Friday night on the way back home from Boise, Josh had a lot to think about, again. Thursday morning, he had called Reverend Milton Thomas, had arranged to meet him that evening, and had boarded the plane from Portland that afternoon. They had talked, and now he was homeward bound. The itinerary is easily written; the accompanying events had not transpired effortlessly.
Reverend Thomas had been cordial on the phone. Yes, he knew Ada Clark very well, and she had spoken of her son- in-law. Yes, he was free and would be happy to get together. He had asked no questions about the purpose of the meeting, and had hung up with a sincere-sounding "Praise the Lord." That "Praise the Lord" had bothered Josh the rest of the day.
"What denomination is this church your mother attends, Ev?"
"Denomination?" She smiled innocently at him. "I don't think they have any particular affiliation."
Josh didn't know if that was bad or good, but he didn't ask anything more, just then. It was only as he was leaving for the airport that he voiced the rest of his anxiety.
"This isn't a pentecostal group, is it, Ev?"
"Pentecostal? What do you mean?” Josh wasn't sure if her wide-eyed expression was one of non-comprehension, or an attempt to keep from giving a straight answer.
"I mean, uh, are there any... well, outward manifestations?"
"Josh! Are you asking me if they are ‘holy rollers’? Honestly, can you imagine your little mother-in-law rolling around in the aisles?"
"That's not what I meant, and you know it!"
All she had to say after that was, "I am confident that you would find the services very orderly."
* * *
Josh had called from the airport, and Reverend Thomas - Milt, he was to call him - insisted that he come right over to dinner. When he arrived at their home, Mrs. Thomas - Lucy - had been equally insistent that he should stay in their spare bedroom that night. Their cordiality had been almost overwhelming, and yet, looking back, Josh knew that it wasn't a bit contrived. They were just friendly, cordial people, no question about it.
They were in their mid-50s, Josh guessed, and before dinner was over he knew that they had married children, a son in Seattle and a daughter across town. They had been at the Treasure Valley Evangelical Center for 15 years. The pleasantries out of the way, Lucy excused herself to run an errand for their daughter. There seemed to be nothing left to do, but to get down to business.
"You didn't seem surprised by my call."
"I was for a moment, but no, not really. Actually, I'd been thinking about you."
"Thinking about me? You don't even know me."
“True, I don't know you personally, but we did know a little about you. As a matter of fact, we were praying for you, earlier."
"Praying?"
"Yes. Wednesday morning, Ada had called to ask that we pray for you and your family."
Josh felt his face reddening. It was an odd sensation to think that someone else - someone he didn't even know - had been praying for him, probably at the very moment he was praying for himself. He didn't know what to feel, so the first feeling to surface was a vague resentment against his mother-in-law for meddling in family affairs.
"What did she tell you to pray about?"
Reverend Thomas caught the edge in Josh's voice, but he only smiled. "She didn't know, Josh. She didn't tell us anything except that she thought you and Evalyn needed a little extra prayer support at that time. We just "held you up,' so to speak. No, I guess that isn't exactly true because, when we started to pray, it came to Lucy that we should pray specifically for an extra amount of Holy Spirit wisdom for you."
That was too much! That scripture from "James" surged back into his memory, and he stood up abruptly, confused and unexplainably angry.
"I don't understand this! How is everyone getting so involved in my life and my problems?"
Milt Thomas also stood, and would have put his hand of Josh's shoulder, but Josh drew away.
"We aren't meddling, Josh. I think it's clear from your reaction that the prayer was right on target, and that you're not used to such things happening. But it's well within the working of God that we pray for one another, whether we know one another or not."
Josh slammed his fist on the table, not in anger now but in frustration. "I don't understand this. I'm an ordained minister. I went to Bible college. I know the scriptures. I've had my own church for almost ten years. What's going on?"
Milt hadn't smiled, but neither had he looked particularly upset. "Josh, I want to ask you to do something that I know will be hard for you. Before we talk anymore, can we pray together?"
Josh looked hopelessly around him. Seeing no logical escape, he raised his hands as if in surrender. "All right. But I don't know what to say."
"No problem. I'll say the words." He didn't try to touch Josh this time, and Josh didn't draw away. "Dear Lord, we come to You again with a problem. Give both of us Your Holy Spirit control in what we say and what we hear in the next few minutes. We're Your children, and Your appointed pastors, and we need the help You promised us. Thank You for that help. In Jesus' name; amen."
Josh had slumped down onto the sofa as they prayed. The older man sat beside him.
"Milt, I've been getting the same message over and over again, and I know it's a good message. I know it's from God, but I don't understand it. How can a scripture take on so much new meaning after so many years of Bible studying and church pastoring?"
"It's not really unusual, Josh. I've been an ordained minister for about twenty-five years now, but it's only been about half that time that I've really felt I was fulfilling my responsibilities. Of course, this is hindsight. I always thought I was doing a pretty good job, even though I wasn't always happy with the results. I learned later that I was only operating at about half-capacity."
"But, Milt, we've got a growing church. We always win all the district Sunday School attendance contests. We had a successful major building program last year, and we have a dozen kids in Bible college."
"All of which is commendable, no doubt about it. But everything isn't really going well, or I don't think you'd be here now."
That had been the opening of the door, and Josh had poured out the events of the past week. as if Milton Thomas had been his oldest and closest friend. Afterward, they sat in silence for several minutes.
"Your Evalyn said it to you just like the Holy Spirit whispered it to me one day. There is much more than tomorrow and yesterday. My story isn't the same as yours, Josh, but the message is the same. Lucy and I had a failing church. I wasn't the organizer that you are, I didn't have the imagination to dream up new ways to get people to church, and I have to confess I wasn't a very good public speaker, either. I was sure I was going to be removed from my post if attendance continued to drop, and that just depressed me and made me even less effective. Lucy and I were both at the ends of our ropes, and the problems were obviously separating us from one another, not uniting us. I started having health problems, obviously brought on by the stress and frustration.”
"How did you change things?"
"That's just it. I didn't. I became more and more depressed, until one day I called out to God in anger, almost cursing Him for my situation and my profession. And in that angry moment, His voice came through to me so clearly that, to this day, I still think He spoke aloud and not just in my mind. He said, you can do nothing, but I can do everything. And He spoke to me from two places in scripture, the passage in ‘James’ that Evalyn quoted to you, and then Jesus' own words as recorded in the sixteenth chapter of John's Gospel. Do you remember? Jesus said that when He went away He was going to send a comforter and an advocate - the Holy Spirit, as you know. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would guide the disciples into all truth. As I studied that and prayed over it - yes, I really think I prayed about something specific for the very first time in my life - the contrast between me doing God's work and God doing His work through me became clear. I wasn't capable of knowing God's will and doing the job all by myself. You, Josh, are more capable of doing things on your own than I was, but - and I think you know I'm not saying this judgmentally - you can't do the Lord's things any better than I could, not without the Holy Spirit directing you."
They hadn't said much more that night, and Josh had retired to his room soon after. Surprisingly, he went right to sleep, and slept peacefully without dreaming until seven the next morning. Things had been a little reserved at breakfast because Josh didn't really know what to say, but they had driven him to the airport and then had parted with him pleasantly enough. Now, on the plane home, Josh had his first opportunity to review the previous day. He had a lot to think about, all right, but as it turned out he didn't think of any of it. He slept contentedly all the way back to Portland.
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