Made

A couple days ago we made our Christmas trees. Lucy has one and I have one. We make them out of green construction paper and then cut ornaments out of different colored paper. On each ornament we put the names of friends and family members. It reminds us of all the people we love and who love us. We always have a great time together doing this.

Shoes are always an ongoing expense when you're in the "walking for CHRIST business" and we're always looking for comfortable and durable footwear. We made the decisions to try a new style shoe put out by Skechers. It's suppose to help you get in shape and lose a few pounds. Invested in a pair today and they are amazing comfortable for "new" shoes.

We made plans to go to Fort Valley, Georgia on Christmas Eve. Calvary Chapel Heartland invited us to share the Innkeeper on Christmas Eve. We are so excited about going. Pastor Steve and his family are headed to California to spend time with their family whom they haven't seen in a few years. They trusted us with their congregation on one of the the most magnificent nights of the year and we are very honored.

Lots of things get made this time of year...plans, presents, good food and, of course, cookies! But the best thing to be made by anyone at any time of the year is a decision to make Jesus Christ Master of your life. It's not about going to church or following rules...it's about having a new Best Friend. Christ cares for you and wants the best for you. He will never leave you or let you down.
He's the missing piece in your life...You were made for each other!

Dog Day Afternoon

They came out of nowhere and if they hadn't barked I would have been lunch! It was the classic good dog/bad dog set up. One was black and he was trying to circle around me while the mangy white one was on the frontal attack.

I was walking against traffic on route 380 east on our way to Greenville, Texas. It was a busy highway plus it's Christmas time and everyone was in a hurry to get somewhere or get back from somewhere. The dogs were both about the size of an Irish setter. I generally don't worry about dogs on a busy road. Dog owners normally keep their animals confined in yards or in the house. I don't think anyone owned these two.They were not well kept and they looked hungry! These were neighborhood renegades.

It's a good thing I travel with a staff...No, not a group of people, a big stick! I was taught to never use the staff in an aggressive manner but to raise it to make myself bigger than my attacker or to keep the animal at bay. This white dog was aggressive. I was walking backward down the highway, against traffic with a five foot stick between us. In the meantime, I tried to keep my eye on the black dog far to my right. Now my first line of defense against aggressive dogs is to get to the other side of the road and let the traffic be a natural line of defense. The speed of the cars and the sound of the engine generally discourages any canine pursuit. This day there was too much traffic and I was walking backward!

I've learned that dogs are territorial. They bark to protect their living area and once you have left their area, they return home hoping their master will reward them with a biscuit for staunchly defending the homeland. These two seem to think the world was theirs and I was intruding!

Then it occurred to me...call Jesus! So I stopped, looked my adversary in the eye and said in a loud voice "Stop! In the Name of Jesus!" He looked at me for a moment, blinked and continued to bark and move forward. I thought, "What happened? Did I say it the wrong way? That should have worked." In the next moment, a little red car...I don't know the make or model, whether the driver was male or female, young or old, black or white....a little red car darted in between me and the dog. It honked it's horn again and again and drove toward the dogs running them off. I waved "Thanks" and it sped away.

As I turned around to face the traffic, I asked God why the Name of Jesus hadn't stopped the dogs...I asked why my faith didn't work...doubts began to fill my mind and then God asked me a question.... "Nicholas, my son, Who do you think sent that car?"

A Wonderful Week Followed by Waiting

We had two opportunities to share The Innkeeper of Bethlehem...one in the high desert at Silver Lakes Community Church and another just outside of Los Angeles at Emmanuel Reformed Church. We made our travel arrangements from DFW to LAS so we could see the family and check in on son-in-law Alex at the hospital before and after our storytelling.

Everything went wonderfully...The Innkeeper of Bethlehem was very well received, Alex seemed to have made some progress and sons, Chris & Frank, took us out to a fantastic dinner at Wolfgang Puck's (they knew the chef...a definite plus!) In between all of that, we got to spend some time with a few of our very good friends in Orange County!

Had put the RV in the shop for some maintenance and had hoped the work would be completed by the time we got back but....nothing seems to work out the way we plan. Needed the shock brackets welded plus we needed new shocks (a special order item...of course!) and so here we sit...still waiting. The good news is that we should be able to pick up the RV tomorrow...or the next day :)

A Touch to the Heart

Her name was Amy. I saw her at a Keith Miller Conference in Dallas. She was a lovely woman, tall and thin and sat stately in her wheelchair. I looked around the ballroom and just about everyone had their hands raised praising God. Amy caught my eye because I had never seen anyone raise their body to praise God! She pushed herself up on the arms of her wheelchair, straightened her body and joined in the worship.

She deeply touched my heart...it took me three days to get up the courage to tell her so. It's important to share with people how they impact our life. Most folks think no one sees them; no one notices. Yet each of us continually teach the other.

Who touched you today?

Update

Thanksgiving for Lucyah and I was spent at Cracker Barrel! It was a good meal and in the Thanksgiving tradition, we stuffed ourselves! We even had some leftovers to take home and when we got home...which was the RV sitting in the parking lot, we took a nap! Tradition!

No sooner did the day pass than did our thoughts turn to Christmas. The rapid transition for us was due in part to our upcoming trip to see our family. It's funny how God works things out...we had two requests to do the Innkeeper of Bethlehem in California...one on December 6th and the other on the 7th. After our son-in-law got injured, we decided to fly into Las Vegas rather than Los Angeles, visit the family, drive to California do the two presentations and re-visit the family. That takes us off the road for nearly a week!

Shortly before Thanksgiving, some friends invited us to a conference held at the Sheraton at DFW. Bill Johnson, a pastor that we like from California, was going to speak and our good friends were going, so we said "Yes." In the middle of all this, we had some plumbing issues with the RV that needed to be tended to. We decided to see if we could get the RV into a shop and leave it there for some maintenance while we were in California.

God set up everything for us....1) We're going to the conference 2) we'll stay in the RV until Wednesday 3) Take the RV into the shop just before we go west 4) visit the family 5) do the presentations 6) pick up the RV 7) resume the walk without any additional loss of time. WOW!

I love my God!

Stand

I had crossed the road and was watching for signs of Lucyah and our motor home. It was meal time!

As cars passed by, people noticed me just standing there. Some gawked, some waved, some honked and it dawned on me that sometimes we don't have do anything...just stand our ground.

They could tell I was dressed in Biblical attire. They saw the cross around my neck. If I just took my two square feet for God, the Holy Spirit would do the rest. He would make them think, to examine themselves, to question. He would lead them to The Answer.

God tells us in 2 Chronicles 20:17 to ...."stand firm, hold your position and see the salvation of the Lord." In Galations 5:1, we 're told we are free and to stand firm. I Cor 16:13 tells us to "stand firm in the faith." When we hold our position as followers of Jesus Christ, when we acknowledge Christ by our stand, The Father will honor our obedience and bless our land and our people.

We are all called to go and share the Gospel and sometime that speaks the loudest when we simply stand firm in our values.

Let's Talk About Money

He pulled on to the side of the road...."Do you need some money?" "No,I'm fine," I replied. "So you got all the money you need?" "I'm fine but I do have something for you." With that I gave Hobson a DVD of Zacchaeus. After that we had a short but pleasant time together. I liked him. He had a good heart...you could tell.

After we parted, I thought why is it that folks think people in any type of "street" ministry are broke or hurting financially? Now, Lucyah and I don't have a home, that's true. We don't have a stash of cash or a bulging retirement fund either but we have something better.

We have hope and hope is the positive expectation that God is doing something good in our life today! Now some people wonder why we turn down money offered to us. The answer is we don't always but sometimes God just puts it on our heart to say "No, thank you." It's not that we don't want the money. We just don't want folks to think that we're out here begging for money when we're really begging for them to accept God's love. Hobson insisted on giving me $20 before he left and gratefully, I took it.

God is our Provider. We know many wealthy people who do not contribute to our ministry. God hasn't touched their heart to support us. Many of them support other good ministries. They are still our friends. When someone donates to Christ's ministry through us, we know God touched their heart to do so. When we get an opportunity to speak and a love offering is taken, we know it's because the Holy Spirit touched the pastor.

Ministries, businesses, families and governments...all need money to function however, money is a by-product of loving, serving and building. God is the Source of all provision. He never leaves us, forsakes or fails us. With Him, we lack nothing!