My Wife is Amazing

I just have to brag on my wife, Kelly, a little bit. Within the span of three years, we’ve gone from assuming I’d put my nearly 10 years of education to use in a traditional church…to moving to Vegas with no idea what we are doing, but deeply desiring to use our lives to serve Christ and his kingdom. My wife has not only taken it in stride, she’s grown a great deal in the process and become and integral and indispensible part of what we are doing. Starting organic communities of house churches is no easy task, but my wife is going above and beyond the call of duty to be a team player.

She is willing to work outside the home. This is not the life she pictured at any point before 2-3 years ago. Her skills are more valuable than mine in the business world. She works to support our family financially for two very important reasons. First, so that I can take care of our daughter…as of the beginning of July we’ll also have another daughter. Second, it allows for me to not have to take a salary from the network of churches we are starting. This is absolutely monumental for what we are trying to do here in Vegas and around the world. We want to be an example of a family who uses what they have to honor God. We want to show that every Christian is a minister of Jesus Christ, not just the ones who get paid for it

Although I’m always proud of my wife for being a team player, the reason that prompted me to write this post is that I’m especially proud of her today. I am increasingly seeing a desire build within her to live out her faith…to take seriously the commands of Christ. Christ has much to say about caring for the poor. His teachings are not things he made up during his 30 or so years on this earth, but rather a reflection of what the Old Testament scriptures had been teaching all along (not ironically Scriptures he himself inspired through the Holy Spirit). When we see the poor, we are supposed to help them. I’ll write more about this in a couple “Proverbs on Finances” posts that I’ll be doing shortly, so I don’t want to go into it too much here. Let’s just say the poor are a subject Christ is not silent about.

Anyway, Kelly goes on walks during lunch. It is no understatement to say that there are LOTS of homeless people in Vegas. She sees a number of them every day. I’ve been encouraging her to help them when she sees them. Sometimes she gives them an orange, an apple or something else from her lunch. Today she called me to let me know she bought lunch for a homeless man she sees on a regular basis. I’m so proud of her obedience to Christ!

Some people might say she’s just enabling him. I say she’s loving him as Christ does. Christ doesn’t ask us to assess the situation when we see someone in need and guess as to whether or not we’re actually helping them or hindering them. He asks us to love them (read: help them by meeting their immediate needs…regardless if they deserve it or not). Period. Who knows if this guy will ever straighten his life out or get off the streets? Who knows if he will come to know Christ as Savior and Lord?

What is clear is that he is seeing Christ through my wife. That is important…both for him and for my wife. It’s important for him because the Gospel is not simply a message of fire insurance from hell…it is also a way of life that is modeled by obeying Christ’s commands to love our neighbor (Yes, loving our neighbor also means loving the homeless druggie on the corner). It’s important to her because there is clear evidence that the message of truth has been implanted within her, she has humbly welcomed it and is living it out (see James 1:18-27).

I’m proud of her and am encouraged that her faith is becoming more alive and active with each passing month. My hope and prayer is that we can cultivate a community of believers that takes Christ’s commands seriously every moment of every day, just like my wife did today.