Saturday, April 25, 2009

You've GOT to be Kidding!

Beware...this is a rant.
And it is also a great view of The Life of a Pastor's Wife.

Last Sunday we had 2 baptisms, so Jerry moved the pulpit off of the stage. He takes it off about half of the time anyway, just because he likes it that way. And it changes things up once in a while.

On Wednesday, as we gathered for Worship Team rehearsal, Jerry noticed that someone had moved the pulpit back onto the stage. He asked the janitors, they knew nothing about it. No one else there had a clue. So he took the pulpit and moved it back off of the stage because we have 3 baptisms this Sunday.

He went into the church today to turn on the heater for the baptism water. Guess what? The pulpit had been moved back onto the stage. Again, he called the janitors. No, they hadn't touched it but had noticed it was there when they cleaned over the weekend.

So, Jerry moved it back off of the stage so that people will have a clear view of the baptisms tomorrow. I think there is a 90% chance he will show up at the church tomorrow and find the pulpit center stage.

Seriously, is there anything more petty? There probably is, but I'm having a hard time thinking of what it might be.

What a bunch of crap.

Speaking of crap, the rotor rooter people came and cleared our drain pipes of tree roots yesterday. We're back to flushing grandly.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Relational God

Sometimes life is ironic, hard to explain. My last post was about my brother. My last 2 posts have been about death.

On Easter Sunday a lady in our church found out her younger sister committed suicide in her dorm at University of Maryland. It was 23 years ago, to the day, that my brother took his life. This lady from our church is devastated - she was close to her younger sister. Her heart is broken. She is going through the range of emotions that are to be expected. Anger. Grief. Shock. Loss.

This is one of those times that we know God is taking our painful experiences and using them to help others. I think my friend has found some comfort in knowing that I understand her every emotion. I think she will be able to trust Jerry and I with what she is thinking. If I had not gone through suicide with my brother, I could listen to my friend, but not relate to her.

Our God is relational. He is not there just to listen to our list of complaints and wants. He is there for a relationship with us. It's not good that we have crap in our life. But it is good to watch Him use the crap to help others.

Speaking of crap... I need to get off of here. I think we have tree roots clogging the pipes in our yard and things are backing up in the house. Oh - what a beautiful day. hee hee ha

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Never My Words

I hated that every time I looked at my blog, my last post was about death. It's been almost a month since I posted. And now I've finally thought of something new to post. And guess what? It is sort of about death. So sorry to the 2 of you who actually read this. Wait, I think I remembered a 3rd one who reads.

I love Facebook. It is so fun to find old friends, family, neighbors, acquaintances. I recently found a friend of my brother's whose name is Tom. I wasn't sure it was him, so I sent a message that said, "I think you were a friend of my brother, Eddie's. Is that you?" He wrote back and said, "Yeah, that's me. I miss Eddie a great deal."

The first thing that struck me when I read those words was that those were never my words. Not in 23 years.

On April 12, 1986, my brother chose to leave this world at the end of a shotgun. My Dad had been gone for 3 years, 1 month, and 2 days. My Mom was a widow who came home at the end of a fun day with friends to find her baby son laying on the floor in a pool of blood. My brother left behind his teenage girlfriend who was 3 months pregnant.

I've never thought that I miss him a great deal. I've only thought that he was a spoiled brat and a huge jerk for leaving my Mom and his girlfriend and baby. I've thought what a coward he was.

There's no point to this post except for confession I suppose. The problem with my brother was that I had no good memories of him. Oh maybe when I was around 8 or 9 we had some fun together on hot summer days. But from the time I was about 12 or 13, he was nothing more to me than a jerk, a spoiled brat and a nuisance. I never got a chance to know him in adulthood. I may have liked him if I'd had that chance.

If I have felt pain over the last 23 years, it has been for my Mom, my brother's girlfriend and his daughter, Heather.

Are there people in your life who you would not miss if they left today? Are you a person who would not be missed because of the way you treat others? I don't want to be that person. I don't want my absence to be a sigh of relief.

I'll try to come up with something more cheerful for the next post!