Episode Fourteen: The Interview - Pastor Jaime Nieves
Meet the "Creature Preacher!" Pastor Jamie tells of a visiting bird and how this creature of God helped her to realize that love is never destroyed. In this longer episode discover what love, fathers and animals mean to this dynamic woman.
Transcript
When I do weddings,
You know,
The end of the traditional wedding vows is till death do us part.
I never say that because I don't think that love stops in this life.
I think you can still love somebody to whom you were married for 50,
60 years on the other side.
It may change that the way you express it and the way you feel it may,
And the definition of it may change,
But love doesn't die.
It's eternal.
So I don't say till death do us part.
No.
I don't believe that for a second.
I think that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.
I am a beloved child of God.
I am a spiritual journeyer.
I've gone to seminary and course of study,
But that has been life-giving,
But what helps me is just going every day.
Traveling every day,
Meeting people,
Hearing stories,
Sharing stories,
And finding my way to deepen and enhance my relationship with God through Jesus Christ every single day,
And serve people.
Try to be the best kind of person that I think God created me to be.
I'm a preacher's kid.
My dad was an ordained elder of the Anadineph Methodist Church.
I'm following in his footsteps.
So church was a big part of my life,
Not only going to church on Sundays,
But being involved with the youth ministry,
The youth group back then.
I was very involved with that,
And most of the time in church I didn't listen to my dad's sermons.
I was playing around or talking to my sister.
Something I'd never listen,
And so I only got about a half of what he said.
I remember certain things from the pulpit,
But I don't remember everything,
But my dad's greatest lessons to me was as a dad and not so much as a pastor of the church.
He would just talk to me about God and about love,
Inclusive love.
It wouldn't be sermons.
They would just be in everyday conversations.
My dad,
This wonderful great pastor whom a lot of people were touched by in the church,
He was just a dad who was part of those same messages to me about God,
Just in everyday conversations.
Later when I got older and just before he suffered from Alzheimer's,
We had wonderful rich conversations about theology,
About heaven,
About hell,
About resurrection,
All of these wonderful,
Wonderful conversations,
And I wish now that he was still alive to talk about those things.
I also,
When I read Mark Batterson's book Chasing the Wild Goose,
Where Celtic Christianity talks about the Celtic Christians call the Holy Spirit on God gloss,
Which means the wild goose,
Because the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit being gentle and loving and sweet.
Well,
It can take you on one hell of a ride.
You'll just be beat up and dried through the mud because the wild goose is untamed and it's adventurous,
And that is what the Holy Spirit is at times.
So when I first heard that and defining the Holy Spirit as the wild goose,
I'm like,
Oh my gosh,
There is a connection,
A sacred connection between God and animals.
And so from there,
That kind of gave me permission to have that ministry,
A ministry of animals,
Think it is actually a possibility.
And I have to say that I've had in the past,
I've had a lot of interest in psychics,
People who felt like they could talk with the dead.
I know that doesn't go over well with a lot of people in church,
But at first it was just kind of fun.
But I ran across a gentleman,
Psychic,
Probably a year or two ago,
Who knew a lot of things that he couldn't have known from the information I gave him.
I told him,
It was a phone call,
The first visit I had with him,
And I had said that I just got through.
He said,
I think he said he was born Catholic,
But he hasn't stepped foot in the church since he was born.
So he's not a very churchy person,
But he said,
Did you go to like Bible school or something that helps you get to be a pastor?
And I said,
Yes.
And he said,
Yeah,
Your dad's showing me pictures.
And I said,
He's showing me pictures of what he said.
I think he's showing you pictures of your school.
And in that few minutes,
He said,
It's kind of dark,
Dark wood,
And it's got some steps and the steps going up to the door have little names on them.
He was describing Isla.
And I never said a word about Isla.
He was describing Isla.
And it was amazing.
So in those conversations,
He'd say,
Well,
You know,
Do you see birds a lot lately?
And I say,
Well,
You know,
I live in a rural area.
I see birds all the time.
He said,
Because your dad,
Your dad comes to you in birds.
Do you know that?
I'm like,
Well,
I thought it was butterflies,
But no,
I didn't know that.
He said,
Anytime you see a bird acting unusually as your dad.
And I said,
Okay,
Well,
That was two years ago.
So right,
Maybe a month or two after I was sitting on my bed,
I had the,
My front door was,
The screen door was locked,
The wood door was open,
And I was sitting on my bed with my computer writing something.
And I heard this,
And I look outside and I see birds flying.
So I thought,
Well,
I don't know what that's about.
And it went on for 10 minutes.
And I thought that sounds awfully loud.
I thought,
I wonder if a bird ran into the glass and hid itself.
So I went out to that same sliding glass door and there was no bird.
And I looked out the other window,
The door,
And there was a bird,
A little robin.
He was sitting on a ledge at the foot of the door,
The glass door.
So I walked up slowly and I bent down and I touched the glass and I said,
Are you okay?
And we were,
You know,
This far apart and he didn't move.
And I tapped the glass and said,
Are you okay?
And so I got up to slowly open up the door and he jumped off onto my porch and I said,
I'm not coming out to scare you.
I said,
I just want to make sure you're okay.
And I could see that he was okay.
So I locked the door and I said,
Well,
I said,
Dad,
If this is you,
Thank you for coming to see me.
And I went back in and 10 minutes later he had come back and he was sitting on the ledge on my door.
We were six inches apart.
And I sat down and I tapped the glass and I said,
Dad,
Is that you?
And I put my hand on the glass and he didn't venge.
I sat there for maybe 10 minutes talking to the bird.
And then I got up and I opened the door and he jumped off.
And then he jumped down my first stair and looked back at me.
And I said,
Do you want me to follow you?
So I walked out and he jumped down to the second stair and looked around and turned around and looked at me.
And I went down to the second stair and then the third stair.
And then he hopped down to the end of the driveway.
And I said,
Do you want me to follow you?
Or do you just want me to acknowledge that that's you dad?
And he flew away.
Coincidence could be,
But I'm thinking that everything is connected.
And I think that our loved ones who have gone on to,
To re be reborn in the life eternal are still very much with us.
Even on the other side,
We are connected.
We're connected with nature.
We are connected with our loved ones.
That love never breaks that bond of work never breaks.
So I just think this is an amazing thing that I'm learning.
And I know it sounds crazy,
But I believe that I believe there's another level of understanding of this,
This sacred connection that we have.
And God's just waiting for us to figure it out through our own experiences.
I'm so curious.
Why do you can help me out here?
Why do some church people not,
Did you say don't like psychics or don't like the fact psychics talk to the dead?
Why is that?
I'm just curious.
I think there's something in,
I forget,
I forget where it is in the Bible,
But something that talks about maybe it's when they're talking about the the three wise men or something,
But there's something about you,
You know,
The,
The people that are soothsayers that are fortune tellers or are evil.
They're wicked.
They're a God.
I mean,
They're the devil people who do that,
Who are magic,
Who,
Who try to,
Or sorcerers,
All that all from the devil or icky.
And so a lot of people,
I still think,
Hang to that,
You know,
That's demonic.
That's demonic because that's how evil comes.
I'm like,
Well,
Not if they're trying to talk to dead people,
But then again,
A lot of people were dead is dead.
They're on the other side and they don't interact with you.
But I say,
No,
Well,
They're on the other side,
But they're with you.
If you believe the apostle Paul,
Nothing can separate us from the love of God,
Nothing,
Not even death to this life and rebirth to the next life.
We are still connected.
They still know and love us and care for us and are with us in some mysterious way that we don't,
Our minds can't,
Our human minds can't comprehend just the way that nature is there for us,
That nature relies on us.
We rely on nature.
It's all this divine mystery,
Part of the divine mystery.
And so when people,
It's very,
It's easier to be very black and white.
It's in the Bible.
It's bad.
No,
You don't talk to psychics because they're evil.
One of my ideas or theories,
And we can use your father as an example,
Is it sounds like you were surrounded and deeply,
Deeply loved by both of your parents.
Yes.
And love to me is an energy that is infinite and it lasts forever and infused your father's spirit and his way of being.
Yes.
What does the other side mean anyway?
I wouldn't be surprised if it's that love that is imprinted,
That energy that is imprinted with his soul that is around you,
Which to me is incredibly beautiful and also divine.
Yes.
I think that's a beautiful way to put it,
Kirsten.
It is.
It's the imprint of his love that stays with a person that's there forever.
When I do weddings,
The end of the traditional wedding vows is till death do us part.
I never say that because I don't think that love stops in this life.
I think you can still love somebody to whom you were married for 50,
60 years on the other side.
It may change that the way you express it and the way you feel it may,
And the definition of it may change,
But love doesn't die.
It's eternal.
So I don't say till death do us part.
No,
I don't believe that for a second.
Love cannot be destroyed.
I mean,
That energy cannot be destroyed.
If it is perfect,
Unselfish love,
Then it's directly connected with God's energy,
Unless it's maligned in some way.
But if it is the kind of love that your father had for you,
Then it lives forever.
That's what I think too.
And I love the way you put it.
It's the imprint of his love that surrounds me.
I love that.
And I can feel his presence through that.
I love that.
I think that's beautifully put.
Yeah.
I like to think that this universe that we live in is,
You know,
Every atom in between every atom is what holds it together as love because it's such a pure energy source.
That is my fantasy.
I'm not saying that's reality at all,
But it is a beautiful way to consider what's going on around us.
As Dee would say,
How are you a blessing every day to others?
Exactly.
You are a blessing not only to your community,
Of course,
But to your ministry,
To animals,
Because I think animals so often are taken for granted and not really respected.
And they need a voice.
They need a human voice.
And you are that for them.
I try to be,
And that's what I feel like I'm called to be,
Just to say,
Hey,
We matter.
And we are part of this perfect plan of God's creation.
We are equal to you.
And to bring down some of these,
You know,
The ego of the human,
You know,
I know we have the brains to be the ones to figure things out,
But can we not just use our brain and our ego?
Can we use some compassion and humility?
Yeah.
Can we approach this differently?
I have come to realize that a lot of humans hate humility.
Yeah.
Right.
Some of them don't even know what it is.
They don't even know what humility is.
It is something that is so uncomfortable and disturbing for so many.
I don't understand that because,
You know,
To me,
The only way to approach that energy that permeates this universe,
That God source,
You have,
If you want authentic relationship with it,
If you want connection,
You have to be humble.
You have to be humble.
Absolutely.
You have to be.
There's no other way,
You know,
What is it?
Walk humbly with your God.
It's in scripture.
You have to be humble.
You have to respect that we are just one part of creation created by the divine architect of the universe.
We are not the be all end all.
And to think that there's only life on earth and no other planets is pretty egotistical.
Like God saw us and said,
Okay,
You guys are perfect.
I'm not going to go any farther.
I don't think so.
I,
We are a part of God's big,
Huge,
Wonderful creation.
And we have to respect our place in it with humility and gratitude.
I'll tell you something that you might think is pretty fun.
Maybe.
I hope,
I hope.
So around Taos,
New Mexico,
It is just,
And it has been known for hundreds of years that there's just the land there is haunted.
I mean,
It's very saturated with history,
With ghosts,
With even the native Americans considered it that way.
And so strange occurrences happened there.
And last year,
I just thought this was crazy.
Last year,
These two gentlemen who were kind of buff,
Really strong burly hunters were out looking for elk,
I think,
Or deer.
And,
You know,
They spent all day trying to hunt,
Could not find animals anywhere,
Which was unprecedented.
They didn't understand.
And then they came over this ridge and they saw these two gentlemen,
You know,
Standing on another ridge and they were very,
Very tall and very skinny.
And they thought,
Okay,
Well,
Maybe they're doing something to like scare them.
We'll go over and talk to them,
See if they've seen any,
You know,
But at this point,
They're so far back that they have to be hunting too.
And so they walk and walk and they can see the guys and they're very strange looking and they see them and they're approaching them and they go through these trees and then they get there and the men are gone and they have no idea where they've gone.
They couldn't have gone anywhere.
It's very strange.
So they think,
Okay,
Well,
We'll try again tomorrow,
But we'll go to a different place.
So in the next morning,
They get in their truck.
This was in the newspaper.
Okay.
So they're like driving in their truck.
They're in the middle of nowhere in the woods.
And they come in down this kind of mountain into this valley and they see this massive,
Massive off to the side at a distance compound that looks like a movie set.
So there are like buildings and,
You know,
There's something going on where it looks not like it's transitory.
It's not been there a long time.
It's just there.
So,
And they both have worked in the movies.
So they're familiar with what sets look like.
So they think,
Wow,
And maybe this is why there are no animals around here.
There's just a lot going on.
And so they dip down,
Go through some trees,
Come up to where this building and all the other things were there and it's gone.
It's not there.
And these are two burly men who are like,
We don't believe in any of this stuff,
But we both saw something and we can explain it.
There's no explanation for what we saw.
And so to me,
That means there is more going on in this world on this planet than we can possibly imagine.
And that we better be humble.
I think,
You know,
For people to go,
Well,
I think I was there.
I saw it.
And surely if it was there,
You know,
God would have me see it.
Who says there is mystery all around us.
And there are things that happen in this world that can never be explained as a part of this divine mystery of the universe,
Of creation of God.
And I just think we go,
Ooh,
We have goosebumps.
And I go,
Thank you,
God,
For a glimpse of that mystery.
I loved it.
I'm not going to try to figure it out with the bird and the playing manas.
I'm not going to try to figure out.
I'm just going to look at it as a gift and I'm going to be humble and thank you for giving it to me and leave it alone.
I think it makes it worth getting up in the morning.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
It does.
Yes.
God is always creating every minute of every day,
Surprising us,
Creating us,
Delighting us,
Challenging us.
And it's where every bit of it is worth getting up every morning.
It's really beautiful.
It you know,
I think if you're,
You walk through your life infused with that belief in that idea that every moment is a mystery.
Every moment is exciting and divine and every moment has so much potential.
Absolutely.
Then it's limitless.
Yes.
If you'd have told me at the beginning that I was going to be a creature,
Preacher,
I'd have laughed and said,
Please,
That's ridiculous.
Not me.
I'm not going to do that.
People plan God laughs.
That's pretty much what it is.
This world needs people like you,
Because if everybody was a prophet being prophetic about the same thing,
Nothing would get done in these other places.
And so you heard the invitation,
You know,
It was like a stirring in your heart.
You heard it and you answered and now it's becoming something more beautiful than you could have ever imagined.
And I,
And there are times when I try to turn my back on it thinking this,
This is just me.
If this is not a ministry,
But I would keep getting nudges or signs or something,
Or I'm thinking the Holy Spirit's going,
No,
This is a ministry and you're the one who's going to do it for now.
You'll be sure you'll be a part of it.
It's not just me,
But you will be a part of these visionaries who are trying to promote this.
And that is your place.
That is your place in the ministry.
We have people in the church and all churches who are advocating,
You know,
For immigrants and for women's rights and for the Black Lives Matter and racism and all of these important prophetic voices.
And I agree with all of them,
You know,
LGBTQ,
Yes,
Let's love everybody inclusively,
But this is personal for me.
And it's just like,
We have strong voices here and there's a good start to that.
And they're gaining momentum.
Here's where you need to be.
I'm a huge fan of the wild piece of the Holy Spirit because I always envision it as that wild wind that comes in and just scours everything clean.
And it probably hurts and it's not comfortable,
But it has a purpose and it's sacred and it upsets things and brings in new air,
New breath,
New life.
And so I totally see that about what you're doing.
I think it's going to stir things up,
Which is exciting.
And I hope it does.
It's kind of what I call God's holy wildness.
There's a wildness to God,
Unleashed,
Untamed wildness like there is to the wild goose,
The Holy Spirit.
I mean,
God is loving and kind and sweet like Jesus.
But I mean,
Here's this beloved Jesus and,
You know,
Loving and then he's turning over tables in the temple,
You know,
Fussing at everybody.
There's that wildness that is sacred.
And part of this,
I think,
Is that,
You know,
The wildness,
God's holy wildness is not,
It's not tameable.
God is not tameable.
The Holy Spirit is not tameable.
And I love that.
This has been episode 14 of Bite-Sized Blessings,
The podcast all about the magic and spirit that surrounds us.
If only we open our eyes to it.
And whether you choose to listen to our Bite-Sized Offerings for that five to 10 minutes of freedom in your day,
Or the longer interviews,
We're grateful you're here.
I need to thank Jamie Nieves for sharing her story today,
As well as the creators of the music used.
Music L.
Files,
Lyran,
Winnie the Moog,
And Frank Schroeder.
For complete attribution,
Please see the Bite-Sized Blessings website at bite-sized-blessings.
Com.
On the website,
You'll find links to other change makers,
Books,
And music I think will lift and inspire you.
Thank you for listening.
And instead of a request,
I'm going to ask a question this week.
The question is,
Where are you prophetic?
And how can you use your voice like Jamie?
So You
