The Book of Joe

July 25, 2021

A few weeks ago, we gathered for supper to celebrate Sarah’s birthday. Jackie Beth said the blessing. She no longer repeats a memorized prayer, but delivers her own personal words of thanks. It is so precious!

Anyway, as she drew her very sweet little prayer to a close, she said, “…and in the name of Jesus PRICE we pray. Amen.”

Y’all.

Jesus Price. ❤️

Somewhere on The Other Side, I feel pretty certain that Joe and Jesus heard her. And I just feel like Joe gently nudged Jesus with his elbow and whispered, “You know, I always had a feeling you were a Price.” 😇

This week, Joe’s lesson is about how we pray, why we pray, and how prayer changes the world around us.

He wrote:

Prayer

“Prayer does not condition God. Prayer conditions us. Prayer does not win God to our view—it reveals God’s view to us.”-Leo Ravenhill

I don’t think prayer comes naturally to all of us. I have heard that a person’s life will suffer if he or she doesn’t pray. I am not sure how I feel about that. What I do believe is that if a person does not pray, the part of Jesus that lives inside them will suffer.

When a person is born again, they take a part of Jesus into their heart. Then, they can either feed that part or starve it.  Prayer is the way we feed our faith. Now, we can look at prayer as a way to get things done, but I think the real purpose in prayer is to get to know God better.

The Bible tells us in John 16:24 to “ask and ye shall receive.”  We complain to God in prayer about what is not right, we apologize for what we have done wrong, but we ask for just a few things.  And we also wait until we have reached rock bottom to ask for help. As long as we think we can handle things, we might not think we need to call on God.

So, maybe we should ask more. I think sometimes we worry about sounding like a child wanting this, that and the other. But, the book of Matthew says that “unless we be as little children…”. Maybe we should simply ask with childlike faith, and then give God room to work. 

I’ll leave you with this thought: I’ve heard that prayer changes things, and I think that is true. But what prayer really changes is ME.

-JMP

Joe could simply open his mouth and a beautiful, eloquent prayer would fall out of it. On command. I was always envious of that.

However, when he was really troubled about something, Joe would ask me to pray about it. I’d always say, “Ok, but you are praying about it, too, right?”

He’d reply, “Yes, but I think He hears you better.” Bless Joe’s heart.

In Joe’s lesson this week, he said, ” I think sometimes we worry about sounding like a child wanting this, that and the other. In late January/early February of this year, I struggled with this concept in the reverse. Joe’s death was still so raw. I moved my oldest son, Caegan, into an apartment in Wilmington. My youngest son, Cameron, was now a junior in high school, driving himself around and suddenly very independent. NOBODY NEEDED ME. I suddenly saw the irony of how we, as parents, spend all those years teaching our children to be strong, self-sufficient humans..to spread their wings, so to speak. Yet, when they begin to fly…well, for me it was bittersweet to say the least. I didn’t want them to be so independent that they didn’t ever need their mama. I still need mine and I am 46 older than my boys. 😜

I wonder if God feels that way about us when we don’t come to Him in prayer? After all, we are His children, too.

Maybe part of our hesitation comes from our misguided assumption that our prayers have to fit some reverent, grammatically correct mold. And while it is my most sincere hope that your every thought overflows with beautiful sentence structure and perfect punctuation 🤷‍♀️, I don’t think God is holding any of us to that standard.

Think about the wonder of when a toddler is learning to express himself or herself. They feel every emotion in a BIG way, and are quick to share it with their grown ups. Toddlers don’t look at us and say, “Thank you for gifting me with something unexpected, Dear Grown Up.” Instead, they SQUEAL with delight. They clap their chubby little hands together, maybe do a little happy dance, and often wrap themselves around us as an expression of thanks. And in that moment, how do we respond? WE squeal with delight. WE clap our hands too. WE do a little happy dance. WE soak up the joy of a big bear hug and squeeze them right back.

When little ones are in want of something, they point. They may utter word or two like “mine” or “please” or “help me”. If they lose patience with us, they may try to get our attention by stomping around a little…huffing and puffing…and maybe even throw a full on fit. However, if we can give them what they desire, we typically do it. Sometimes grown ups make them wait. Sometimes grown ups say no. But the “not yet” or the “no” is never a result of the eloquence of the request. It is simply because the grown ups can see, better than the little one, the difference between what their children want and what they need.

Sometimes toddlers don’t know what they want. They are tired or hungry or frustrated or confused (or some of all of it) and they simply lift up their hands toward their grown up. And what do we do? We reach down and we pick them up. We rock them gently, we whisper words of comfort into their hair, we let them rest in the safety and comfort of our arms for a while. That’s a mighty sweet moment for a little one. It’s a mighty sweet moment for the grown up, too.

Of course, our earliest method of communication might be the most effective of all. Our cries usher us into this world as newborn babies. Grown Ups hold their breath waiting to hear it for the first time, and spend the rest of their lives responding to it. A grown up can differentiate between the cries of anger, hunger, sadness, injury, illness, drama (my poor mama especially on the drama one), exhaustion, etc. long before a child is able to articulate a single thought. Honestly, we were probably better communicators as babies than we are as full grown adults. Words can be misleading, but teardrops generally tell the tale.

But, the book of Matthew says that “unless we be as little children…”. Maybe we should simply ask with childlike faith, and then give God room to work. Goodness, perhaps we had our prayer life figured out as little ones and didn’t even know it. Is a squeal of delight a prayer? I think so. And so is clapping your hands, or doing a happy dance.

Is a one word request a prayer? I can tell you from experience that the answer is yes. I’ve uttered “please” and “help me” more in the last several months than I have in my entire life. God never once came back with “You must submit your work in complete sentences”. Not once. But He has countered with a “no” and a “not yet”. And even when His response causes me to have a full blown fit and fall in it, I trust that He sees, better than me, the difference between what I think I want and what He knows I need.

Is lifting up your hands as if to say, “Will you pick me up?” a prayer? Oh my goodness, yes. I think God delights in the moments when He can scoop you up and rock you gently, whispering “Rest in Me a while.” But just a warning…when He holds you in His hands, you’ll probably see me there as well. I find myself there an awful lot these days. No worries…I’ll scoot over. There’s more than enough room for all of us.

My sweet, precious friend…can you pray through your teardrops? This one I know for sure. God is, indeed, close to the brokenhearted. In the moments when I have felt His unmistakable presence, and on the few occasions when I have audibly heard His voice, there was one common denominator. Each event occured when I cried out to the Lord, when my despair trickled down my cheeks in a slow, steady stream.

Perhaps heartbreak opens our lines of communication because our Lord himself can relate. After all, God had a boy once. A boy that He loved so very much. He knew His boy would die. And, near the end, that boy asked His Father wasn’t there any other way? And His Father had to tell him no. Don’t you know that broke His heart? So, I know without a doubt that God heard my cries the night I lost Joe and all the nights since. Because he knows what it’s like to love the sweetest boy, to want so much for him to live, to watch him die so young.

About a week ago, I stood in the kitchen having a conversation with Cameron, my 17 year old almost grown boy. As he asked me a question, he slipped up and called me Mommy. Did I love it?? Oh, yes I did. 😊 I also realized that even though my children think they are grown, deep inside they will probably always need their mama just a little.

Prayer does not win God to our view—it reveals God’s view to us. For me, God’s view is this: We are forever safe in the arms of our Father. He delights in our childlike faith, and He hears our prayers even in their most basic form. From our first newborn cry to our last, God’s heartstrings are tethered to our own…simply because we are His children. We are His children, even when we think we’re grown. And we will forever need our Grown Up. 💗

-Words of Wisdom from The Book of Joe

July 18, 2021

Joe was typically patient with me. And I was typically…well…let’s just say the man stored up treasures in Heaven during our marriage. 😜

HOWEVER….

There was one circumstance in which he expected something impossible of me and just could not be patient about it. It happened every time he put the dang vehicle in park and switched off the ignition.

Joe required a lot of equipment. He always had a pen/pencil, a pocket knife, an assortment of tiny tools and/or hardware, a cell phone, a handkerchief, a wallet…oh…and a pack of cigarettes and lighter. Always. But bless his heart, he also possessed the ability to attach each of those things to his person before he left home. He used every pocket, clip, belt, strap, bungee cord, etc. available to him, so when he threw that thing in park he was ready to jump right on out of the vehicle.

I require a little equipment myself, which I typically keep contained in one of the five million bags I haul around all the time. I have a hand bag, a teaching bag, a lunch bag, a gym bag, a bag of jellybeans…you understand, right? So, once Joe turned off the ignition, I still needed to decide which bag was appropriate, place my phone in it, do a quick booger check in the mirror, reapply lipstick, collect all my belongings and vacate the vehicle.

And Joe would come completely unglued while he waited.

Every Single. Time.

I believe if I had hopped out of the truck while it was still rolling, Joe still would have sighed and given me the look. No worries…the truck was always in park and the rubber on the tires completely cooled before I made my dramatic exit from the vehicle.

Could I have moved a little faster? Probably. Did I intentionally move slowly because I ALWAYS had to wait for Joe to smoke a cigarette before we went somewhere, when we got home, before we ate supper, after we ate supper, before we went to bed, before and after we did pretty much anything? Possibly. 😇

This week Joe’s lesson is about waiting, and what God wants us to learn while we do it.

He wrote:

Why We Should Wait

Lamentations 3: 25-26: “ The Lord is good to them that wait for Him; to the soul that seeks Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.”

The Bible makes it plain that we go through different seasons in our lives, and one of those seasons God tells us about over and over again is the season of waiting. 

But I would like to assure you this morning that while we are waiting, God is working.  

We are going to spend a lot of time waiting, and if we  don’t figure out how to trust God while we do that, well, we are going to spend right much time not trusting God. 

God has no reason to be in a hurry, because He is forever.  But don’t think for one minute that He is not watching and working.  He is watching for your trust in Him.  As we are saying, “When, Lord?”, He is asking us to have faith that He can handle our needs. 

We are naturally impatient.  We want things done now. In Ecclesiastes 3:1 we find, “ To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven.”  Think about what you are waiting for this morning.  Are you frustrated with how slowly things are happening? We find a promise in Isaiah 60: 22 that not only is God working, but it also tells us how He is working: “ The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; in its time I will do this swiftly.”

God waited thousands of years to send Jesus the first time, and we have been waiting more than 2,000 years for His return. 

So, as we move into the coming week, remember that delay is not denial.  When you think God is saying no, He might just be saying, “Not yet. Will you trust Me?”

I will leave you with a verse from Micah 7. Verse 7 states: “Therefore, I will look unto the Lord and I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.”

-JMP

Two Fun Facts About Ronda… 1) I love a good story. 2) I do not like to wait.

It was during one particularly difficult season of waiting that the Lord gave me “my verse”. It is the scripture I go back to time and time again. Psalm 27:14 reads, “Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” Well, I don’t like to wait, so I really thought maybe God seemed to make me do it repeatedly so that I would “learn my lesson”. However, I think maybe I missed the mark. Perhaps it’s not so much about waiting, but more about waiting well–maybe the true lesson comes, not at the end of our wait, but in the time between the plea and the payoff.

We are all waiting for something it seems. Waiting for healing. Waiting for the job. Waiting for the new home. Waiting for the prodigal son/daughter/husband/wife to return. In my current season, I am waiting for several things. I am waiting for healing. Waiting for relief. Waiting to feel happy. Waiting for normal. Waiting for Heaven. And we do all this waiting knowing full well that God has the power to bless us with every desire of our heart at anytime. So, why does He hold out on us? I think it is because of the role that waiting plays in our own story, as well as in God’s story.

Joe’s lesson this week made me think about story of Lazarus…more specifically, about the wait between his death and resurrection.

When Lazarus was sick and dying, his sisters, Martha and Mary, reached out to Jesus, not only as their only hope, but also as their personal friend. They knew He loved Lazarus and they knew He had the power to heal him. But Jesus did not come. He waited. He prolonged their agony.

I reached out to Jesus the night Joe passed away. I, too, knew He loved Joe, and that He had the power to heal him. But Jesus did not give me my heart’s desire that night. He waited. He prolonged my agony.

Lazarus died.

Joe did, too.

Mary and Martha entered a time of darkness and suffering. Their hearts were broken. They might have even been a little bit resentful. They questioned the goodness of Jesus.

Me too, sisters. Me too.

Then, Jesus showed up. Martha went out to meet Him. But she didn’t greet Him with warm fuzzies. She questioned him. “Why, Lord? You could have saved him, but you didn’t. Why??” However, she followed up with, “But even now I believe in you as the Son of God.” At her sister’s urging, Mary went to meet Jesus as well. Her pleas were much the same. If Jesus had been there, her brother would still be alive. And as she plead, Mary fell right down at His feet.

Goodness, friends…that expresses my heart better than anything I can tell you. I went to meet Jesus the morning after Joe passed away–right at my kitchen table where I’d met Him so many times before (and after). My exchanges with Jesus are still a daily mix of “Why didn’t you save him?” and “I will praise you in the storm.” I fall to my knees with my hands held up in praise one minute, and I fall to my knees in weakness the next.

But then, in the story of Lazarus, Jesus did the thing. Jesus did the thing that blows my mind and breaks my heart and gives me hope all at once.

Jesus wept.

Y’all, Jesus knew when he walked into town that day that he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. He saw the bigger picture, even when his friends and the disciples could not. But still, in that moment, his heart was broken. Jesus wept tears of compassion–he did not take lightly the suffering his delay caused. He wept tears of anger–the wage of sin is death–and Jesus had seen a lot of it. Death had taken so many, and now Lazarus, and soon it would take Him. And He knew it. He wept tears of distress. Jesus was just days away from his own crucifixion at this point. Can you even imagine the anxiety? Jesus was about to resurrect Lazarus, giving him the gift of life, both earthly and eternal. But, for Jesus, that gift was going to come with an unbearable price tag–Ultimately, this gift would be purchased with His very own life. Even though what lay on the other side of the death of Jesus was wonderfully unimaginable, He was going to have to walk a horrifically painful road to get there. So, Jesus cried.

In the moments before Joe’s death, when I held his head in my lap and begged God to save him, I cried, too. I only remember that detail because at first I thought the tears belonged to Joe. I looked down and saw them running down his cheek. I wiped them away, confused, until I felt one drip off my own cheek onto his and realized that the tears were mine. However, I wonder if maybe one of those tears belonged to Jesus? Even though He could see the bigger picture, even though He knew the paradise that awaited my sweet Joe, maybe His heart broke a little bit to see mine breaking?

But then, four days after he passed away, Jesus raised Lazareth from the dead. Yes, Jesus had the power to heal his friend in sickness. BUT HE WAITED. This wait allowed the glory of God to be shown in its fullest. What Martha and Mary asked for was good. What Jesus gave to them was better.

In the moment Joe’s season of suffering ended, my season of suffering began. So, now I wait, trusting that somehow, the glory of God is being displayed. I asked the Lord to save Joe. In my mind, that was good. In my heart I know that what Jesus gave to Joe is better…so much better.

So now, in this wait, I’m learning. In this wait, I’m leaning.

Sure, I say, “When, Lord??” an awful lot. When is my heart going to mend? When will the waves of grief subside? When will it not hurt so much? …remember that delay is not denial.  When you think God is saying no, He might just be saying, “Not yet. Will you trust Me? And so, I trust Him. I trust Him to give me the strength I need for this day, to get through the waves that this day brings, to provide the healing for this day. The weaker I feel, the harder I lean. The harder I lean, the stronger He makes me.

I’m also seeing the sweetness in the dark. In those moments when my heart still aches, when I feel like I might be swallowed up by darkness, I feel the unmistakable presence of God’s love. And that feeling is just a foretaste of the love we will feel when we reach The Other Side. How precious to feel it for just a moment now, in choosing to walk by faith, not sight. Had it not been for this season of suffering, I may have missed it.

I do love a good story. I guess that’s why I write this blog each week–I want to tell Joe and Ronda’s story. But, more than that, I want our story to tell God’s story. So much of our story is about waiting…we waited almost twenty years to find each other again. But it is also about redemption, healing, trust and true love. My favorite part of our story is the path, because it led us home, and it was worth the wait.

My friend, it is my hope that you are forever blessed with your heart’s desire. But, until that day, I hope you will learn with me to wait well. If, by chance, you feel like you are always waiting for something, but never truly satisfied, I hope you see that the true blessing is found not in the gift, but in the Giver. One sweet day, there will be no doubt what you and I were waiting for…it was Jesus. All along…it was Jesus.

That, my friend, will be the best part in God’s story. We, too, walk the path that leads us Home.

❤️ It will be worth the wait. ❤️

-Words of Wisdom from the Book of Joe

July 11, 2021

Several years ago, I sought Joe’s advice on where I should hide something to keep the boys from finding it (it was probably jelly beans 😂). His reply was that the best method was to hide it in plain sight.

Joe had proven the effectiveness of this strategy on the day he proposed to me. Joe and his good friend Taylor had to call an auction sale that morning, and at the last minute, I ended up driving Joe’s truck to take Cameron over to my mama’s house. Now, I had suspicioned that there had been a possible ring purchase, but my efforts to look in every hiding place I could fathom had been fruitless thus far. I guess it was because the ring was not hidden at all…it was sitting in the center console of his truck. I probably rested my arm on it on the way back from my mama’s house that morning. I later learned that, as we pulled down the path toward the auction, Taylor (sitting in the back seat) spotted the ring box and did his best to get Joe’s attention in the rear view mirror to let him know it was out in plain sight. But Joe didn’t see Taylor, and I didn’t see the ring until later that afternoon. We were back in the woods behind the barn, building an imaginary house up on a hill, like we had done a thousand times before. I pointed and dreamed, saying we’d put this here and that there, when he interrupted me to ask if I really thought I could live with him for the rest of our lives. I turned around to find him, one knee on the dusty path, holding the prettiest ring I’d ever seen. Ya’ll know my answer…and if you know me well, you know that I screamed and cried and did a little happy dance because it’s just who I am.

And that’s the story of the best day of Joe’s sweet life. 😂

This week Joe’s lesson is about the ways that Jesus gives us eyes to plainly see the goodness of His work in our lives.

He wrote:

The Glory of God

When I think about the highlights of the ministry of Jesus, the story of how He healed the blind man is near the top of my list.  You are probably familiar with the story—it starts out with Jesus and His disciples coming across a blind man while they are walking through the temple. 

John 9: 1-3: “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

I thought for a long time that the “works” Jesus talked about meant healing the man’s sight.  That is the main action  in the story. I thought Jesus was performing the miracle to show that He was the Son of God.  Well, now I see that the real point is something a little different. 

Further in the chapter we find in verse 30 how the man responded when questioned by the Pharisees.  “The man answered, ‘Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.  Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.’

To this they replied, ‘You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!’ And they threw him out.”

If Jesus had wanted to be known for His power, he would have ridden into Jerusalem on a white horse with a sword and an army behind him. But that is not how He chose to come. He arrived quietly, touching the lives of the lost and forgotten. He didn’t just heal broken bodies. He healed hearts and souls, too. Like, in this story, He gave the blind man his physical sight, but He also gave him the ability to see the truth, while the Pharisees became blind to it.  We should make sure that we, both as Christians and as the church, do not become blind to all that Jesus does for us each and every day. 

So, as we go forward this week, let us not get so wrapped up in what happens in the world around us that we fail to see the work that God is doing here on earth every minute.  Ask the Lord to give you eyes that see His goodness in every situation.

-JMP

One of the perks of being an early bird living on a pond is that I am privy to a spectacular sunrise nearly every morning. I purposely seat myself at the kitchen table while I read my devotion so that I can see the sun just as it peeks over the tops of the trees and spills over onto the surface of the water. Ya’ll, sometimes it truly looks as if God is scattering golden nuggets and brilliant diamonds across the pond. I know it’s crazy, but I always feel like that is God’s special gift for me (my prize for getting up with the chickens!!). That perfect moment where the sky flips the switch from rainbow sherbet to glittering sunlight is brief, so if you’re not paying attention you’ll miss it, but it is worth taking a few moments each morning to just stop and soak up the sweetness of a fresh new day. The glory of God shows off for us first thing each morning.

I distinctly remember sitting at my kitchen table the morning after Joe went to Heaven. Honestly, I remember very little about those days (which is probably a blessing), but I can recall seeing the sunrise that day. Actually, what I remember is missing the sunrise. I caught the light reflecting off the pond from the corner of my eye. That morning, I needed a closer look, so I moved from the table to the glass door for a better view. But, in the moments it took me to get up and walk across the kitchen, the light on the pond disappeared, and all I could see was the bright, blinding sun over the trees. The irony of that magic moment slipping through my fingers was not lost on me that day.

On Tuesday of this week, I started my day like any other. I watched the sunrise from my kitchen table and went about my day. However, I could feel that uneasiness of impending grief creeping around the outer edges of my heart. While I am thankfully better able to control my reaction to bouts of grief, I also understand that sometimes the only way to find peace is to run away for just a bit. So, I threw some clothes in a bag and decided to disappear. It made no sense to head to the coast in the late afternoon when a tropical storm was in the forecast, but I have learned that my peace is almost always restored by the sight of blue water and smell of salt air, so I pointed Joe’s truck in that direction. Pointed is not exactly accurate. I honestly felt pulled toward the ocean. I had no idea what I was looking for, but I knew in my heart where I would find it.

When I arrived, I didn’t even take the time to throw my bag inside. I jumped straight out of the vehicle and walked down to the end of the dock. I perched on a wooden bench, closed my eyes, and soaked in the smell and the sounds. It was almost instant relief. Then, I opened my eyes to see the sun making its slow descent into the water. I caught it just in time to see those same glittering jewels dance across the water. Once again, the glory of God spread itself across the sky just for me.

But Joe’s lesson makes me realize that, like his own admission that maybe he’d originally missed the point, maybe I have as well. Maybe the grand display of majesty at dusk and dawn each day isn’t about those fleeting moments where the light dances across the water. Beautiful as they are, they are indeed fleeting. But when they disappear, the sun remains. Steadfast, over and over again, the sun remains. Could that have been the message I missed on the morning after Joe passed away? That no matter what this life gives us or what this life takes away from us, we are never removed from the light of the Son?

He arrived quietly, touching the lives of the lost and forgotten. Jesus isn’t about the blaze of glory. I think that part is just an after effect of His presence. Jesus is about loving and serving and healing.

He didn’t just heal broken bodies. In the moments before Joe’s sweet soul left his body, I held his head in my lap and prayed–I begged–-the Lord to heal him. Although my eyes were blind to it then, now I can see that Jesus did heal Joe–right there in my arms–his broken body was made whole again as he left my arms for the arms of Jesus. Oh, that is a precious, precious thought!

He healed hearts and souls, too. The reality is, healing Joe’s heart meant mine had to break. But Jesus isn’t in the business of only healing hearts passing through the gates of Heaven. So, He shows up every single day…as constant as the sun…and continues the process of putting my heart back together again.

We should make sure that we do not become blind to all that Jesus does for us each and every day. Sometimes Jesus brings me healing through His word. Sometimes it comes in the form of people placed in my path who help me navigate through the darkness. Sometimes healing comes through the words you are reading now. And sometimes, healing comes from the sun. Always, though, healing comes from the Son.

So, as we go forward this week, let us not get so wrapped up in what happens in the world around us that we fail to see the work that God is doing here on earth every minute. Lamentations 3: 22-23 says, ” Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” I see this verse in living color every morning as the sun peeps at me from above the treeline.

And then, the day happens. Life happens. There are some mighty sweet moments. There are some moments that hurt. But there is no moment of the day where you are without the Son.

And the sunset? The Lord used it to open my eyes in two ways this week. For just a moment, as the light stretched out far across the water, I felt as if God gave me just a tiny sneak peak of the golden streets of Heaven. Crazy as that sounds, it brought peace to my heart to think of Joe just on the other side, and made me consider that maybe Heaven isn’t so far away after all. Then, as the sun began to sink, the colors in the sky transformed before my very eyes into a gorgeous palette of orange and pink and purple. As beautiful as the sun had been on top of the water, it was just as breathtaking as it nestled down beneath it. That’s when I think I really understood the message that no matter what happens during the course of a day, a week, a year, or a life, the glory of the Son gives us hope for a beautifully painted ending.

So, my sweet friend, my prayer for you today is that you will have eyes that can see the good. There is so much good. God’s goodness and glory are all around you, from the sunrise to the sunset and everywhere in between. It isn’t hiding from you in some dark, faraway corner, my friend. I can tell you from experience that the best things, the greatest blessings of this life, are all around you–hiding in plain sight.

-Words of Wisdom from The Book of Joe

July 4, 2021

There once was a man traveling to the top of a mountain. A snake approached and begged the man to let him rest in his pocket on the way up. The snake promised not to bite him, so he agreed. When they reached the top, the snake bit the man. His last words were, “How could you? You promised not to bite me!” To which the serpent replied, “You knew I was a snake when you put me in your pocket.”

When Joe was feeling mean or mischievous, he said his ankles were itching. They itched often.

I am incredibly ticklish, especially on the bottoms of my feet. I have to engage in a very serious discussion before I get a pedicure or massage. I just can’t take it! 🤦‍♀️ Knowing this, Joe did his very best to torture me in this manner. One evening, I stretched my legs across his lap while we were sitting on the couch. I thought he was too engrossed in a tv show to bother me. I was mistaken. Before I knew it, he had my legs in a vice grip and held me there while he tickled my feet. I screamed, I gasped, I begged, but he chose this moment to seek retribution for all the tricks I’d ever played on him. Finally, I told him I was about to pee on myself, knowing that would make him stop. But he didn’t stop, thinking I had cried wolf. I was a wolf with a tiny, fragile bladder…and, well…I peed in my pants right there on the couch.

I was FURIOUS. I asked him if he had anything to say to me, fully expecting a profuse, sincere apology. His reply was as follows: “You knew I was a snake when you put me in your pocket.”

He was my sweet Joe with a mean streak a mile wide. 😂

This week, Joe’s lesson is about good and evil, and how we are all a little bit of both.

He wrote:

Good and Evil

It is only natural for us to wonder why the Lord allows good and evil to exist side by side.  I would think that we all wonder and ask ourselves, “Wouldn’t the world be a better place if the Lord would just destroy everything evil and allow only good to exist?”

To me, that is an easy conclusion (or maybe solution) to the problems we see in society—but then we have to consider that maybe our idea of what is good doesn’t line up with what God’s standard is for good. This idea of doing away with evil is great in theory, but then I ask myself where I might fall in the division of good and bad? I’ll let you ponder on that for yourself, but personally, I know that I fall short of the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior. I know that I am sinful by nature, and according to the Bible, a sin is a sin, and sin is evil.

In Matthew 13: 24-30, Jesus tells a parable about weeds: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.²⁷ “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’²⁹ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

The Lord allows good and evil to exist side by side because He loves us.  Instead of dealing with us right away, swiftly and justly, He provides grace, and only through grace can we come to know Jesus and His gift of forgiveness.

He wants all of us to know Him, and He knows that in knowing Him, each of us will require grace. 1 Timothy 2: 3-4 states: “³ This is good, and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

But I am here to tell you this morning that there will come a day when His grace will end—He is going to separate the wheat from the weeds, and we must be ready! The weeds will be bundled and burned, but the wheat will go into the barn. I don’t know about you, but I know that I want to end up in the barn.

So, when we consider good and evil, let it remind us that the only way we can overcome our own evil is through the love and grace and mercy of Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for your forgiveness, and for giving us grace to be prepared for the day you bring in your harvest.

-JMP

I spent several years working in school administration. My first year as a principal, I periodically sent Mr. D, who was the principal of the high school where I taught for many years, an email containing two simple words: I’m sorry.

He knew what I meant.

I was sorry because I know I worried that poor man to death when I was a teacher. Joe often referred to me as bossy, and said my personality was a bit intense. Well, Joe exaggerates, but I do own a shirt that says, “I’m not bossy. I’m aggressively helpful”. 😜 So, I kept Mr. D’s office chair warm. If he assigned a student to In School Suspension and I knew he/she had something going on at home, I’d make a plea on their behalf. If, bless his heart, I sent him a student for disciplinary action and he didn’t put them in ISS, I’d question his decision🤦‍♀️(I know. I know.). If he made a schedule change that didn’t suit the English department, I’d gently suggest a better way. He always listened quietly and patiently. Sometimes he did what I asked. I thought he was so smart on those occasions. Sometimes he did what he thought was best, regardless of my opinion. Thus, sometimes I’d pout for a day or two. It never swayed him. 😂

When I became a principal, I realized that I was so caught up in my little world as a teacher, that all I could see was the small picture. Meanwhile, Mr. D was tasked with keeping all the plates spinning at once. He made decisions based on the big picture. I also realized that Mr. D was really good at his job, and because he never made me feel like I was getting on his last nerve (when I know good and well that I was), he was also pretty much a saint. 😇

Mr. D gave me a piece of advice I have used over and over again. He said if I’d make every decision based on what is best for students, I might not win every battle, or be everyone’s favorite person all the time, but I would ultimately win the war.

So, Joe’s lesson made me consider the fact that I probably owe Jesus Christ a two word email as well. And I’m not calling you out, friend, but I am leaving some space on the signature line just in case you need to send one, too. 😊

How often do we approach God with our lists, in hopes that He will do it our way? How often do we make a plea on someone’s behalf (or our own) when God’s actions don’t seem fair? How often do we question His decisions? Gently(or not so gently) suggest a better way? And when He doesn’t change it…doesn’t fix it…when it seems that good continues to suffer and when it seems that evil might prevail, how often do we retreat in a far away corner instead of running into His arms? Maybe it’s just me. But maybe it’s you, too?

I might never understand why God doesn’t serve up swift justice for all of the evil in this world. But what I do understand is if He gave us exactly what we each deserve for all of our sins, well….I’m afraid we’d find ourselves in a heap of trouble. So, I’m trying to focus on the way my cup is forever overflowing with God’s sweet mercy and grace, and I am trusting in Him as He keeps all the plates spinning. He hasn’t dropped one yet.

Mr. D is pretty intimidating before you get to know him. Yet, in reality, he has a heart as big as the ocean, and bottom line—he does his job better than anyone I’ve ever known. I believe God is much the same. Just like like Mr. D taught me to do what is best for students, our Lord is out there, every single day, doing what is best for us. So, while it may look as if He isn’t winning every battle, while His decisions may not always be popular, this I know for sure. Sweet friend….God will win the war. Joe said, “The weeds will be bundled and burned, but the wheat will go into the barn. I don’t know about you, but I know that I want to end up in the barn.”

Dear friend, if I don’t see you again before, I’ll meet you at the barn. ❤️

-Words of Wisdom from The Book of Joe

June 27, 2021

Mama Eula loved everybody. I know everyone believes they have the sweetest grandma in the world, but I’m telling you…she was about as sweet as they come. I NEVER heard her say an unkind thing about anyone. I never even heard her raise her voice (and I promise you we all gave her many reasons to yell). She cooked the best fried chicken, made homemade Play Doh, let us eat butter beans with toothpicks til we were grown, and could turn an old scrap of fabric into a beautiful evening gown. She was everybody’s grandma. At her funeral, the preacher never once referred to her as “Ms. Eula”. She was Mama Eula to him, too.

She was just a quiet, sweet, patient soul….oh, and she was incredibly independent. Joe and I learned this first hand several years ago.

In the hours before a predicted ice storm, Joe and I went to town to pick up some last minute supplies. Before we left Mount Olive, we stopped by Mama Eula’s house to see if she needed us to do anything for her(and maybe talk her into NOT staying home by herself). She declined our offers for assistance and assured us she’d be just fine. Of course I could not leave well enough alone, so I might have asked her more than once if she was sure she didn’t need us to do anything or take her anywhere.

You could have heard a pin drop when she looked at me and said, “I’ll tell you what you can do for me, Ronda. You can go somewhere and get still.”

Her eyes were as blue as Joe’s, and she shot me a look that told me she was not messing around! So, I got my behind in the truck and got still. Joe Price laughed at me all the way home and used her line on me at least a thousand times when I tried to tend to somebody else’s business. 😂

He loved that line so much that he made it the title of this week’s lesson. I’m pretty sure he told that story to the ENTIRE congregation that morning, too.

He wrote:

Get Somewhere and Get Still

Hustle and bustle. Stress. Feelings of anxiety and being overwhelmed.

Sometimes we just need to get somewhere and get still.

How many of you take a few minutes each day to just rest and be alone with God? I personally have a hard time doing that. If we are going to spend time in communion with the Lord, we are going to have to put forth the effort, because if we aren’t dedicated to it, the world will put more obstacles in our way than we can shake a stick at.

Jesus understood the importance of getting off by Himself and spending time in prayer. He was a mighty busy man, walking for miles at the time, preaching, healing, teaching, etc., but still He made time to rest and spend time with His Father.

Luke 5:16 says, “And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.”

Jesus taught the disciples to take time for themselves. After He had sent them out to preach and heal, when they all bunched back up, the disciples wanted to tell Jesus about all the things they had done.  So, He listened to them and then we find in Mark 6:31 that Jesus instructed them to “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

In Psalm 131, we find King David as a very busy ruler. He had a lot going on and I’m sure he had a lot on his mind, but in verses 1 and 2  he said , “I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk…”. David understood the importance of intentionally quieting our minds. Instead of getting all worked up, he settled himself by putting his faith and hope in the Lord.

So, as we go about our daily lives this week, let’s try to set aside some time each day to pause and rest in presence of God. If you find yourself spinning in circles, you might just need to get somewhere and get still.

-JMP

I have heard the voice of the Lord twice in my life.

The first time was that summer years ago, before we were married, when Joe lost his mind for a little bit 😜 and we spent a few months apart. Just as clear as day, I heard God say to me, “He’s coming back.” By the end of that summer, I finally realized that Jesus had kept His word. Joe did come back, but it didn’t happen overnight. I had a hard lesson to learn. Actually, I had two lessons to learn, but it wasn’t until recently that I understood the second one. (We’ll get to that later…). I had to get to the point that I loved Joe, but I loved Jesus more.

Finally, and most importantly, I had to get still. At the end of the day, I had a promise from God. Part of my job became resting in God’s presence, trusting that, even when the world said otherwise, He was working on my behalf. I had to let God be God. One day, I finally realized that I wanted Joe, but I needed Jesus. While I firmly believed God would keep His promise, I also knew I would survive if He didn’t. But oh my goodness I am so thankful that He made good on it!! Joe came back and we lived a wonderful, wonderful life.

The second time I heard God’s voice, I was, once again, in a very dark place. And once again, I was without my sweet Joe, but this time he wasn’t coming back. This admission is a very personal one, and it is not pretty AT ALL, but it is honestly where I was in the months after Joe’s death. Please know it is not where I am today.

Sickness and death just kept coming in the early part of this year. Every time I turned around, someone I loved either passed away, became ill, was diagnosed with a terminal illness, or faced extreme suffering. Part of me shook my fist at God, so angry that things just kept getting worse and worse. I remember thinking, “Lord, are you going to take away everyone I love?Are you going to make everyone I love suffer?” But there was another part of me, as people either entered the gates of Heaven or prepared to do so, that was a little bit jealous. I write that hoping you understand my perspective. It wasn’t that I wanted to end my life, but just that I missed Joe Price so much, and I longed to be where ever he was…so when it seemed that so many people were able to get there before me, I might have looked up and whispered, “Why not me, Lord?” I might have whispered it more than once.

That’s when I heard His voice again. My head was in my hands, my tears in a puddle on the floor,when I heard God say these words: “Because you can’t want to go to Heaven for Joe. You have to want to go to Heaven for Me.“

I have turned those words over and over in my head. I didn’t really understand them until this week at the beach. I guess I just needed to get somewhere and get still.

When I think about that cold night at Mama Eula’s house, or that summer I spent without Joe all those years ago, or where I’ve been over the past few months, I see a common thread. I will absolutely wear myself out trying to control things that are quite simply, out of my hands. So, once in a while, somebody will put me in my place. Someone will direct me to go somewhere and get still. Mama Eula did it. Jesus did it, too. And I think both of them were coming from a place of love. Both of them knew, better than me, who was really in control.

I wish I wasn’t so stubborn that God had to make my world stop spinning in order to get me to pause and rest in Him, but that has been the case so far. I’m working on that part. I really am. Nevertheless, when I finally drop to the floor, exhausted by carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders, He whispers in my ear.

He reminds me that He is a keeper of promises. He reminds me that it was the truth I found buried in His Word that got me through those dark, uncertain days. He reminds me that, even when the world says otherwise, He is working on my behalf. He reminds me that His Word holds another promise, that although we do not understand what He is doing, one day we will. He reminds me that He carried the weight of this world on His shoulders, and because of that, it is not my weight to bear.

My second lesson in that long ago summer was learning to live without Joe. I’m glad I didn’t realize it then, but now I can see it for what it is–the merciful hand of God preparing me for the road ahead.

Just this morning, I cracked open the devotional that I go back to day after day and year and after year—Jesus Calling. Today’s devotion is entitled “Rest in Me a While”. I love it when the words of my Joe and my Jesus line up like that! ❤️ Below is an excerpt:

If Mama Eula could make a ball gown from a flour sack, there’s no telling what Jesus can make out of you and me. But we have to jump off the hamster wheel for a moment. We are all running on empty, and we are all looking for ways to fill our cup. You can’t fill it with things. You can’t even fill it with people. Trust me…I’ve tried to do both. Your cup is designed to be filled with the sweet love of Jesus. Let Him fill your cup, sweet friend, and watch it overflow.

“Set aside some time to pause and rest in presence of God. If you find yourself spinning in circles, you might just need to get somewhere and get still.“

-Words of Wisdom from The Book of Joe

June 20, 2021

Vacation season is upon us!

My Facebook memories have been FLOODED the past few weeks with vacation pictures, honeymoon pictures, etc. I love these pictures of Joe and Jackie Beth, because they seem to exemplify my own personal philosophy that if you can just get your toes in the sand, it’s all peace and happiness. I also love these pictures because Joe and Jackie Beth are both just plain purty in them.

But let me tell you about the “knock down drag out” Joe and I had before we left for the beach that year.

How do I remember? Because we ALWAYS went nose to nose trying to get ourselves packed up and ready for a trip! 🙂 Bless his heart, I know that Joe was stressed out trying to get loose ends tied up at work, getting the boat ready (he always had an improvement project for the boat and he always waited until the last minute to get started on it), etc. And it is possible that I have the tendency to overpack just a teensy bit, so there was the stress of exactly how to get all the stuff down to the coast without a U-Haul. And then…there was the fact that Joe had a particular way of organizing all the things. Unfortunately, the glass on my crystal ball gets a little cloudy, and I could not read his mind on how to position each suitcase to ensure maximum efficiency, so we (me and one/all of the children) did it incorrectly. He would try not to fuss, but his tired, stressed, short tempered little self would inevitably blow a fuse. Then my tired, stressed, short tempered little self would FLOUNCE, and we’d have us a minor world war right there in the driveway. Sometimes I am glad we live way back in the woods! 🙂

So, we’d load up and huff and puff and pout all the way to the end of the path. However, before we pulled out onto the highway, Joe would put the truck in park, {begrudgingly} take my hand, and say a prayer for safe travels, a good trip and a safe return home.

It’s mighty hard to stay mad with a man who talks to Jesus like that, so I would only pout a few more minutes before I allowed Joe to enjoy the sunshine of my personality again. 🙂

There’s also something mighty comforting about knowing Jesus is your right hand man as you barrell down toward the coast in an overstuffed pickup truck pulling a boat still wet with paint, sealer, glue, etc!

This week Joe’s lesson is about the grace of Jesus, who is by our side in every circumstance.

He wrote:

Right Hand Man

Luke 22: 31-32: “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

If we were to make a thank you list to Jesus for all of the things He did in His lifetime, I believe this display of grace He showed to Simon Peter would be at the top. Jesus knows that He is about to be persecuted,arrested, abandoned and executed, and what does He do? He prays for Simon Peter’s faith, and assures him that, even though things are about to get bad—He will pass through. He will not be overwhelmed.

One of the things I am in awe of as a Christian is knowing that Jesus cares for me, just as He cared for Simon Peter. He is sitting at the right hand of His Father, and He is praying for you and me.

Jesus is on our side.  He is with us, guiding our way through every trial and obstacle.  I know there may be times when it doesn’t feel that way, but it is true even then. Our faith may falter or change depending on the circumstance of where we are in life, but we can rest in the knowledge that God is always there, strengthening us.

So, when you are faced with bad news or a difficult situation, or when things just aren’t going the way you thought they would or should go, remember this—You are not alone. You will pass through. 

Jesus loves us enough to stand by our side and pray for us—all of us—even you and me.

Lord, we thank You for being there to strengthen us. You are the same now and forever, and because of that we know we are never truly alone.

-JMP

I’m not sure when I started it, but I have a tradition of sneaking a moment alone to look at the water just before we leave at the end of each vacation. I try to soak up the memories in my mind because I realize things will be different the next time we gather together for a week. The children will be older. We might have an extra person on the next trip. Or, someone might be missing. So, I say a prayer of thanks for the blessings of that particular season and I pray for the season ahead. A lot can happen in a year.

Joe’s lesson this week sent me to my Bible commentary right off the bat. I learned that in Luke 22, Jesus issued a warning to the disciples (specifically Simon Peter) that Satan would use the terrible events about to occur to “sift them like wheat“. During the sifting process, wheat is shaken violently to separate it from the chaff. Peter would be tested similarly by the devil to see if his faith could be shaken off or separated from him during these trials.

Well, friends, let me just say that in the past year, I have been SIFTED.

Our vacation last year found us still reeling from Covid 19 restrictions. Joe’s mama took a nasty fall in early summer, and spent that week(and several more) recovering from an extensive surgery to repair a badly broken ankle. Joe’s boat finally kicked the bucket AND he had a case of the gout. It was a time.

School resumed in August and I entered what would be my most challenging school year ever (and I’ve got nearly 25 of them under my belt!). Joe passed away in December, and within the next month we would also mourn the loss of his aunt and my grandmother. I nearly crumbled under the pressure of teaching full time, working a part time job, trying to juggle the responsibilities of Joe’s business/estate, raising my children, and the fact that my heart was broken in two. Sifted is a pretty good way to describe it.

I would be lying if I said my faith wasn’t tested. And ya’ll, I like to think I have a lot of faith. Still…my knees nearly buckled underneath me, but I did not fall. That was absolutely not because of my own strength. I can tell you I didn’t have much of that left in me.

What did I have? I had…no I HAVE…the same thing you do. It is the power of a man named Jesus who loves me so much that He prays for me at the right hand of His Father. Sometimes I forget that part. Y’all he PRAYS for us. Even as we endure our sifting seasons. Even now.

The last part of that verse is important. Jesus tells Simon Peter “when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Jesus knew the end of the story! He didn’t say “if” you get to the other side of all this, he said “when“. Jesus called him to use his experience to help others find strength.

If you’ve been reading the blog for a while you’ve heard me say “some good simply has to come of this”. So maybe Jesus wasn’t just talking to Simon Peter. Maybe He was talking to me, too.

Sweet friend, if you are in your sifting season, if you feel like your knees are about to give way, believe with all of your heart that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. YOU WILL PASS THROUGH. YOU WILL NOT BE OVERCOME. How do I know? Because Jesus has given me the strength to walk through the past 197 days. He has been my right hand man, holding me up as I took every single step.

I can’t tell you that you will wake up one day and understand why this had to happen. I can tell you that one day someone will look at you and know that because Jesus saw you through it, He will see them through as well. Something good will come.

As you read this, I am on vacation. I’ve already found myself on the beach with my eyes closed, dreaming of a distant Shore. I know if I can just get my toes in the sand, there will be Peace and Happiness forever…with my Joe and my Jesus.

Just before I head home, I will take one more moment to gaze out onto the water. I will soak up the memories of this trip with my boys and I will thank the Lord for the blessings of this season. I will thank Him for the blessings of the season to come. Because even though things look different…even though someone is missing, I know I am never alone.

Before I pull onto the highway, I will offer up Joe’s traveling prayer. There’s something mighty comforting about knowing Jesus is your right hand man as you barrell down the road toward Home.

-Words of Wisdom from The Book of Joe

June 12, 2021

**The blog is a little bit different this week. Joe wrote these words, just not in the little black notebook. These are the words he wrote on my heart. Back to the notebook next week, I promise.**

Today is our wedding anniversary. Don’t you be sad for me—I mean it. Well, ok, you can be sad for just one second, but then I need to you to think these thoughts: This day was a very, very good day. June 12^th is the day Joe became my forever, and forever doesn’t end.

I told someone this week that Joe and I are the LUCKY ones, to have known a love so sweet and true. Some people live and die and never know how that really feels, so if you want to feel sorry, let it be for those people, not for me.

I believe that our lives are like books, and each person who crosses our path is a chapter. The chapter begins the moment that person enters your life and ends with the last breath. I used to think it ended when they walked out of your life, but you never know when a person might reappear. Ask me how I know…☺️

I am but a chapter in your book, and you are but a chapter in mine. So maybe, somewhere between this life and the next, we are allowed the chance to flip through the pages.

If you see my book, I feel certain you’ll notice that one chapter looks a little more weathered than the others. I wish I could tell you just where to flip to in order to find these pages, but as Joe showed us, not one of us knows when Jesus will put down His pen in our story. But you’ll recognize this chapter by the dog eared, worn out pages. There may be many other pages after this one (or maybe just a few), but this one…oh, this chapter is a favorite.

No matter how many pages the good Lord writes in my book, I will always go back to this chapter. It is called “My Sweet Joe”. I will read it again and again, and I will laugh, and I will cry. My tears are full–so very full–of gratitude and happiness and LIFE, because it was Joe who taught me how to live and how to love. Joe may not appear in as much of the book as I had hoped, and he may not be in the final chapters, but he did change the story forever.

Of course, I would have written the ending differently. Still, I will read this chapter again and again, partly because so much of it is wonderful and partly because I simply love the Author.

At the very end of my book (and yours, too), you’ll find an epilogue. You know…that’s the part where you read “the rest of the story”. Ironically, that part is already written. It is a promise from God himself. If you’ve read the Bible, you already know that it all works out in the end.

June 12^th is a very, very good day. It is the day Joe became my forever, and in Heaven, forever doesn’t end. So, we do live happily ever after. Only this time, I don’t have to give him back.

There’s a line from the movie Steel Magnolias that has always been one of my favorites:  “I’d rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.”

My thirty minutes was wonderful. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Happy Anniversary in Heaven to my sweet Joe.  

It was always you, JMP.

It was always you.❤️

June 6 2021

Joe was predictable. It was part of his charm. He wore button fly Levi jeans dungarees. He wore Sperry’s. He wore soft knit Polo shirts and plaid Polo button ups. He wore his cap propped on top of his head like he was hiding a small kitten under it. He wore a white undershirt whether he needed to or not. He carried a pocket knife, handkerchief and a pack of Marlboros everywhere he went. He carried an assortment of change, lighters, and tiny bits of hardware in his pants pockets. He wore his shirt tucked in (even his pajama tops) and he wore a belt. He did this in 1995, and he did this in 2020. Joe was predictable.

But once in a while….

My taste in music is a little more eclectic than Joe’s. While I love classic country just as much as Joe, I also enjoy tunes with a little more bass. 😂On the rare occasion that he let me control the radio, he seemed mortified that I could recite the lyrics to most any old school rap song. In turn, I seemed mortified that he could not. I called him Grandpa Jones. He called me Tupac Sha-Curl. 🙂

I should have known something was up when, as we left on a road trip a few years ago, he not only offered to let me play MY playlist, but also gifted me with a bag of jellybeans as we ventured out. He waited patiently as I belted out tune after bass thumping tune, knowing “the song” would soon play. I had just popped a handful of jellybeans in my mouth when the song began. And I want you to know that Joseph Morgan Price cranked it up and RAPPED every stinking word loud and proud! That boy, in an effort to prove that he was NOT an old man (hahaha…we all know he was), watched a YouTube video over and over until he had memorized the entire song! I was so shocked that I, in that moment, managed to suck a full grown jellybean down my esophagus.

My first thought was that Joe Price would make sure my cause of death was listed on the certificate as “jellybean asphyxiation”, knowing full well I died of shock because someone had stolen my husband and replaced him with a very southern drawling rapper. Once I regained the ability to breathe again, we laughed until we cried. He was so dang proud of himself! He should have been…it was completely unexpected, and he pulled it off without a hitch!

This week, Joe’s lesson is about dealing with the unexpected storms of life.

He wrote:

The Unexpected Storms

We certainly live in a world of imperfect information, guaranteed surprises, and unpredictable occurrences.  Storms, both real and metaphorical, are waiting to happen. The next unexpected turn in our lives is always just around the corner. We should all take the time  and put forth the energy to prepare ourselves for the unexpected, but there is no real way to prepare for everything life throws our way.  Sometimes the storms we encounter are just too big, in spite of our preparation. 

But, I have good news for you this morning.  I know a man who can help you every storm you face, whether you prepared for it or not.

Matthew 8:23-27 states, “Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Jesus will be your strength and refuge.

1 Peter 5:7 gives us the following instructions: “Cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you.”

Scripture tells us that Jesus was sleeping during the storm mentioned in Matthew 8.  Many of us ask how He could sleep during such a dangerous time. Once again, He was teaching by example.  Jesus had faith in his father.  He knew that no matter how rough the storms of life became, his father-our God-would take care of Him.  That is what He calls us to believe as well.  God can and God will see us through any storm.

When you find yourself in trouble, ask Jesus to help you. He’s right there.

When you find yourself in a bad situation, or you are forced to deal with something unpleasant, ask Jesus to help you. He’s right there.

When things aren’t going your way, when you are discouraged, or when you are depressed, ask Jesus to help you. He’s right there.

Jesus is greater than any storm you might face in the coming week. He longs to help you through it. All you have to do is ask. He’s right there.

-JMP

I cannot even believe it, but I am about to prove Joe’s assertion that I am an old woman.

I was Miss Duplin County.

In 1996.

Ladies and gentlemen, that was TWENTY FIVE years ago. I’ll be over here sticking tennis balls on the legs of my walker and changing the batteries in my hearing aid if you need me.

And yes…my hair used to be brown. It may still be brown under there somewhere, but it’s been so long since I’ve seen it, I just don’t know for sure. 🙂

Like Joe said, sometimes we work hard to prepare. Do you know how much preparation goes into getting ready for a pageant? Lordy, there’s so much snipping and nipping and spraying and tucking and then you have to ADHERE your swimsuit to your bottom end, which is pretty awful…but not nearly as awful as getting that thing UNSTUCK afterward. Jesus take the wheeeeeel!

I sang the song “Stormy Weather” for the talent portion of the competition.

This week, as the rain fell in buckets and the sky rumbled with thunder, I found myself humming that tune again. I had never really thought about the lyrics, but dang…these days I feel them way down in my soul! Here’s part of the song:

Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky
Stormy weather
Since my man and I ain't together, keeps raining all of the time
Life is bare. Gloom and misery everywhere
Stormy weather
And I just can't get my poor self together
Oh, I'm weary all of the time. So weary all of the time
When he went away the blues walked in and met me
And if he stays away old rocking chair's gonna get me
All I do is pray the Lord above will let me
Walk in the sun once more
Can't go on. All I had in life is gone
Stormy weather
Since my man and I ain't together
Keeps raining, keeps raining
All the time.

I mean, I get it now. I feel like it literally rained continuously in the months after Joe’s death (it did!). The dark skies and gloomy days stretched for days on end. I’ve been gloomy, I’ve been miserable, and Lord knows I’ve been weary. I told someone recently that being sad makes me tired, and I am so tired of being tired. However, I have felt the clouds lift just a tiny bit in the last month or so. The waves of grief are still there, but I have more control over them now. I miss Joe Price every minute of every day, and I don’t think that will ever change, but the feeling is more of a lowkey sadness that I carry with me while I function somewhat normally. I guess that is to be expected.

What was unexpected was the immense wave of grief that hit me about a week ago. In hindsight, I can see that it was the perfect storm, brewing underneath my life. I was trying to close out a school year, my allergies attacked me with a vengeance, it seemed so many of my closest friends were suffering in some way, both of my boys were scheduled to have their wisdom teeth removed on the same day (I am insane for making that choice, by the way), and I guess I had the six month mark since Joe’s death (yesterday) and our upcoming six year wedding anniversary(next week) tucked back in my brain as well. It was a lot.

And finally, I crumbled. I crumbled unexpectedly and publicly, and honestly, I had a really hard time bouncing back. I guess because I had been doing so well, I thought maybe I was over the really big waves of grief. I was wrong. I thought maybe I’d found myself back at square one. I was wrong about that, too.

All I do is pray the Lord above will let me walk in the sun once more…that particular line stops me in my tracks. I have prayed that very prayer. Often.

And all this time, the prayer was right, but the spelling was wrong.

I feel like I am walking in the aftermath of a hurricane. Not a “false alarm, get out of school and then it hardly rains” storm, but more like a Hugo or Matthew or Hazel. Have you ever noticed how brightly the sun shines just after a big one? If you are focused on what you see, the sun illuminates the wreckage. That’s where I’ve been most of this week…kicking at fallen trees, staring at the debris that used to be a home, wondering how I’ll ever build those walls again.

It’s not about walking in the sun. It’s about walking in the Son.

It’s the sun that hurts your eyes and gives you wrinkles and melts the candy bars you hide in your car (or is that just me?).

But the other one…the real Son…He is there, too. Bigger than the wreckage. He’s already got a plan to rebuild from the ground up. He is a carpenter, after all.

Last Friday, I noticed a canvas propped against a wall. My sister is always painting something, and I honestly didn’t pay it much mind. She had already painted a black background and made a few yellow strokes on it.

At the end of this week, she gifted me with the finished product for my wedding anniversary. Isn’t it beautiful?

So, while I was lost in my own suffering, she was creating a masterpiece—a reflection of love and hope and sacrifice—and a promise that one day what is upside down will be right side up again.

Sweet friend, life is stormy. Most of us are either walking into, walking out of, or walking right through a storm as we speak. While the rain stings your face and the clouds are heavy and black, remember that Someone is spreading paint on a canvas. He’s got the brush in one hand and He’s got you in the other. Let Him paint, friend. Let Him paint.

Joe said, “Jesus had faith in his father.  He knew that no matter how rough the storms of life became, his father-our God-would take care of Him.  That is what He calls us to believe as well.  God can and God will see us through any storm.”

Maybe you’re like me and you’ve been thinking you could change the wind. You can’t, my friend. You just can’t. But you can adjust your sails. That’s when you finally begin to see the light. That’s how you walk in the Son.

-Word of Wisdom from The Book of Joe

May 30, 2021

Cinderella.

That was the name Joe picked out as he waited for his new baby sister to arrive. He was excited about having a sibling–a playmate–a partner in crime. Cinderella (we call her Sarah 😀) arrived, and friends visited with food and gifts. One sweet, thoughtful neighbor, Mrs. Marjorie Shivar, brought a gift for baby AND one for Joe. It was a book. She brought him none other than Cinderella.

But bless Joe’s heart, on the day Sarah came home, he thought his fairy tale had ended. She didn’t pop out as the instant companion he’d imagined, so the little fella did what he had to do. He ran away from home.

Little Joseph Morgan packed a bag full of books(I feel sure Cinderella made the cut), a teddy bear, and maybe a pair of drawers and hit the path to stay with Grandma Mary. 😂

As quickly as he decided to leave, one day Joe decided to return home. He threw his bag over his shoulder, hit the path again and trudged home. He grew up tormenting his sister in that special way that only big brothers can.

But that is not the end of the story.

Joe and Sarah grew up to be more than siblings. They were fiercely loyal companions and maybe even occasional partners in crime. Most of all, they were friends.

Sarah grew up to be a beautiful blonde princess (crown and errythang…she was Miss Goldsboro), so I guess he got his Cinderella after all!

This week Joe’s lesson is about how we, as Christians, should live our lives to ensure our own HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

He wrote:

How Will You Be Remembered?

This morning I am going to tell you the story of Eric Liddell. Do you remember Chariots of Fire? He was one of the two runners in that story.

Eric Liddell was a Scottish Olympian. He turned down what many believed to be his best chance at a gold medal in the 1924 Olympics because the trials were held on Sunday.  He did, however, enter the 400-meter trials, where he qualified and set a world record while winning a gold medal in that year’s Olympic games.

But that is not the end of his story. After 1924, Eric gave up running and dedicated himself to something he felt was more important—one year after his Olympic victory,  he went to China as a missionary.

During some of the worst days of World War II, Eric chose to stay in Japanese-controlled China to serve the people and share the good news of Jesus Christ. In 1943, he was imprisoned in an internment camp.

During the war, Britain made a prisoner exchange deal that included Eric Liddell. Although he had a wife and children at home, he gave up his spot to a pregnant woman—a fact that was not known to his family until more than 60 years later. The people whose lives were impacted by Liddell say they don’t remember him as a record setting runner, but rather as a man who did what God called him to do.

Eric Liddell realized as a young man that this world has nothing on the world that is promised to us by Jesus. We can reach fame, we can make lots of money, but none of that compares to the rewards of an eternal life with Jesus. Our redemption through Christ makes earthly accomplishments no more than dust.

It was written that  the entire internment camp was stunned in the days after Liddell’s death, because of the presence and impact he had while he lived. On his death bed, a young student asked him how he had given his life to God. Liddell’s response, the last words he spoke here on earth were this: “In complete surrender”.

This morning, I leave you with a few words from Matthew 25: “His master replied, ‘Well done, thy good and faithful servant! Come and share in your master’s happiness!’” This week, let’s try to live in complete surrender so that we will one day we might be remembered for what we did for the Lord.

-JMP

On this Memorial Day weekend, I hope that you have taken some time to honor those who gave their lives in service to our country. Commemorating this day, along with Veteran’s Day was important to Joe. He truly had a servant’s heart, and had so much heartfelt admiration and appreciation for those who serve or served in our military.

Perhaps it is the fact that Memorial Day is upon that has caused me to ponder the term “memorial” this week. That term hits me differently this year. It’s what you do when you want to honor someone who now lives in your memory…because he or she is gone.

Earlier this week, I received a precious message from someone who became my family when I married Joe. This person and I share a similar sense of humor and a love of books. And we’ve both struggled in the days since Joe went to be with Jesus. The gist of the message was this: “I’m glad we’re friends…Joe brought us together as family…[Without Joe], I wouldn’t be close to your parents… or I wouldn’t have known your boys…and now I love them both. ..And all of that is not because Joe is gone, but because he was here.”

But because he was here. Oh, friends….do you know how important those words right there are??? Those words are EVERYTHING.

Every soldier mentioned on Memorial Day is gone (and gone too soon, I’m sure). But our lives are better because he or she was here.

Eric Liddell gave up fame, fortune and the security of home. He was mourned across the world when he was gone. But how many lives were bettered because he was here?

My heart is broken because Joe is gone.

But, oh my goodness my life is sweeter because he lived.

But let’s get back to Cinderella.

Sure, she was the fancy dress and the handsome prince and the fairy godmother.  But today I see her differently. 

At the beginning of the story, her world has been turned upside down by grief. She loses her mother and then she loses her dad. She is trying to navigate a world that looks nothing like what she thought it would. I get that.

She thinks she is getting the fairy tale treatment when she gets all dolled up to go to the ball. And, oh! It is a magical time. She even gets to meet the Prince…but it’s short. The clock strikes midnight and it takes her by surprise. She got caught up in the moment and maybe she thought it would last forever. I get that, too.

In the blink of an eye, it’s all gone. The carriage is a pumpkin, the prince is nowhere to be found, and she finds herself face down on the floor in tears. Oh….I get that most of all.

BUT THAT IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY.

At least not for me. It was in that face down, tear stained, my life is over moment that the magic truly happened. It wasn’t a fairy god mother. It was God.

Maybe you know that moment, too? You don’t have to lose someone to death to know grief, my friend. You can mourn the loss of people, of circumstances, of relationships…a broken heart is a broken heart.

Well, here’s the thing. Life was pretty poopy for Cinderella more than once. You reckon she thought, “ It is NOT supposed to be this way! I am Cinderella, for Heaven’s sake!” But when she was face down, mourning the loss of all she loved, someone was working on her behalf, searching for her because he had a shoe and only her foot would fit. Someone was working on my behalf, too, and He is working on yours…right this very minute.

Loss made her stronger. Loss made her more compassionate (remember how she saved the mice who became her dearest friends?). Loss made her trust in someone larger than her human mind could truly comprehend. And it didn’t always make sense. My goodness…a GLASS SHOE? A carriage made from a pumpkin?? Who does that?? But every step she took in faith led her closer to her happy ending.

And every step you take and every step I take is leading us to our happy ending, too.

Eric Liddell gave up the life he thought he wanted for the life God called him to take. He called it complete surrender. Surrender is a scary place. But God doesn’t call you there to die. He calls you there to LIVE.

“But bless Joe’s heart, on the day Sarah came home, he thought his fairy tale had ended.” Bless my heart, too, because the day Joe went Home, I thought my fairy tale had ended as well. But that wasn’t the end of the story.

What I am learning in this journey I am on is that living a life of surrender to God is the fairy tale. It’s the blind-faith, learn to trust, pixie dust belief that serving the Lord daily is all you need to make the real magic happen. I’ve learned that the story isn’t over yet, for you or for me, because we haven’t reached the end– our happily ever after. The happily ever after doesn’t exist on this side of Heaven. It’s waiting for us on The Other Side.

Once upon a time, Joe lived. On the Other Side, Joe LIVES….Jesus does, too.

And life is worth the living just because HE LIVES.

-Words of Wisdom from The Book of Joe