Yokemates

There is a long-standing subject that is tip-toed around by many pastors’ wives. Are you glad you are one? Did you make your husband promise he’d never go into pastoral ministry, and yet here you are? Have you been called? What is a pastor’s wife supposed to do anyway? The answers to these questions are just as varied as we are as women. As God, in His infinite wisdom, made us each unique in our personalities and giftedness, so are our marriages and our church settings. So varied are our circumstances that we often fall short in trying to objectively compare what life is like for the 'typical' pastor’s wife. Yet, in that non-defined characterization of what it means to be a pastor’s wife we can trust that God will guide each of us individually or we can get caught up in someone else’s perceived reality for us. When my husband and I got engaged I was clueless that there was an unofficial list, from generations past, of what traits were found in a good pastor’s wife. I so...

Since the first Easter morning, the Good News of Jesus Christ has been spread near and far. Peter, ‘The Rock,’ focused on the Jewish community and the grace and freedom they could find in Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law. Paul dared to follow Jesus’ example by inviting Gentiles to also live beyond the barriers of culture and custom. Over the centuries, the methods that have been used to share the Gospel are countless and will hopefully continue to change for years to come. Bottom line, whatever method is found to effectively share the Gospel (within reason, of course) is worth trying. In John 14:6, Jesus is quoted as saying that He is  "the way and the truth and the life." That part of the verse and message our world may even now be willing to accept, but rarely do they want to embrace the rest of that verse.  "No one comes to the Father except through me.” That distinction affects the eternity of today's generation and those to come.   " Wow! The Good Ne...

“And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.’ And it was so.” Genesis 1:14-15 If you would drive into our little community this week, you would see a large sign advertising the upcoming community Vacation Bible School. I can’t remember the exact title, but it has an outer-space theme which highlights things like rocket ships, planets and astronauts! In stark contrast to this ‘heavenly theme’ is another sign. This one is posted across the street at our local library and it is promoting an Astrology Class for kids. To be fair, they have been exploring outer space through their summer reading program, but here’s the description of the class: “Make the stars your allies. Learn the basics of the ancient science of astrology and discover your personal map through natal charts. Read and ana...

There is a story of a mother who  had anxiously anticipated the moment when she'd be faced with the inevitable question about  the 'birds and the bees.' When that day came her young daughter seemed genuinely confused and perhaps a bit traumatized. So, what went wrong? She was confident she had just the right plan in place. She rehearsed it over and over in her mind. But, the one thing she forgot to truly consider was...h er audience. That became all too clear, after she shared her carefully crafted explanation about the miracle of life. Hoping she'd successfully communicated, this eager mother asked her daughter -  "What do you think about God's amazing plan that brought you into the world for mommy and daddy to love?"  Her daughter looked up and simply replied,  "Gracie said that she was delivered by a stork, and I just wondered what store delivered me." In our eagerness to share truth, we too can forget to consider the question, "Who i...