I love a road trip, I love the drive and everything about a road trip. This Saturday we drove from our home in Maineville to a small town in Southern Illinois. Total distance was 219 miles each way. It took us 6 1/2 hour to get there and 4 1/2 hours to get home due to lunch and a couple of map quest and driver related detours along the way.
Why did I venture to Illinois you might ask?
Well a friend of the family who happens to be a senior pastor at the First United Methodist Church of this town just happened to read my blog on the Story of Grace (listed below for your viewing pleasure of course) and this story just happened to have meaning to him and he just happened to be finishing up a revival at his church were a speaker might just happen to be able to share a st
ory of his testimony. This Pastor, Pastor Gene, asked me if I would be able to come tell my story at a cabin next to a pond at the end of a week of revival. It just happens that instead of being in Mexico as was planned or being at my sister in laws wedding as was also planned for that weekend, I was free. It just so happens that I feel God is leading me away from what I have grown comfortable in doing and into a new phase of life. It just so happened that Pastor Gene had some things to share with me after it was all over that wouldn't have been shared if I wasn't there. Now, its time to quote one of my favorite Pastors and speakers. "Nothing, Just, Happens" The point, God is involved and nothing is purely accidental. God is involved and there is a message in everything. God is involved and touching lives. My life, Gene's life, the lives of the congregational members and guests who might have been gathered there. I was meant to be there and I was meant to do something, Pastor Gene was meant to facilitate this and somebody there heard something they needed to hear. That's my belief. I believe this because Nothing Just Happens.
Now, let me tell the tale as best as I can recall it.
We left Maineville at 10:59-1/2 in the morning because I said I wanted to leave between 10 and 11 so we would not have to rush. Slight miscalculation on my part at this point. We start off down the road to find our way to State Route 50 West. All we really need to do is stay on this road and we will eventually get there. I printed off mapquest directions and left Pastor Gene's directions and phone number at home. Miscalculation number two. Gracie is being soooooooooo good on this trip, she is talking a lot, but what else is she going to do. Well, the answer to that is sing a lot. It moves me every time she sings her bible school songs. Particularly the way she says Jesus and Lord. You would have to hear it so I wont bother t0 explain other than to say she is four, Chinese, has a little bit of a speech impediment and a southern drawl she is working hard to master thanks to my wife and her family. We stopped for lunch briefly and were on the road again. It has become obvious to me that leaving plenty of time was not leaving enough time due to traffic and frequent 25 MPH zones that I had not expected to be so crowded. It was time to pick up the pace and rush a little bit. We had just left the latest po-dunk town and the speed limit was now 60 MPH. We were on a two lane highway next to a railroad track but we were only going about 45 MPH behind a semi truck. I looked around the truck and saw miles of straight road ahead. Okay I though, I can pass this truck and make up some time, nothing is coming and its just one truck so let me gently sway out across the line and get a better look. Hmm, its not one truck but two semis drafting along at about 45 MPH. I nailed the gas and off we go. Next observation, we are passing on a straight road that has a subtle decline to it, in other words the trucks, plural are picking up speed. Next observation, there is a minivan in front of both trucks making this a three vehicle pass attempt. Next observation, something is now in front of me and closing fast. Lets do the math, If I am moving at about 80 MPH and the truck is now doing 55MPH I am passing the three vehicle line at 25 MPH or so. Now if I am doing 80 and the approaching vehicle is doing 60 we are closing that gap at 140 MPH. If you figure that the visual range on a cloudy day in these conditions is about 1/2 mile and the distance I need to travel to clear the 3 vehicles is a moving 1/10 mile then you can calculate that I have 16 seconds to make this pass. 14 seconds into my most recent miscalculation, I dive in between truck 2 and the minivan, I breath a sigh of relieve, giggle a little and thank God for watching over t
hose that are His. Angie has a brief Charismatic Pentecostal prayer session in the seat next to me and we continue on our way. We arrive at a cross roads were mapquest tells me to turn right onto 50 East. Note to self, no matter what, you cant get to Illinois from Indiana while traveling East. This error costs us 15 miles north and 15 miles south and about a half hour more delayed. Next we get to a split in the road that causes a small synapse to fry and I merge onto a highway headed north. Note to self, while in Indiana you will never find Southern Illinois while heading north. This latest miscalculation cause a 6 mile delay north and 6 miles back south. At 4:20 PM we arrive, woot woot. We needed to be there by 4:30 their time and we made it with 10 minutes to spare.
Pastor Gene and his wife Mary, were very gracious and welcoming hosts. Exactly what one would expect from such a Christian family. Well visiting time is over, time to head to the church van and make our way to the camp sight. Upon arrival we found a fairly diverse group of folks ranging in age from the early teens to age 96. Connie is 96 years young. She is a great lady. She made us feel welcome and showed us around a bit. This cabin and pond is her place. She mostly uses it for retreats and events such as this one. Connie didn't act her age at all, God has truly blessed her body as she wa
s moving around better than people half her age. Her mind was as sharp as could be as well. Next we met one of her daughters whose name escapes me tonight, but she was just a sweet as momma. There is a group of about 8 or 10 early teens running around the pond, fishing, boating roasting marshmallows etc. People are sitting around the fire with hot dogs and such. This relaxing pace continues until about 6 o'clock or so. Then pastor Gene calls everyone together and talks a bit. He then moves on to introduce a man with a guitar. This guy was great. I want to say his name was Gary, but I am probably wrong there. Anyway, he played several praise and worship songs and we all sang together, all 30 or so of us. I was moved to tears at one point when he chose to play Amazing Grace. It was an awesome mood setter. Pastor Gene then did 4 baptisms. A couple, a youth, and a women on her own. This women, Teresa, was not doing well with the emotions of the day. She choose this day to not only call out to the Lord to help her in her struggles, but to call out to her church body as well. I hope the church body responds as the whole Body of Christ and lifts her out of her troubles, amen. After this, I am introduced and I tell the story of Grace. I talk for about an hour or so telling the whole story on the fly. Angie helps me with a few details along the way and Grace decides to help too, why not, its her story. When everything is said and done its time to head home, and a couple of people came to me and made some comments. The kind of thing you would say to somebody you don't know, polite, cordial, but not very deep comments. There was one notable exception to this however. Connie came up to me and said that she couldn't hear a thing I said because her hearing is so poor, but she could feel the Spirit and it felt good. I told her thank you and it was written down. Pastor Gene is going to print it off for her later. Well to shorten this story up quite a bit, we road back to Pastors house and said our goodbyes and good nights. During this ride we talked about some things that I am praying about and thinking about. Suffice it to say for now that yet another man of God has made reference to the fact that God might be calling me into some kind of service beyond what I am able to do right now. His words have taken root in my head for now and my heart is trying to process them. After our goodbyes, we hit the road again. The road home is much quieter, Gracie is asleep before we get a mile away, and much less hectic. Angie and I talk together and I drive home. The only thing about the ride home was the road kept disappearing, but they will do that from time to time.
I do love a road trip. Particularly those that have such Spirit and affirmation to go along with them. Thanks to all of you from First United Methodist Church of small town southern Illinois.
Why did I venture to Illinois you might ask?
Well a friend of the family who happens to be a senior pastor at the First United Methodist Church of this town just happened to read my blog on the Story of Grace (listed below for your viewing pleasure of course) and this story just happened to have meaning to him and he just happened to be finishing up a revival at his church were a speaker might just happen to be able to share a st
ory of his testimony. This Pastor, Pastor Gene, asked me if I would be able to come tell my story at a cabin next to a pond at the end of a week of revival. It just happens that instead of being in Mexico as was planned or being at my sister in laws wedding as was also planned for that weekend, I was free. It just so happens that I feel God is leading me away from what I have grown comfortable in doing and into a new phase of life. It just so happened that Pastor Gene had some things to share with me after it was all over that wouldn't have been shared if I wasn't there. Now, its time to quote one of my favorite Pastors and speakers. "Nothing, Just, Happens" The point, God is involved and nothing is purely accidental. God is involved and there is a message in everything. God is involved and touching lives. My life, Gene's life, the lives of the congregational members and guests who might have been gathered there. I was meant to be there and I was meant to do something, Pastor Gene was meant to facilitate this and somebody there heard something they needed to hear. That's my belief. I believe this because Nothing Just Happens.Now, let me tell the tale as best as I can recall it.
We left Maineville at 10:59-1/2 in the morning because I said I wanted to leave between 10 and 11 so we would not have to rush. Slight miscalculation on my part at this point. We start off down the road to find our way to State Route 50 West. All we really need to do is stay on this road and we will eventually get there. I printed off mapquest directions and left Pastor Gene's directions and phone number at home. Miscalculation number two. Gracie is being soooooooooo good on this trip, she is talking a lot, but what else is she going to do. Well, the answer to that is sing a lot. It moves me every time she sings her bible school songs. Particularly the way she says Jesus and Lord. You would have to hear it so I wont bother t0 explain other than to say she is four, Chinese, has a little bit of a speech impediment and a southern drawl she is working hard to master thanks to my wife and her family. We stopped for lunch briefly and were on the road again. It has become obvious to me that leaving plenty of time was not leaving enough time due to traffic and frequent 25 MPH zones that I had not expected to be so crowded. It was time to pick up the pace and rush a little bit. We had just left the latest po-dunk town and the speed limit was now 60 MPH. We were on a two lane highway next to a railroad track but we were only going about 45 MPH behind a semi truck. I looked around the truck and saw miles of straight road ahead. Okay I though, I can pass this truck and make up some time, nothing is coming and its just one truck so let me gently sway out across the line and get a better look. Hmm, its not one truck but two semis drafting along at about 45 MPH. I nailed the gas and off we go. Next observation, we are passing on a straight road that has a subtle decline to it, in other words the trucks, plural are picking up speed. Next observation, there is a minivan in front of both trucks making this a three vehicle pass attempt. Next observation, something is now in front of me and closing fast. Lets do the math, If I am moving at about 80 MPH and the truck is now doing 55MPH I am passing the three vehicle line at 25 MPH or so. Now if I am doing 80 and the approaching vehicle is doing 60 we are closing that gap at 140 MPH. If you figure that the visual range on a cloudy day in these conditions is about 1/2 mile and the distance I need to travel to clear the 3 vehicles is a moving 1/10 mile then you can calculate that I have 16 seconds to make this pass. 14 seconds into my most recent miscalculation, I dive in between truck 2 and the minivan, I breath a sigh of relieve, giggle a little and thank God for watching over t
hose that are His. Angie has a brief Charismatic Pentecostal prayer session in the seat next to me and we continue on our way. We arrive at a cross roads were mapquest tells me to turn right onto 50 East. Note to self, no matter what, you cant get to Illinois from Indiana while traveling East. This error costs us 15 miles north and 15 miles south and about a half hour more delayed. Next we get to a split in the road that causes a small synapse to fry and I merge onto a highway headed north. Note to self, while in Indiana you will never find Southern Illinois while heading north. This latest miscalculation cause a 6 mile delay north and 6 miles back south. At 4:20 PM we arrive, woot woot. We needed to be there by 4:30 their time and we made it with 10 minutes to spare.Pastor Gene and his wife Mary, were very gracious and welcoming hosts. Exactly what one would expect from such a Christian family. Well visiting time is over, time to head to the church van and make our way to the camp sight. Upon arrival we found a fairly diverse group of folks ranging in age from the early teens to age 96. Connie is 96 years young. She is a great lady. She made us feel welcome and showed us around a bit. This cabin and pond is her place. She mostly uses it for retreats and events such as this one. Connie didn't act her age at all, God has truly blessed her body as she wa
s moving around better than people half her age. Her mind was as sharp as could be as well. Next we met one of her daughters whose name escapes me tonight, but she was just a sweet as momma. There is a group of about 8 or 10 early teens running around the pond, fishing, boating roasting marshmallows etc. People are sitting around the fire with hot dogs and such. This relaxing pace continues until about 6 o'clock or so. Then pastor Gene calls everyone together and talks a bit. He then moves on to introduce a man with a guitar. This guy was great. I want to say his name was Gary, but I am probably wrong there. Anyway, he played several praise and worship songs and we all sang together, all 30 or so of us. I was moved to tears at one point when he chose to play Amazing Grace. It was an awesome mood setter. Pastor Gene then did 4 baptisms. A couple, a youth, and a women on her own. This women, Teresa, was not doing well with the emotions of the day. She choose this day to not only call out to the Lord to help her in her struggles, but to call out to her church body as well. I hope the church body responds as the whole Body of Christ and lifts her out of her troubles, amen. After this, I am introduced and I tell the story of Grace. I talk for about an hour or so telling the whole story on the fly. Angie helps me with a few details along the way and Grace decides to help too, why not, its her story. When everything is said and done its time to head home, and a couple of people came to me and made some comments. The kind of thing you would say to somebody you don't know, polite, cordial, but not very deep comments. There was one notable exception to this however. Connie came up to me and said that she couldn't hear a thing I said because her hearing is so poor, but she could feel the Spirit and it felt good. I told her thank you and it was written down. Pastor Gene is going to print it off for her later. Well to shorten this story up quite a bit, we road back to Pastors house and said our goodbyes and good nights. During this ride we talked about some things that I am praying about and thinking about. Suffice it to say for now that yet another man of God has made reference to the fact that God might be calling me into some kind of service beyond what I am able to do right now. His words have taken root in my head for now and my heart is trying to process them. After our goodbyes, we hit the road again. The road home is much quieter, Gracie is asleep before we get a mile away, and much less hectic. Angie and I talk together and I drive home. The only thing about the ride home was the road kept disappearing, but they will do that from time to time.I do love a road trip. Particularly those that have such Spirit and affirmation to go along with them. Thanks to all of you from First United Methodist Church of small town southern Illinois.
3 comments:
Angie got penacostal ...
tell her to stop bombing people, she might be more prayed up for road trips!
Tag! you're it (detalis on my blog!!)
http://pearlsanddreams.blogspot.com/2007/10/10-20-30.html
A tag is when there is a meme (it's meme ..it's all about ME ME!) is going around, and you have to answer the 'questions' or do the theme, because you've been tagged, as in TAG you're it ....
In this particular one, you've been tagged to do a meme on 10-20-30 year 'virus' that's hitting the blog world. Jeff tagged Deneice, She tagged me, I'm tagging you ....
You have to tell what you were doing in 1997, 1987 and 1977
Then tag 5 more bloggers (like Angie and Patti, Charles, Cathy, etc) to do the same ....
*grin* but you can't tag Deneice or me, because we've already Don it, I don't know if Todd has done it or not ..... hmmmm
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