By Pam Williams
Christ is the head of this house, the unseen guest at every meal, the silent listener to every conversation.
~Celtic Saying
"You've been pretty quiet on this trip," I said, glancing over at my husband, Dick. We were returning from an overnight visit with my parents.
Christ is the head of this house, the unseen guest at every meal, the silent listener to every conversation.
~Celtic Saying
"You've been pretty quiet on this trip," I said, glancing over at my husband, Dick. We were returning from an overnight visit with my parents.
"Yeah," he murmured absently. "Neither of us has said much the last three hours."
As a pastor to three small churches, Dick had been feeling dissatisfied lately. We had discussed leaving the ministry and drove home to break the news to my parents that weekend.
My mom had recently started attending a local Wesleyan church. She was forever talking about the Lord and people getting "saved." Dick and I decided that she had gone overboard and become some sort of fanatic. Although we felt people should try to please God, we were uneasy about getting so personal with Him.
The church that Mom attended had a new pastor. "You just have to meet Bill and his wife, Peggy," Mom urged us during our visit. "I know you'll really like them."
Dick and I reluctantly agreed, although we thought with a shudder, "If Mom is so gung ho, what will her pastor be like?"
We pulled into their driveway and got out. Dick looked at me over the top of the car and whispered, "Fifteen minutes — just long enough to be polite."
I agreed. Even fifteen minutes would seem like an eternity if these people were anything like we were expecting.
Thankfully, they weren't!
That evening, we visited with Bill and Peggy for two hours. We came back the next day and spent six more hours! It was the start of a very special friendship, and more importantly, the beginning of our relationship with Jesus.
We had much in common — even our last names — Williams! We were the same ages. Their daughter, Rachel, and our son, Seth, were both eight months old. We were serving our first pastorates and leading the youth in our churches as well.
There, however, the similarities ended. Bill and Peggy were content and satisfied with their ministry, while we were discouraged and unfulfilled.
Over iced tea in the living room, Bill asked when we had become Christians. We explained that we had grown up in the church and felt that we had always been Christians.
However, Bill and Peggy's lives as Christians differed radically from ours. They talked about the Lord and how He was leading them — as though I should be able to look over and see Jesus sitting on the couch!
Their relationship with God was so personal that Peggy even consulted Jesus when she cooked. It was as though she had a running conversation with God! "Pray continually" (1 Thessalonians 5:17) was a description of her lifestyle, not just a quote from the Bible. Dick and I felt disconcerted and a bit overwhelmed.
Perhaps that is why we were so quiet on the trip back to our home when we would usually have talked for hours.
"I've been thinking about Bill and Peggy," I finally said. "Their lives seem very similar to ours — but there is something different."
Dick nodded.
"Did you notice the plaque above the dining room table?" I asked.
"Notice it? I memorized it!" Dick said. "'Christ is the head of this house, the unseen guest at every meal, the silent listener to every conversation.'"
"That's the radical difference," I stated, comprehension dawning. "For me, God is far away — a distant being in heaven that I try to appease with good works. For Bill and Peggy, Jesus is right there with them — in their decisions, in their conversations, in their home. He's not in our home."
Dick agreed. We were quiet the rest of the trip, giving what we had seen and heard over the weekend a lot more thought.
Our church organist had arranged for a gospel singing group to lead worship that Sunday. Songs of praise and challenges to commit your life to the Lord filled the service. The Good News that Jesus can deliver us from our sins was made very clear.
I had known about Jesus's death on the cross for the sins of the world, but the thought had merely flickered through my mind and never pierced my soul. When the group invited people to the altar to pray, I yearned to go forward, but Seth fussed and squirmed in my arms.
I thought, "Lord, if you want me to go up there, you will have to quiet Seth."
Instantly, he fell asleep. As I knelt at the altar rail, Dick joined me. That morning, we asked Jesus to come into our lives and our home. We wanted Him to be with us, just like He was with Bill and Peggy. It was the beginning of a whole new life for us, with Jesus as the head of our home.
Many people would have thought that Dick and I already had a relationship with Jesus. As a family in ministry, our lives revolved around the church. But though we knew that Jesus had lived and died a long time ago, He was more like a figure from the pages of history than someone we could know today. Neither Dick nor I had realized that we needed to believe that Jesus died to forgive us.
We thought we needed to please God and earn our way to heaven by being good and helping others. At last, we understood the words of Ephesians 2:8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works."
The very next Sunday, Dick preached his first sermon straight from the Bible. A lady in one of our churches came up to him after the service and said, "I've been praying for this day!"
That weekend was thirty-four years ago. My husband felt God calling him to remain a pastor. But the radical difference is that Jesus is right here with us — in our home, in our decisions, in our conversations. Jesus promised that He would always be with us (Matthew 28:20). And we have found that God's Word is true.
As a pastor to three small churches, Dick had been feeling dissatisfied lately. We had discussed leaving the ministry and drove home to break the news to my parents that weekend.
My mom had recently started attending a local Wesleyan church. She was forever talking about the Lord and people getting "saved." Dick and I decided that she had gone overboard and become some sort of fanatic. Although we felt people should try to please God, we were uneasy about getting so personal with Him.
The church that Mom attended had a new pastor. "You just have to meet Bill and his wife, Peggy," Mom urged us during our visit. "I know you'll really like them."
Dick and I reluctantly agreed, although we thought with a shudder, "If Mom is so gung ho, what will her pastor be like?"
We pulled into their driveway and got out. Dick looked at me over the top of the car and whispered, "Fifteen minutes — just long enough to be polite."
I agreed. Even fifteen minutes would seem like an eternity if these people were anything like we were expecting.
Thankfully, they weren't!
That evening, we visited with Bill and Peggy for two hours. We came back the next day and spent six more hours! It was the start of a very special friendship, and more importantly, the beginning of our relationship with Jesus.
We had much in common — even our last names — Williams! We were the same ages. Their daughter, Rachel, and our son, Seth, were both eight months old. We were serving our first pastorates and leading the youth in our churches as well.
There, however, the similarities ended. Bill and Peggy were content and satisfied with their ministry, while we were discouraged and unfulfilled.
Over iced tea in the living room, Bill asked when we had become Christians. We explained that we had grown up in the church and felt that we had always been Christians.
However, Bill and Peggy's lives as Christians differed radically from ours. They talked about the Lord and how He was leading them — as though I should be able to look over and see Jesus sitting on the couch!
Their relationship with God was so personal that Peggy even consulted Jesus when she cooked. It was as though she had a running conversation with God! "Pray continually" (1 Thessalonians 5:17) was a description of her lifestyle, not just a quote from the Bible. Dick and I felt disconcerted and a bit overwhelmed.
Perhaps that is why we were so quiet on the trip back to our home when we would usually have talked for hours.
"I've been thinking about Bill and Peggy," I finally said. "Their lives seem very similar to ours — but there is something different."
Dick nodded.
"Did you notice the plaque above the dining room table?" I asked.
"Notice it? I memorized it!" Dick said. "'Christ is the head of this house, the unseen guest at every meal, the silent listener to every conversation.'"
"That's the radical difference," I stated, comprehension dawning. "For me, God is far away — a distant being in heaven that I try to appease with good works. For Bill and Peggy, Jesus is right there with them — in their decisions, in their conversations, in their home. He's not in our home."
Dick agreed. We were quiet the rest of the trip, giving what we had seen and heard over the weekend a lot more thought.
Our church organist had arranged for a gospel singing group to lead worship that Sunday. Songs of praise and challenges to commit your life to the Lord filled the service. The Good News that Jesus can deliver us from our sins was made very clear.
I had known about Jesus's death on the cross for the sins of the world, but the thought had merely flickered through my mind and never pierced my soul. When the group invited people to the altar to pray, I yearned to go forward, but Seth fussed and squirmed in my arms.
I thought, "Lord, if you want me to go up there, you will have to quiet Seth."
Instantly, he fell asleep. As I knelt at the altar rail, Dick joined me. That morning, we asked Jesus to come into our lives and our home. We wanted Him to be with us, just like He was with Bill and Peggy. It was the beginning of a whole new life for us, with Jesus as the head of our home.
Many people would have thought that Dick and I already had a relationship with Jesus. As a family in ministry, our lives revolved around the church. But though we knew that Jesus had lived and died a long time ago, He was more like a figure from the pages of history than someone we could know today. Neither Dick nor I had realized that we needed to believe that Jesus died to forgive us.
We thought we needed to please God and earn our way to heaven by being good and helping others. At last, we understood the words of Ephesians 2:8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works."
The very next Sunday, Dick preached his first sermon straight from the Bible. A lady in one of our churches came up to him after the service and said, "I've been praying for this day!"
That weekend was thirty-four years ago. My husband felt God calling him to remain a pastor. But the radical difference is that Jesus is right here with us — in our home, in our decisions, in our conversations. Jesus promised that He would always be with us (Matthew 28:20). And we have found that God's Word is true.
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