The rain, the car and the preacher

I grew up thinking that the only value I had was to preach, or sing, or play the piano or to do all three at once. This thinking was not about what my parents taught me, it took me years to figure this out. I only knew that when something needed to get done, it was my job to do it.

I had spiritual answers for everything. "I don't want to do that!" "But those who suffer for Jesus will partake in his glory." "Never say you'll never do something, that's what you'll end up doing." So, unlike many of my friends I did not decide what I would  not do. Missionary - great. I hope they serve hamburgers. Traveling Preacher - great I hope they have hamburgers. Worship leader - great, I hope they have hamburgers. So, I guess my never do was "go without hamburgers." Who knew?

So, when I was in my teens I was invited to speak to the Sunday night church service. I had every point written out. It took me four minutes to read the whole thing. There wasn't much excitement, even from me. But, I figured I hadn't grown into my gift yet. I mean wasn't I  supposed to do something in those three categories. 

Oh wait I did say this,  "I'll never marry a preacher." So, at the age of 19, I married a preacher. I thought it was a wise move mostly because I didn't want to and in my mind, God only asked me to do the things I didn't want to do so he could prove himself. Yeah...not so much.

At the age of 20, my now x-husband and and I took our first church. He was one year older than I and people adored hearing him discuss the Bible. His messages were memorable. I remember one message "Get the plow and dig a little deeper." Probably not the correct title, but I have slept since then. Anyway, the sermon was about standing still during the most difficult times life had to through at you. 

When things started going badly I would just think that I needed to be more "rooted" and dig a little deeper. So, here's a story of one time when I dug a little deeper and found something I did not expect; humor.

One Sunday morning in October we lived in a duplex, our first home. It was up on a hill and when it would rain the road would wash out. Cars often ended up in the drainage ditch behind our duplex. This Sunday the rain came pouring down, but we had to get to church. It was imperative. 

My husband had one suit and one good pair of shoes. We headed out to church and the car stalled in the middle of the street. The engine was flooded...with water. I'm thinking we probably should have stayed home that day, but we were "Bible School graduates" and a little water wasn't going to stop us! If God parted the water for Moses, surely he'd do it for us. Yes, that out of touch with reality.

Anyway, we got the car into the street and my husband said I should start driving and he would push us out of the water. There he stood in his only suit and his only shoes trudged down with water. At one point I lost sight of him and thought for sure he'd fallen under the car and been dragged through the rapids. Then he got up again. I was so relieved. 

He got the car and I through the flooding water and told me to "go ahead." The water was up to the floorboard and I was just 20 years old and in shock. This wasn't supposed to be happening. It was a Sunday! 

After he pushed the car out of the water he realized that he'd have to swim to get back to the car. So, he told me to just "drive" to church. Ok, well I had been a preachers kid and been to Bible school and I knew the Bible as much as he did. It would be okay, right?

So, I pushed on the gas to go to the church and nothing happened. The engine would rev, but I wasn't going anywhere. I leaned my head out the window and said, "It won't go!" Maybe that was a sign...lol. When my husband reached half way to the car I realized I still had it in neutral.  WOW! So, as he approached I put the car into drive, stuck my head out the window and said, "never mind." Then he trudged back to the duplex shaking his head. 

He seemed to think it would be alright. After all, I was just as "ordained" as he was.... right? I drove up to the church and "tada" I'm here! The elder said, "Where's your husband?" I said, "it's okay, I'm going to preach today. He got caught in the flood by our house and couldn't get here." You should have seen that man's face. He got in his truck and said, "I'll go get him." My husband and his wet suit and shoes returned in time to preach the service. Welcome to the ministry...lol.