There is no pain more familiar to many of us than the pain of rejection. We remember those terrible younger years when we were searching for our identity, and acceptance by our peers was so important. Whether it was being the last one chosen for the ball team or standing on the sideline watching another being crowned homecoming queen, most of us know how it feels to be on the outside looking in.

There were those terrible dating years and those tangled feelings of hope and hurt. A lady wrote to Reader's Digest to tell about a friend of hers whose dorm sisters had a system for dealing with the problem of what to do when the wrong fellow calls asking for a date. "It wasn't hard to say no in my dorm," she claimed. "I put together a list of ten excuses and taped it next to the phone. That way we could decline an invitation without fumbling around for an excuse. It worked like a charm." Except for the time one flustered girl was overheard saying, "I'd love to go out with you, Tom, but I can't because, because Number Seven."

I suppose this message this morning is for anyone who has ever been 'number sevened.'