McHenry County Blog

The following was written by Denise Rhodes Beck on Wednesday, June 1, 2011, and is re-printed with permission. She is serving as a missionary in Uganda

I am….(fill in the blank).

The white lady with all the kids.

Little left of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Joplin but its cross.

The one that is married to the really tall white guy.The one who tripped carrying her groceries from the market (coordination is not my spiritual gift).

Tonight I was the friend sitting across from Emilie over a platter of Ethiopian food.

In between cleaning up spills and coaxing our children to finish eating, our conversation ended up where every other conversation over the past week and a half ended up…Joplin. My home town.

Joplin High School with duct tape making an "H" and "E" after the "O" and "P" on the top line. The eagle is the high school's mascott. It was carved in a tree trunk after the tornado blew threw.

The place we both left exactly one year ago today.

The place my mom sent the email from that I awoke to on Monday morning entitled,

“We are all OK”

(those words are always followed by a “BUT”).

The place the tornado made famous.

To be so far away from people and places you love when they are suffering is heart wrenching.

I sat at the computer Monday morning (Sunday night U.S. time) and just sobbed as I read post after post and saw picture after picture.

My kids just stared and me (one brought me a vitamin…I don’t think they knew what to do with me).

Joplin's St. John's Hospital after the tornado.

I questioned so much why God had us so far away at this time.

So tonight Em and I shared our stories of weathering the storm from afar.

After a few stories in, I began to see why, and I thought you might like to hear, too. When tragedy strikes, those it strikes are put in an amazing position.

Joplin's 20th Street. Note chalk figure on the pavement.

A terrible, awful, amazing position.

It is as if they have been given a microphone and their life is now being lived four times louder.

The church is not a building. It is the people. This is where the Bethel Assembly of God building used to be.

People will now stop, look, and listen….FOREVER.It is like my friend here whose eighteen month old daughter was accidentally killed by a teammate’s car.

Thirty years later my friend’s life story still quiets a room and fills it with goosebumps as she speaks of her choice to love and forgive…and stay in Africa.

A wooden cross inside St. Paul's Methodist Chruch survived the tornadic winds.

Hundreds of churches have been planted as a result.Joplin…you have been given a microphone, and the world is listening.

I can say that because I am on the other side of it.

When I enter a local shop and one of my African friends has heard about the tornado and is questioning how there could be a God, I have an open door and we talk.

I believe this is the Joplin Morman Church.

When the kids’ art teacher’s face drops when he hears I am from Joplin; he wonders if my family is OK, I share God’s goodness.I begin to listen to Emilie tell of a friend, a young girl from Canada, who stopped by so full of searching and questions.

She doesn’t believe in God but she is having trouble processing what she is seeing on Aljazeera (the international news channel).

Joplin's Home Depot is in the background across the street from the demolished AT&T Store.

“They are talking about Joplin.

“They are saying they have never seen anything like it before.

“People are taking in strangers from the street.

“People are opening their homes to feed and clothe anyone in need.

“They are saying it is the church!”

The totality of the devastation in Joplin can be seen here.

And Emilie is invited into this young lady’s heart to share with an openness that has never before been possible.

Joplin, you are his hands, his feet, his light to the world.

His glory is being shouted from your microphone.

So many of you have lived through a nightmare.

A little girl has lost her doll baby.

I pray thirty years from now your decision to give God glory in the midst of your hardest days will be the stuff that causes a hush to settle over the room.You have been given an incredible gift.

Thank you for sharing it with the world.

So…who am I today?

If Joplin is selfless love, loudly proclaiming his glory, I hope at the end of everyday, I can say…

“I am Joplin.”

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All of the photos may be enlarged by clicking on them.

This is the final and probably most important part of Methodist Pastor Steve Bullmer’s July sermon on marriage and divorce.

It contains an interpretation of the woman at the well story in the Book of John which was a revelation to me.

To review, the first installment explained the difference between the two different words translated “divorce” in our Bibles. The second article explains the minister’s advice to those who have never been married. The third is to those in “good” marriages. Yesterday’s was aimed at those whose spouses have left them.

Here’s today’s–on after you get divorced:

One final sermon. There is a story in Scripture where Jesus ministers to a divorced person; the fourth chapter of John. He sends his disciples into town to prepare a meal.

Jesus is waiting for someone; and then she shows up.

They talk for awhile, and then Jesus offers her living water. She says,

“I would love some of that water.”

He says,

“Great, go back into town and get your husband.”

“I don’t have a husband.”

Jesus says,

“I know that. You’ve been married and divorced five times, and the guy you’re presently living with is not your husband.”

What do you think Jesus is going to say to her next?

“You stupid, sinful wretch.

“I can’t believe you!

“You’ve been married and divorced five times!

“Don’t you get it?

“Is there something psychologically wrong with you?

“Do you not understand what I said in the Sermon on the Mount that if you do this you’re a bad person?

“Don’t you know that God hates divorce? Get out of my sight!”

Do you think that’s what he says?

Maybe you do, because people who claim to be representing Jesus and speaking for God have said those things to you.

He says none of that.

He reveals to her that he’s the Messiah.

And he demonstrates his love to her.

And when she comes to believe in him he makes her the first woman preacher in the Bible and sends her back to town where she tells as many people as will listen that she has met the Savior.

And the Bible says,

“And many came to believe because of her testimony.”

That’s the power of Jesus’ love to divorced people.

I put this story next to Jesus’ teaching on divorce, and you know what I see?

I see grace.

Grace. Grace for all. Help for life’s struggles.

All right, here’s the word, because I don’t want you to miss it:

If you’ve never been married and you want to get married someday, if you’re single and you want to get married again, ban the word “divorce” from your vocabulary.

Links to my articles about the sermons (containing much about his divorce) in which Pastor Bullmer used to introduce himself to the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake last summer follow:

One Life to Live – The Soap Opera Life of Steve Bullmer, New Methodist Minister in Crystal Lake

General Hospital – The Soap Opera Life of Steve Bullmer, New Methodist Church Minister in Crystal Lake

The Bold and the Beautiful – The Soap Opera Life of Steve Bullmer, New Methodist Minister in Crystal Lake

Guiding Life – The Soap Opera Life of Steve Bullmer, New Methodist Minister in Crystal Lake

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Services at the First United Methodist Church (at the corner of West Crystal Lake Avenue and Dole, both of which intersect with Route 14 at a stop light) are 5 PM on Saturday and 8 AM, 9:30 AM and 11 AM. The 9:30 service is the most traditional. The 11 o’clock one is the most contemporary.  That’s when Pastor Steve takes off his coat.

The painting of Jesus with the woman at the well was found in Rome’s Catacombs. I found it here.

Other articles in the series can be found in the links below:

What Does the Bible Say About Divorce? Defining “Divorce”

If You Haven’t Been Married

Temptations During a “Good” Marriage

When Your Spouse Has Left You