Every Pastor's Nightmare : romantic short stories for married couples

 Leo and Kate had been married for 28 years. They were the pastors of Sky High Bible Church. Their best friends where the lovely couple who happened to be Leo's assistant Pastor and his wife; they were Timothy and Lisa.

Their lives had been full of beautiful memories. Working for the lord and being there for each other. Whenever there was any trouble, they knew who they would call on for prayer and for a supporting hand. The family friendship between to two couples was a friendship made of gold.

One Christmas season, Pastor Leo and his wife Pastor Kate had to travel to India for a special Christmas Bible Seminar. That left Assistant Pastor Timothy and his wife Lisa in charge.

Interestingly, during that period that Pastor Leo was away and Assistant Pastor Timothy was in charge, the church never grew so quickly. Everybody loved Assistant Pastor Timothy's leadership and there was signs that they enjoyed his leadership more than Pastor Leo's leadership.

To make matters even more interesting, one day while Assistant Pastor Timothy said the benediction after service, a man got out of his wheel chair.

Now miracles where not strange in Sky High Bible Church. However, a miracle of that magnitude was something else. It became such big news that the local Newspaper carried it. The journalist who investigated the story found out that Timothy wasn't even the Pastor of the church but was the assistant Pastor. He also found out that the main Pastor was out of the country and he had never done anything like this himself. And on also finding out about the growth of the church since it was under only Timothy's leadership, the journalist suggested at that bottom of the Newspaper article that Timothy should break out of Sky High Bible Church and form his own church.

When Pastor Leo returned he met with a much, much larger congregation than he had left under Timothy's charge. He congratulated Timothy but the seeds of starting his own church had been brewing in Timothy's mind ever since he read that article.

One day, Pastor Leo admonished Assistant Pastor Timothy like he'd always done when it was right to do so. Assistant Pastor Timothy had never complained before but to Pastor Leo's shock, Assistant Pastor Timothy shouted at him.

Pastor Leo was still standing there surprised in his office when Assistant Pastor Timothy returned with a letter of resignation and threw it on Pastor Leo's desk.'

After Assistant Pastor Timothy left, the congregation at Sky High Bible Church decreased. There was a lot of gossip among the congregation that remained. The Pastor Leo was lonely and angry but he wouldn't admit it. Sometimes even though he had prepared another topic for a sermon he would find himself diverting into the topic of the low rate of loyalty that is prevalent within the house of God.

Pastor Leo warned his wife to stop being friends with the wife of his former assistant. And unsurprisingly, Timothy who was now Pastor Timothy, no longer Assistant Pastor Timothy; also warned his wife to stop being friends with Leo's wife.

It's funny how husbands think they can control their wives like the meaning of saying 'I Do' is you can now own me but I can't own you. Behold, I am now your property. 

Anyway, both Leo and Timothy's wives ignored their husbands commands and kept being friends behind their husbands back.

Interestingly, Timothy's new church wasn't growing either. Everyone had predicted that membership would go through the roof but it wasn't so. In addiction to that, Timothy was not stressed beyond words. He now worked around the clock and could not even lay his head on his bed to sleep at night without getting a phone call. Now he felt the pressures of being a Pastor and knew what weight Pastor Leo was taking off him when he was Pastor Leo's Assistant Pastor.

Timothy started to ask himself if his decision about leaving Pastor Leo's church wasn't pure foolishness. And for the first time he realized that he didn't ask God for permission before he made his decision.

He still feared to ask God of his will concerning his decision because he feared he knew what God might say.

Timothy's wife knew what was happening with Timothy deep within the hidden corners of his heart and Leo's wife knew that he missed Timothy deeply.

The two wives would meet in secret and prayer about their husbands silliness.

One day, God gave them an idea and they were bent on carrying it out.

Timothy's wife put on voice record on her smart phone and kept the phone in her pocket. Then she had an honest conversation about Leo with her husband. Half way through the conversation, Timothy started crying uncontrollably about how he missed his best friend and how he appreciated his gifting more than ever as a Pastor. Timothy's wife had to hold him in her arms as he wept and wept over her shoulder. All the while the record button was on.

After that, when Timothy's wife was alone; she sent the recording from her smart phone to Leo's wife's smart phone.

Leo's wife's heart melted when she heard it. But now it was her turn. She put her own smart phone on voice record then she sat Leo down and told him that she would like to know how he truly feels about Timothy.

Leo didn't want to talk but his wife pushed him and he finally gave in and started talking. Mid-way through the conversation, Leo started crying too. The last time he could remember crying was when he was in the 2nd grade but right now he was crying: a fully grown man crying because of his best friend.

Leo's wife comforted her husband. All the while recording the whole thing.

Later the two wives tricked their husbands into finding themselves in the same private booth of a restaurant together. They had both taught that they were taking their wives out for a romantic dinner but now they knew it was a set up. They both wanted to leave, not speaking to each other but their wives blocked their way and then they played both recordings in front of the two of them. They was no need to pretend anymore. They deeply loved each other.

They next Sunday, Timothy had returned to Leo's church and he had told everybody in his church to go to Leo's church that he is that Assistant Pastor there and is fortunate to be in that position.

As old members returned to Sky High Bible Church and new members joined; there was a lot of love, forgiveness and tears being shed in the pews. As healing flowed through the heart of the congregation.

Leo was glad to have his best friend back and he had never smiled as he smiled that day as he preached the Sunday morning sermon.

 

The End.