\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201d Paul asked.<\/p>\n
I stared somberly at the phone I had just replaced in its cradle.\u00a0 \u201cGossip again,\u201d I replied.\u00a0 \u201cMrs. Feldon is back at her old habit of spreading stories.\u00a0 This time its about me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll talk to her,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t worry about it. Everyone knows that she\u2019s a little odd. No one will take her seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about the new church members?\u201d I asked.\u00a0 \u201cWhat will they think about their pastor\u2019s wife after listening to those poisonous things?\u201d<\/p>\n
“It could be worse,\u201d he said. \u201cRemember the nightclub rumor?\u201d<\/p>\n
We looked at each other and burst out laughing.<\/p>\n
Paul and I were on vacation when Peggy visited our church for the first time. \u00a0 The associate pastor spoke on marriage and divorce that Sunday.\u00a0 When he visited in her home that week, Peggy had questions for him, as her husband had recently left her.<\/p>\n
He told her a touching true story about a pastor whose wife had left him for another man.\u00a0 She deserted their three small children and\u00a0 shamelessly took a job as a dancer in a nightclub.<\/p>\n
The pastor loved his wife and prayed for her. When the Lord convicted her, he forgave her and took her back.<\/p>\n
Peggy was moved by the story. \u00a0 Perhaps she was especially touched because she misunderstood one small word of the tale.\u00a0 \u00a0 He said it was a true story about a<\/em> pastor. \u00a0 She thought he said it was a true story about the<\/em> pastor, and assumed it happened to the pastor of our church.<\/p>\n So guess who she thought was the formerly adulterous, child-deserting,\u00a0 nightclub dancer?<\/p>\n Me.<\/p>\n Let me assure you that I love the Lord and my family and would never, ever, consider doing such wicked things.\u00a0 \u00a0 Besides, I can\u2019t imagine any nightclub being so desperate for dancers that they would hire me.<\/p>\n However, Peggy didn\u2019t know me, and the fact that we had three small children at the time, like the woman in the story, must have made it more credible.<\/p>\n When we met a week or so later, Peggy viewed me as a reformed scarlet woman, but I never had a clue.\u00a0 \u00a0 She joined the church, and we became close friends. \u00a0 I have to give her credit. She never seemed to hold my wicked past against me. \u00a0 In fact, she told my story with great pride to her friends as she encouraged them to come to church. \u00a0 No wonder her friends seemed so eager to meet me!<\/p>\n She might have gone on for years\u00a0 believing (and telling others) about my sinful\u00a0 escapades\u00a0 if the Lord hadn\u2019t intervened.<\/p>\n She was having lunch with her friend Barbara, and told her the story of her pastor and his wayward wife.\u00a0 Barbara was suitably impressed.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere do you go to church, Peggy?\u201d she\u00a0 asked.<\/p>\n \u201cSherwood Baptist,\u201d Peggy replied.<\/p>\n Barbara dropped her fork in shock.<\/p>\n \u201cIs Paul Brown your pastor?\u201d she asked in a strangled voice.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, he is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, Peggy, I don\u2019t believe that story is true,\u201d she gasped.\u00a0 AIt just can\u2019t be true!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I have it on really good authority that it is,\u201d Peggy replied.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just can\u2019t be true,\u201d she repeated. \u00a0 \u201cPaul Brown is my cousin. \u00a0 I\u00a0 can\u2019t believe Susan would do a thing like that!\u00a0 \u00a0 Surely someone in the family would have told me about it! \u00a0 It can\u2019t be true!\u201d she paused.\u00a0 \u201cBut, maybe it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course Peggy\u00a0 checked out the story\u00a0 and found it wasn\u2019t true at all. \u00a0 She\u00a0 promptly apologized to me and told her friends the corrected version.<\/p>\n In a city of around a half-million people, what are the chances that Peggy would happen to tell her story to an acquaintance who was also Paul\u2019s cousin? \u00a0 I don\u2019t know the odds, but I feel sure that it would have to fall in the miracle category.\u00a0 The\u00a0 Lord obviously\u00a0 arranged that miracle to protect my reputation.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll deal with Mrs. Feldon,\u201d Paul said with a chuckle, \u201cBut you have to admit, compared to that story, anything she can come up with is bound to be pretty tame.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not worried,\u201d I said as I wiped the tears of laughter from my eyes.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m the Lord\u2019s child, and He\u2019s certainly shown me that He knows how to protect me against false accusations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201d Paul asked. I stared somberly at the phone I had just replaced in its cradle.\u00a0 \u201cGossip again,\u201d I replied.\u00a0 \u201cMrs. Feldon is back at her old habit of spreading stories.\u00a0 This time its about me.\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll talk to her,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t worry about it. Everyone knows that she\u2019s a little odd.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunday-special-messages"],"yoast_head":"\n