Memories of Terry Wise
Terry was born into a Navy family that moved from the Philippines to Morocco. Sometimes they would be stationed in San Diego or Winter Harbor Maine. They even made it to Fort Lauderdale at times. Her folks were hard working and stable people, her brother a friendly athletic soul, and her sister seeking adventure, loving the rodeo. Her dad would retire to Fort Lauderdale when she was in junior high.
Terry came to know Jesus as her Lord and Savior by attending a Summer Vacation Bible School at Bethany Presbyterian Church (now Rio Vista Community). That spark of faith in Christ would stay with her and reach maturity under the ministry of Jerry Mobley in a ministry called Ecclesia Fellowship. Terry became one of the ministry leaders and had a special calling to the discipleship of children.
The Lord led me to also become part of the ministry team at Ecclesia Fellowship and come under the mentorship of Jerry. Terry and I served together in visiting troubled teens that had been locked up for crimes and in developing training materials for discipling people in the fellowship.
I decided that Terry was the godliest woman I knew and I wanted her to be my wife. She decided to play matchmaker and attempted to arrange me to date other people. She failed in this. I had decided that this was the one for me and kept expressing my interest.
Our first date was good but ended poorly. I took her to see the “Superman” film and we had dinner at a fish restaurant. We had a great time but the next day she was sick as a dog with food poisoning. This seemed to her an indication to not pursue the relationship. But I continued to seek her.
Finally, after I, along with a group from church, helped her move into a new apartment that this changed. She saw me clean her bathroom and then saw me care for my grandmother over a week. Based on this, she decided that she could trust a man who could serve others. That was when we decided to get married.
That was the day that God answered my prayer to find a true and faithful life companion. She was and is the greatest gift outside salvation that the Lord has ever given to me. She is my best friend.
In the process of preparing for marriage the Lord led us to a sermon on marriage by Pastor Dietrich Bonheoffer. In that message this pearl came out that became the foundation of our relationship.
Romans 15:7 NASB - "7 Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God."
We put this into our wedding vows that even as we had been accepted by grace alone by Christ so we would accept each other by grace alone that God might be glorified in our marriage. This made all the difference in the world.
We also, before we were married, had been drawn by the Spirit to identify with one passage for the defining direction of our lives. That passage is:
Isaiah 61:1-3 NASB - "1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; 2 To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3 To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."
So from the beginning we were not only brother and sister in Christ, husband and wife, best friends, but also partners in ministry.
We were married 35 years and the road was not straight and stable. There were years when we saw great healing of souls, conversion of unbelievers, and restoration of relationships. Other seasons of ministry were filled with church fights, sexual sins by other leaders, friends abandoning us, and with people relapsing into dark practices. Terry would work side by side with me and helped with the administration of the ministry. But the main ministry she had was in the warm touch that she gave to people and in the one on one caring for people. Terry suffered many joys in ministry and many wounds but she never ceased to want to give care to those in need.
Life would have many times of joy like the adoption of our first child and two “impossible to conceive” children that followed.
But there would be very sad times such as the death of her brother, her father, and sister as well. Just a week before our wedding our spiritual mentor Jerry Mobley died of a rare disease very young. In all of these struggles we were together. Our hearts bonded together stronger as we endured these dark times holding on to each other as the Lord held on to us both. Life would be harder than either of us imagined it could be and always filled with changes we could not see coming.
Some of my ministry I was a “tent-maker” in which I worked a regular job but ministered in our “free time”. At times my ministry and my paycheck were tied together. Terry worked for Southern Bell and had a promising career with them.
Our home was a place of bible studies, prayer breakfasts, and counseling. Terry opened our home to all types of different people and different needs with grace and love.
Terry would travel with me to a restaurant at three in the morning to help a hurting soul, drive a homeless HIV infected man to his home who needed a ride, help homeless people to get off the streets, welcome as a foster parent troubled children to live with us, and encourage me to go back to finish my education even though it would cost us all of our financial security and I said it was impossible. But her faith in God’s plan for us we so strong that she urged me to take the risks needed to make it happen. She was God’s means of grace that has allowed me to do God’s will in my life.
When by God’s grace we were able to adopt our first son we both began to try to find a way to have her stay at home full time. We were able by God’s grace to achieve this after a few years and then God called Terry to provide home schooling to her children.
In all we had three, Alex, Justina, and Gregory. In addition she also helped raise her sister’s son Robert. Her highest priority was to raise her children with love and develop relationships with each of them. The main book guiding her through that process was Raising Your Children For Christ by Andrew Murray. She gave over twenty years of her life to home schooling her children. This investment she never regretted. She was fully devoted to her children and loved them with all her heart.
The last eight years became difficult for her. She had always been a very athletic person and ate healthy food. When we married she would run five miles a day. We walked together at night for an hour talking. When the children were small we loaded them into strollers and wagons and had them go with us on our nightly walks. During our walks is when we talked. Every week we were in conversations by phone and in person ten to fourteen hours a week. We are best friends.
But then she was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease which would lead to total kidney failure and the need to go on dialysis. She would also suffer from colon cancer and have to have her entire colon removed. Finally due to the many surgeries related to these two issues she became infected with the Mercer bacteria and they were unable to determine its source. She would spend one or two months a year in the hospital due to this infection coming back. In addiction in July of 2012 her knee gave out and was bone on bone. Due to the Mercer infection she could not have a knee operation.
This led to limitations on her mobility. Our walks became me pushing her in a wheel chair in the mall or around the neighborhood.
But poor health and daily pain did not keep Terry from giving herself to her children, the ministry, or caring for others. She gave and gave of herself determined to not allow her physical struggles to keep her from her life purpose. I have never seen such determination, faith, and endurance in all my years of ministry.
She was a real heroine, enduring pain, and staying by my side in faithful partnership in our ministry together. Many times that ministry was hard, difficult, and sad. But she was always by my side. Others might abandon me and betray me, but Terry was my one true and faithful friend.
The struggle however became more and more severe. This year in March, Terry lost all her strength and mobility. Through a confusing and difficult four months she would endure six operations including open-heart surgery. The infection destroyed a heart valve that had to be replaced. Her case became complicated with two more bacteria and stronger antibiotics needed. Her blood pressure was so low that dialysis was becoming harder and harder to accomplish. In the end the only options the doctors could give her was to stay in the hospital till she died or go home to die. There was no cure that could be offered.
Left with those choices Terry decided to come home, say goodbye to her children, and go meet Jesus.
On Saturday July 11th she had the best day physically that she had experienced in a month. That day she was alert and able to be moved to her chair in the living room. There she got to see her grandson Michael born on December 23, be baptized and celebrate a ½ year birthday. Many friends and family were present and able to spend time with her. It was a fulfillment of many dreams that day in seeing her house being used for ministry, seeing her grand son dedicated to Christ’s kingdom, and in her home being filled with family and friends. It was a great day.
Sunday night began the beginning of the decline. She had a difficult couple of days in which she had pain that the morphine could not touch. Her comfort came from hearing the good news of the gospel that “nothing could separate her from the love of God in Christ Jesus” over and over again. She would hear the gospel and have times of rest but then the pain would wake her up and we would begin again to repeat the gospel. I preached the gospel to her through two difficult nights and then God granted her a sleep that protected her from all the pain at about 4 AM on Tuesday Morning.
She would go to see Jesus at noon on July 14th 2015.
I am sure that Terry heard “Well done, good and faithful daughter, enter into the joy of your Lord when she awoke on the other side in the Kingdom of God. No longer trapped in a body that had betrayed her, but now with a perfect spiritual body that could accomplish all the things the faith in her heart desired. I know that she is perfectly well off now and so I rejoice in the promise of the gospel and ultimate healing of body and soul.
Terry always saw herself not as a person who was leading from the front but as one who gave herself to serve where needed. Whatever needed to be done for the sake of Christ, Christ’s people, or her family she would do. Her ministry was in the background but had powerful impact. Many times working one on one in relationships of grace.
One of my favorite movies is “The Last Samurai”. Two lines have hit me from that film during the last day. One is where one friend is saying goodbye to his best friend he says “I will miss our conversations”. This is very true for me now. I desperately miss our conversations. The other is where the young emperor asked about how the “Last Samurai” died and the reply is “I will tell you how he lived”. Terry’s life is a testimony of the powerful grace of the gospel to serve others consistently and with great care.
So I am glad that she is in glory with Jesus, but my children and I have lost a vital person in our lives. So pray for us as we adjust to a world without our Terry.
Friday, April 28, 2017
Memories of Terry
Memories of Terry Wise
Terry was born into a Navy family that moved from the Philippines to Morocco. Sometimes they would be stationed in San Diego or Winter Harbor Maine. They even made it to Fort Lauderdale at times. Her folks were hard working and stable people, her brother a friendly athletic soul, and her sister seeking adventure, loving the rodeo. Her dad would retire to Fort Lauderdale when she was in junior high.
Terry came to know Jesus as her Lord and Savior by attending a Summer Vacation Bible School at Bethany Presbyterian Church (now Rio Vista Community). That spark of faith in Christ would stay with her and reach maturity under the ministry of Jerry Mobley in a ministry called Ecclesia Fellowship. Terry became one of the ministry leaders and had a special calling to the discipleship of children.
The Lord led me to also become part of the ministry team at Ecclesia Fellowship and come under the mentorship of Jerry. Terry and I served together in visiting troubled teens that had been locked up for crimes and in developing training materials for discipling people in the fellowship.
I decided that Terry was the godliest woman I knew and I wanted her to be my wife. She decided to play matchmaker and attempted to arrange me to date other people. She failed in this. I had decided that this was the one for me and kept expressing my interest.
Our first date was good but ended poorly. I took her to see the “Superman” film and we had dinner at a fish restaurant. We had a great time but the next day she was sick as a dog with food poisoning. This seemed to her an indication to not pursue the relationship. But I continued to seek her.
Finally, after I, along with a group from church, helped her move into a new apartment that this changed. She saw me clean her bathroom and then saw me care for my grandmother over a week. Based on this, she decided that she could trust a man who could serve others. That was when we decided to get married.
That was the day that God answered my prayer to find a true and faithful life companion. She was and is the greatest gift outside salvation that the Lord has ever given to me. She is my best friend.
In the process of preparing for marriage the Lord led us to a sermon on marriage by Pastor Dietrich Bonheoffer. In that message this pearl came out that became the foundation of our relationship.
Romans 15:7 NASB - "7 Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God."
We put this into our wedding vows that even as we had been accepted by grace alone by Christ so we would accept each other by grace alone that God might be glorified in our marriage. This made all the difference in the world.
We also, before we were married, had been drawn by the Spirit to identify with one passage for the defining direction of our lives. That passage is:
Isaiah 61:1-3 NASB - "1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; 2 To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3 To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."
So from the beginning we were not only brother and sister in Christ, husband and wife, best friends, but also partners in ministry.
We were married 35 years and the road was not straight and stable. There were years when we saw great healing of souls, conversion of unbelievers, and restoration of relationships. Other seasons of ministry were filled with church fights, sexual sins by other leaders, friends abandoning us, and with people relapsing into dark practices. Terry would work side by side with me and helped with the administration of the ministry. But the main ministry she had was in the warm touch that she gave to people and in the one on one caring for people. Terry suffered many joys in ministry and many wounds but she never ceased to want to give care to those in need.
Life would have many times of joy like the adoption of our first child and two “impossible to conceive” children that followed.
But there would be very sad times such as the death of her brother, her father, and sister as well. Just a week before our wedding our spiritual mentor Jerry Mobley died of a rare disease very young. In all of these struggles we were together. Our hearts bonded together stronger as we endured these dark times holding on to each other as the Lord held on to us both. Life would be harder than either of us imagined it could be and always filled with changes we could not see coming.
Some of my ministry I was a “tent-maker” in which I worked a regular job but ministered in our “free time”. At times my ministry and my paycheck were tied together. Terry worked for Southern Bell and had a promising career with them.
Our home was a place of bible studies, prayer breakfasts, and counseling. Terry opened our home to all types of different people and different needs with grace and love.
Terry would travel with me to a restaurant at three in the morning to help a hurting soul, drive a homeless HIV infected man to his home who needed a ride, help homeless people to get off the streets, welcome as a foster parent troubled children to live with us, and encourage me to go back to finish my education even though it would cost us all of our financial security and I said it was impossible. But her faith in God’s plan for us we so strong that she urged me to take the risks needed to make it happen. She was God’s means of grace that has allowed me to do God’s will in my life.
When by God’s grace we were able to adopt our first son we both began to try to find a way to have her stay at home full time. We were able by God’s grace to achieve this after a few years and then God called Terry to provide home schooling to her children.
In all we had three, Alex, Justina, and Gregory. In addition she also helped raise her sister’s son Robert. Her highest priority was to raise her children with love and develop relationships with each of them. The main book guiding her through that process was Raising Your Children For Christ by Andrew Murray. She gave over twenty years of her life to home schooling her children. This investment she never regretted. She was fully devoted to her children and loved them with all her heart.
The last eight years became difficult for her. She had always been a very athletic person and ate healthy food. When we married she would run five miles a day. We walked together at night for an hour talking. When the children were small we loaded them into strollers and wagons and had them go with us on our nightly walks. During our walks is when we talked. Every week we were in conversations by phone and in person ten to fourteen hours a week. We are best friends.
But then she was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease which would lead to total kidney failure and the need to go on dialysis. She would also suffer from colon cancer and have to have her entire colon removed. Finally due to the many surgeries related to these two issues she became infected with the Mercer bacteria and they were unable to determine its source. She would spend one or two months a year in the hospital due to this infection coming back. In addiction in July of 2012 her knee gave out and was bone on bone. Due to the Mercer infection she could not have a knee operation.
This led to limitations on her mobility. Our walks became me pushing her in a wheel chair in the mall or around the neighborhood.
But poor health and daily pain did not keep Terry from giving herself to her children, the ministry, or caring for others. She gave and gave of herself determined to not allow her physical struggles to keep her from her life purpose. I have never seen such determination, faith, and endurance in all my years of ministry.
She was a real heroine, enduring pain, and staying by my side in faithful partnership in our ministry together. Many times that ministry was hard, difficult, and sad. But she was always by my side. Others might abandon me and betray me, but Terry was my one true and faithful friend.
The struggle however became more and more severe. This year in March, Terry lost all her strength and mobility. Through a confusing and difficult four months she would endure six operations including open-heart surgery. The infection destroyed a heart valve that had to be replaced. Her case became complicated with two more bacteria and stronger antibiotics needed. Her blood pressure was so low that dialysis was becoming harder and harder to accomplish. In the end the only options the doctors could give her was to stay in the hospital till she died or go home to die. There was no cure that could be offered.
Left with those choices Terry decided to come home, say goodbye to her children, and go meet Jesus.
On Saturday July 11th she had the best day physically that she had experienced in a month. That day she was alert and able to be moved to her chair in the living room. There she got to see her grandson Michael born on December 23, be baptized and celebrate a ½ year birthday. Many friends and family were present and able to spend time with her. It was a fulfillment of many dreams that day in seeing her house being used for ministry, seeing her grand son dedicated to Christ’s kingdom, and in her home being filled with family and friends. It was a great day.
Sunday night began the beginning of the decline. She had a difficult couple of days in which she had pain that the morphine could not touch. Her comfort came from hearing the good news of the gospel that “nothing could separate her from the love of God in Christ Jesus” over and over again. She would hear the gospel and have times of rest but then the pain would wake her up and we would begin again to repeat the gospel. I preached the gospel to her through two difficult nights and then God granted her a sleep that protected her from all the pain at about 4 AM on Tuesday Morning.
She would go to see Jesus at noon on July 14th 2015.
I am sure that Terry heard “Well done, good and faithful daughter, enter into the joy of your Lord when she awoke on the other side in the Kingdom of God. No longer trapped in a body that had betrayed her, but now with a perfect spiritual body that could accomplish all the things the faith in her heart desired. I know that she is perfectly well off now and so I rejoice in the promise of the gospel and ultimate healing of body and soul.
Terry always saw herself not as a person who was leading from the front but as one who gave herself to serve where needed. Whatever needed to be done for the sake of Christ, Christ’s people, or her family she would do. Her ministry was in the background but had powerful impact. Many times working one on one in relationships of grace.
One of my favorite movies is “The Last Samurai”. Two lines have hit me from that film during the last day. One is where one friend is saying goodbye to his best friend he says “I will miss our conversations”. This is very true for me now. I desperately miss our conversations. The other is where the young emperor asked about how the “Last Samurai” died and the reply is “I will tell you how he lived”. Terry’s life is a testimony of the powerful grace of the gospel to serve others consistently and with great care.
So I am glad that she is in glory with Jesus, but my children and I have lost a vital person in our lives. So pray for us as we adjust to a world without our Terry.
Clocks Keep Ticking
Clocks keep ticking
I keep living
Hard to believe
I keep breathing
Seems like it all should have stopped
She is not here
She is with Lord Jesus
So silent
So different
Clocks keep ticking
Sad Anniversary
Today would have been our 39th celebration of our marriage. Instead it is day where I remember my loss of my best friend.
I always planned for our anniversary. Even in the years we did not have much money, which was most years that never kept me from doing something special for her.
She was less caught up with dates and events than I was, for her every day was a celebration of our marriage and our lives. Terry looked at every day as a day of rejoicing in our friendship and love.
I miss her so much today. Not very profound just very true.
Broken heart and broken dreams, help me Lord to deal with all the brokenness of everything.
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Struggling with the "New Normal"
Striving after wind
Hoping to create hurricanes
Slaying dragons
Only to see them as windmills
Noble souls fighting illusions
Ruthless souls poisoning reality
The golden path has been lost
Only a yellow brick road
Leading to false hopes
Loss of so many dreams
The new normal is a harsh desert
Mirages the only relief
In the dark I will trust YOU
Messiah Joshua rescue me now
Bring in YOUR light and life
Help me to know that YOU know a way of escape
Save what I most love
If salvation is possible, I beg you rescue those I love now
Forgive me my blindness and pride
Transform vanity into gold
hay, wood, and stumble into silver
Futility into precious stones.
Eternal Alchemist release now the metamorphism needed to turn the tangles into a tapestry.
Miracle worker transform the water into wine
Let it flow down the mountains
My HOPE is YOU
Only YOU.
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