testament books because it is the only book that does not mention God at all. Compared to other Old Testament stories, God's absence in the story of Esther can seem rather profound. To this end, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}