Consider This

Well, it’s only been 6 weeks since I last posted something, so I guess it’s time to write some more!

Life is progressing. My job is going well and I enjoy it most of the time, which says a lot. Sherrell just started to work for an ENT doctors’ office. She loves being able to wear scrubs to work. I also began an interim music position this week with Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church in Greensboro, where my brother has been sub-ing as the pianist. It’s a nice little church that reminds me of my church in Picayune (which I still dearly love).

Sherrell has found me a cardiologist and I have an appointment next month. I haven’t noticed any symptoms of trouble and the last time I had blood work the doctor was very pleased. My brother and sister-in-law continue to bless us with a place to stay. Our house in Greenville is still on the market. We are getting lots of traffic seeing the house now but no offers yet. When you think of us, say a prayer that our house will soon sell.

I’ve been slowly reading Bob Webber’s “The Divine Embrace.” So far it is a wonderful book that manages to put into words things I have thought for some time. I so pray that God would raise up one to take Bob’s place. He was such a great leader and thinker–the Francis Schaeffer of his day. I thought I would share a paragraph from the book for your consideration.

“Another problem appearing in the late twentieth century that is rather new is the accommodation of the church to a kind of spiritual consumerism. Evangelical Pastor Mike Lueken comments on a ‘contemporary “Mc-Spirituality” that resembles very little the real deal.’ He feels that contemporary culture has shaped our view of spirituality into ‘our own image.’ In our consumeristic world, we have ‘reduced spirituality to attending a few religious classes, and having a few heart warming experiences.’ He goes on to say, ‘Those of us who pastor churches, particularly larger ones, have been swept up in the adrenaline rush of having more people coming to our church, attending our classes, buying our tapes and feeling good about our church–spirituality suffocates in this arid setting–but our pastoral ambition is ignited by these promising signs–our own unformedness and need for real spirituality is buried under the temporary thrill of a church that is making it . . . in quieter moments, when the noise and chaos of the church carnival stops, we hear different voices asking annoying questions like–maybe God isn’t in this at all? Maybe we are manufacturing this growth–are people really changing?’ Lueken asks a very hard question that articulates what many other evangelicals feel: ‘Have we substituted real spirituality with these various silly imitations and at the end of the day while we have many more people giddy about our church, not many of them are actually more like Jesus?’ “(pp. 95-6)

Late into the night of June 29, I listened from the lobby of the birthing center as my precious daughter labored. There’s no way I could know what she was feeling. All I knew to do was pray and listen. Midnight passed. Finally at 12:13am, the cry of a baby was heard. A huge smile came to my face, and all I could think about was a line from that wonderful old Christmas anthem, “That Night:” “And when the cry of a baby pierced the universe…” Wyatt Cohen Young pierced my universe that night and it will never be the same.

9 lbs, 7 oz. 22 1/4 inches long. BIG boy. Huge hands. Lots of black hair. One minute I think he looks exactly like Gini. The next I think he looks exactly like Jason. Sometimes I think he looks like Mercy. I was so blessed to be there and see him in his first few minutes of life. I have no doubt he will be a quarterback for Alabama in 2028, unless I can convince him to play for LSU (or Aunt Minnah convinces him to play for Auburn). Whoever he plays for will win the national championship, of course. Welcome to Earth, big boy! One of these days I’ll figure out how to post your picture…

I am spending the week in Jacksonville, FL, helping lead worship at the school where I received my doctorate. Returning to IWS is like a day at the spa; and I’m not speaking about the humidity! To be in a setting where God is not only talked about, but talked to, and listened to, and interacted with, is a wonderful treat. The faculty and students alike have been so kind and affirming. They have put up with my mediocre piano playing and have somehow managed to engage with God as I lead.

The editor-in-chief of “Creator” magazine spoke to us last night. He asked for a show of hands of people who have been fired, and I would estimate that a fourth of the students and faculty raised their hands. He asked how many had left a church because they figured if they stayed any longer, they would be fired, and another fourth raised their hands. Then he said if you didn’t raise your hand, you are going to be fired. While we all laughed, it reminded me of what a sad state our churches are in. He said he thought this was a common occurrence because the majority of pastors today have little understanding of true worship and little place for a worship leader who does.

I’ve heard some amazing stories this week as I have shared my own story. One fellow was given a grand three weeks of severance after serving a community for fifteen years. One fellow’s replacement was already picked and on site when he was asked to resign. On the one hand, I am outraged again at the audacity of church leaders today. On the other hand, I find comfort in knowing I am not the only one going through this kind of thing, and my denomination is not the only denomination in which this happens.

Starting May 1, I will be an analyst for Aon Consulting in Winston-Salem, NC. It is an entry-level programming position using some of the languages I have been learning since October. For the time being, we will continue to stay with my brother in Greensboro. I will have about a 45-minute commute each day. I plan to get me some audio books for my iPod.

I’m very excited that we’re finally going to have income again! Aon has great benefits, too, so we are blessed by that. Many thanks to all of you who have prayed for us through this dark time in our lives. We still need our house to sell, so don’t stop praying.

Surfing the web and came upon this interesting posting…
“Not for the faint of heart”

Also, one of my children mentioned this song that was sung at the Easter sunrise service yesterday. It is a reminder to all of us of the unconditional love of our Maker, Father.

Who Am I?
recorded by Casting Crowns

Who am I?
That the Lord of all the earth,
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt.
Who am I?
That the bright and morning star,
Would choose to light the way,
For my ever wandering heart.

Not because of who I am,
But because of what you’ve done.
Not because of what I’ve done,
But because of who you are.

I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when I’m calling,
Lord, you catch me when I’m falling,
And you’ve told me who I am.
I am yours.
I am yours.

Who am I?
That the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again.
Who am I?
That the voice that calmed the sea,
Would call out through the rain,
And calm the storm in me.

Not because of who I am,
But because of what you’ve done.
Not because of what I’ve done,
But because of who you are.

Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?
‘Cause I am yours.
I am yours.

One of my daughter’s recent blog posts (http://minnahpeels.blogspot.com/) that is well worth the read. Thanks Mer… Mom and I learn much from your thoughts and are challenged by your life.
A Prayer for Rosemary

“This I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness… The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him… For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love.” ~ from Lamentations chapter 3.

I have found that the more I seek to show God’s love to a friend, the more God seeks to show His love to me. The truths that I feel my friend needs to hear are those that God uses to minister to me.

My friend Rosemary is in jail for murder. It is a murder that I do not believe she committed, but a murder I do believe she caused. When she and her family moved in next door to us around two and a half years ago, I had no idea that this is what the future would hold. I saw four beautiful children and a single mom, being supported by a much older boyfriend. I experienced a call to minister to this disjointed family, and my husband and I answered that call - forming a friendship that ebbed and flowed through the following two years.

When the family moved away last August, we vowed to keep in touch. Little did we know that within a week of their move, we would be keeping in touch with Rosemary behind bars. With Rosemary suspected of murder, I knew that she would be very alone, and that I had a choice to make about my continued responsibility in her life.

At first I wasn’t certain whether I was being an ungodly onlooker in business that was better off without me. I have a great disgust of this tendency in all of us, myself included - that we are drawn to other’s suffering. If you look within yourself or others you know, I think you will see this tendency. It is akin to gossip. We like to be experts on other people’s grief. It’s amazing how when someone has a tragedy, there are suddenly “friends” present who we’d never known before. I think we do this because we like the way that others look at us when we are so compassionate and kind. It sickens me when I discover it in myself.

However, regardless of whether this was what initially drew me to continue my contact with Rosemary, I sincerely believed that God had not released me from this friendship. Over the last six months, I can see not only confirmation that God wanted me to remain in contact with her, but I can also see some of what He is choosing to do through this friendship.

For example, I do not tell folks “I’ll pray for you” very often. It is a promise I hesitate to make, because it is not a light thing to say. I believe you make a commitment before God when you speak those words, and that far too many people use them far too lightly. These words often even become a blanket excuse, as if promising to pray for someone negates your Christian obligation of charity, as if when you pray you no longer need to help others to meet their physical needs. But I told Rosemary I would pray.

I can only thank God that I made that promise to Rosemary, because there have been events in the past six months that have threatened my often unsteady prayer life. Sometimes Rosemary is the reason that I pray. And I believe that God is using her to minister to me, while He uses me to minister to her.

Rosemary reminds me of my own guilt before Him, and of His great compassion for me. And when I speak the truth to her, like God’s promises in Lamentations, that He does not cast us off forever, my faith is strengthened. The more I try to help her to believe, the more I believe.

So tonight I encourage you to commit yourself to pray for someone you love. When you can’t love yourself enough to pray for your own needs, maybe lifting up someone else to God, even if the words feel like an empty fulfillment of an obligation, maybe God will use that to change your heart. Voicing someone else’s hurts can give you an opening to voice your own. I’m still struggling to speak to God about my hurts, my anger, my fear, my pain, my desires, my needs, but tonight I will start my prayers with Rosemary; and if God can heal her, He can heal me too.

Go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble and get a copy of William P. Young’s The Shack. It will radically alter your concept of God (in a good way). As God says in the book, “I am who I am. I am not who you think I am.” It is classified as religious fiction and although it is not exactly an allegory, it is as profound as any allegory I’ve ever read. If you are serious about knowing God and loving him like you never have before, read this book. I’ve lost count of how many copies I have bought, because I keep giving them away. It is life-changing.

We arrived Sunday, March 9, at my brother’s house in Greensboro. We have a few scheduled trips back to Greenville, but for the most part consider ourselves North Carolinians now. Our new mailing address is:

PO Box 397

Pleasant Garden, NC 27313

We’re keeping our SC cell phone numbers for time being. Sherrell is working on selling more books on eBay. I am getting back at my computer studies after taking a week off to put the finishing touches on the house. Our home is on the market and looks fabulous. Sherrell did an amazing job getting it clean and doing the floors and touching up the paint and … I helped with a few things while I took care of personal business like income taxes.

We are glad to be in Greensboro. It has the feel of a new start for us. Hopefully we can land jobs soon and get on with life.

I sweated for two hours Thursday morning and discovered (to no surprise) I did not pass the test. The Oracle certification exams are killers! At first, I was rather bummed that I did so poorly, but then I tried to put it all in perspective. I’ve only been trying to wrap my brain around computers since October, so I guess I’m making progress… just not there yet. As my sister-in-law reminded me, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

I truly appreciate everyone who has prayed for me. I am not deterred by not passing the exam on the first try. I still believe I have chosen a good field to pursue and will continue to be patient and persistent as I learn.  As you pray, pray that I will not lose heart and that at the right time, God will open the door for employment. Also pray that God will continue to meet our financial needs.