Author: pastor.gerooney@gmail.com

My parents have been married 57 years……to each other! In that time they raised four children who have all graduated college and are productive citizens.  They are grandparents to nine amazing young people, who again, are all productive citizens.  Sounds life a perfect life! And it very nearly is.  But sometimes, bills, muddy floors, bad breath….the list will always continue…..interrupt the dream.

Mom and dad lived an appropriately open life behind the front door of the parsonage. There was no alternate reality among two parents and four children. It was the same seen by everyone who knew us, except we might be in our pajamas and Gayle’s hair would be a mess because she hated tight braids and pigtails.

In living color we had fights. Greg was the oldest and he got to do EVERYTHING! Gwen was the youngest and she never got in trouble!!!! (Screen this paragraph for sarcasm.) I was the second oldest and suffered great persecution, with dirty dishes that were never finished until they were dried, put away and all countertops and sinks were free of standing water and spots. Oh the anguish! 

Laundry was also part of my domestic torture.  Mother had a particular way of wanting things done. There was no money to replace clothes ruined by a novice, so she managed the sorting of colors, detergent and water temperature, then the transfer from washer to dryer, but I learned early how to fold and put away our family’s wardrobe.  By mother’s standard, everything should look like it just came out of the package brand new.  Her closets and chest of drawers still look nicer than the shelves at Macy’s. My father often mentions this when he comments on the longevity of their relationship, but it isn’t to brag about her servitude to him, he knows better than to imply THAT! He is recounting the extraordinary lengths she personally went to as an exemplary keeper of our home.

A few weeks ago during ‘Dad Therapy’ my father said, “Gretchen, do you know I can get up in the night and find everything I need without turning on a single light?” Big deal! But, throughout his ministry and years on volunteer emergency teams, he did indeed have to arise quietly and quickly to attend those in need. He continued, “There were times when mom and I couldn’t utter the words ‘I love you.’ ” The starry eyed dreams of a young marriage faded as responsibilities overwhelmed. Dad didn’t leave his thoughts there. He confessed, “I couldn’t say ‘I love you,’ but I could look at those socks and underwear, t-shirts and handkerchiefs and think, ‘I really appreciate all Sandy does for me.’ On my very worst day, I know I will have clean clothes and a beautiful meal. I was wise enough to appreciate when I was too immature to love.”

Mom set a strong standard for us all.  We didn’t go out looking like urchins, homespun maybe, but not threadbare or improperly attired. When people came to our home, they didn’t leave hungry. And did I mention her perpetual warfare against dust bunnies? Yes, even in the places the public eye will never see, she conquers with lemon fresh Pledge.

God created man as a social species. Whether introvert or extravert, no one lives without a degree of dependance on someone else. Is it time to invest in some gratitude for your quality of life?  We naturally focus on the absence of our perceived entitlements, but who is doing what you cannot or will not do for yourself or others?

We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

I Thessalonians 1:2-3

Thanks Mom and Dad, for everything.

Love,

Gretchen

“Do not be afraid of them; the LORD your God himself will fight for you.” Deuteronomy 3:22 (Chapter 2-3)

Israel had many victories over their foes as they approached the entrance to Canaan.  The people were still mindful of the strong nations already residing there, but Moses assured them, God’s got this!

A few verses later Moses asks God to allow him to enter the beautiful land he could see clearly from a mountain top.  God refused and commanded Moses to encourage and prepare Joshua to lead.

Moses could only see what earth had to offer, and it was good.  Rest was in sight, and he wanted to experience this most blessed home. But God knew there was a better place for this man of great faith, and yes, that Home too, was in sight.

In Matthew chapter 17, Jesus leads Peter, James and John to a mountain top. There Jesus was transfigured and spoke with Moses and Elijah.  They talked of the things to come, giving Jesus strength and encouragement to face His horrific fate at the hands of His own people.  What a tremendous testimony to the assurance of life eternal.  This man, so human in the early Biblical narrative, spoke face to face with Jesus several hundred years later and is still living and walking with God today as I write.  What a beautiful act of God, to give us this story to cling to as we journey along our paths and press on to The Promised Land.

Happy Weekend,

Gretchen

Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them.”  Deuteronomy 1:29 (Chapter 1)

The word ‘Deuteronomy’ means ‘repetition of the law’. On the eve of entrance into Canaan Moses expounds on God’s commands and leads the people in rehearsal for their new way of life. From verse 26-31Moses recounts the weakness of the people’s faith, but reminds his hearers of God’s faithfulness to them, His loved people, and His covenant.

The episode of total, spiritual breakdown, after the spies return and tell of great walled cities and vast armies already residing in Canaan, is told once again. The rebellion that followed cost a generation their inheritance, yet God forgave, and those who know nothing but absolute reliance on God would soon enter their homeland.

The mentality of the original Israelites constantly questioned God’s dedication and love. They felt certain God was toying, playing them for fools and staging them for total failure. How little self-respect and worth they must have felt to have arrived at these conclusions.

God has no hidden agenda. He may be jealous of our affections, but He is NOT malicious. The plan is quite obvious in the story of man’s history. Each of us is born worship

god alone, love one another and experience eternal life. It is a free choice, but God is Good, loving and faithful. He will care you as a father carries his son.

Love,

Gretchen

These are the commands and regulations the LORD gave through Moses to the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho. Numbers 36:13 (Chapters 34-36)

Moses’ life is coming to an end. He will not enter the promised land. This privilege was lost when he threw an angry fit and undermined the Israelites recognition of God’s love and miracle of water from a rock. But, aside from Jesus, no man in history has been associated with so many manifestations of God’s Divine Power.

Moses was God’s agent to the plagues of Egypt and a nation of slaves was set free. Soon, the waters of the Red Sea parted, but there was a desert awaiting. For forty years, Israel wandered in a hostile environment and miracles became a regular part of everyday life. From bad water turning sweet to quail and manna for food, Moses’ God let no one starve or dehydrate. Moses presented the tablets of law written by God’s own hand and remained in constant communion with God, with his face radiating God’s glory. Some of the miracles Moses is associated with are punitive in nature.  The ground swallowed Korah and his rebels, Miriam was infected with leprosy, then healed. There was a plague of vipers, but Moses was commanded to fashion a brass rod that healed the people of their venomous bites. Aaron’s rod budded to show God’s authority and Balaam’s donkey spoke.

Led for forty years with a cloud by day and a fire by night, Moses could not have delivered Israel out of Egypt and to the Promised Land without the help and intervention of Almighty God. He paid a human price. He grew weary and frustrated often, but eternity was more than worth the cost.

Love,

Gretchen

“ ‘But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.’ ” Numbers 33:55-56 (Chapters 31-33)

The Midianites lured the Israelites into whoredom and idolatry. God gave a divine command for war, Moses undertook the order and the Israelites had phenomenal success. God passed judgement and swift consequences for evil doers, but warned that the presence of this temptation would mean the downfall of the nation if it wasn’t removed completely!

Temptation is not sin, but the beginning of following human urges rather than God’s perfect perseverance and Holiness. Putting satan behind you means removing temptation at all costs. It is to protect so that you may have more, never less.

It would be nice to think that at some point we could sequester ourselves tightly enough that temptation would not come knocking. This is an impossibility, but God always makes a way for us to overcome sin, to the extreme of grace and mercy. 

Love,

Gretchen

“Say to the Israelites, ‘If a man dies and leaves no son, turn his inheritance over to his daughter.’” Numbers 27:8 (Chapters 25-30)

A generation has come and gone.  Of the thousands of original men and women who left Egypt’s bondage, only two will enter into the land of Canaan.  In the forty years of travel there were two censuses, giving this book its name, Numbers.  It’s time to claim the inheritance and settle down, but the land must be fairly shared, and so, there is a counting of each member of tribe and clan. 

Israel’s law said land must pass from father to eldest son.  This was a protection of the tribe, but Zelophehad had only daughters and he was dead. In the surrounding Eastern countries, women were not allowed to inherit, but our God made a concession.  In Israel, women could inherit but must marry within their tribe.

Over and over again, God’s care for human dignity is what sets His law apart.  It is not His order to harm, but to protect and provide. How much more should we share these attitudes among each other.

You Are Loved,

Gretchen

But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.” Numbers 22:12 (Chapters 22-24)

The LORD delivered the Amorites into the hands of the Israelites. It was obvious that the Israelites were a powerful force, on the move toward Canaan.  Balak, king of Moab decided to be proactive in a very pagan manner. He summoned Balaam to come and curse his enemies.

The use of words, in the manner of blessings, curses and elaborate ceremony, was held in high regard and perceived as an extremely powerful bond with one’s friends and a tool against one’s enemies. Balak summoned Balaam, a diviner, a prophet of some notoriety, and offered him great financial gain if he would curse Israel. Balaam was not an Israelite nor a follower of the One True God, but God used this man of evil intent to deliver His own message.

In a dream, Balaam saw that God blessed Israel and no promise of doom from him will alter their course, so he refuses to go with Balak’s elders. They offer more money. He saddles his donkey and heads out only to be stopped by a stubborn pack animal in the middle of the road. After many beatings, the animal speaks and soon Balaam sees the Angle of the LORD that the donkey sees. This experience did not turn Balaam’s heart toward the LORD, but it did give him indisputable conviction that God would have his way over Balak, the Moabites and the Midianites.

Evil will not overcome God’s goodness, even when it seems evil has permeated all there is to see, hear and feel. Numbers 23:19 tells the character of God. He is not of human source, therefore, not held by man’s restrictions.  He is a God of action and He will bless those who honor Him.

Have a Great Monday,

Gretchen

After a Women in Ministry meeting this morning, I found my way to my mom and dad’s home, a haven for me, where I lay my burdens down and have some shop talk therapy, for dad and I are both in ministry. Again, I am going to share the wisdom of my father’s life, lived for the Glory of God.  This story is longer than usual, but OH! the world needs its message.  Thanks dad, and Happy Birthday tomorrow!

THE BOX IN THE BALL

     I was saved from an awful life of sin at age 6.  Before your opinions and sensitivities get your hackles up, let me tell my story.  On a Sunday evening in what we called “the evening evangelistic service” I responded to the invitation and knelt at the altar and gave my heart to Jesus.  Seventy-one years later, nothing has changed about that.  So, for skeptics who think little children are too young to make a life decision, I beg to differ.  It has worked for me!

    Now let me speak about the awful life of sin at age 6.  My those tender years were spent with a mom who was not about to tolerate anything from her offspring that had the appearance of evil.  My life had not been one of wallowing in the depths of debauchery.  In fact, if mom saw anything in my behavior that wasn’t compatible with the standards of a small boy in a Christian home, she had ways of getting the message across and with emphasis that I remembered.  Even using slang words to brighten up our language was strictly taboo.  I can remember on one occasion, my brother and I figured out that there was nothing wrong with saying “darn” because that’s what mom did with a needle, thread and the hole in my socks.  Well, we used it at every opportunity for a day or so until mom overheard.  “Darn” wasn’t used as slang thereafter.

     But… the awful life I was saved from was not so much in my past as in my future.  At the risk of sounding a bit self-righteous, I have largely been saved from a life of sinful habits, evil associates and bondage of addictions.  While God and I have an honest understanding about the truth of who I have been and who I am,  I can praise the Lord and good fetching up and that I have been spared many of the pitfalls  and disasters of those who are suffering the consequences of unwise and shameful choices. I believe the decision I made on that Sunday evening over seventy years ago has had everything to do with that.  My sins are forgiven and under the Blood of my Savior.

      Besides the teaching of good parents,  multitudes of wholesome relationships and living in the precincts of a Christian community, God put something in the breast of a small boy that has had a way of working overtime.  I learned that it was called a “conscience.”  And mine was hard at work before I had any idea of how it could be defined.

     At a point in my young life not many years removed from that Sunday evening decision,  I committed what at that time to me was a MORTAL SIN.  I wanted so bad to go to the Friday night football game just down the street a couple of blocks from where we lived.  There was no way we could afford the 50 cent entry.  I promised mom if she would let me go, I would just wait outside until half-time and then go in.  When I arrived,  my friends where having just too much fun playing in the end zone area their own game of football. Paper cups stuffed together for a football and the rowdy activity was an overwhelming temptation.  The hole in the fence was just too easy and soon – “Presto” –  I was in the game.  They needed me to block for the quarterback.

     I have absolutely no memory of anything else about that night except what was to follow.  First, just like most  bad choices, mine was soon to be compounded.  Arriving home, I was asked about the game.  Well, I quickly concocted a story of how I found a 50 cent piece and got myself into the game. The misery I suffered in my conscience became an overwhelming factor.  To say I was troubled and miserable is an understatement.  Sometime later, mom had the bad judgment of telling my tale of good fortune to someone else.  O my!  Now my prevarication has a life of its own and my innocent mom is complicit with my sin.  What misery!

     Now I need to tell you what I have learned about the “conscience” that has stuck with me.  Among other connotations, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as “a sensitive regard for what is right, fair or just.”  In my explorations and discussions over the years, I have arrived at a  definition that works for me.  The conscience is “a quiet, subliminal, moral monitor the Holy Spirit uses to guide us in the right.”

     The most impressionable (and profound)  definition I ever heard, however, was by a Sunday School teacher in a class of young children of which I was a part.  Her definition went like this:  Making a fist with one hand and placing it in her other hand she described the conscience as being like a “square box in a round ball.”  When you do wrong, the box turns and the corners rub the ball and it hurts.  It keeps turning until you do what is right and confess.  Releasing her fist with her knuckles no longer sharply protruding, she said “if you don’t confess and keep on doing wrong the corners will eventually wear off and your conscience quits working like it should.” Then, she asked, “how will we know to do right instead of wrong?”

     The epilogue to this story can be briefly stated in two parts.  First, after a period of the box twisting in the ball, I tearfully confessed to mom my double sin of slipping into the game without paying and then lying about it.  I finally figured out that any punishment she would mete out   would be less than what I was feeling inside. Instead of the deserved punishment, she lovingly hugged me and told me I was forgiven.  What a relief!   Secondly, nearly seven decades later, the box still turns and the corners are still sharp.  The Holy Spirit still speaks,  convicts, reproves, inspires…. and I am SO grateful.

     At my age, I don’t need any pain of a troubled conscience.   These old joints are pain enough. Famed football coach Lou Holtz had what he called the “do right rule.”  While it covers a multitude of behavioral mandates, it didn’t take much explaining.  Just do right!  Oh! the relief of confession when we do wrong and the peace of doing what is right.

     Thank you, Lord, for the “box in the ball,” for the Sunday School teacher who made it plain to a little boy and to the Holy Spirit who makes it turn when its needed.

Blessings,

Bryan and Gretchen

“Take the staff, and you and your brotherAaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their  eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.” Numbers 20:8 (Chapters 20-21)

Thirty-eight years pass between chapters 19 and 20.  One of the Bible’s greatest miracles is the untold story of this time.  How did a desert wilderness support 3,000,000 people for forty years? Only by God’s intervening, miraculous help.

The desert had its purpose. It transformed a people of Egyptian idolatry into a nation who witnessed God’s presence daily. They grew a faith in The One True God to be the example for the rest of the world and to be the testimony that God can be trusted in all experiences of life.

Moses was the Holy, faithful leader that transported an entire nation, bodily from one land to another. This alone is a miracle for the ages.  For those who doubt this as fact, remember: Archeology supports this history and it is easier to believe God’s miraculous intervention rather than some of the strange theories that try to logically explain it.

Sadly, near the end of the journey, even Moses, faithful and true, sinned by letting his anger take credit for God’s gift.  The LORD said to ‘speak’ and water would come from the rock, but Moses shouted grumblings at the people, then struck the rock twice. For this sin Moses was denied entry into the Promised Land.

When I look back over the more than 40 years of my life, it is evident that I have not come this far except by the miraculous, patience, grace and gifts of God. I am nothing but a sinner, saved by grace and the recipient of Heaven’s bounty. I am a miracle. Aren’t you?

Have a great weekend!

Gretchen

They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every on of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?” Numbers 16:3 (Chapters 15-19)

These chapters give detailed laws of sacrifice and worship, specifically to Aaron, the high priest, and his sons. But in the middle of these instructions we find the recounting of three men, Korah, Dathan and Abiram and their fatal fight with God. Apparently, there was some arm chair quarterbacking to Moses’ leadership. Some smack talk got folks worked up and the most aggressive of the group confronted not only Moses, but Aaron too. They declared themselves holy and insinuated they had been robbed of their inheritance in the land flowing with milk and honey, even though they listened to the spies morbid report, then refused to enter.

God is all knowing.  There is nothing in the heart of man hidden from Him.  The insubordination of these men and their followers was a direct challenge to God, not Moses and Aaron. When man declares himself holy and authors his own truth, it is called blasphemy. Moses and Aaron knew what fate this faction faced. They interceded, twice! These men refused to humble themselves before God and they did not live to see another day. In the ashes of the dead God took what was Holy and set apart as a remembrance to Truth.

Do not engage in power struggles with God. You lose, the end. However, to those who make a sacrifice of themselves to God’s will and ways, all the power and peace of Heaven is theirs.

Love,

Gretchen