Peace-Because you choose to “Stand By your Man”

July 13th, 2011


This idea of supporting my husband is one of my other “my problems” of not getting to church on Sunday. He is still trying to sort out where he fits in, and how to serve the church community now, just like me. He is a ship without a map and compass at the moment. He kind of bobs along in the water waiting. He does not like to be patient and I think God is telling him( both of us actually) to be patient. We are both sort of lost. There are no people at the church right now that we call “close friends”. Ian and Kate are the closest and they are family. Next would be Brad and Heather Epperson (We have been through some amazingly great and stressful times in youth ministry with them.) then Patsy and Dave Zofkie ( …mostly because we are still getting to know them,) and then we also have known the Macphersons, Alan and Jane for quite a while. Aside from Pastor Cheryl, and maybe ,just maybe Alan Macpherson, or Brad Epperson, I do not think there is anyone Alan would/could go talk to with a BIG problem. We both have people that we have known for quite some time, but not many people we would be on intimate terms with. ( I do on the other hand have several people I could talk with… I am pretty much a need to vent/ download kind of person.)

So this is where “small groups” come in right? How do I get a kind of shy guy like Alan* , to join a small group. The last time it was put together by someone else for us, we had little say in who was in it….. and was a total disaster!!!I mean TOTALLY! Wrong people combos ..oooh! not good!

*The first impression people have of Alan is that he is a very confident “guy’s guy”. But he isn’t. He’s really kind of shy and has a hard time meeting new people or going into totally new situations where knows no one.


Alan would like to be a small group leader for people of any age who love music. Maybe do a study of the old hymns. We have a book called “Then Sings My Soul” about some of the best loved old hymns and how RADICAL and scandalous they were thought to be in the 1800’s! Today they are the “oldies”’ that everyone knows and loves,(How Great Thou Art, for example) and that some musicians are now rewriting the music for(think David Crowder Band)…because those words cannot be rewritten in any way that is SO meaningful as that first way. Someone’s heart was crying out to God and it was a very, very powerful thing. It might be a great way to study God’s word that gets revealed to others through music, and a chance to play/sing and maybe even be able to have a chance to share in worship at some point in time ( either service!) Also a way for my husband to relate to some folks ..he has a harder time than I do opening up to people.

So these are some other things I have been thinking and praying about as I bob around on my sailboat. A lot of time to think and be able to write, makes for a healthier frame of mind for me!