Living Peace and Love: Bishop Trimble’s Mother's Wisdom for a Divided Nation

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:00:00]:
Hello, good people. Welcome again to To Be Encouraged, the podcast with Bishop Julius C. Trouble, the podcast to offer an encouraging word to an often discouraged world. Bishop, welcome to our conversation today about issues regarding some personal issues, but also some issues that matter kind of in the natural in the national psyche. But welcome to our conversation today, my friend.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:00:25]:
Thank you, Bran. It's good to be back in conversation with you and to extend encouraging words in a discouraged world right now. And we could spend a whole day just talking about all of the recent decisions made by the current administration in the United States that are going to bring, in my opinion, suffering, not just discomfort, but ultimately suffering and oppression. And in a democracy that seems to be losing its grip on compassion.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:00:58]:
Well, let's just start there and then we're going to get to an encouraging word out of your personal life here in a little bit. That will be a response to some what we're going to talk about here. You are located in Washington, D.C. and just recently President Trump enacted an effort to militarize, I guess you might say, the policing of Washington, D.C. and you're in the, you're experiencing that right now. So I just really, I'm just curious, my friend, to get your take on what is happening as a resident of Washington, D.C. what's going on right now and what is the vibe? What is the mood in the city and what are you experiencing? What are you seeing out there?

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:01:36]:
Well, you know, I, when people ask me where, where I'm from, I say I'm a Hoosier right now. That's where my home is. But I spent a good chunk of time in Washington, D.C. as a result of my new role with the General Board of Church and Society. But so I, I, I live here actually, you know, a portion of, of the year and often, sometimes two or three weeks out of a month. And I'm here in D.C. after the president, President Trump exercised home rule authority. And some people don't know this, but actually the Washington, D.C.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:02:12]:
the capital of, of the United States, is under the authority of the federal government. So the, the persons who were here, people like one of my sons and others, their license plates, many of them say taxation without representation because the Washington Washingtonians, they, they, they're able to vote, but they don't have a senator because it's not a state and have a, what I call a quasi representative in Congress. But they don't have impact on federal legislation or the federal budget. But they, but the, but the president and the federal government has authority over their budget. Actually, their, their, their Crime and, and much of the, much of the funding that is allowed that allows the mayor and the city council to, to carry out some services. So the President, President Trump decided that there was a, because of crime, there was a need for the federal government to take over the police department and also to insert as many as 800 National Guards persons stationed in and around Washington D.C. some of them are doing checkpoints and people are really resisting this in neighborhoods where they're actually doing car checkpoints where you're just driving and all of a sudden you see this on movies and see this in other countries that are at war where the military has to set up checkpoints. One of my exercises on a regular daily basis is to walk to the train station, which is about, it's about a 3/4 of a mile walk.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:03:55]:
So I get in a mile and a half walking there and back and it's downhill and then uphill. So I get a good workout right now. For the last several wells, for the last two days, there's been a military presence at the train station, which is also a big bus station and where the taxis gather. So you see military vehicles and National Guardsmen along with police department, Capitol Police, the Amtrak police, almost what I call an over saturation of police force really to present what, what looks like the militarization of a major city in the United States. Something I thought I would never see. And there's no riots or anything that's going on. This was in response to some, I think some particular crimes related to carjacking and robberies. And there is crime in Washington D.C.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:04:54]:
it's a major city. But all the data says crime has been down over the last 30 years in many major cities, including Washington D.C.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:05:04]:
So but in effect, because of the particular Circumstances in Washington D.C. if I'm understanding things correctly, there's not a whole lot the mayor and city council or local police department can do to keep this from happening. There's no real pushback that they can make. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but I.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:05:19]:
Know they're, but, well, there's not much the mayor can do, but I think the District, I just saw on my phone, District Attorney is filing a lawsuit saying that there's no emergency. Brian, that would prompt this, the, the, the, the political dynamic at play, Brad and I don't want, we don't want to linger on this too long, but the political dynamic is that the President can do this for up to 30 days. But if it goes beyond 30 days, the Congress has to basically vote to continue to allow the president or allow the federal government to, to basically police Washington D.C. and so yeah, so yeah, and people, and I have people I work with who just feel it changes the atmosphere in your. If you're walking around in your neighborhood with your children or your dog and you see people with, you know, these automatic, automatic weapons dangling over them, walking around as though, you know, we're expecting some, some like an invasion.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:06:22]:
Invasion. It seems like just a step or two away from martial law. I'll be honest with you. I just put it out there from.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:06:29]:
And some, some would say that this is a test case, but I think it's, you know, and the President said is that, you know, he like to do this in other cities where there's major crime.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:06:39]:
Right. And as you said, statistically crime is down there. So really there's not a logical response to this unless you're going to go, unless you are going to go to other major cities where the crime is ticked up. But, you know, there's just not a lot of logic to it. It is a pure political play, in my opinion, and one I think is going to ultimately backfire. But let's talk about in terms of what you and I like to speak about a lot. The whole dichotomy or the whole, the continuum between encouragement and discouragement. So you mentioned a little bit about that.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:07:12]:
So just tell me what is. When you interact with people around Washington D.C. what is this leading to? Are people kind of scared to go out? Are people like this is just unbelievable or are they, Isn't it leading to an antagonistic or approach that some people may have? What's your take on it?

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:07:31]:
Well, there's several churches that have already come out with statements and I know the Methodist bishop that's over this area has come out with a statement. And a lot of people feel like if, if, if, if the federal government wants to spend dollars to, to reduce crime, then do some, do some more creative things like, you know, invest in more mental health services rather than just round up the homeless, which is a part of this piece. Round up homeless and to make them disappear. Invest in some creative and supportive ways to provide at least transitional or permanent housing for homeless population. Give some grants to the police department to do some more community policing and some more, you know, supporting things like the Boys and Girls Clubs rather than just bringing in, you know, like an army, the National Guard to stand around with, with guns that probably will keep, maybe keep some, some thugs, if you will, or gang, gang bangers. Quiet. They'll just wait them out. You know to do then go back to whatever their regular crime cycles were.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:08:37]:
But some of this is, is somewhat, some said performative and you know, to just prove that, that, that, that our current president is tough on crime. And, and, and I say if you want to be tough on crime then, then pay attention to the data and support the local police. You know, the police are at a, they are, they're like at a long all time low in terms of the number of recruits. They've had a lot of retirements after January 6th. So you know, give a grant, give a Grant to Washington D.C. to hire more police. That would be my solution.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:09:15]:
You combine this with all the ICE raids on the immigrant type situations.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:09:21]:
Yes, thank you for bringing that up.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:09:23]:
Have a militaristic vibe going on that I just don't see how that is going to lead to people feeling better about things. I think it's going to lead to more opportunities for violence, more opportunities for agitation, more opportunities for political unrest. I don't know. What do you think, how's this going? What's going on here and what are. Then we'll talk for a minute about some responses to this.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:09:49]:
Well, I think part of it is, is, is what I call a decrease in Democratic compassion. And, and we've, we've seen this, Brad. You know, you and I have been around long enough. Under Republican or Democratic presidents, there's always been an element of what I call Democratic compassion. So whether it was the Bushes or the Reagan's or, or the Clintons or the Obamas of the world, there's always been an element that a stream if you will, a theme that the Constitution and our commitment particularly to the underserved and the underprivileged was not something that we just dismissed. And now what we see in this, I used to say slow roll towards authoritarianism, but this rapid increase in the implementation of things that are directly associated with Project 2025, an erosion of compassion, due process and concern about particularly the most vulnerable children. Brad, do you know in a week or two a lot of the children would be going back to school? Yeah, some states they have already gone back to school.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:11:02]:
Right.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:11:03]:
So, so what kind of, what kind of presence is the, is the, is going to take place here in D.C. and other cities?

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:11:09]:
Who, who wants to send their children. Who wants to send their child to school under armed military people with machine guns and tanks in the streets? Who wants to do that? My goodness. Just how do you explain it?

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:11:23]:
In fact, how, how do you. I'm glad I don't have a School age child now. But, but you know, you got to be explaining that. And the challenge also is what, what, what say it. Those of us who, who are followers of Christ and I say this is not, this is not, this is not life and abundant life in the best, the best of what we can be. Nobody, nobody's in favor of crime. But I think people of faith, we are unapologetic advocates for compassion and inclusion. And there's no, no matter of rebranding the Golden Rule to make it seem like there's some problem with loving our neighbor is going to, is going to deter me from believing that we ought to be concerned about all of the citizens, not just those who are of one hue or one particular branding of Christian Christian religion that it, that comes across as something other than that.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:12:23]:
In Christian nationalism.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:12:25]:
Yeah, Christian nationalism, you got the whole group of folks who are leveraging all this antagonism towards their own agendas and that doesn't feel anywhere close to the Jesus Christ that I follow. And I know that you follow. I think that Jesus Christ that I follow and you follow has a lot more to do with peace and love. Do you not think that, my friend? And so let's go there maybe as peace and love can be the start of a response towards all this discouragement we've been discussing.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:12:53]:
Brad, you know, my mom passed recently and I'll be traveling to Alabama and in Chicago in the days ahead to participate in celebration of her life. She, she was, she was blessed to live 102 years. You know, a lot of people don't live that long. My dad only made it to 54 and so I praise God for her long life and a lot of that life. My mother, Maribel Pryor Trimble, lived a lot of that life. She lived and pretty, she was pretty, pretty vigorous and healthy. You know, wasn't a person that had to go to the hospital a lot or had surgery, anything like that. It was just in her last few years after she had a stroke that her life rapidly declined.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:13:36]:
But up to, up to her 90s, she was active in church and traveled all over the the, the, the country to see her children and grandchildren and go to graduations and all kinds of things like, but once she was a great proponent. A former school teacher, active in the United Methodist women and and community organizations, a great volunteer at church with the, with the feeding program. She was a person who really believed in the, in the, the ministry of encouragement that I've embraced. And one of her, one of her often sayings was peace and love if you call the house and she answered the phone, she'd say, peace and love. If you got the voicemail, the voicemail would say, peace and love. Hello. And, you know, you reached the home of, you know, Mrs. Trimble, but I'm not here.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:14:27]:
But you already got your blessing of peace and love. And I realized that her. Her using that moniker, if you will, was not just a cliche to her. She really believed that you could. You could impact people by positive words and also by positive example.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:14:46]:
Yeah. Well, that is a wonderful tribute to her impact on you. And I know many, many others. And what a. What a lifelong message. 102 years of peace and love. And so that's pretty much the embodiment of what Jesus taught as well, my friend, is that. And so we got to think about ways to implement this, what your mom taught and what you have learned and now teach others.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:15:13]:
And what I believe Jesus teaches as well. Peace and love. Into situations.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:15:18]:
She had. She had some favorite scriptures, Brad. One of them was Ephesians 6. You know this passage, it's think 10, 10 through 11. Finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God so that you are able to stand against the wiles of the devil. So when you visited Mama at her house, whether it was in Alabama or Chicago and you were leaving the house, that meant her children or whoever was visiting or church members, whoever. She would always say, as you were leaving.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:15:49]:
And when I would visit and be in driving back to. Whether I was driving back to Iowa at the time or driving back to Indiana or wherever, she would say, don't forget to put on the whole armor of the Lord. Put on the whole armor of the Lord. And her point was that God has provided for us all that is necessary, Brad, to stand, to counter the evil distractions and the joy blockers, if you will, of this world. And in retrospect, you know, you take things for granted until you have time to reflect on them. And I reflect on that. I said, you know, that was seared into my memory and mine and my siblings as well, and my. My spouse and our.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:16:33]:
And our children, because they were so used to their grandmother saying, you know, put on the whole arm of the Lord. Or they were used to her saying, peace and love. Peace and love. Listen to this, Brad. Some people quote scripture to judge people or to make a point. My mother actually, she actually read the whole Bible multiple times.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:16:55]:
What a concept.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:16:56]:
She used scripture to fortify her family and also to exercise her faith.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:17:02]:
Yes.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:17:03]:
So unlike some Christians and some people as a pastor, you and I, pastors, you know, she was not what I call a church quitter. So the churches that she, she belonged to, basically two churches. The church of her childhood in Alabama, which her service is going to be at this weekend, and the church that she joined in Chicago. Now that church has changed, not because she left it, but because it was a small membership church that merged multiple times.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:17:29]:
Okay.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:17:30]:
But she never left the church. And she was like, I'm not going to leave a church because they changed the pastor or I don't, I don't like a sermon. She said, I'm there to exercise my faith and to live out. She was what I call a CIA person, a Christian in action.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:17:47]:
There you go.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:17:48]:
That's CIA Christian in action.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:17:50]:
I love that because that's taking the whole, the whole thinking, the Christian thinking of peace and love and using it in a really affirming, strong way. There are those who would say peace and love is a passive thing, you know, that it's not, you know, it's just letting things happen to you. And I am hearing and what you're sharing about your mom, that's about the full armor of God, Ephesians 6 and so on, that this is an assertive way to respond to evil in the world. And, and that is what exactly what's going on. So, man, give us some more lessons from your mother about how to respond to this.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:18:24]:
I hope people will hear this. But you know, today, Brad, if you, if you, if you promote peace and love too much, they call you weak. If you quote Jesus, love of neighbor, they call you woke. Have you heard that lately, Brad?

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:18:40]:
Oh, my goodness, don't get me started.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:18:44]:
Because that isn't love your enemy. Well, we've got Christians now and preachers now saying, no, that, that's a distortion of the Bible. That's, that's a weak Jesus. There's nothing about Jesus that was weak. The one who died on the cross for our sins and, and was able to forgive the thief on the cross. But if you quote Jesus on love of neighbor, they call you woke. So I guess, I don't guess my mother would have been considered woke, but she certainly wasn't weak.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:19:12]:
Well, and when does being awake become a negative thing?

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:19:19]:
They've taken that and turned it against.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:19:20]:
It's just like, give me a break. You know, what's the alternative to be asleep? And I think they're.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:19:25]:
There you go. I think that's, that's the whole point.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:19:28]:
That's what they want. Either they Want you to be asleep, and they want the takeover while you're.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:19:33]:
Asleep, while others are being abused. Until it becomes our turn, Brad, just.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:19:38]:
To pay attention to the.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:19:39]:
Until it becomes our turn.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:19:40]:
Yeah, and it will.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:19:41]:
That's happening in D.C. now. People are like, well, wait a minute, I'm not, I'm not undocumented. Oh, wait a minute, I'm, I'm not Haitian. Wait a minute, I'm not this, I'm not, I'm not transgender. But hey, when, when they're doing block, when they're doing car checks, you know, if you're a white male, you get stopped too. So people, people are understanding. Wait a minute, what is this about?

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:20:05]:
If you're not, if you're not, if you're not agreeing with the authoritarian rule, then you are at odds with it and you're, you could be next and basically on a list to be next. And that's what's really terrifying about this time. And yet we serve a. Serve Jesus Christ, all about love and peace. And you're following example of your mother and you and many others who are saying, no way, this is not what it's all about. We're going to respond. So, Bishop, I just want to ask you, what kind of lessons have you learned from your mother or from your experience or what you're experiencing now that can be somewhat encouraging to that pastor or that local church or that person who's just trying to ride their bicycle or take their kids to school or go to the grocery store or anything? Normal life? What are they? What's your word of encouragement to them?

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:20:54]:
Well, I learned, you know, I can't get, you know, we don't have time to talk about 80 years of lessons. But, but here's something. What I really learned, and some of this is in reflection, you know, at the third time, I think like my mother was, you know, I thought she, I thought sometimes she was strict, but she really wasn't overly strict. But she believed that life should have order to it. And you can't raise six children without some kind of order and discipline and organization. But one of the things I learned is that from my mother, peace is not the absence of all conflict or problems. It's the presence of Jesus Christ.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:21:31]:
Wow.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:21:32]:
Peace is not the promise of a pain free journey. Peace is the presence of grace and mercy. These are things, you know, we, we went to seminary to learn more about. But, but I learned this from, learned this at home. It's not the absence of all problems, it's the presence of the problem solver you know, it's, it's, it's not the. And and I also learned that love is not an excuse to be selfish, but love really is the definition of justice and generosity. My mother was very generous. You know she, she, she was a tither.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:22:07]:
She believed in, you know, you should give if you don't have money. She was a volunteer. She would volunteer to play the piano. She could play the piano, taught herself how to play the organ. She was not the church pianist or an organist, but if there was nobody there to play, she, she would volunteer to play. So she believed that love was, you know, was. Is not an excuse to just do things for yourself, but to put yourself in a position where God can use you love others.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:22:37]:
Yeah, I love that and I love that old thinking here. It's presence over absence. It's not the love of or the empty space. It is active. Love is active. Peace is active. It is engaged. It is woke.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:22:53]:
It is awake. It is alive. It is pertinent.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:22:56]:
And where do you show me what Jesus promised us? A problem free life. He says, in fact in John he says in this world you will have troubles. Some translations say tribulations, but fret not, I have overcome this world. And check this out. Brad, you remember this in the later letter part of John where there talks about the appearance of the post resurrections of post resurrection appearances of Jesus. He goes into the room. They're, you know, they're fearful and so forth. What's the first thing he gives them? What's he saying? Peace.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:23:31]:
Peace be to you. Yes, peace be to you. Peace be.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:23:34]:
And so somehow, you know, if, if you know, the 80% of the people in the 119th Congress have are persons of religion. Of religion which many of them are Protestant, some of them are Catholic, there's some practicing Muslims. And you know, so, so most of the people who have been elected are followers of Jesus or profess to be followers of Jesus. And so why is it necessary? Maybe you can explain it to me to, to over overfund the military underfund veterans benefits. So you cut something like 80,000 jobs from the VA systems across the country and yet you over fund to invest in new missiles and so forth that have yet to be. And space war. There's a huge budget for quote unquote space war or preparation for space war. And yet we want to cut, yet we cut Medicaid and food programs.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:24:38]:
My concern Brad, is what And I'll be paying attention when all of the children get back to school. And many of them were Used to having breakfast and lunch. Is that going to still be in place or is that going to dry up over the years?

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:24:52]:
Hey, while we're at it, we might as well not feed people as well like we've done overseas and so on. It just seems to me that many people are proclaiming Christ, but they're not living out Christ. And certainly the evidence of that is the utter evil that is happening in our country, in our world. And the only response to it is what it's Jesus Christ. And really it's about the evidence of your mother about peace and love.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:25:20]:
I think this is also time really for Christians to do more than just thoughts and prayers. Brad, we talked about this when we were discussing some time ago, you know, school shootings.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:25:32]:
Yes.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:25:33]:
You know, after every school shooting, you know, the comments were, you know, we need to, you need thoughts and prayers for those who've been. As opposed to mandatory registration and, you know, elimination of automatic weapons. No, we don't want to. We don't want to. We don't want to inhibit people's rights to own as many guns as possible. And yet we want different outcomes. I ran across a quote from Albert Schweitzer that I thought is really cool. Brad, I have always held firmly to the thought that each one of us can do a little to bring some portion of misery to an end.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:26:09]:
Oh, yes, Albert Schweitzer.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:26:12]:
And you know, there's a great movement here. Well, not, it's not just here, but people are saying, you know, what's the killing of children and people in Gaza needs to stop the starvation. No one is, no one is diminishing the horrendous action that took place that October when Hamas attacked those Jewish citizens who were, many of them were just celebrating and were very much pro collaboration between Palestinians and Jews. No one diminishes that. No one says that hostages that are still alive need to be released. But there have been thousands of children who've already died. And you know, I. To see pictures and hear stories of children dying simply because they, they won't let all of the humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:27:01]:
Yeah, that's.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:27:02]:
There's no, no reason for children to be dying of malnutrition with foods sitting on borders.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:27:09]:
How do you justify even the criminal activity of, of Hamas against the Jewish folks? How do you justify more criminal activity to, to go against innocent people there, the children there and other people there? I don't get it. It's not Christlike. It is not even close. It's not even close. And so we have A lot. We got a lot of work to do, my friend. And I think the evidence of your mom, what your, your, Your mother and what you have shared here about peace and love is a great part of being, doing more than thoughts and prayers. Yeah, we need thoughts and prayers, but we need action and activity that has some power to it.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:27:46]:
And there is power in peace and love. And it's going to be laid on evidence of churches being active, pastors being active, other agencies and other. Other entities stepping up and doing something of value. Well, Bishop, what kind of words or other comments do you have for us as we start to bring our conversation to a close here? But what other.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:28:07]:
I just, I heard a good quote from John Maxwell around leadership just recently. So people are going to describe you when you die in one sentence. Why not write it now? So my mother actually wrote her own eulogy in the sense of the way in which she lived her life. And so peace and love was not just a cliche or a comment. And I think about that about us, Brad, and people listening, you know, people gonna describe you someday, maybe in just one sentence. So we should probably pay attention to and maybe help write that sentence now. You know, I, I don't think anything wrong with people saying, well, that person just was full of peace and full of love as opposed to, you know, all they did was accumulate stuff.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:28:54]:
Right?

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:28:54]:
All they did was, you know, try to become the most, get more the followers. You know, everybody's, you know, seems to be obsessed with being an influencer. But what are we influencing people to do? Yes, what are we influencing? You know, I got 2,20,000 followers. What are they following? Jesus said, come and follow me. Put down your nets and come follow me.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:29:20]:
And what did Jesus say? Peace I bring to you. And so I believe what you're getting at here is that your mother was not just an influencer. That's a piece of it. But she was an impactor, an impact and impact.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:29:32]:
You just gave me. You just gave me another word to share.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:29:36]:
And so I know that as you get, I know that you're gathering tomorrow to do memorial service for your mom and a week or so later as well, two of them, one in Alabama, one Chicago. And I, I know that our listeners are going to be thinking and praying with you, thoughts and prayers, but also living out a life, peace and love, because that's going to be part of, the, part of the legacy about your mom and what you're going to share in your comments, I know this will too. It's going to be a Lot more about peace and love than about anything else, isn't it? It's going to be family and peace and love and things like that. That's.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:30:09]:
Sure. Yeah, it was going to be. It's going to be about, you know, what does it mean to not only be a follower of Christ, but really to exercise that through church and community. You know, she obviously, like many people, loved her family, but she had love enough to extend beyond her immediate family. So there's a lot she would. She taught hundreds of students in the Chicago public school system. And I. One memory, and then I'll.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:30:35]:
We can close. I remember going to the grocery store. This is funny how some things you remember something you don't. I remember at a grocery store, you know, with being with my mother, and someone said, Mrs. Trimble, you were my teacher. She taught kindergarten through third grade. And, you know, someone came up there and I, I thought I, you know, I was a little child. I said, well, my mother's a celebrity, you know.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:30:57]:
Yeah. But someone who had been. Who, who is now was a grown person, or they probably were just a teenager, but they came up. Yeah, you, Mrs. Trimble, you were my, you were my third grade teacher. And so I, I realized, I said, oh, my. I'm married to a celebrity. So, I mean, I'm not, ma'.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:31:15]:
Am. My mother's a celebrity.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:31:17]:
But here's the thing that was an impact that she made on you in that moment, that others recognized her, but others did recognize her because, you know, not every teacher is. Is remembered, but your mom and, and, but your mom has a memorable life. 102 years of a legacy to live out. And we celebrate the. The. The life of Mary Bell Prior Trimble with you, my friend. And just ask your. Ask your presence be with you.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:31:42]:
And so I'm going to ask a little privilege, if you don't mind. I would. You know, often I ask you to pray during our closing times, but if you Would you allow me the privilege of praying for you and for the sickness.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:31:52]:
Well, thank you, Brad. I feel moved and honored because you're not only a producer, but my dear friend. And I will feel blessed and extend that blessing to my family as well from you.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:32:04]:
Well, let's pray as a closing for our time together here. Gracious God, ask you to be now here with. With Bishop Trimble and his whole family as they gather to remember the life and the impact of Mary bel Prior Trimble, 102 years. What a legacy. And what a legacy of peace and love and influence in community and a church woman and a teacher and also as a mother and as a grandmother and I'm sure a great grandmother as well, and all these people. And we thank you for her legacy. But, God, I just ask you, let the legacy now be one that not only lingers on the thoughts and memories of this particular person, but let it be a legacy that lives on in the power of peace and love as it's lived out in the life of every person that she impacted, including people like. Like Bishop Trimble and everyone he's impacted through his ministry and through this podcast.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:32:56]:
And we ask that blessing and anointing move forward and let it gain momentum. Moving forward that is impactful for everything that matters. And the legacy and the teachings and the leadings of Jesus Christ, which are meant to be heard, which are meant to be lived out and to be woke in its own way so that we can wake up to what is really happening in our world right now, that is absolutely of evil. It is not of God. It is an authoritarianism which practices that which is of the evil one. So, God, I ask you, let this whole situation here be one where the legacy of peace and love with Mabel Prior Trimble, and through Bishop Trimble and many others move forward in such a way that the full armor of God can be used in a way that it impacts people moving forward to know that we are the people of peace and love. We're not the people of anything antagonistic here. We will move forward in faith to do the bidding of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:33:57]:
And then you go forward knowing that the message that Jesus Christ gave us is I come in peace and go in peace.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:34:05]:
Yes. Amen. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Brad Miller [00:34:07]:
Amen. Well, we thank you for being with us here today, Bishop Tremple, and sharing this. We do wish you well in the memorial services you'll have in regards to your mother. And we thank you always. Thank you for your great and profound messages of encouragement even in discouraging times. So you've been listening to Bishop Julius C. Tribble and the To Be Encouraged podcast. Indeed, the podcast where we look to offer an encouraging word for discouraging times.