be-musings

At church this weekend a woman introduced herself and asked me if my husband is a pastor. I paused, because that kind of question is new to me. After my brief hesitation I pointed at Scott and said I was married to him. I thought that was a good response which clarified who my husband was, and she could draw whatever pastor" conclusions she wanted from there. But I guess my response wasn't as brilliant as I thought, because the question came back via rephrasing. She referred to Scott as the pastor and asked me if I'm the pastor's wife. Now faced with the same kind of question twice, I had to answer yes.
A long time ago Scott blogged about being at the US border and having been asked what his profession was. He struggled with no longer answering that he was a minister, but instead saying he worked in the IT field. I found the reverse to be true on Saturday. I'm not used to being connected with a pastor, whether you think he is officially one or not. There are so many preconceptions about pastors and what qualities their wives possess.

Almost one year ago we were painting the cafe that we are about to repaint next week. Lori and Tysey and Rose were with me, and the topic turned to being a pastor's wife. Questions were asked like: Do I feel different in that role than others I've had (like banking)? How do I feel about it?
My response was that at that time I didn't feel any different married to a church planter than not married to a church planter. I don't feel that I have to be a certain way, and maybe that's because our "church" is small and by traditional church standards insignificant. I don't have to lead a woman's group, play the piano in church, counsel women, head up the prayer chain, arrange for meals to be taken to widows and sick people. If God told me that I should do those things I would - well, maybe we would have to get more sick people and start a prayer chain first. I sing in church because I like to, and there is a spot for me. Scott teaches a Bible Study in our home, and I am one of the people who provides food because I like to. I have relationships within the church because we are in community and that's what community is about.

I don't have a problem being a pastor's wife. I do have a problem with those who might think this should denote a certain level of involvement or behaviour or mannerism based on stereotyping. Here is what I believe.

We are all called to be the ministers of the gospel. I've said it before. So, that means that although Scott might spend concentrated pockets of time doing church work and is expected to put in a certain amount of time with the people and the event, he is doing his piece of calling. I am doing mine, Lori hers, Rose hers, Mat his, Sam hers and on down the line. We are all the same, and all have our impact for Christ.

There is more to tell from my last blog. Our water tour last Sunday was fabulous, though not without incident.

While we were at the river/stream at Allco Park, Matthew shouted that his lens fell out of the glasses he has had for only a month. They had fallen on the pavement at school and been stepped on by a student, lens popping out. So, with the thought of replacing the new glasses, we searched the river bank and Matthew waded into the water to try to find the lens.

We didn't find it, so we went on to the next spot - Cliff Falls.

We were walking around the rocks and streams at the falls, when Matthew jumped across a stream and came too close to the edge of a precipice. My attempt to get him to come away resulted in him backing up closer to the edge, until he figured out what I meant and walked away from the edge. Danger averted, we continued exploring the cool formations in the rocks.





Then at the cliff jumping place, I tried over and over to take pictures of Matthew mid-jump. All I got was the launch, and the landing. You have to fill in the rest.



















I did manage to take this awesome picture of one of the other jumpers. Such a good day.



Oh...once we got home Matthew found his missing lens on the floor of his room. He managed to travel for an hour without noticing one was missing from the glasses he was wearing, until he noticed at the river that it was gone. Too funny.

This has been quite a summer. The weather - not so great. The vacations - fabulous! The pace - hectic.
Our one year anniversary passed just over a month ago. When I review life since we wed, it's amazing how much change has happened. Scott has worked a few different jobs, most of the all at once, Church has relocated to the cafe and developed its own identity, perhaps different than our original idea; but that's a good thing. Our kids have gone through personal changes, the family structure has and is adapting, my mom has joined us in Mission (at her own place) and we bought a business. We have been trying so many recipes for suppers and snaks and desserts!
I have some very great memories of moments this summer. One of them was yesterday, when Scott, Matthew and I took a brief water tour. We started at Allco Park in Maple Ridge, where we got married. There is a small river (stream) that we waded in. Then we went to Cliff Falls, where we walked around some of the eddied pools and looked at the holes carved in the rock from many years of water pressure eroding it. Those pictures will come later. Then we went to Hayward Lake where Scott and Matthew jumped off the "dog jump". It's about 15 feet, and every time Mathew self-talks that he shouldn't be scared, it's just water. I would be doing the same thing, but I'm old enough to do it in my head not out loud.
We had fabulous vacations, first alone for days, then later with family for a week. Here are a couple of pictures I really like.
Well, I'm off to work now, then tonight I'm going through more recipes for the Grill. It's a sunshiny day -yay!