When 9-11 happened it became an event that was permanently ingrained in many peoples memories. The desire for all people to remember this event led to a slogan being made, "Never Forget". I was captivated by this image above as many people were when this cross shaped iron beam was found standing in the rubble. To me it meant when the walls came down and disaster hit, there was Jesus standing. He is and always will be at ground zero.
I would like to share a true story that happened to me when I was a young teenager that involved the faith of my parents. It unfolded over a period of several years. The final outcome changed my life forever. Something I never forgot. It started when I was about 13 and the little Assembly of God church that my family attended since I was 1 year old, hired a youth pastor. We were excited and curious about this pastor and his wife. She was very pretty and musically talented and he was a very interesting speaker. My mom and dad had them over for Sunday dinner soon after they came. Immediately Bob, the youth pastor, and my mom hit it off as he was a plant lover just like Mom. I remember them that day walking around our family room, that was filled with house plants, looking at each one and talking about them. Mom had found a kindred spirit.
As both, Bob and his wife, Lois, were the age of my older sisters, my folks took them in as their adopted kids. My older sister had moved out and was married and lived far away. So they filled a gap and emptiness in my mom and dad's heart. Bob and Lois were far from their parents distance wise too, so Mom and Dad filled an empty gap in their hearts also. They were young and full of hope and excitement for the moving of the Holy Spirit in people's lives. They had pretty much nothing as far as worldly possessions and the youth pastor position didn't pay enough to live on, so Bob got a part time job to make ends meet. Within a few months they were blessed with a baby that was due in July. So they came and asked mom if they could have her as a honorary grandma for their baby. Mom was overjoyed by the request!
My folks also became close to Bob and Lois spiritually because they were not big on the large organized churches like so many churches in America are affiliated with. They felt it was better for each church to be independent. Bob and Lois had been part of a ministry back East that was like that and also this ministry was very non-materialistic. They had seen some real miracles through this ministry. Sometimes food was multiplied before their eyes, sometimes pests and bugs were driven from their family camps and places with just prayers being given, and they had seen people being healed. This lit a fire in my folks heart for it reminded them of their early years of marriage and how they were part of a non-denominational ministry in Portland. It was called Wings of Healing and the minister and evangelist, Tom Wyatt had the gift of healing. My folks met in the small Bible School that Tom had. My mom had wanted to go to Bible School but the Bible Schools that the Assemblies of God had would not take her as she missed the last few months of high school taking care of her very ill mother and did not graduate and get a high school diploma. The Bible School that Tom Wyatt had did not care about those things and invited all to come and be blessed by the study of God's Word. My mom felt it was more like what Jesus would of done, being open to all regardless of their pedigree or educational background. So the denominations left a bad taste in my mother's mouth early on. My dad came from the Amish and all he saw there was a dead religion of people clinging to rules and regulations but hearts were not changed. He longed to know God in a personal way like he had not known before. He too was touched and encouraged by the Wings of Healing ministry in Portland. He had a desire to be a preacher, a teacher of the truth of the gospel. While at Bible School he met my mom's older sister and she introduced mom to him and the rest is history.
The little church they were going to when I was a kid was an Assembly of God church and part of a huge denomination. Not a church they would have picked right out of the gate but they went there because it was close to their home and when I was tiny they didn't have much money and had 4 kids and were living in a 8' by 20' trailer. There was a recession going on in our area and my dad could not find steady work. So this little church was close by and quite small and the people were very loving and friendly. There were some pastor changes over the years they were there and the present pastor at the time of this story was very loyal to the denomination and would often say that the Assemblies of God was the best ship a float. That did not set well with my folks. They did not like an exclusive spirit.
Well, when Bob and Lois came, their ministry with the youth took off very quickly and in a number of months on a Wednesday night they would have sometimes 50 people coming to the youth meetings and the Senior pastor would only have a handful of people in his study. Jealousy arose and the Senior Pastor began to make life miserable for Bob by always changing policy and not being supportive of Bob which was hard on him as he was young and new in this ministry and a man much older than him was making things difficult for him. He and his wife would share what was going on and how it hurt them. So my folks would go to bat for Bob. They tried to talk to the Senior Pastor about his practices and behavior that was hurting and discouraging both Bob and Lois. My mom really loved them and thought of them as her kids and my mom was a very loyal person. So she was more to speak up on things and address issues as she was more outgoing than my dad. Well over the 2 years Bob and Lois were there, things did not go well.
The people Bob and Lois touched and loved were flourishing but the ministry as a whole was dampened by this trouble between him and the Senior Pastor. My mom couldn't understand why there would be any reason for jealousy as they were both working for the Lord and the increase and ministry belonged to the Lord. So what was the big deal? At the end of the 2 years things came to a head and the Senior Pastor told Bob that he was going to resign his position there and when the Senior Pastor resigns all the staff pastors have to resign too. So Bob resigned and he and Lois left. They packed up their stuff and 2 beautiful little baby boys and moved back to the Midwest to be part of the ministry that had been part of before they took this position. The Senior Pastor remained.
Our hearts were so sad to see Bob and Lois go and when the Senior Pastor did not resign my folks made the decision to leave. It was difficult as mom and dad had friends there. They even felt that the Senior Pastor was their friend too. My oldest sister was going to another church in town called Faith Bible Center. It was a Foursquare Church but the pastor did not make a big deal of it and was more interested in people loving each other, witnessing to unbelievers, salvation and people being delivered from harmful lifestyles and habits. So my folks attended there and entered into church life whole heartily. My whole family became official church members according to the organizational guide lines and my dad was asked to be on the elder board and was voted in by the congregation. My mom also continued to talk to people at the other church including the Senior Pastor, just to let them know that she still cared about them.
Mom regularly attended the women's Bible studies at Faith Bible Center, that was held at the Pastor's house and was lead by the Pastor's wife. It was in 1976 and they started a series on being beautiful for the Lord. By being beautiful they meant having your nails manicured, hair professionally cut and colored and having a color analysis done to see what set of colors would go best with your complexion. Mom was a little troubled by this as she looked over the group of ladies. There was a young mom who had started to attend our church with her husband and little children. She was a stay at home mom and her husband didn't make much money so they were poor. Also they were new converts. She dressed very simply, clean and neat but no fancy hair style or painted nails. She also was a little bit over weight but not terribly so. She watched this young girl's face fall as they got into the program for the night and the look of sadness and discouragement as they told the ladies that they needed to be beautiful like this to please their husbands. The study concluded with all this outward beauty but no emphasis on the inward heart. Mom kept thinking about 1 Peter 3: 1-6 that says:
"In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, 2 as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. 3 Your adornment must not be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; 4 but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. 5 For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands; 6 just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear."
She also knew that this type of study was most likely going around the churches as a lot of other fads do, like health food teachings, "Being Healthy for the Lord", Easter egg hunts for kids near Easter Sunday, free food and free musical concerts, fancy coffee bars and donuts etc. to draw people into the church. Things in themselves not particularly evil but were sometimes put above the importance of the Word of God and His truth. Mom was a truth seeker and believed the word of God, the Bible. So she being a Elder's wife and much older than the Pastor's wife and in the light of Titus 3: 2-5 which says:
"But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. 2 Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 4 so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored."
She went to the Pastor's wife and talked to her privately about her concerns. She said she thought it would be better to focus on the inward beauty and not so much on the outward beauty and she also told her concerns about the young girl that looked so discouraged. The Pastor's wife did not take kindly to mom's words. She didn't say much to mom but her anger smoldered and she talked to her husband about mom and said she was causing trouble in the women's group.
The next thing I knew the Senior Pastor and his Assistant Pastor came to our house. It was summer time, so they sat outside on the deck. The Pastor proceeded to ream my folks, telling my mom that she was totally out of line, a trouble maker and a bad mom and wife to boot. I was 16 at the time and furious. He even went on to say that I was brow beaten because I was shy. Well that didn't set well with me. After about 45 minutes of this harangue they got up and left. My mom and dad were in shock. They began to pray about it and my mom talked to my dad and said they she felt like they should stay even though they wanted to run as far away as they could from that church. My dad agreed and they stayed. The next Sunday we walked into church. The Pastor did a double take up on stage and his jaw dropped down. He didn't say anything to my folks and went about church business as usual. For 2 years this went on. He treated mom and dad like nothing had happened. Dad was still on the elder board and we all attended the services regularly.
As I said, 2 years passed and the church began to grow, he added a new pastor on staff and was going to 3 services. Everything was sailing along, new people coming, people getting saved. Things were going great on the surface. But the Senior Pastor began to hang out with the Assistant Pastor's wife. She worked in the church office, she had a beautiful voice and could sing and was quite taken with the Senior Pastor. He took her out to lunch and had some heart to heart talks with her. But before an affair happened, he caught himself. He fessed up to her husband, how he had spent too much time with her was attracted to her but that was a far as it went. His assistant decided to resign and move with his family up North to take another position. The next step was for the Senior Pastor to confess to his Elder Board. So they had a meeting and he told his story and asked for their forgiveness. He knew God had forgiven him but was being accountable by confessing his wrong behavior and hoped that they would forgive him too. Well all the people on the Elder Board except my mom and dad stood up and walked out and did not come back to the church. Not only the Assistant Pastor whose wife he had gotten to close to, but the other Assistant Pastor left and the church attendance began to drop.
An amazing thing happened. The Senior Pastor came to mom and dad and begged them to forgive him for what he did to them 2 years ago. He said that he knew now that they truly loved him and he had been wrong about them all along. He said that at one of the local pastors meetings that the Pastor from the Assembly of God that they had formally attended told him that mom was a trouble maker and if he didn't watch out she was going to damage his church too! He had got that and then his wife with her bruised ego came tale bearing about mom to him and he decided he would run mom and dad off by giving them a good tongue lashing and make these trumped up accusations against them. With tears and sincere forgiveness my folks entered in to right fellowship with this man for the next 2 years that this man was at the church. He humbled himself to them and he was not their "Senior Pastor" but a brother in the Lord.
What did I learn from all this over the years? That experience made me trust God even more than I had before, that when you do what is right in His eyes He will not forget and He will fight for you, you don't have to. I learned that if you stand up for the truth you will have a battle on your hands because the enemy of our souls will buffet you, make you feel all alone, sometimes turn people against you, bring false accusations against you, but you need to stand strong in the truth and He will take care of you. When all our own dreams that are not His come down in our hearts, when all our striving stops to better ourselves in a way that is not His and we stop trying to make things happen the way we want them to, then we reach Ground Zero where Jesus is and always has been.
"He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it."
Matthew 10:39
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