Have you ever seen the t.v. show "Run's House".. It's on MTV...it's an eight or ten episode show. it focuses on Reverend Joe Simmons from the rap group RUN DMC and his family. His wife and six children. They range between the ages of 22 and 1 year.
It's a great show..I know a lot of you out there cannot even think that MTV could provide and produce a clean and wholesome show but they have. Joe Simmons or "Rev" as he is now called. (Since he was ordained a Reverend) is the head of the family. He and his dry humored wife raise the six kids in a home full of love and the Lord. Each episode has a message of faith. It really is a great testament to who this man has become and how he has chosen to raise his family. It really is a great show....
My husband has a nickname at work...."Rev" also. I am really not to sure how this came about but I think it was one guy who started it and it stuck. now many others call him that too. Not because Dan is like Joe Simmons, but because Dan has a wonderful relationship with God and others know it. They seek him for advice and consul. My husband will sit calmly and listen to someones problems. He is an amazing listener when he needs to be. He hears just what they are saying and he allows himself to feel what hey are feeling...so you know he is hearing them. In some ways Dan is walking with a person through their troubles so he can understand just what is happening inside them. Before Dan begins to minister to a person, he takes a deep breath to be sure he has understood why this person has come to him. Then he will start. Sometimes he shares with me the conversations and sometimes he does not. Dan does not advise someone on something he does not know...he does not use the "I would like to think...." method that so many people use when it comes to Godly consul. He will only tell you what he knows. But he lets God carry the message through him. Sometimes he will share with me the things he said and my mouth drops as he agrees with me, when I say 'How did you come up with that'.. his simple reply was..."it's not me, it's God." understandable.
A few weeks ago there was a terrible tragedy that happened here in Naples. A father slain his entire family. His wife and five young children... there is a lot more to the story, but beyond that, there were many people effected by this terrible act. For the father and the brother of the man work at our hotel. Many people at the hotel knew the family and the children. The day after the event. Dan came home from work and he had the heaviest heart I had seen on him for some time. He told me that he spent a good part of the day talking to many people who had connections with this angry man. The man's own father even approached Dan for encouragement and words. To ask for prayer.
This happens a lot to Dan. When you look at my husband you would never think that he has a christian heart.. Our society labels people right from the beginning... (You do it and I do it and you cannot say that you don't) It's the looks are always the first impressions and it stands there. We cant help it but it happens at the hotel. If you look nice and are dressed nice you must have class and money..not always the case.
He told me the other day of a good friend of ours that he was just talking to. I was astonished that even this person had come to him, never mind opened up to him seeking something from him.Dan listened and laid it down. People walk away from people like my husband with an idea, with a curiosity and with a hope...they act on them later by seeking and reading and finding and asking and knocking... their door begins to open and the light of the world shines through for them.
My husband does not need to shove anything down anyone throat... that is not his style unless you make him. He just quietly ministers to how God allows him to. People look down on us because we don't have a home church...for it's only in a church that the work of the Lord can be done...but Dan's church is far larger than the walls of a building with a cross attached to it somewhere...it's the people that he hears and speaks to... Dan never asked to be the leader of his ministry..in fact I could take an educated guess and say he most likely never asked for a ministry..but without even knowing it he has it and he does it. He learns so much from each person that he talks to.
I am so proud of him. His life...Our life has been touched by these people...they always thank him for his words or actions but it is them who need to be thanked by us...by him or by me...and I can tell you, we do thank them.
No comments:
Post a Comment