Hymn Post: Tell Me the Story of Jesus

A dear one's favorite song... it has become dear to me also since she passed on.

Tell Me the Story of Jesus

by Fanny Crosby

Tell me the story of Jesus,
Write on my heart every word.
Tell me the story most precious,
Sweetest that ever was heard.
Tell how the angels in chorus,
Sang as they welcomed His birth.
“Glory to God in the highest!
Peace and good tidings to earth.”

Refrain -

Tell me the story of Jesus,
Write on my heart every word.
Tell me the story most precious,
Sweetest that ever was heard.

Fasting alone in the desert,
Tell of the days that are past.
How for our sins He was tempted,
Yet was triumphant at last.
Tell of the years of His labor,
Tell of the sorrow He bore.
He was despised and afflicted,
Homeless, rejected and poor.

Refrain

Tell of the cross where they nailed Him,
Writhing in anguish and pain.
Tell of the grave where they laid Him,
Tell how He liveth again.
Love in that story so tender,
Clearer than ever I see.
Stay, let me weep while you whisper,
Love paid the ransom for me.

Refrain

1 Timothy 2:5-6 - For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. (ESV)

A Preacher's Work Is Never Done

Many of you have probably heard the old joke that preachers only work for 3 or 4 hours a week. Until you live and work in a preaching family full time, it is difficult to imagine just what is involved in the work, and why I stress that it is a lifestyle! I grew up with my Dad preaching part time and in addition, he was always very involved in the local work of the church. I remember talking to my husband about life as a preacher's kid when we were dating. He was skeptical of the fact that I really understood what he was talking about, but I assured him I understood completely. I. did. not.

What we do is a lifestyle - a rather unique lifestyle, and I feel like I'm still trying to figure out how to gracefully juggle the life we live. It is ever-changing according to present needs, and flexibility while maintaining a routine for my children is a real challenge.

So... the title of my post: A Preacher's Work Is Never Done

Here are some of the jobs a preacher often does:

What you would expect:

• Preparing and preaching sermons
• Preparing and teaching Bible classes for Sunday and Wednesday assemblies

If you think a little harder, you might also expect:

• Writing and editing the weekly bulletin or newsletter
• Home bible studies with members, community contacts, etc...

Side note - people often call asking for Preacher Man and are surprised when he is not at home. Many do not realize that he is gone nearly every evening doing Bible studies!

• Writing and organizing class material
• Changing the message on the sign
• Answering phone calls and e-mails
  
• If there are elders, meeting with them
• Business meetings - there is preparation involved here too
• Attending gospel meetings and singings
  
• Preaching away from the congregation for special meetings
• Attending all weddings, funerals, parties, etc... for all members of the congregation
• Sometimes preaching for weddings and funerals
• Researching, designing and submitting advertising
• Maintaining the church website
• Counseling upon request
• Initiating difficult conversations - confronting people about problems
  
• Visiting folks who are home bound or in prison
  
• Personal study and research
• Prayer
  

Then there are the weird things that the preacher often takes care of behind the scenes, because who else is going to do it?

• Taking food and a Bible to a needy person who calls asking for it
• Turning down the 90% of calls to people who are just asking for money - our standard answer is, "We do not have a fund for that, but we would love to pray for you or help you with your spiritual needs." We get a call about once a week. Sometimes more when rent comes due. We have had people come to our door before. Once about 2 days after we brought our baby home from the hospital. Preacher man left to get the man a hotel room because it was snowing, and I fixed him some food.
• The church line is a business line. We get LOTS of calls from telemarketers.
  
• Spending hours with the shop vac in the church basement because it flooded... again
• Cleaning the building and restocking supplies because someone forgot... again
• Shoveling snow... mowing grass... raking leaves
• Meeting with repair men... after all, Preacher Man is always home (except that he's not!)
  
• Trying to help with odd requests - I'll let you use your imagination... there are some odd ones, believe me!
• Dealing with the mentally ill - some wander in during a service, some call repeatedly... the lady who called herself "The Prophetess" was a particularly interesting one. We try to show compassion, but sometimes, we have to set some boundaries.
  
• Attending sporting events and games of some of the member's children to show support
• Attending community events - good for getting out and meeting new contacts
  
• Basically, being on call 24/7. Yes, we have answered phone calls for the church at 3 a.m. on multiple occasions. Even on vacation, we are "on call". Preachers do not have holidays in the sense that they have a day free of their duties. A "day off" is a rather foreign concept now.

I'm sure I have forgotten some things... some very important things. These are just some things I came up with from the top of my head, and I'm sure some of my friends could add a few to the list. I don't write this to complain, I just write it to share, and maybe to help people think. We love our life and feel like it is an honor and a privilege to serve in the way that we do. Our life is dedicated to meeting the needs of others, in particular, their spiritual needs. I can't think of anything better than that!

Show your local Preacher Man some love and appreciation tomorrow! I'm sure he works very hard, and a little appreciation beyond, "good sermon" means so much!

Venturing Out

We had a delightful Thanksgiving Holiday! The food was, perhaps, the best ever, and the company even more so! Now we are left with a quiet house, exhaustion, and all we have left is some turkey and dressing from the feast. The dressing by the way, got rave reviews! The recipe is here. I had many comment to me that it was the best they ever had! The recipe allows for a lot of lattitude, but this time I used half bread, half corn bread, and for the meats, I added a bit of bacon & 12 oz. of sausage, cooked and crumbled. Yum!

Monday is "Preacher Saturday" for us - Preacher Man generally takes the morning/afternoon off to do house chores and spend extra time with the family. We think we might pull out our winter decorations then. I have at least one holiday kid craft I'd like to share. I also have a little tutorial I'm working on for some baby mittens that actually stay on! Stay tuned!

Lastly, Church Mouse is taking a BIG LEAP forward to give Facebook a try. I thought it would be a useful tool in promoting the site, especially once I finally figured out that the reason I have been getting so many hits on my potato salad post, is all because of the nice link up Mrs. Deputyheadmistress made for me in The Common Room. I plan to give updates on new posts there, so it is another easy way to keep up with the latest posts.

I'm fumbling my way through, so as I have said, suggestions for the site are most welcome! I'm very much learning my way around the bloggy world.

Here I am on Facebook! Make Church Mouse a friend, or "like" me or something like that. ;)

Wednesdays with the Word: Psalm 118

<sup>I am swamped with preparation for Thanksgiving... guests staying overnight are already on their way, and there is more cleaning, cooking, and decorating to be done. Still, in an effort to squelch my Martha tendencies, I wanted to take a moment during our quiet time today to think on heavenly things.

Psalm 118

1</sup>Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!

²Let Israel say,
"His steadfast love endures forever."
³ Let the house of Aaron say,
"His steadfast love endures forever."
⁴ Let those who fear the LORD say,
"His steadfast love endures forever."

⁵Out of my distress I called on the LORD;
the LORD answered me and set me free.
⁶ The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
⁷ The LORD is on my side as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

⁸It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
⁹ It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.

¹⁰All nations surrounded me;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
¹¹ They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
¹² They surrounded me like bees;
they went out like a fire among thorns;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
¹³ I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
but the LORD helped me.

¹⁴The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
¹⁵ Glad songs of salvation
are in the tents of the righteous:
"The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,
¹⁶the right hand of the LORD exalts,
the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!"

¹⁷I shall not die, but I shall live,
and recount the deeds of the LORD.
¹⁸ The LORD has disciplined me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.

¹⁹Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the LORD.
²⁰ This is the gate of the LORD;
the righteous shall enter through it.
²¹ I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
²² The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
²³ This is the LORD’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴ This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

²⁵Save us, we pray, O LORD!
O LORD, we pray, give us success!

²⁶Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
We bless you from the house of the LORD.
²⁷ The LORD is God,
and he has made his light to shine upon us.
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,
up to the horns of the altar!

²⁸You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God; I will extol you.
²⁹ Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!

T-Minus

The plan for Thursday is as follows:

8:00 Prepare turkey - turkey takes its "last flight"

("The Last Flight" is a family tradition... before being stuffed and dressed for the roasting pan, the featherless bird is given one last flight through the entire house with the person carrying the turkey singing, "Gobble, gobble, gobble" as loudly and annoyingly as possible. This is the most fun when there are sleeping teenagers and 20 somethings around... I think the littles will be thrilled too!)

8:30 Turkey in oven, prepare rolls

sometime in here...

• breakfast: cereal, bagels, OJ, milk, eggs for the extra hungry
  
• set the table, set out cranberry orange relish and pickled beets
  

10:00 Fix mashed potatoes, keep warm in the crock pot
11:00 Take the turkey out of the oven, turn up the heat to 400*
11:15 Bake yeast rolls
11:30 Hand the turkey over to the men for carving, make gravy on the stove
11:45 Rolls out of the oven, turn down to 350*

• warm up the sweet potato dish, stuffing, and corn casserole and any other sides my wonderful MIL brings
• delegate someone buttering the rolls
• Start bringing food to the table and delegate dishing out the 24 hour salad
  

12:00 Dinner is served!

Later: Pies and coffee
Later: grazing on leftovers... grazing on leftovers... grazing on leftovers some more

The question... do I use my everyday corelle, or do I drag out and wash up the pretty wedding china? Neither is conducive to fall colors, but I'm ok with that.

Holiday Deals at the Grocery Store

If you are an coupon mama like me, you may be a little disappointed in the pickings this week. Be not dismayed, some of the best deals of the year are out there!

Many stores run a free turkey/ham promo for Thanksgiving. For our store, we have a choice of a turkey or a ham. The sale price for the turkey is $1.19 and the sale price for the ham is $1.79. While we go with the traditional turkey for Thanksgiving, we enjoy ham more, and like having it for Christmas. My strategy: Buy the largest ham I can find and get it for free, freezing it until Christmas - then buy a modest size turkey for the amazing price of $1.19/lb. \

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EDIT -
Further reflecting made me think... $1.19 is really not such a great deal. I re-checked the sales fliers and realized my mistake. The store running the free turkey promo is charging $1.19/lb. but the competing stores have turkeys as low as $.39/lb. I should have gone to the other store for the turkey. :( I'm bummed. I spent way too much on the silly bird.

Live and learn, right? Don't make my mistake!
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We started thawing our bird today... after a disaster year of thawing the bird to early, I now tend to err on the other side, thawing a bit later. I would warn my readers that if you have not started thawing your turkey, now would be the time!!! Otherwise, you can pay a bit of a premium for a "fresh" turkey that you don't have to thaw.

Other deals -

• Sweet potatoes - these are going for as low as $.20 per pound! I bought 15 pounds so far! (We really love sweet potatoes!)
• Off season items like ice cream - stash some in the deep freeze, or use it with your apple pie on Thursday!
• Sausage - I'm seeing all-time low sausage prices and am stocking the freezer. I was thrilled to find an all-natural brand well-priced - just pork, salt, water and spices!
  
• canned broth, cranberry sauce, and gravy - I don't usually purchase these convenience items, but they are nice for donating, or stocking your emergency food storage.
• sour cream, cream cheese and such are surprisingly low as is cool whip - nice for your holiday desserts!
  
• Several wonderful deals and coupons for nuts - again, a great time to stock the freezer
• Clementines are back!! Big littles and I are thrilled!
  

Anyone else seeing "Black Friday" deals at the GROCERY STORE? This is a first for me, but I'm tempted... oh so tempted by the low, low price for toilet paper, and the beautiful free range, grass fed filet mignon for $2.99/lb. Mmmmm! Sounds like a Valentine's dinner for Preacher Man and I!

If you want to keep your sanity, get your shopping done ASAP and go in the morning to avoid the holiday craziness!

Reflecting on Reflections

Two things I want to consider today:

James 1:22-25

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

The concept of a paradigm shift: describing a profound change in our frame of reference

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Perhaps you have never heard the term before, but we have all experienced profound paradigm shifts in our lives. We see things one way, and then, usually based upon some new information we acquire, we suddenly see things in a new way... a different way... a way more aligned with TRUTH. Sometimes we do this with our physical appearance - seeing ourselves in the mirror every day to brush our teeth or fix our hair, but not really seeing ourselves as we truly are. As I get older, I tend to keep seeing myself as the way I looked when I was in high school - when I wore makeup and spent more time in front of the mirror. HA! I deceive myself! We all tend to deceive ourselves, do we not?

James and the rest of the gospel message calls for us to have a major paradigm shift, and not just one affecting our spiritual lives, but our WHOLE lives. We are called to look upon the perfect law of liberty, and instead of just hearing and continuing on, we are called to turn our lives upside down. Where once our lives revolved around ourselves, our careers, our children, our money, or our entertainment, we are called to make CHRIST our new frame of reference - our new center. It is a major paradigm shift and if done the way we are called to do in James, will change our entire world view. We will have a new occupation - a Doer of the Word.

Challenge yourself to take a good, hard look at yourself in the spiritual mirror (God's word). Have you truly changed your world view? Is Christ your frame of reference? Do you reflect Christ in your life?

Some passages to consider: Galatians 5 (The Fruits of the Spirit), Matthew 5-7 (The Sermon on the Mount), The entire book of James

Did I step on your toes a little? Ouch - I'm feeling it. Time to get to work!