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Gerry & Julie Gutierrez' Update
Good News for Valentine's Day! Gerry and
Julie, Going Dutch? February 02, 2016
No matter how poor I was even as a student, I
never went Dutch with my girlfriend. Some may call it hypocrisy or lack
of sincerity. But "my girl" thought of herself as a princess and felt
worshipped by my sacrifice. She knew that my hammer just slaughtered my 'piggy
bank' in her honor that morning.
My
lifetime friend Ovi, my brother-in-law, Colin and I
were the jealous observer of this practice which later I came to know as the
Royal Law, James 2:8. ÒIf you keep the Royal Law found in Scripture
"love your neighbor as yourself you're doing rightÓ. Later we met Dan, he became our friend and he
keeps saying "you beat me to the draw" paying the bill in the
restaurant. We also noticed that he enjoyed being beaten. Soon we learn a
new word, "freeloaderÓ. Dan was like another friend who after dinner he
would disappear in the bathroom for a long time to avoid washing dishes. In the Garden of Eden there was a young couple
on a date. Either of them have two nickels to rub together in their pockets.
For that matter, they did not even have pockets. The girl had an expensive taste. She had an
open account for all the stores in the garden but she liked to go shopping to
expensive places and wanted to live beyond her means. I wonder if she went for
a walk to "rodeo drive," where there were nice things for the eyes to
look. She was just window-shopping and was beginning to get hungry around noon,
when a salesman came to talk to her. She stopped to listen to a stranger. The
salesman was a horrible mean snake but Eve was not afraid of anybody or
anything. Back in those days there was no danger, a child could play with a
cobra and a lamb would recline next to a lion.
There
was no need of hospitals, doctors, lawyers, teachers, policeman, firemen or tax
collectors.
The appearance of the snake was like that of an angel
of light and his voice sounded like that of a friend. But his words were
poisonous and vicious against God and his word and will. His words came to Eve
in the form of a question. Did God really say that you must not eat from
any tree in the garden?
A question is different from a comment; a
question requires an answer!! And especially if you know the answer!!
Like a clever kid in elementary school raises
his hand fast and straight up in order to impress the teacher and show off
before his peers. The mother hen mentality of Eve who wanted to correct the
wrong in others jumped into the opportunity to straighten the "twisted
"concept of the serpent about God. There is nothing wrong with apologetics up to
this point. The problem with defending God and his word is when we do not
recognize the legitimacy of the question. EveÕs mistake was to reciprocate with
an answer as if the snake had asked a truthful question. Eve should have said, "No, God did not say
such a thingÓ. SatanÕs question was not a faithful question. To take away
something from the truth is not faithfulness. To add something to the truth is
not faithfulness either. The truth is the truth.
The
serpent added the small word to the question, "ANYÓ, therefore the
question was devious. The council of Scripture is that even God is shrewd with
the devious!
Perhaps Eve should have
said, "Where did you hear that? "I did not say that to you! You did
not hear that from God! Is your listening ear all right? That is not true! Instead Eve responded in the same unfaithful
way to the truth. Eve added the words Òyou must not touch it
". The real target of the serpent was the Word and the will of God
clearly stated in the prohibition of not to eat the fruit. We must be careful of what we hear and how in
alignment is with God's will what we listen.
To
make the story short, Julie and I must confess that we are the splitting image
of our first parents, Adam and eve. "The acorn does not fall far from the
oak treeÓ. Julie and I have been eating from the forbidden fruit. "We have
taken our eyes from Jesus and sunk in the waters and have been tossed by the
waves and winds as a small boat in the high sea.
For
over a year we have written a black book of excuses and built our case as if
one is the enemy of the other and forgot the author of the book of lies, who is
Satan himself.
We have split in half the forbidden fruit and eat
it and neither of us have enough to pay the bill. Going Dutch seems to be the
proper thing to do by assuming the responsibility of our part of the bill.
As reasonable and just as this Salomonic sentence may sound, I find discomfort in living
by Justice in an era of grace.
I follow
someone greater than Solomon and he requires of me what he requires of himself
in matters of love and relationship with his wife the church.
The
eating of the forbidden fruit had the effect of opening the eyes of Adam and
Eve and causing fear and shame.
While pants cover better to boys
than skirts to girls; it does not matter before God. I have no case against my
wife but to love her with the self-given redemptive love of Jesus for his bride
the church.
Next to the Holy Spirit, I
had the greatest counselor on earth in the person of my own son and Pastor, the
Reverend Nathaniel Gutierrez, who did not only take seriously to marry us but
stood with us and agonize with us in prayer and loving words from the
beginning. He would say to me, "Dad, your wife is not a distraction from
mission work; your wife is your mission!
Later
when I pleaded with him to take my case, he said, "I know how wives push
our buttons, but remember, we are the wife of Jesus and we are worse than any
wife in the world".
These words acquire a life of their own
in my mind and heart and sustained me in the toughest last years of my life.
These past years have become the hardest and at the same time the most blessed
and joyful years of all my life. I can say without any hesitation that our Lord
has brought me to the point of saying truthfully "Jesus is enoughÓ, to the
point that I can say that I am the happiest man alive I know. I do not desire
to be like anyone dead or alive, from the past, present or future.
I am at peace with my Lord and ready to go
home. All of this would have not been possible without the death of a vision;
the death of my wife Ruthie and the call to be a witness in the toughest
missionary assignment to the nationals in the United States of America where
finally I am in a true cross-cultural situation working by faith in a foreign
language, alone, abandoned, rejected, in pain, retirement, sickness with a new
wife in Julie the will of God for me. I have come to the end of my term of 3.5 years
or 42 months or 1260 days. (The length of time our Lord Jesus used in his full
time ministry on earth). And I am ready to move on. My friends have gotten tired of me and I have
gotten tired of my friends, with few exceptions. I find the health of the
Church and my own spiritual health unacceptable before God. I plea guilty alone
with the church of the weak use of the power entrusted to us by God in Prayer,
Faith and the ever prevailing will of God. There is a gap between what the
scripture teaches and our daily practice and understanding of Prayer. I am
afraid that should the Lord Jesus visit his church today, he would not find his
church as Òa house of prayer.Ó I am holding like lightening in my hand lessons
and principles learned in the closet of my heart. I am feeling like an over
stuffed 400 lbs. Gorilla too clumsy to deliverer the cream of my thought for
the common good of the body in kindness. Four years ago I learned from my friend Kathy
who taught me through her Daughter Kelly that, ÒIf you are not going to say
something nice donÕt say it at all.Ó I will remain silent until I put my house in
order and testify first to my wife then to the rest of the world. I am in need
of prayers to speak the truth in gentleness and love and remember that I am
talking to the bride of Jesus. Our Lord who is the Resurrection and the Life
has given Resurrection and life to our otherwise dying marriage and has
entrusted to us the ministry to stand as witnesses of Jesus through our
marriage. I want to stand in front of my wife with the commitment to cover her
and take responsibility for the future state of our marriage. I cannot Go Dutch on this. I take solemn
responsibility of my marriage if it fails The irresistible nature of love and the
efficacious work of the Holy Spirit is the ground where I will rebuild our
lives together. So help me God. Gerry Gutierrez.
PS. Julie Marie typed this letter for me from
my manuscript. Julie has been back home for a while and things amazingly could
not have been better to the glory of God. I add in the bottom of this page
JulieÕs comments to this letter. _________________ Papi, what is very clear to
me as I read this is that it does come from someone who has walked this path. I
can tell that a piece of your soul is in this. It's very tender and a very
beautiful story of truth and awareness of God's mercy and renewing Grace. I am
very proud of you, Papi. This could be your Hallmark
piece. I'm going to type it up here in a little bit and I'll send it to you. I
love you! 🌹❤️ Julie.
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