Blacksburg, SC to Earl, NC

This past week has been more about people who blessed us than people we have blessed. Last Wednesday, we stopped to worship with the folks at Mt. Paran Baptist. Pastor Jay invited us to say a few words and after the service, a neighborly man by the name of Garnell took us over to his house to fill our tanks with well water. Sooo nice! Later we met Pastor Jay & Christine for a cup of coffee at a nearby truck stop. Everybody has a story and finding out how pastors become pastors is always an interesting tale.

Thursday morning, quicker than you can say "Blackberry cobbler," we were in Earl, North Carolina. Now we didn't expect much out of a town named Earl but....where we ever mistaken! We stopped at New Hope Baptist Church and a lady named Tamara stopped to check on us. We moved on but she called her pastor who wanted us to come back for a photo and a little conversation. She tracked me down later on the road and we made arrangements to meet Pastor Russ when our walking day was over.

Lucyah had parked at an Ingles supermarket and the manager and a cashier came out to investigate. She was able to share about our walk for Christ, praying for America and gave them each a Zacchaeus DVD. The cashier asked if I would come in so she could have a picture taken with me. Later on Zacchaeus interrupted her work day for a photo-op.

As I walked through town a bit, a man came out of his trailer and approached me on the side of the road. “I’m mentally ill,” he said. His hands were behind his back and there was fast moving traffic behind me. In less than five seconds, all kinds of scenarios came into my mind. What if he was holding a hammer? What if he pushed me into the traffic?I asked him why he thought he was mentally ill. “The doctors said so. I’m schizophrenic and bi-polar.” “Do you take any meds?” I asked. “No. I hear voices.” Do they tell you to do bad things?” “No. Not bad things.” Do you know Jesus?” “Yes, I do.” We continued to talk about the healing of the Lord and after a few minutes of mentioning the name of Jesus, my friend abruptly left.

Finally, our walking day ended and we returned to New Hope to meet the pastor and that’s when we met Kirsten. Her husband is a navy chief currently deployed. He’ll be home in late July and until then she has three energetic kids to handle. One of her hobbies is taking pictures so she got lassoed into being the photographer of the day. Pastor Russ and his youth pastor Travis were very gracious, open and curious. Sunday morning was a salute to the graduates …high school and college…so they invited us to present Zacchaeus to their congregation on Sunday night. Woo-Hoo! We always get a thrill when a pastor who never met us before steps out in faith and invites us in! God is always looking to bless a man like that!

Kirsten had been on the phone to her grandparents, the Crawfords, and so it wasn’t long before we were at their house for supper! They and their family have lived in these parts most of their lives. Despite a houseful of hungry relatives, Mrs. Crawford managed to save us a couple of slices of homemade strawberry pie…..soooo good! Just before it started getting dark, Mr. Crawford, got us hooked up with electricity for the night plus directions on how to get back on the road in the morning!

In the town of Shelby, there is a health ministry called Hallelujah Acres (www.hacres.com) and the first Saturday of every month they have a free seminar. They’re teaching people how “You don’t have to be sick” and a lot of what they have to say makes sense. Not only did we get an education but we also got a chance to eat some healthy foods like pizza (made with macadamia nut cheese, spinach & sun dried tomatoes) and homemade coconut ice cream (without the cream!) After we learned to eat “skinny” we headed back out to the Crawfords for lasagna and home made apple cobbler. The diet begins “tomorrow”

These are the people of America. They are not the exception; they are the rule. They are your neighbors who are waiting for you to step out and say “Hello.” They want to share their recipes and their lives with you. They want to get to know you but don’t know how.

You need to take the first step. When trying to connect with people we’ve never met before, you can simply ask a question. We use what we call the Indian technique…that’s right… we simply ask “How.” How long have you lived here? How did you learn to do that? How did you come up with that idea?

Try it….you’ll make new friends and …so will they!