Honest Mistakes

I know, I have become the blogger that I hate. I wrote four or five posts and lost interest. A big part of this is that I'm not sure that my thoughts are interesting. School has also began which means that my mind is loaded on accounting terms. Currently, my thoughts are filled with Accumulated Depreciation, Compound Interest, and Operating Net Income. I'm sure that no one would stick around to read those blogs!


Fret not, readers, that is the only time that those terms will be mentioned. Instead, I will tell you funny stories about my job. I work at a construction company with all guys. Whenever I tell this to older people, they instantly cluck their tongue and tell me what an awful place to work it must be. Granted, it's not the perfect job. But for the most part, they do truly respect me and work well around me. They keep foul language to a minimum (unless they don't realize I'm back from lunch) and are more curious than anything else about Christ.


One thing that I have really come to love about being a pastor's wife is that you are instantly branded a Christian. There is no general wondering about when I should mention this. Once a person notices my wedding ring, they naturally ask about Tim and where he works. So, the guys were warned in advance that they would be hiring in their words a "religious" person. Their lack of knowledge has made for some pretty hilarious, and at times, great conversations. Scroll down for humorous snippets.


"You remind me of Ghandi. Do you know who he is? He was really passionate about his beliefs too."


"You made me think I should start reading my Bible again. I decided to start in Job. That's a quick, fun read, right?"


"Wait, you mean to tell me that you go to church on Sunday, bible study on Monday, and Wednesday! The Rev is strict with you!" (Forgot to mention, they don't refer to Tim by name. Instead, he has been branded "The Rev".)


"I just heard Amazing Grace at a funeral. I'm sure you just heard that Sunday.......You don't sing Amazing Grace every Sunday? Then what do you sing?"


"I don't think I've been to church since my niece's baptism." (Another weird phenomenon. If someone is uncomfortable with Tim's profession, they usually tell me the last time they have been to church. Because that matters.)


"So you mean you read the Bible everyday? Like the whole Bible?"


"If you don't close your eyes when you pray, does it count?"


"If The Rev would ever go to a different job, would he put God down as a reference."


There are so many directions I could go with this topic. I could talk about how God has been using me. How there are a few guys who have NEVER thought of church because of how stuffy it seems that are now asking great questions. I could talk about how everyone was terrified to meet "The Rev" and have now come to love him. He is constantly being asked about. They are going to take him deer hunting in fact.


However, the most appropriate stand on this topic seems to be where I am fallen. How many times have I been worried to share who I belong to? How many times have I been nervous that if I share my faith too soon, it will simply turn people off. This fear is nothing more than from Satan who delights in my silence. These are supposed to be some of the most difficult, crass men who have nothing but honest questions. If anything, I think they respect my faith. There definitely will be opposition to Christ in the world, I have no doubt. But sometimes when people have a face to go with it, they are a little less likely to oppose.


I don't want to be at this job forever. There are a lot of days that are quite frustrating for me. However, I am thankful knowing that I am doing the Lord's work while I am here. For most of these men, this may be the closest that they have ever been to church. I need to be constantly reminded of their reactions and to be BOLD in my faith. All to His Glory.

I Don't Have The Time

This past weekend, I sat in a car for seven hours. My gram needed help cleaning and decorating her apartment and I went to give assistance. The car ride from our home to her is brutal. There is no scenery besides the crops and the forgotten vehicles in yards. The drive is relatively straight, so even the road doesn't demand your attention. So straight, in fact, that Tim and I have joked that if you could find a way to lock the steering wheel that you could take a nap for two and a half hours.


This drive was torture to me. I didn't mind if I had someone with me or if I can set up a time to call a friend to catch up on the way. However, if no one was available, I  would be completely bored in the car. When I would be able to get the occasional station to tune in on my radio, the music didn't satisfy me. Finally, I discovered  audio books. Audio books have become my go to entertainment for trips, and helped to decrease annoyance to all of my friends who I would always try to call. For this weekend, it was Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis. 

Although I love almost all of Lewis's work, I must say that this is one of my favorites of his writings. For the unfortunate ones who haven't had the chance to read this, I REALLY recommend it. To understand the rest of post, you need to know a little background on this book. Lewis writes the book from the perspective of two demons. There is an older, experienced demon that is teaching the ways of trapping and tempting the human he is assigned to. 


"Men are not angered by mere misfortune but by misfortune conceived as injury. And the sense of injury depends on the feeling that a legitimate claim has been denied. The more claims on life, therefore, that your patient can be induced to make, the more often he will feel injured and, as a result, ill-tempered. Now you will have noticed that nothing throws him into a passion so easily as to find a tract of time which he reckoned on having at his own disposal unexpectedly taken from him. It is the unexpected visitor (when he looked forward to a quiet evening), or the friend's talkative wife (turning up when he looked forward to a tête-à-tête with the friend), that throw him out of gear. Now he is not yet so uncharitable or slothful that these small demands on his courtesy are in themselves too much for it. They anger him because he regards his time as his own and feels that it is being stolen. You must therefore zealously guard in his mind the curious assumption "My time is my own". Let him have the feeling that he starts each day as the lawful possessor of twenty-four hours. Let him feel as a grievous tax that portion of this property which he has to make over to his employers, and as a generous donation that further portion which he allows to religious duties. But what he must never be permitted to doubt is that the total from which these deductions have been made was, in some mysterious sense, his own personal birthright."


After reading that, anything I say would only take away. For all of you non Lewis loving fans, I hope I have turned you from your ways!