I have a great church. Yesterday's message is not up yet, but I'll link it when it comes online. I can not speak for the whole congregation, but EVERY woman I could see from where I sat was in tears, and most men (including mine) were sitting arms-folded. It is a sad, sad testament to the mentality of people.

I wish it was up now.

What was said that had women dabbing their eyes was: Jeff (the speaker) was meeting with a mentor and going on and on about how wonderful things were going with his preaching, the excellent feedback, all the new projects and how excited he was about GOOD THINGS, and his mentor said, "Get your wife on the phone with me." (paraphrasing)

So Jeff dialed his wife, mentor-man spoke to her and said, (again, paraphrasing, if anyone sees something different from my interpretation here when I link the video, PLEASE let me know!) "So Jeff is telling me about this and that which is going great, and I wanted to ask you: how is he doing at making sure that you and your children are a priority?"

THAT is where my life falls down, and apparently the lives of many wives around me in church. I am not perfect. I fail at a lot of things. I'm not a perfect wife or mother--I don't achieve perfection in the housekeeping department (there is a sandal under the sofa that I can see from where I'm sitting now) and I give my kids cookies instead of fruit in their lunches. I have lots and lots of other imperfections. I forget to buy something at the store--toilet paper, or lunch bags, or I buy too much of something--we once had three cartons of lactose-free milk for my H, because I didn't check and did not want to be out of it.

But my family would never say that they felt they didn't come first with me. Sure, my H took us with him on this trip. He did not want to, and made sure we knew that, what a pain it was.

Jeff also said, "THIS is your greatest calling, to be the husband and father that God has called you to be."

*teary, again*

Why don't guys get this? I can be all forgiving on something once, maybe twice, but dang...this morning I got in my car and was baffled at WHY I was still smelling the putrid stank of my ds13's friend's deodorant from Sunday morning? (he spent the night and went to church with us, I honestly thought the smell was from his over-use of deo, because him being in the car was the first I smelled it) I found out today, my H stuck air-fresheners in my vents--ones he has stuck in there twice before and I complained about the smell. I don't like it. It's a baby-powder scent, which smells, to me, like diapers. I don't want to drive with diaper smell, no matter how 'clean-diaper' it is--I don't like it! I laughed about it and told him how I thought it was a lingering deodorant smell that I find unpleasant, and that I appreciated the gesture, I would just prefer a fruity or linen scent if he was going to slip air fresheners into my car.

Anyway, I'll go see if the link is up now...it is very good. Brownsbridge.org--messages--Game Plan--listen if anyone wants to see the whole series, it's really good.