Preacher’s Wife Teaching Life

Why is it that employees often think they know how to do the boss' job better than the boss does? I always wonder, "is it arrogance? is it perspective? is it just plain stupidity?" No matter the reason, this is an age old problem that plagues people of all ages. Kids think their parents don't know anything. Students think their teachers are stupid. Employees think their bosses are jerks. Wives think husbands are selfish. Husbands think wives are annoying. The list goes on but the problem remains: a lot of people have problems respecting authority. Maybe the lack of respect comes from an abusive experience. Perhaps you think you're justified in your defiance because of the way you were treated. Again, either way, the problem remains: a lot of people have problems respecting authority. Authority can be a tricky thing to recognize, especially when you place yourself above authority in your own mind because they're younger than you, dumber than you, not as exper...

You know that feeling when things aren’t working out the way you planned? Maybe you expected a better outcome for yourself and you’re worried about how everything will turn out? You lose sleep over issues that are out of your control and you have anxiety about the future. As the reader, you might notice all the “you’s” in the above sentences. There wasn’t much of “God” mentioned but there was a lot mentioned about your own well-being and yourself. This is an example of operating in the flesh. If you haven’t grown up in church, you might associate “flesh” with skin and you’re wondering why I’m talking about skin. “Flesh” in church-ese for operating in this world without the guidance and fruit of the Holy Spirit. Flesh focuses a lot on “self” – self-gratification, selfishness, self-satisfaction, self-advancement, self-consciousness, self-protection, etc. Walking in the flesh usually ends in anxiety, worry, depression, addictions, destruction, anger and fear. Matthew 7:13,14 Ent...

SURPRIIIIIIISE!!!! The Shock of the Year… We were invited to a friend’s house for dinner last weekend. We pulled up promptly at 7, walked in the house and received instructions from my friend. She said that her son wanted to show me his new puppy in the backyard. I open up the door to the backyard and immediately see all my close church friends gathered around in expectation, and hear a loud “SURPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISE!!!!!!” In that moment, my heart was flooded with emotion. Tears gathered in my eyes as memories and thoughts of great times spent together came rushing upon me in an instant. I was so excited and touched to know that they had been planning this for weeks and prepared a special party for me with all my favorite things. One of those favorite things included the art of celebration; I love to celebrate and mark moments in time with good memories and good friends. I love for each person to feel special and distinguished when good things come their way. Cheesecake F...

I know this girl from high school who was...let's say less than nice to me. And I have to confess that maybe I wasn't very nice back to her. I think we resolved in our minds that we just didn't like each other (for who knows what reason 16 year old girls choose) and stayed away from each other as much as possible while trash talking each other at the same time. We graduated, went to college, graduated again (not at the same time), and guess what? Our paths crossed again. We were put in a situation that was awkward given our background and were forced to talk to each other and work together. And do you know what happened? She spoke up and said, "I think we knew each other in high school..." and I said, "yeahhh kind of." And she said, "I don't think we were very nice to each other." I replied, "no not really." God prompted us both at that time to agree that our tiff was stupid and high school brings out the worst in people and we fo...

Giving can be such a touchy subject when brought up at church. It's usually followed up by a tablespoon of guilt and a dash of shame. My hope is that in this post, you feel no guilt or shame but hope and gratitude and motivation. God has blessed you in more ways than you can count and I hope that this post is a reminder of those blessings. I have countless stories about how God has provided for us and more stories about him providing for other people around us. His provision is literally everywhere and sometimes we don't even see it. His love for us is so immense that our humanly brains can't even comprehend it. One way he shows his love is in his provision. Provision comes in many forms: jobs, houses, cars, food, family, time, money, resources, wisdom, creativity, etc. Like in any relationship we are familiar with, when something is received, usually you like to give back. It's a natural response that stems from a feeling that swells up inside our hearts called grati...

This week we covered Joshua 24 . Basically, Joshua reflects on all that's happened and tells the people to remember God. ( Joshua:14, 15 ) This post is a quick and dry summary of allllll my previous posts (which are linked into the points listed below): 1) God established a leader in Joshua; Moses was a powerful leader and his he passed his mantle to Joshua, like a spiritual inheritance. ---> His first responsibility was to come under authority. ------> Each leader has a leader to come under. Even the highest power on Earth has to submit to someone, namely God. Coming under authority by submitting to their guidance is of utmost importance to your well being. 2) A partnership with the Lord is established. ---> God does his part first and then humans need to do their part. For example, God sent a hail storm in Joshua 10 and the people still had to fight the battle with those remaining. ---> God has an opinion about his dominion and we could do well t...

Were you ever a subject of a rumor? Did something ever get spread around about you like wildfire and you didn’t have the tools to put it out? The thing about rumors, gossip, and slander is that if the originator would have just asked you about it, you probably could have put a stop to it. It was probably something so minor that could have been cleared up in the matter of one conversation. Instead, people went around trying to solve your problems, trying to say what THEY would have done and what YOU should have done…when all they had to do was ask. They build up a case against you and sometimes even formulate a plan to fix you or your problem. Most of the time with gossip, it’s an issue you and one other person can work out between the two of you before God…if you’re willing. That’s where Joshua 22 comes in. We had a special Sunday this week with baby dedications and a personal testimony so Joshua 22 will be spread out over two weeks. This week, God wants to deal with gossip and hono...