Wednesday, August 31, 2016

The Age of Confusion

...but God is not the author of it. Those who are hardwired into a secular/humanist worldview have no discernment about satan's tricks to confuse us. They will be seduced by anyone who promises to bring peace and safety. There will be no "peace" until Christ is on the Throne and every knee bows before Him.  Safety? ...only in Jesus, "Blessed are they who take refuge in Him."  Here's the good news: The very technology that is driving us nuts is taking the Gospel around the world. "Some from every tribe and nation will be there!" I wondered all my life how that promise would be made good by the Lord. ...and now I know. I have lived long enough to see many promises come true. Growing old is good!

O.K.. You tell me you want my stories. Here's another.  Ted's and my firstborn interrupted our honeymoon after ten months. Ted's home -of- origin had been one from which he fled from the time he was an adolescent.  He continued to flee...into ministry.  Read on. .

It was a hot, miserable day in Bakersfield, California.  Our sons were 15 and 11. School had just come to summer break the day before.  ...but it was no "break" for us moms who were stuck in our houses with bored kids.  Doug, our oldest,  big and muscular was beating up Jeff, his slighter- built brother.  In a few years Doug would become an NCAA wrestling champion, second and third in his weight class in the nation.  Jeff would become a high ranking Marine Physical Fitness contender, competing against other athletes from across the nation in Washington D.C.,  ...not once but twice, As they were duking it out on this summer afternoon I knew that those guys needed a dad who was bigger than both of them.  I called Ted at his church office.  Nita,  his secretary answered: "He's in a meeting". "I don't care. Put me through!" She did.  "I can't raise these three kids by myself!" He came home; he began to help parent our three highly motivated children. Ships turn slowly.

In order to lift some responsibility from my hard working husband I had honestly thought I could and should do it all.  Because taking charge came naturally for me, my virtue had become my vice. I was frustrated, couldn't sleep at night, had body pain that kept me going to a chiropractor.  Ministry continued to dominate Ted's life. We had no Sabbath Day rest. Our church had grown from a handful of faithful people to a moving forward crowd.  ...but our salary didn't "move" with it.  We had to accept  a new pastorate in order to launch our three children into their lifework.  In between those pastorates we went to East and Southeast Asia. It was there that both of us became more convinced than ever about what we were willing to die for. We were about to be severely tested.  We returned to a new pastorate in the Bible belt, surrounded by enormous churches. Our California ministries had been built upon "discipleship", and were doctrinally healthy and were "going into all the world to teach the Gospel". Our new leaders did not understand the true meaning of "discipleship"; ...slow and personal and reproductive.  Ted was warned not to mention the word.   We were thrown under the bus. Together, we hopped on another bus, shocked, hurt, but not destroyed. 

Ted was a visionary. I had lost count of the ministries he pioneered; I was weary.  After launching a few more ministries I simply quit. I left for several weeks to get my head and my heart on straight. I walked, cried, prayed, wrote pages and pages and soaked myself in His promises. I didn't know what my husband would do about the current ministry he had started. After a few weeks, he announced to the people that he was pulling the plug. With mustard-seed faith I was trusting that God would do more than I could ask or think....and He did,  and He continues to do exactly that.

...back to the years when our kids were at home. I was watching as other women across this land were taking up the slack for husbands that were too busy struggling to make a living to take the spiritual leadership of their families. I became motivated by anger as I watched Christian marriages falling apart.  I struggled to understand scripture for today's world. I wrote books; I lectured.  I was called "old fashioned" by Christian women in our town. Women whined:  " My husband isn't the spiritual leader." ...but they wouldn't listen when I told them they couldn't force him to be the "spiritual leader", but they could stick to what God had called them to do: create a nurturing home of peace and safety for their family. ..not exciting, you say? ...depends upon whether you want short-term or long-term "excitement".

Finally I quit speaking for women's and college student's conferences. On what would be my last flight into Houston after an exhausting week of conferences here in California I knew what I was to do: ... join my husband for the rest of our lives in ministry to couples.  Since Ted is in Heaven I continue to teach women,  always doing my best to get their husbands under the leadership of a man's man. No woman alone, not even a tough-raised farm girl like me can raise a boy into a man's man. When there is either too much mom and not enough dad, or too much dad and not enough mom, kids will pay.  There are reasons young people turn to homosexuality, and every other sin. I have just written down one of them. I must say, however that a set of parents can do everything mostly right and one or more of their kids may still screw up!  You might think upon God the Father and his kids, if you parents who are reading this are beating yourself up for thinking you're a failure. Young people all across this nation are running around looking for a place to plug in their umbilical cord. ...so they plug it into one another,  or to some politician who can't deliver.

Thankfully, my husband was committed to being obedient to God; therefore whatever scripture said, he did it, but I had to make some choices foreign to my personality. Would Ted have changed because I told him to? Of course not! He was a man! 

You want excitement? Scripture is brimming with it! I won't listen to a theologian who is stuck on facts about God, but ignores the heart of God.  ...and with that,  this beautiful old hymn has been pressed into my mind:

                      NEAR TO THE HEART OF GOD

There is a place of quiet rest. 
NEAR TO THE HEART OF GOD
A place where sin cannot molest; 
NEAR TO THE HEART OF GOD.

There is a place of comfort sweet
NEAR TO THE HEART OF GOD
A place where all is joy and peace;
NEAR TO THE HEART OF GOD.

There is a place of full release.
NEAR TO THE HEART OF GOD
A place where all is joy and peace;
NEAR TO THE HEART OF GOD.

CHORUS
OH JESUS, BLEST REDEEMER
SENT FROM THE HEART OF GOD
HOLD US WHO WAIT BEFORE THEE
NEAR TO THE HEART OF GOD.

Your requested hymn will be posted.It was my turn..

Love, Jo

Twice fire has broken out just over the top of our mountain. Twice it has been contained before it succeeded in making it over the top and destroying our homes here in Bear Valley. Praise Him!

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