Yokemates

Just yesterday, a dear woman shared with me that “I pray for your church every day.” I was dumbfounded for a moment. She had been praying for our church? Every day? Wow! A myriad of thoughts flew through my mind. “The fruit from those prayers are unfathomable.” “I’m so humbled and ashamed, Lord. I don’t pray for our church every day.” “Thank you God, for this faithful lady and her prayers!” The Church - the Bride of Christ. The Church - the body of believers. The Church – all those who have accepted Jesus as their personal Savior and are being transformed into His likeness. (Revelation 19:6-8) Do I pray for her? How do I pray for her? After some thoughtful reflection, I considered the prayer of Jesus in John 17. He prayed for His disciples and all those believers that were to come. (That’s us!) He prayed for unity among the believers, the church, and that through that unity the world would see the glory of His Father. Now, that prayer, in part, I have prayed for our c...

What if a book was published, Dr. Suess-style, that depicted our family or that of our church? It could be quite humorous to have the images of our day-to-day sins portrayed with a comical slant.  “He pushed me, that's easy to see. I stepped on a tack, so I pushed him back!"  or “You have nice shoes in many blue hues. I want some too, I do, I do!”   After a dozen or so pages highlighting the antics of our lives’ less-than-complimentary moments of vengeance, greed and more the book would come to a clever end. The moral of the story would likely bring us to the Golden Rule.  “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31) Unfortunately, we don’t have to go far to witness mankind’s natural bent toward evil. It is in us and around us every single day. Solomon even declared it in his prayer of dedication for the temple. “For there is no one who does not sin.” Whew! At least we’re in this together - even though the tendency to point out offending sin...

The first thing she said to me in a rather accusatory tone was, “Well, where is your tan? I thought you were going to the beach?”  What a way to start a Sunday morning, right?  Years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to let that awkward greeting go. Instead, I would have had a bit of an internal meltdown. My immediate response would have sounded something like this: “How dare she?” “Who does she think she is?” Truth be told, I might have even wanted to give this retort: “Well, if you weren’t always laying in a tanning bed, you wouldn’t glow golden brown either.”  Thankfully, my lips stayed sealed, but I still have to process through those unintentional, yet awkward jabs to this day. Another greeting that made me squirm for years was when that sweet ‘grandma’ type would pat me on the cheek and say,  “Do you feel alright? You look a little tired and pale.”  Granted, I may have look tired on some of those Sunday mornings, but it seemed to always be said on t...

Queen Jezebel, now that’s a character in the Bible that I do not want to be associated with. She is known for her evil ways and that of her husband, King Ahab. In fact, the Bible has much to say about King Ahab’s character and behavior.  1 Kings 16:29-33 gives us this introduction and synopsis of his reign: “Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him…He did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.” Two key points are then listed - - He married Jezebel, daughter of Eth-baal king of the Sidonians. - This marriage resulted in the import of Baal worship into the Israelite nation. One man influenced by one woman.  The king may have issued the order to build both an altar and temple in Samaria for Baal worship, but his wife's religious practices set the stage.  The huge influence of and addiction to idolatry within the nation eventually resulted in the showdown at Mt. ...

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...