They Heard He was Coming

They heard He was coming.

Picture it: Just outside Jericho, circa 33 A.D. Two men, blind beggars in the streets, are spending yet another day hoping for help and begging for mercy in their lives. There were no schools for the blind. There were no seeing-eye dogs. Blind men became beggars in that day and were likely not very nice looking or clean. They had it rough.

Then they heard He was coming.

Upon learning He was coming, these two blind men got out of character. They spoke up. Loudly. Repeatedly. Annoyingly. Whereas they had been off to the side, unseen, unheard, unnoticed before, that all changed because they heard He was coming.

When they yelled for Him, they recognized Who He was.....they called Him "Lord" and "Son of David." They knew His Lordship; His Kingship. They knew. And they were not about to be hushed.

And the multitude warned them that they should be quiet.

"Be quiet! Hold your peace!"

And they responded.

Yes, they responded........they got louder! All the more, they cried, "Have mercy on us, Oh, Lord, Son of David!" More loudly than before.

And this time, they got a different response. The crowd was quiet.

Jesus stopped in His tracks.
He stood still.
He called them to Himself.
He asked them what they wanted.

They addressed Him as Lord.
They said they wanted their sight.

Jesus had compassion on them.
He touched their eyes.
They received their sight immediately.
They followed Him.

All because they heard He was coming.

This post is based on observations from Matthew 20:29-34

Have you heard?
He's coming!
He will stop in His tracks - for you.
~Tricia


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Those Deacon's Wives!

As a pastor's wife for over 30 years, I've worked with a good number of deacon's wives in the churches we've served in. I want to tell you about four of them that stand out in my mind. These four women have had a huge impact on my life and they will never be forgotten. They strengthened my walk with Christ, ministered in honesty and genuineness to my children and walk with God sincerely.

First, there's Helen. Helen was the first deacon's wife I worked with in our very first church. She and I didn't always see eye-to-eye when it came to my kids, but that didn't stop a friendship from forging ahead. We were only in that church for three years, but I am in touch with Helen to this day. She and I write often, she and her husband have traveled to visit us at our various ministries, and we visit them if and when we are close enough. Helen has been there for me, not only as a ministering saint, but as a friend. If I would pick up the phone right now and call her, Helen would be there and it's such a joy to have her in my life.

Secondly, there's Mary Lou. Mary Lou and I served together for over 18 years and our relationship grew with the years. She helped me through some dark hours, stayed with us during ministry ups and downs and mostly, she ministered greatly to my kids. When her husband died just a few years ago, my kids were sad at that news and we all expressed our sorrow to her and told her what a great impact he'd had on our lives. Mary Lou is able to cut right through things and get to the core of an issue, making her ministry an invaluable asset in our lives. To this day, Mary Lou and I are in touch and my kids still ask about her. They have such fond memories of her being in their lives.

Third and fourth are two deacon's wives who served together with us for five years. Consepcion and Hermelinda were steady, humble women who love the Lord Jesus Christ and serve Him with all they have. They prayed with me, supported us in times of great trial and held us up in prayer like I've never experienced before. When we were being oppressed in ministry, these two women organized a prayer meeting for us. This was not a typical prayer meeting. They gathered a good number of women together, met outside our home at 5:30 AM at a firepit we had on the far side of our yard, built a fire to warm themselves, then they walked all around our property several times, praying for us while we slept. These are remarkable women of God, who continue to serve Him wholeheartedly and with whom we are still in touch. They have been very instrumental in the planting of four Hispanic churches, too!

These four women of God stand out, not only to me, but to my kids. That's something I can't thank them enough for. When we see people having such a positive impact on our kids, it's far greater than if it's just us they impact.

Praise be for Godly women.
Thank you, ladies, for the impact you had on me, my kids and our ministries over the years. Your rewards are eternal.
~Tricia

All You Need Is......

It's a simple command to husbands. Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it."

Just how is a man to love his wife as Christ has also loved the church? What does that mean on a day to day basis?

How Christ loves the church:

1. He gave himself for her. He didn't just give up a football game or stay up late to listen to her. He gave everything. He gave all. The pain. The discomfort. The humiliation. The indecency of it all. It was not taken from Him, He gave it. All. (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; I Thess 5:9&10)

2. He is her Rock. He is all about her. He placed her on His rock foundation, never to be shaken.  (Matthew 16:18)

3. He is the Chief Cornerstone, providing stability to her. (Ephesians 2:20; I Peter 2:6&7)

3. He is an Anchor, holding her as the tempest of life blows hard upon her. Anchors are not visible, but people know when you're anchored because you're unmovable. (Hebrews 6:19)

4. He gives her freedom. Besides the Lord's Supper and baptism, there are no other ordinances. Each independent local church is free to grow in the way she sees fit. A husband who loves his wife as Christ also loved the church gives her freedom to grow, he does not give her restrictions which hinder her growth. She can choose her methods of growth, just like a church can choose how many deacons, how many elders, what time their services are, etc. Freedom = choice.

5. He causes her to flourish. He does not require her to see to his success. He sees to her success! That's how Christ loved the church. She is not a means to his end goals. He gave all so that she could succeed, then he guaranteed that she would. And, He paves the way for her to succeed at every turn. That's quite a different picture than the one our western culture has drawn.

6. He adds to her, not to himself. As the gospel message goes out, He brings more and more into the church, increasing her abundance with every addition. (Acts 2:47)

7. He empowers her. Even the gates of Hell cannot stand against her, that's how powerful she is. (Matthew 16:18)

I'll stop there. When husbands love their wives like Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it, the patriarchal system that is destroying the church from the inside out will not stand a chance. Women will be able to use their gifts and serve their Lord without abuse and hindrance. And everyone will be better off.

~Tricia

Tradition and Gratitude

As I sit here in a hotel room in Raleigh, NC this Thanksgiving weekend, I am struck by my surroundings and how they are in stark contrast to what a "normal" Thanksgiving is to me. Normally, I cook for 2 or 3 days before Thanksgiving ever comes, spend the actual day cooking and baking, then watching my family consume all that goodness in what seems like the blink of an eye (although we do linger at the table, nibbling, long after the meal is finished). We generally spend the afternoon playing board games or hanging out around the TV watching football, sometimes going for a walk if the weather permits and just enjoying being home, and usually end the day with a movie together. And it feels "right" to me, like that's how Thanksgiving "should" be. And it seems that's how it "should" be because that's how it's been for 30 years in our family.

This year, instead of cooking and baking all morning, we were on the road, leaving at 6:30 AM to be in Raleigh with one of our sons and his wife for Thanksgiving. We spent the day with our son, his wife,  and his in-laws....and they did all the cooking.....so I visited with them, and took pictures, and reminisced with my kids, and, although I helped with dinner, I did not make dinner, did not plan the menu, was not responsible for making sure the potatoes did not get cold while the turkeys finished cooking, etc.

After a delightful dinner, we spent the afternoon visiting, eating pie, playing with their two new puppies and having a good time together. Instead of cleaning up one last time and filling the dishwasher for the 3rd time in a day, we left and went to a hotel, got checked in and settled for a quiet evening of hanging out together, making and receiving phone calls from all the other kids, texting back and forth with some of my kids and my sisters and catching up with our people via Facebook and email.

Not our traditional Thanksgiving by a long shot.

Traditionally, I spend the day after Thanksgiving putting up my Christmas village, covering my baby grand piano with "snow" and lighted houses and little businesses making up a town. This is a nearly all day event as it takes time to plan a village and put it together.

Today, we are spending the day going to museums with our son and daughter-in-law, then having dinner with them tonight in their apartment.

This is not our traditional day-after-Thanksgiving activity by a long shot.

But, it's oh, so sweet! And oh, so nice. And I'm thankful that while family traditions are nice, the holiday is no less special when tradition is thrown out the window and we get the opportunity to do something completely different and find that they are just as satisfying to our "traditional" sense.

The traditions of being together, of pausing in our busy lives to acknowledge the Source of all good and of giving to one another are traditions that can be carried out no matter our location. Whether I am in the kitchen or the front passenger seat, we are keeping our tradition of celebrating what we have to be thankful for. And we have a LOT to be thankful for. And we know that the Source is our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And I am grateful, not just this weekend that's been set aside for gratitude, but always, always grateful for the great things my God has done in my life and in my family.

Praise be.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
~Tricia

Content Overlap

This is one of those days when a couple of my blogs overlap in content. On my writer's blog, The Total Writer, I blogged briefly about writing truth and the importance of getting all the facts before we write. The story I blogged about was not originally given to much truth. The story was minimized, condensed and the facts grossly misrepresented. I remember the story when it happened and I never thought it added up. What I was hearing in the news didn't make sense. I simply didn't see why a court would award such a high payment if what we were hearing in the news was all there was to the story.

Have you ever been misrepresented? Have you ever been the victim of ugly gossip that portrayed you as a villian or liar and you had no avenue to defend yourself? I sure have and it's not easy. I've been ambushed by people who won't listen to my answers to their questions. I've had those same people spin every answer I gave. I've had people unwilling to listen to the truth about me.

Yeah. Not easy. Did you know that God, Himself, was misrepresented, lied about and no one would listen to the truth about Him, either? His birth was surrounded by controversy because everyone knew Mary had conceived Him before she and Joseph were married. The Pharisees, in John 8, held themselves up higher than Jesus declaring that they were not "born of fornication." They believed Jesus was.

In the book of Matthew, chapter 28, we read how the guards explained away Jesus' resurrection. They said that His disciples came by night and took Him away, stealing His body so as to fake His resurrection. And, without checking the facts, people believed them, as verse 15 points out, "this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day."

Jesus endured many, many lies, false reports, people telling Him they didn't want to listen to Him, etc. He did this for us.

So, when you endure gossip, lies, and people not listening to the truth about you, remember that you are not alone in those sufferings.

~Tricia

Don't Believe Everything You Think

Never has Proverbs 3:5&6 been so alive than when I think of it as I read John 11. No, these passages are not cross-referenced, nor do they have anything to do with each other - other than the fact that they are both the Word of God.

Proverbs 3:5&6 says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths."

You may recall that John 11 records the account of Lazarus dying, then Jesus raising him from the dead. Most of us know the story....Lazarus died, Jesus came, grieved with the family, then raised him from the dead. I want to look more closely at the dialog which takes place during this event. I hope you'll see the connection I see with Proverbs 3:5&6.

Lazarus got sick when Jesus was out of town. Jesus, Himself, said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God..." (verse 4)

But, Lazarus did die. And they buried him. And that was that. What did Jesus mean, then?

When Jesus made his way to the family, days later, they were upset. Martha met Him on the way and told him, "Lord, if you have been here, my brother would not have died." (verse 21) Jesus had a discussion about the resurrection with her. Was she listening?

When Mary made her way to Jesus, she also said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." (verse 32) Jesus saw her grief, and the grief of those around her and Martha and he was "troubled." He wept and grieved with the family.

People observing all this said, "Behold how he loved him!"

And some said, "Could not this man, having opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?" (verse 36 & 37)

The way we understand it, death is the end. Dead. Buried. A permanent condition that cannot be undone. It did not occur to anyone on this scene that death was not the end. Their understanding, based, no doubt, on past experience with other people, made it very clear that death was the very end. No more hope. Dead. Buried. Leaving us devastated.

Jesus didn't understand things that way. He raised Lazarus right up from the dead. He came forth still wrapped in grave clothes, his face still covered. (verse 44)

Death?  Oh, that. Yeah. A temporary condition to Jesus Christ.

This outcome had not occurred to anyone who was there that day. It simply seemed impossible from a human understanding. While they thought He could have prevented him from dying in the first place, no one even so much as thought that He could raise him from the dead.

That's how they understood things.

I'm so glad they were wrong!

We are all wrong much of the time. Our understanding is off; we don't get it.

Do not lean on your own understanding, no matter what you face.
You can't believe everything you think.
~Tricia

Do You Love your Toothbrush?

"You own your spouse like you own your toothbrush." This is a quote from a sermon I once heard. This sermon was preached in a Regular Baptist Church by a pastor who serves on leading councils in his circles. His text was Ephesians 5:22, "Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as unto the Lord." Based on this verse alone, this pastor went on to preach a one-sided sermon filled with heresy and falsehoods. He claimed that this applies to both men and women in that they "own" their spouse like they own their toothbrush.

Another statement made in the sermon was, "The word 'own' is emphasized in the Greek, making it the focus of this verse. God wants us to know we own our spouses!"

Friends, this is heresy and I have found that people who teach heresy are getting away with it right and left. We do not own our spouse like we own our toothbrush!

Toothbrushes are disposable........People are not disposable.

Toothbrushes can be bought and sold.....People are not to be bought and sold. 

The word "own" in this verse is the Greek word "idios" which literally means "peculiar, individually, privately."  It is not emphasized in the Greek as was taught. In the context of Ephesians 5:22, it is used to show that a woman's husband is peculiar to her as a husband, not owned like a toothbrush. She does not "own" him in the sense of owning a possession.

Heresy creeps in a little at a time. A pastor misuses a passage like this, then a few weeks later misuses another passage, and that goes on for a while and before you know it, the church has gone down the slippery slope of false teaching. In another sermon, I heard this same pastor say, "The wife is just the husband in another body." Heresy. Clear as a bell.

God's Word, and the preaching thereof, is never a little thing. It is how God manifests His Word in our hearts. It's how He has chosen to make Himself known to man. I never take the preaching of the Word lightly and I will fight false teaching with all my might, no matter what the cost. Be vigilant. Search the Scriptures to see if what you are being taught is true and right.

~Tricia