My Turn on the Couch

[Nahum]

I first felt the call of God on my life as a young child during a morning prayer session at our Christian school in southern Missouri. I was twelve years old and no one in my family had ever been involved in ministry. I did not know what to do with the desire God had placed in me to preach so at the age of twelve I began teaching home bible studies to my neighbors. I was active in every ministry in the church my parents would allow me to be a part of.

I saw sacrifice at a very young age. My mom and dad had four kids and it was their desire to see each of us attend a Christian school. It was hard for them to make ends meet without the costs of Christian education, but even more so after we enrolled.

I can remember my dad working a 40 hour week for the phone company and then working every odd job he could find to help pay for our paces and tuition. I remember my mom taking a factory job to help put us through the Christian school. She also was a seamstress, earning extra money through long hours of tailoring late at night.

When all of the paychecks were not enough to cover the costs of raising our family and putting us through the Christian school, they would sell things to cover the costs of tuition for the four of us kids. Family heirlooms. Guns, clocks, and the like.

That kind of sacrifice was bred into us kids. We saw it first hand, everyday.
Today, three of my mom and dad's four kids are active in Christian ministry. I pastor, my brother is an assistant pastor, and my sister is married to a Baptist preacher. So I know that the sacrifices my parents made really impacted the world in a positive way.




More to come....

[J-Roc]

I appreciate your parents dedication, sacrifice and commitment to their kids...


...I hold the same philosophy and will do everything I possibly can to put them through christian schools...

...my son, Joshua, starts kindergarten this fall and I enrolled him in a local AOG private school...I'll work overtime if necessary....but I WILL NOT send my kids to public school with God's help...


This song entered my mind this weekend while reading a book on the train ride into work. The paragraph I was reading made me remember a song that they had us 6th graders sing (I think for our graduation) at my public elementary school...the lyrics and message never dawned on me until that moment on the train, but I can easily remember the first few lines and the melody of the song (that is how awfully it is indelibly engrained in my mind, though it was a song I had not heard in over 2 decades)...I googled the song and found it just so that I can read the entire message....I was appalled at what they were subliminally instilling in us children.....LORD guard my children from this perverse society...that is one of many reasons why I intend to keep my kids out of the public school system and send them to private christian schools....the message of homosexuality and coming out of the closet can clearly be read between the lines. I am filled with anger, because if I could recall the song 2 decades later, how many of my classmates could do likewise and how many of them use these kind of messages to assuage any particular philosophy they hold that stands against God's holiness...




Lyrics by Jerry Herman

I AM WHAT I AM


I am what I am, I am my own special creation
So come take a look, give me the hook or the ovation
It's my world that I want to have a little pride in
My world and it's not a place I have to hide in
Life's not worth a ........ 'til you can say, hey world
I am what I am


I am what I am, I don't want praise I don't want pity
I bang my own drum, some think it's noise I think it's pretty
And so what if I love each feather and each spangle
Why not try to see things from a different angle
Your life is a sham 'til you can shout out loud
I am what I am


I am what I am and what I am needs no excuses
I deal my own deck sometimes the ace, sometimes the deuces
There's one life and there's no return and no deposit
One life so it's time to open up your closet
Life's not worth a ........ 'til you can say, hey world
I am what I am

________________


I did further research and discovered that this song was in a broadway musical...Herman wrote the score to La Cage aux Folles, a musical about two middle-aged gay lovers. One of the songs in the show, "I Am What I Am," has become the gay national anthem. The show won six prizes at the 1984 Tony Awards and had a Broadway run of five years.



La Cage aux Folles is a Tony Award-winning musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and lyrics and music by Jerry Herman. Based on the 1973 French play by Jean Poiret and subsequent 1978 French-Italian screen version (one of the most popular foreign films ever released in the United States), the musical focuses on a gay couple
: Georges, the manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and Albin, his star attraction - and the adventures that ensue when Georges' son brings home his fianc?e's ultra-conservative parents to meet them.


SONG LIST:

Act I
We Are What We Are
A Little More Mascara
With Anne on My Arm
With You on My Arm
The Promenade
Song on the Sand
La Cage aux Folles
I Am What I Am


Act II

Song on the Sand
Masculinity
Look Over There
Cocktail Counterpoint (aka "Dishes")
The Best of Times
Look Over There (Reprise)
The Finale

Albin's Act I finale number, the rousing "I Am What I Am,"
was recorded by Gloria Gaynor and proved to be one of her biggest hits. It also became a rallying cry of the Gay Pride movement
.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Cage_aux_Folles

[Nahum]

Soon after I married my wife, we moved to St Louis so that I could attend Gateway. While I was at Gateway I landed a job with a large warehousing outfit. I was youth pastor at my church, attended school 18 hours a week, and worked a 40 hour job - plus overnight at UPS. My wife has never worked a full time job because we chose to raise our kids without daycare.

After graduation from Gateway I continued to work in our local assembly until it was time to step out in faith and calling to the city where I now pastor. I left a good job to do so. It was not hard to do. I just followed what I had been shown by my parents. I turned down an offer for over $100 K to stay at the warehousing job and instead chose to go plant a church (crazy, I know).

Over the past six years my kids have been privy to the sacrifices involved in ministry. When we first started, they lived in the back of the church for six months. Since then, God has blessed us with a decent home. But my kids have been involved in every aspect of the work. Singing, leading, outreach, evangelism and the like. Their home has been turned into a haven for every lonely soul in town. Privacy has become an archaic word around here. LOL

I really don't think my kids realize that they missed out on anything. They aren't kids who ask for a lot. They are just as happy to go for an ice cream as they are to go to Branson or Six Flags. I have watched in awe as my twin boys have, of their own accord, taken some of their favorite clothes and given them to someone who needed them more. My daughter makes an effort to be a friend to the friendless in our school. I am very proud of my kids.

We recently noticed that our daughter is being led of God into the mission field. She is seventeen and brilliant. The idea scares us to death. But hey, she is only imitating what she has seen.

[Nahum]

I said all of that to say this, Is sacrifice ugly, or beautiful?

When you look back over your life and view all of the things you have sacrificed, does it bother you or fill you with joy? Do you regret the life you have lived and feel like you have missed out on something, or do you rejoice at the opportunities God has given you to minister?

I have read Sister Alvear's posts in the past month and literally bawled at the sacrifice and extreme burden she has for souls and the Kingdom work. I read Sherri's post this week about selling their home so that they could give more to the Kingdom. It floored me.

We so often hear that Americans are lazy and selfish and godless. Maybe some are. But someone did something right with a lot of posters on AFF. There are still folks who put God and His work first.

And for that I am grateful.





No regrets.


PP

[J-Roc]

Originally Posted by Pastor Poster

My wife has never worked a full time job because we chose to raise our kids without daycare.

I assume you didn't mean it this way, but just to put things in proper perspective...you're wife has always worked a full-time job as a Manager in the Home Economics Deptartment at Poster International...household management is the toughest job on the planet and she works harder than you and I combined....my wife, is also a Manager of Home Economics at J-Roc Empire and we also find it supremely important for her to be home raising the children....

[Steve Epley]

Originally Posted by Pastor Poster

I said all of that to say this, Is sacrifice ugly, or beautiful?

When you look back over your life and view all of the things you have sacrificed, does it bother you or fill you with joy? Do you regret the life you have lived and feel like you have missed out on something, or do you rejoice at the opportunities God has given you to minister?

I have read Sister Alvear's posts in the past month and literally bawled at the sacrifice and extreme burden she has for souls and the Kingdom work. I read Sherri's post this week about selling their home so that they could give more to the Kingdom. It floored me.

We so often hear that Americans are lazy and selfish and godless. Maybe some are. But someone did something right with a lot of posters on AFF. There are still folks who put God and His work first.

And for that I am grateful.





No regrets.


PP

Very inspiring. My father is a multi-millionare Charismatic preacher I should have been the heir apparent many times finances particulary in my early years and some in the latter have been trying but God has always made a way. I am NOT sorry and have NO regrets. I live in a nice house now and drive a nice car but everything is in His hands. I own nothing it is all His. I belong to Him He bought me.

[Nahum]

Originally Posted by J-Roc

I assume you didn't mean it this way, but just to put things in proper perspective...you're wife has always worked a full-time job as a Manager in the Home Economics Deptartment at Poster International...household management is the toughest job on the planet and she works harder than you and I combined....my wife, is also a Manager of Home Economics at J-Roc Empire and we also find it supremely important for her to be home raising the children....

Agreed.

But J, we are not like everyone else. We chose a different lifestyle. I am not saying anything bad about women who work outside the home. My point was that sacrifice pays dividends.

There are many things we went without. Time with our kids and a very close family not among them. My kids are almost grown but again, no regrets.

[Nahum]

Originally Posted by Steve Epley

Very inspiring. My father is a multi-millionare Charismatic preacher I should have been the heir apparent many times finances particulary in my early years and some in the latter have been trying but God has always made a way. I am NOT sorry and have NO regrets. I live in a nice house now and drive a nice car but everything is in His hands. I won nothing it is all His. I belong to Him He bought me.

I had no idea that was your history. Amazing.

[revrandy]

Originally Posted by Steve Epley

Very inspiring. My father is a multi-millionare Charismatic preacher I should have been the heir apparent many times finances particulary in my early years and some in the latter have been trying but God has always made a way. I am NOT sorry and have NO regrets. I live in a nice house now and drive a nice car but everything is in His hands. I won nothing it is all His. I belong to Him He bought me.

For some reason your post made me think...

There are some men that Owe the World much for their blessings... and some men own God much for theirs...

had I my druthers... I would rather owe God much for what HE has done for me than the World anyday!!

[J-Roc]

Originally Posted by Pastor Poster

I left a good job to do so. It was not hard to do. I just followed what I had been shown by my parents. I turned down an offer for over $100 K to stay at the warehousing job and instead chose to go plant a church (crazy, I know).

My wife worked at a top global investment bank and left behind the same cash you did once our daughter, Sofia, was born...our children are more valuable than riches....and God has blessed us through and through...we don't feel financially strapped as a result of her leaving corporate america...and their is still room for savings...by applying sound financial principles throughout our marriage, we have monthly passive income nearing $1000 aside from my salary...this is a testament that when we apply sound biblical principles, the Lord provides a way.