What am I supposed to do with this???

A washcloth- that is what she handed me to solve the problem… a washcloth.  There are many uses for a washcloth but this is not one of them, what am I supposed to do with this?!- I kept saying to myself.  It’s just… so… gross.

 

I am sure you are wondering to yourself what problem I could have possibly been facing that would have made this “solution” so disturbing in so many ways, and for your curiosity and the sake of this blog post I will tell you.

 

I needed a toilet scrubber.

 

Now do you see why a washcloth is NOT the answer I had hoped for?!  I had lived with my youth pastors for all of one week, two at the most, and I was in the process of cleaning my bathroom when I realized that their toilet scrubber was not in the usual places.  Most people keep it right next to the plunger behind the toilet.  Some even keep it under a cabinet for sanitary reasons, but this thing was nowhere to be found.   When I asked where it could be I fully expected an obvious place that I hadn’t thought to look, or even that I had overlooked it all together but not this.  She didn’t trust these wonderful inventions to really clean the disgusting things that were left behind in the toilet.  She CHOSE to stick her hand right down in there and clean the inside of it herself.  Using a rubber glove doesn’t even make me feel better.  MY HAND IS WILLINGLY GOING INTO THE SAME WATER THAT… well… you know… things happen.   She was asking me to go where no hand (of mine at least) had ever gone before.

 

And to make matters even more interesting, this was also the bathroom used by their two junior high aged boys.  Do you see the problem?  I rest my case.  I think I sat in front of that toilet for a good five or ten minutes before I put that glove on, picked up that washcloth, and looking away placed my hand inside of the water.  If my Pastor Lori can do this and believes it to be the only way to truly clean a toilet, then surely I can do this too.  As disgusting as it was I can say with all certainty when it was over, that this toilet was CLEAN.

 

I have wanted to share this story for a few weeks now, ever since I visited with my Pastor Lori in the hospital.  This once fierce lady who would without question or reserve stick her hand inside of a toilet, or with a finger to your nose call you to the carpet for any fowl choice that was made, is now battling the ultimate fight for her life.  She was in remission for many many years now, but her leukemia has come back with a vengeance.  It doesn’t matter if you are the world’s strongest man, cancer will pick on who it wants to, when it wants to.  I cannot begin to describe to you the way that my breath was taken from me when I first saw the toll that it had taken on her body.  How just by looking at her you knew that she had been fighting every day for each new breath.  How I dare not cry in front of her for her sake.  She is strong.  She will beat this.  She is, after all, willing to take life by her own hands and use a washcloth when necessary.  She is my Pastor Lori… she is my hero.

 

She taught me to confront issues even if it meant getting a little messy. 

 

She taught me to do the right thing even when it felt like the worst thing. 

 

She taught me to fight even if it meant losing a few rounds.   

 

 

I am where I am today because of Pastor Joe and Lori Antekeier’s love and commitment to the Lord, and for that I am eternally grateful.   

 

 

If you find yourself today facing a mountain of a problem, be encouraged.  Don’t be afraid to stick your hand right in there and clean up that… stuff.   Sometimes it takes you getting a little messy to truly get your victory.  Put on your fighting gloves (your faith), and pick up your washcloth (the Word) and get in there! 

 

 

You got problems, I got problems, all God's children got problems (forgive the awful use of grammar for the sake of an old saying).  It is in these moments that we face from time to time that I am taken back to when she would share her favorite verse with me, to remind me about what it is all about.

Micah 6:8

He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

 

 

 

I am doing my best to live right, to love always, and to never forget the reason of why we are all here.  Keep fighting Pastor Lori, I have so much more to learn!!!

 

“Faith fights so we fight in faith until the victory is complete.”

-Pastor Joe Antekeier