A Time For Every Season

Nothing works outs as planned. In a week's time, we should have walked from Lynchburg to Charlottesville. Instead a week passed and we were still in Lynchburg!

Our new friend, Haniel, was working on a new web site for us and needed us to be around for a few days. Getting about five miles to the gallon with the RV, we didn't see any reason to walk and then keep driving back each day. Lynchburg had a WalMart and that provided a place for us to park each night without a hassle.

Our good friend Pastor Bill Zulker has a sister (Betty) in town and we wanted to stop and give her a hug from him but we couldn't connect with her. Then we received a message from a man who simply said he was told

to contact us. We wondered what that meant? It turned out that the mystery caller was a friend of Betty's and when he called again, he invited over his home. Wallace & Elinor Turnbull were missionaries in Haiti for sixty years! They now work with the Haitian students that attend Liberty University. While we were visiting with them and hearing some of their marvelous stories, we learned that Betty was in the hospital and they took us over to visit her. Betty was every bit as delightful as her brother Bill. We managed to sneak in to see her again before we departed Lynchburg

During our travels, I noticed that the front tire was wearing badly on the inside and so we used our time to find a place that could do a front end alignment on our RV. I knew we would need one new tire but as it turned out we needed two! Piedmont Fleet Service was jammed up but service manager Louis fit us in on Friday morning. One look around made me feel confident in who we were dealing with. They service all the Emergency vehicles and firetrucks in the area and the place is so clean you could eat off the floor....really!

Now the day before we were scheduled to go to Piedmont, we had a flat. It was 11:30am and starting to get a little toasty. We called Good Sam's and they told us help would be on the way...in two to three hours! Four hours later, a very nice policewoman stopped and asked if help was on the way. We explained the situation and

she called Good Sam's who tracked down the truck coming to help. They said he should be there "any minute" and the officer said....in a deep officer-like voice "I'm waiting with these people." Lucy and I were so excited! Our champion had arrived!

Twenty minutes later, the officer asked us to call again. Once again her strong voice asked with a tinge of impatience, "Where is he?" After some fumbling and "I'll call him," they said "He just turned on your road." About five minutes later the driver arrived and started changing the tire. As I turned to thank the officer for the help, I saw her drive off. I said to Lucy, "We didn't even get her name." Just then I got a childhood flashback of a masked man and his Indian companion riding out of town.

I'm nor sure, but I think Lucy said. "Why, that's the Lone Ranger."

I checked to see how the tire changing was coming along and as it turned out we had two flats on the same side! The inner tire went flat putting extra weight on the outside tire. Plus the heat we've been having just made things worse and the outside tire blew. It was 5:00pm by the time we got back on the road. We were on our way to All Peoples Church to meet Haniel and Carmen. What a loving group of people...small church...big heart!

It's been a most interesting week but as much as I enjoyed it all. I'm ready to get back on the road!

My! My! My! What a Wonderful Day!

As I approached, he got out of his compact car, walked toward me and gave me a great big hug. “I’ve been watching you walk since Danville and I just knew I had to stop and talk with you.” Danville was about a week ago and that translates into a good seventy miles of road behind me. During that time, not only did he spot me but he took note of Lucy and the RV. He had jotted down our web site, went home one night, and did his research. By the time I met Gates he knew more about me than I did!

His job takes him all over the county delivering medication to nursing home. After he left me, he put a call into his bride, Clelon. (Gates & Clelon…kinda sounds like a law firm, huh? No divorce court for these two though, they really love each other!) I met her a couple miles up the road, she came prepared with a cold water and two mini muffins for me! She’s one of these people who was born with a smile in her voice and a twinkle in her eye. She brightened my day just spending time with her.

A little farther up the road, I met a woman who greeted me with “Pick a number between one and sixteen.” “Eight” I replied. She reached it an accordion folder, counted eight pockets over and pulled out a personally selected tract and a picture of an eighteen year old boy. “Are you a Christian?” she asked. I looked at the cross handing around my neck and smiled wryly, “Yes, I am.”

The picture of the young boy she gave was her son Barry. He died twenty-five years ago, six months before he was going to graduate high school. She wants people to know how quickly life can change and how important it is to know Christ. Her only solace is that she will see him again in heaven.

The next person in my cornucopia of American treasures was Lynne. A lady with a quick wit, creative ideas and a charming smile but who has had a hard life. Abuse comes in all forms but the longest lasting, I believe, are verbal assaults executed in rage. She has managed to overcome adverse circumstances but then fell again. Now she is getting up off the canvas for another shot at the brass ring of her destiny. She knows the Lord and is thirsty for to be and do what is right in His eyes. I was intrigued by her openness and authenticity.

Have you ever walked in the forest and had the opportunity to see a family of deer. You are as stunned by them as they are by you. You both stand still looking at each other. They are beautiful and strong; yet fragile and easily frightened. I find people are very much the same. We do not see our own majesty. We don’t know our own strength and yet our fragile egos are so easily bruised and battered. We often become skittish around something or someone slightly different.

After we finished walking for the day, we headed to Wal-Mart for supplies. Lucy was looking for some deodorant and after shower body mist. Like a good husband, I commandeer the basket when we shop and she is free to roam the aisles. When Lucy is looking for personal items, I usually station myself a safe distance away so as not to encumber the shopping experience for Lucyah and the other ladies hovering about.

I was engrossed in people watching. I especially like to watch people who are watching Lucy. Looking up this one aisle I saw an attractive twenty-something woman helping Lucy reach some of the items that were conveniently located at the six foot level. She would bring down a bottle of mist, spray the air and her and Lucy would smell the air. They would then either make faces or they would make sounds “Aaaah” “Ooooh.” They were like a couple of teenagers whose mother has let them go to the mall alone, giggling and laughing. …and there I was without a camera!

Unbeknownst to me, Carmen’s fiancé, Haniel, was watching the same scene. We looked at them and then each other, started laughing and it was then that God started to build a lovely friendship that would blossom over the next week!

BUT.......our day wasn't over. Around 9:00pm, Rebecca came by the RV to visit. I had met her mom on the road that day and mom had called her to be on the lookout for us and kind of, check us out. We invited her in and we visited for about two hours. Every life has a story and every story needs someone to hear it. Sometimes the best ministry is the "listening ministry."

We went to bed that night with the delight of God in our hearts. He had blessed us with the presence of His children and each one, a jewel. We drifted off tired and happy.

Look Around Ministry

He knocked on our door late in the afternoon. His eyes struck me as sad, he was very thin and his teeth were in need of repair. I wondered why he stopped. For food? Money? Directions? Out of curiosity?

Now here's my confession. Sometimes when I see a person I have a tendency to put them in a box. I think ...He's broke. She's successful. That one needs help but that one over there, he's got it together. God's been working with me and I'm getting better than I used to be but I still jump to conclusions about people. I was about to get another lesson.

Chad didn't want anything. He came to see if we needed a place to take a shower or do laundry. He offered us his home! As we talked with this very mild mannered loving man, he told us about his ministry. They (he and his mother) don’t have a website yet but they have that on their wish list.

They help stranded people get home. They go to bus stations and train stations and find people who missed their connection and help them in whatever way they can. Sometimes they provide people with a sandwich, snacks or a drink. Sometimes when a person lives two hours or so away, they drive them home instead of having them wait all night for their early morning connection.

He told us that the stations always have people who are down on their luck. He said, “we make sure everyone gets a Bible but they don’t need a sermon, they need practical help.” This man is a true missionary to America!

He reminded us of the opportunities to help that are all around us and yet so often…we miss them. He reminded us of how easy it is to love God…just love His children as best you can. No words needed…just a snack or a cold drink. All we need to do is...look around.

Learning Curve

July in Virginia...hot...humid and a perfect day for a nice cold slice of watermelon.

After church we stopped by the local Wal-Mart and Lucy thumped a few watermelons searching for just the right one. There it was....round....firm and melodious!

We made our way home, got out our carving knife...all the while savoring a juicy slice of summer. I cut the melon in half and.....................It Was YELLOW!

At first we thought we picked a rotten melon. We sniffed it and then took the plunge and bit into it....Delicious!

The moral of the story is.....you can't judge a watermelon by its color!

It just goes to show there is something new to learn every day.....for instance

A watermelon is a .....vegetable!
Russians make beer out of watermelon.
The world record for watermelon seed-spitting is 66 feet, eleven inches and the world's largest watermelon was grown right here in America....in Bixby, Oklahoma. It weighed in at 255 pounds!

They Can't Hear What We Don't Say

For nearly ten years now, I thought we had traveled across America doing Biblical presentations.

The other day Lucy informed me otherwise! "We don't do presentations, Nick. We do first century testimonies." "What's the difference?" I asked.

A presentation, she explained, is just a re-enactment but a testimony is a statement based on personal experience or personal knowledge. "You don't memorize your characters lines like an actor does, you remember the life you lived as them. When a person in the audience needs an encounter with Christ and sees Zacchaeus was accepted despite his lifestyle, they have hope. They realize that what God did for the tax collector, He can and will do for them."

At first, I thought it was just a manner of semantics but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Lucy was right. Testimonies, given on the stage or on the street, fill people with hope. We all know God can do wondrous things, we're not sure, however, He will do them for us. Testimonies, yours and mine, build the faith of others. Scripture (Romans 10:17) tells us that "faith comes by hearing." No none can hear if we don't share. We don't have to be eloquent. We don't need to be seminary trained...we just have to be willing.

Your life matters. Share what God has done in your life. Give someone hope.