The Cowboy

Everyone called him The Cowboy because he wore only cowboy boots and dressed the part. I won't mention his name.

We met The Cowboy and his wife when they visited our church. Apparently they had just gotten into town and had been staying in a hotel for a few days. They hadn't done laundry in a while, so being as we loved to show hospitality and my husband was pastor of the church, we invited them over for dinner and the opportunity to do laundry at our house. They had two kids so you can imagine the laundry.

We had a nice dinner together, then they started their laundry, which meant they had to spend a few hours at our house. Their kids got along well with ours and all was well.

There was one little red flag. The Cowboy, in the three house they spend with us, had to use the bathroom seven times. I thought nothing of that in an of itself; sometimes our systems are messed up, the red flag came in the fact that he insisted on using a different bathroom each time he went. That was odd to me. We had three bathrooms in the house and he rotated through them, even asking if we had a third once he had rotated through the main floor bathrooms a few times.

As the weeks passed, they found a home and got settled. They were faithful in church but I noticed The Cowboy came to the adult Sunday School class alone, but I would see his wife in the main church service with him. I asked him one time if she came late because she didn't feel well and he informed me that she was always there but preferred to sit alone in the dark auditorium during that time. The auditorium was not used during the Sunday School hour.

This was a red flag to me. Not because she liked to be alone in the dark but because it seemed odd to me. 

We often had ice cream gatherings at the parsonage and at one such gathering, one of The Cowboy's kids got into a scuffle with one of mine and instead of coming to me, The Cowboy tried to handle it himself. This did not set well with me. I have always taught my kids that not every adult is their boss just because they are an adult. So, I kindly asked The Cowboy not to speak to my child in such a way. He apologized but began to distance himself from us.

That was fine but there is more.

He began to make unannounced visits of some of our elderly members' homes, citing the urgent need for a bathroom. These visits were more frequent in some homes than others. This was a red flag for a number of reasons, but the most prominent was that these people were farmers and lived in out of the way places around the county. It wasn't convenient to "stop in" unannounced.

We were not the only ones who saw red flags in this behavior. One elderly man was so sure The Cowboy was doing something sinister that he planted a specific number of drugs in his bathroom medicine cabinet.

Sure enough, after The Cowboy's next visit, pills were missing.

The elderly man chose not to press charges, but it was a moot point because once he realized this was discovered, The Cowboy disappeared and left town very quickly without a word to anyone. We don't know what the elderly man said to him.

To honor the privacy of the elderly man, this was not made public, as per his request. 

Church gossip surged and my husband faced accusations of "not wanting the church to grow," even though the church had doubled in size since we had gone there.

My husband ignored the gossip and kept preaching God's Word.

The sheep did not know he was protecting them the entire time.

At my house, when he was visiting all my bathrooms that laundry day, he was looking for drugs. One of my children had just had major surgery and he figured there had to be drugs in the house. He was right, there were drugs in my house, strong drugs, narcotics. Little did he know, I kept the drugs in my room, hidden in a drawer.

I was right to have red flags.

~Tricia

 

My Home Church

 A few weeks ago, we went to Ohio to visit my family and reunite with all seven of my siblings. It was amazing that we could all be there together and it was a blast.

My home church has a house that used to be a parsonage. It is now used as a place for missionaries and friends of the church to stay in and that's where we stay when we go to Ohio. It's a great setup and we enjoy it a great deal.

We went to Ohio a few years ago and my home church had severely declined. The pastor, my pastor, had been there 52 years and had recently retired. It's hard to follow a pastor whose been there that long and, even though they did get a new pastor, the church began to decline. When we were there a few years ago, there were barely 20 people there and it was quite distressing to me. I thought my home church was going to die.

When we were there a few weeks ago, it was a completely different story! It was a vibrant place with new faces and young families and a real energy for the Gospel. As of this writing, they don't have a permanent pastor, although they have a candidate they are considering, but they have an interim pastor. We heard him preach and he preaches the Word of God straight up. The Gospel was clear and God is giving the increase. 

The preaching of the Word brings growth.

The morning we were there, we met a young single mom who had just been baptized with her two sons, We met a 15 year old girl who had gotten saved that very morning! We saw the evidence of God working and moving in people's lives.

There is a real revival going on in Eaton, Ohio.

Praise be! To God be the glory!

My heart is encouraged.

~Tricia

Carnivore Wins, Carnivore Woke up My Thyroid, Carnivore Diet, Meat

How to Lie to Your Husband

I recently saw a video of a very short woman in great shape who jumped upon the kitchen counter from the floor in order to reach something on the top shelf. 

I thought kudos to her!

But the video immediately cut to an elderly man giving her an admonishing look and she quickly put the item back on the shelf, jumped down and proceeded to get her husband to fetch the item for her.

The action was to show him - the husband - that he was still needed.

I was disgusted. I tried to find the video and post it here but I could not find it.

This is wrong. We should not be teaching young women to be less than they are for the sake of a man's ego and to make him feel "needed."

If he is not getting his satisfaction from Jesus Christ, he is looking in the wrong place.

Any man who only feels needed in his relationship if the woman in his life is required to be less than she is, is not a real man. He is not manly. He is not a good husband. Unless he wants her to be strong, independent and reliant on Jesus, alone, he is a bad husband.

When I saw the first part of the video I was so impressed! I, personally, could not physically jump from the floor to the counter, but that's what this woman did! Imagine!

And yet, men in her life, at least in the video, want her to be less than she is to fuel the ego of the man in her life.

This is wrong. 

It is wrong to be less than you are for any other person. God has given you your strength. Do not minimize yourself for anyone,.

Instead of focusing on her relationship with Jesus, such expectations force her to focus on her husband and see to his ego. News flash: His ego is not her business or problem.

This type of thing also teaches women to lie. They are not being honest when they feign weakness. This is a way to lie to your husband, Building a marriage on a lie is wrong.

Ladies, do not be less than you are for anyone at anytime for any reason.

Are there times you'll need help? Sure! But, needing true help is not the same as feigning weakness.

Don't minimize your own strength for anyone, not even a husband, Be as strong as you are.

~Tricia

Yep They Did It Again

A few people in church recently got up to promote a ladies' conference. They were talking about the subject of the conference and I fully expected it to have a Biblical focus since a church was doing the conference.

Wrong assumption. 

While I can't recall the announcement verbatim, I will summarize.

Three women of the church got up to make the announcement and they each talked about one aspect of the conference. They talked about the schedule, the food, etc. Finally, they got to the subject of the conference, the theme. They said life can get overwhelming no matter what stage of life you're in and they hope to make these overwhelming times easier to handle.

After all, they said, we don't want our circumstances and life stages to rob us of the abundant life Jesus promised to us in John 10:10.

And there you have it. I've seen this before.(I blogged about it here.) I've seen John 10:10 taken out of context before. Jesus is not promising you an abundant life full of peace and time to reflect and tone down your schedule. He's promising eternal life - abundant life - meaning quantity of life - life that does not end no matter how busy you are - no matter how complicated your stage of life is - no matter what this world throws your way - you, in Christ, have abundant life. Nothing can rob you of that. Nothing.

You are promised eternal life, not an easy, stress-free life. Your circumstances, financial status, schedule or state of life cannot take that away from you.

In John 10, Jesus is doing most of the talking. He's talking about being the Good Shepherd and states that He is the door of the sheep (v 7) and reiterates that in v 9 where He says that anyone who enters by Him will be saved and find pasture. He tells why the thief comes and then says He has come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. Life eternal.

We Americans often think the Bible speaks to the earthly abundance we enjoy as a nation. Even the poorest among us has options through the government to have needs met with food stamps, housing allowances, etc. Charitable organizations meet needs also.

Third world countries don't have this. Sometimes, there are no options. Sometimes, there is no help and people scrape by while eating things you wouldn't dream of. If John 10 is talking about earthly abundance as this conference is teaching, where is the abundance in a third world country? Doesn't the Bible apply to them?

Ah, but it does! That's the beautiful thing about our Savior, He gives abundant life to all who come to Him - meaning He gives eternal life to even those who live like paupers on the earth. The abundance of Heaven is also theirs.

Praise be!

Stop taking God's Word out of context. If what you're teaching does not apply to every nation and soul on earth, stop teaching and reassess.

I won't be going to that conference. 

I rarely go to any for this very reason, they are usually all taking God's Word out of context or speaking on someone else's book, not God's Word.  No thanks.

~Tricia

Stifle Yourself!

 I recently met Trudy*. Trudy is a brand new Christian and very passionate about her faith and her Savior.

This is a good thing.

Trudy is also a newlywed. Her husband, Greg*, has been a Christian since he was a child, having grown up in a Christian home where the gospel was taught.

Her husband is not nearly as passionate about his faith as Trudy. She wants to share her new faith with everyone, no matter where she is. 

Trudy does not feel free to share the gospel like she wants to because she's looking to her new husband for leadership and he does not want to share the gospel hardly at all.

She feels stifled, but she's been told by Christian leaders in her life that her husband is her leader. She's very frustrated that her enthusiasm has essentially been gagged because her husband's burden to share the gospel is not as great.

Trudy expressed great frustration over this to me.

My advice to Trudy? 

Leave your husband in the dust and pursue Jesus with gusto. If his enthusiasm never matches yours, it's not your problem. That is between him and Jesus. Your relationship with Jesus belongs to you, alone. Your husband has no say whatsoever on the matter. Share the gospel whenever you can, wherever you are, with whomever you please. You answer to no other person for your relationship with Jesus, not even your husband.

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men (mankind), the man Christ Jesus." 

I Timothy 2:5

Ladies, do not let anyone come between you and your Savior, not even a husband. Our churches have well assisted the devil in stifling women under the guise of "submission," which is what Trudy has been experiencing. Trudy is one of many I have met.  It's shameful. 

Utterly shameful.

*Not their real names.

~Tricia

It Happened at Publix

Last year, we faced some financial stress so I took a part-time job at Publix grocery store as a cashier to relieve some of the pressure. This is what happened to me at Publix.

I was not going to write this but changed my mind when I remembered that abuse does not go away if we are silent about it.

There were numerous things that were difficult at Publix, but none of those things caused me to resign. I will briefly mention those things. The office staff are bullies. They seem to think they have authority over the cashiers and would often instill "punishments" toward us, which made our work very inefficient. Another thing that was difficult was the general manager's constant use of the Lord's Name in vain. It was frequent and very disturbing. She also gaslit me. I was bullied by two other cashiers, one going so far as to take me to a manager and cause a ruckus. The manager dismissed it.

But, as hard as those things were, I found a workaround and did not quit. But I cried every night at dinner and could not stop. (More on the crying later.)

You may not realize that Publix does not have janitorial staff; the cashiers do the cleaning. One hour a cashier will be cleaning toilets and the next they are checking out your groceries. This is how Publix works, I didn't mind cleaning at all. I rather liked it because I wasn't dealing with stress or customers or the bully staff. However, here's where things went south very quickly.

Every time I cleaned the men's room, I had a male cashier check the men's room to make sure it was empty, then I blocked the door open with the large cleaning cart and proceed to clean. One day while I was cleaning the men's room, a man walked right in, past the cleaning cart and me, and proceeded to do his business. Stunned, I ran out of there as fast as I could and immediately told one of the office staff. They laughed it off. Another cashier said it's happened to her, too.

Ok.

A few weeks later, it happened again. The same thing. A man walking in on me while cleaning and proceeding to do his business. I got out of there as fast as I could and reported it immediately to another supervisor. They laughed it off and said, "Oh, well!"

Hmmm. 

I was realizing this might be a chronic problem. I asked for some signage or something to make it more obvious that the bathroom was being cleaned. I was asked repeatedly by the supervisory staff if I was blocking the door with the cleaning cart. I was; the men walked in anyway.

Then it happened a third time. Clearly, no one was taking it seriously. I went to an assistant manager at this point and asked for some specifics to deal with the problem. I asked for a large sign to make it more obvious that I was cleaning. I suggested a cone to put on the floor. Anything. She said they'd see what they could do.

But, they did nothing. 

When I was scheduled to clean again, I went to a manager and told him I will clean everything but the men's room and I told him why I would not clean the men's room. He was appalled when I told him why and had no idea this had ever happened or was happening. No one had told him about my complaint. My take away from that is never rely on a supervisor or assistant manager, go to the top first. 

However, in my case, the damage was done. Because I have a condition that makes me cry uncontrollably at times (Pseudo Bulbar Affect), the stress of this situation activated my condition and I could not stop crying whenever I was in the store. I had to quit. This was months ago and I still can't go there as a customer.

Publix is not a safe place for their employees. 

Do better, Publix.

Tricia