I have a friend who loves to go to garage sales.  I can take them or leave them but do have an interesting time looking around when we go out.  Some days are good and we come home with some "bargains and treasures" and other days not so much.  One thing's for sure, we do meet some interesting people along the way.

Today not only did we grab a few things on the cheap side we also had an interesting discussion with one lady selling her wares in her very crowded garage. 

This neighborhood had 20 homes participating in a community garage sale.  You would have thought we were going to a state fair with all the traffic.  It was quite unbelievable at 7:45 in the morning with cars coming and going parking on both sides of the street for quite a distance.  We actually got stuck sitting in our golf cart not being able to move to the left or right as the traffic was in quite a jam on one of the narrow streets.  They couldn't move and we just sat there until somebody figured something out and traffic started moving again. 

So we went down one of the side streets, and I believe it was the last house we went to that we met this "interesting" lady. 

Upon entering her garage we saw quite a few Christian CD's/DVD's, books, etc and overheard her say they were materials from a church they had somewhere prior.  I overheard her mention that her husband is a Pastor so I spoke up and said mine was as well.  She told me the name of her denomination which I wasn't familiar with and went on to explain it was evangelical and biblical.  So far so good.  Some of the materials in her garage were by authors/singers I was familiar with and some not. 

As I was browsing, she went on to explain that another well known famous Pastor (whom I was quite familiar with and like) left her denomination over his belief that women shouldn't be Pastors.  So I told her, as I looked thru her CD's, that I would agree with that Pastor saying it wasn't my opinion but what the bible taught. 

We bought a few things and then prepared to leave, stopping to check one last box on the way out, when the lady got up from inside the garage and engaged us further in this conversation about women Pastors.  I'm thinking, after the fact, that she has quite an aggressive personality and she was just about to show us. 

She admitted to us then that she was a woman Pastor to which I said I would have a problem with that because the bible is clear that men were to be leaders in the church and the home.  She said the churches are missing out by not having woman pastors to which I respectfully disagreed.  At that point I explained that I think women have important roles to play in ministry just not as spiritual heads over men citing the roles of Adam and Eve and explaining that those roles got reversed and we've been paying for it ever since.  Not to mention that it's clearly outlined from the gospels on that men were to lead the church. 

She bristled at that and very sharply said in a loud voice "well I can see you don't want to hear what I have to say."  I was aghast since she not only followed us out she very clearly stated her position before I had my say.  As soon as I cited scripture explaining my position she got angry.  She then went on to give quite a lengthy explanation saying there are different flavors of ice cream for different tastes and mumbled something about the culture back then is different than today not giving anything but her opinion.  She said she didn't want to argue with me (she followed us out) and that it all comes down to essentials which I agree with.  She also said when all is said and done it's going to come down to "who do you say that I am" which I also agree with but if you're following Christ why would you deny His teaching and not live by His truth?  If this very clear mandate is not followed, what else do they believe?  To deny His word is to deny Him.    

Obviously this lady doesn't really, deep down, believe what she's trying to convince me is truth or she wouldn't have been angered so easily.  I barely said anything but evidently it was enough and to the point.  She obviously had nothing to go on but her opinion and the opinion of others.  For a woman Pastor you would have thought she would have given me something a bit more objective. 

As my husband says...all the time..."it is what it is."