She was a short-tempered, violent, self-serving, drinking, cursing, motorcycle-riding woman when she went to see a Billy Graham film called “Time to Run.” That’s when all the seeds that had been sown in her life by her mother-in-law and others suddenly sprouted and Cookie Gouger, along with her husband, Charles, turned their lives to the Lord. They realized how hypocritical they had been by teaching their two boys what was right but not practicing it themselves. Cookie was reminded of 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, new things have come.”
Cookie wanted the old things of her life to disappear and the new things to come, but she realized that she didn’t know what a Christian looked like. How did a Christian act? How did a Christian speak? What did a Christian do? She began comparing “dressing” her life like she could dress a paper doll and asked herself, “What “clothes” do I put on this new Christian, and how do I determine what these “clothes” look like based on what the Bible says?” She began reading the Word with her husband, which not only helped her figure out how she fit into her new role of a Child of the King, but also helped their marriage immensely because they now had a common foundation that drew them together and made them “equally yoked.”
They found Philippians 4:8, which says, “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.” Because of this verse, she started trying to control her thought patterns by thinking on the things of Christ. She stopped cursing as a response to Matthew 15:11, “Not what enters into the mouth defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.” Cookie taped this verse on her locker, in her car, and on the refrigerator. She then found Colossians 3:8, which says, “but now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.” This verse reinforced her desire to stop cursing and helped her let go of anger.
She then discovered what the Bible says about being a servant. Matthew 24:46 told her ”Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.” Cookie said, “Charles and I will never know when the Master will call us to Him, so we want Him to find us working when He does call for us.” They became stuck on the desire to serve, and became involved in numerous things:
• Trimming trees for widows
• Making restrooms in homes accessible to persons with disabilities
• Being the “eyes” or the “ears” for people who can’t see or hear
• Diligently working for Medical Bridges
• Making announcements, taking prayer requests, developing civic updates and medical updates for their iCONNECT class
• Working voting registration tables
• Holding an iCONNECT class picnic each year at their home
• Volunteering at Ronald McDonald House
• Helping neighbors rebuild after Ike
• Ministering to people who have lost their spouses
• Various projects with local schools
• Helping with the free wills project Sagemont Church held
Cookie is quick to say that all these acts of servanthood would not be possible without all the other people who come alongside her and Charles with their actions and their finances. And if you think, “She obviously has more time on her hands than I do,” you would be thinking incorrectly. She doesn’t have a maid, she doesn’t have a cook and she doesn’t have a yard man. Cookie can be seen each week on her 1-1/2 acres weed-eating and trimming the hedges, and you may catch a glimpse of Charles riding the lawnmower. She still has to cook, clean, do the banking and grocery shopping, and run all of the typical household errands everyone else has to run, but because she sees service as a priority, she makes the time to serve and balances it along with her everyday obligations.
“We realize that we are not doing works for salvation, but to please the Lord when we stand in front of Jesus’ Throne of Judgment,” Cookie said. “Because the Bible says to offer our bodies as “living sacrifices,” we have chosen to crawl off the altar whenever God asks us to do our acceptable service of worship.”
Cookie really didn’t want to be interviewed for this story, and she wants to be clear that she and Charles “deeply desire only to glorify Christ, not ourselves,” but because of the reality that approximately 20% of the people are responsible for 80% of the service in the church, she wants to put out a challenge to the remaining 80% of the people to make servanthood a priority in their lives as well.
This attitude falls into line with the vision of Sagemont member, Carol Wroten, too. Carol felt that if the 80% could grow in their spiritual maturity, then they too would begin to serve. She started a new iCONNECT Bible study class called “Ten Foundational Stones” in order to build that solid foundation that leads to Christian maturity and results in building servants. The ten stones include:
1. The Word
2. Who is God/Who is Jesus?
3. Salvation
4. The Holy Spirit
5. Prayer
6. Faith
7. Obedience
8. Holiness
9. Evangelism
10. Service
Charles and Cookie are privileged to teach the last stone: Service. “We are excited to be able to share our testimony of redemption and to encourage others to have the joy of service that we have,” she said. “We realize we are far from perfect, but we also realize God designed us this way. Therefore, we must be made the way He wants us for His purpose.”
Cookie and Charles are great examples of servanthood. They are just regular people who put themselves out there and are available for whatever needs to be done. They have dressed their paper dolls in Christianity, and boy, do they look good!