Celebration 19 First Baptist Church

Celebration 19
First Baptist Church.

When Mike and I were dating, I remember sitting in the car with him one night and we were talking..........probably kissing too!  I remember he asked me "Why did you want to go out with me?"  I immediately told him because he was a good Christian man.  He teared up and told me I had been deceived. I remember that he told me he was NOT a good faithful servant.  He was raised in the church, but in his early 20's had strayed away.

He was going to school at Indiana University to be a teacher.  We attended First Baptist together on the weekends.  I knew deep down he was a man of God and just needed some prayers on his behalf.  I had prayed faithfully after the choices of men in my life that God would send me someone who loved Jesus! Then summer was here and Mike needed a job.  He applied for the youth minister intern to help out the church. Summer came and went and he was still there doing God's work and enjoying himself.  College started back up and he was asked if he would like to be the full time youth pastor.  He prayed and prayed and finally accepted the position.  He still needed to finish college so he worked and studied that whole year along with asking me to marry him and planning our wedding.  We had began our journey together.   I remember praying to God pleading that I didn't MEAN that Godly of a man, just a guy that loved Jesus.  I did NOT want to be a pastor's wife!!  I'm sure he laughed at me and wasn't listening to me complain :)

We had both been active in the youth and knew several people in the church, so it felt like home to us.  As with all churches, there were good people and people that required extra grace :) Those were some of the best and worst relationships I had ever experienced.  People who wanted to encourage and people who wanted to stir up s***!  I remember praying one night in particular during a youth retreat to either shut the woman up who was speaking horrendous words about my husband and the church OR TO SHUT ME UP!  It took everything I had to keep quiet and not let my ugly come out.  I never prayed for someone to leave the church until that incident.

On the flip-side, there were people who praised Mike and his ministry.  There were young mothers who encouraged me after Lily came along.  There were people who prayed along side me.  There were helpers. There were kind words.  There were lessons that needed to be learned by this young naive girl about how Satan can stir chaos, dissatisfaction, turmoil, and division in the church.

First Baptist taught me to be careful with my words.  In honor of the Church, I'm choosing one whole day to do nothing but compliment the people I'm around.