Our second go at life on the road began somewhat shakily. We left on Friday afternoon but did not make it to a campsite until Saturday night. Friday night was spent in a Walmart parking lot, and most of the rest of Friday and Saturday was spent driving. The Rv kept cutting out and even dying occasionally.
By Saturday night we were frustrated and asking God why he has sent us on a journey that seemed to be so pointless and frustrating. We slowly realized that we had pushed to hard, instead of taking our time and enjoying ourselves, we had our idea of where we should go and how quickly.
We are going on from here today with a new attitude, we will take it slow and see what we see.
This morning God lead me to a section of scripture in my reading that I believe he is calling forth for us, it was this.
"I have received a command to bless;
he has blessed, and I cannot change it. "No misfortune is seen in Jacob,
no misery observed in Israel.
The Lord their God is with them;
the shout of the King is among them. God brought them out of Egypt;
they have the strength of a wild ox. There is no divination against Jacob,
no evil omens against Israel.
It will now be said of Jacob
and of Israel, 'See what God has done!' (Numbers 23:20-23 NIV)
I believe God has called us on the road and will bless us in it. This post is really more for my own memory than anything. I am keeping it short as I am writing it on my phone.
Until next time, may his blessing overtake you and his love be shown in your day.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Trying to listen
It is amazing to realize how God really does care what one family does with there lives. Sometimes when I sit back and listen to various family and friends talk about how they want Gods will in this or that sometimes it is hard to fathom that very seemingly small fact. God cares. It is hard to fathom the intricate paths our lives lead us on that eventually leads us to the end with Father God, this past week my family has had two separate instances were God spoke directly to our family.
To explain each of them I must first provide some background to each prayer request that has been going on for some time in our family. First is this trip that we are on, both BB and I have felt for quite a while that this trip would eventually end with us settling down somewhere outside of Iowa. I am going to pause there for a moment to let all you Iowa readers stop screaming now, ok are we good? I know that there are several families in Iowa that expressed there earnest desire that we come back to Iowa, including my family. That being said we have felt like we would end up settling somewhere, but we don't really know where. For quite a while now we have felt a great love for Texas. I can't even say when this started, all I know is that for several years now both my wife and I have greatly desired to settle some land in Texas. This past week we were leaving the library when a man walked up to our van as we were getting ready to pull out and struck up a conversation. Now if you are anything like me your first thought is do we have any valuables and then is that what he is after. I joke around but that kind of thing is out of my comfort zone were as Angie always tells me I need to relax. It seems that this man saw our Iowa license plates and had to come over and talk because he use to live in Wisconsin and work in Iowa. (Quite a commute huh.) It seems he had a territory that included Iowa, anyway after a bit of talking we found out that he had just moved to Virginia from Texas. After talking to him for a few minutes about Texas he looked at us and said, “You know if you’re going to ever settle in Texas you should really live here” he then proceeded to describe Texas and all of the areas and even went as far as to see the Almanac on our dash and pull it out and show us on the map where everything was. Now we may or may not settle in Texas, it is all in God’s hands. This meeting seemed all to coincidently to be just a passing meeting. We all felt as we were rolling away in our van that God had put that man in our path that day. It was one of those things that though it definitely doesn’t decide for sure where we will live, we haven’t started looking for land, it is nice to know that God is definitely in control.
The second instance was just today, but first I have to give the background. For over a year now I have been toying around with writing a work of fiction, I labored over it while we were in Iowa for quite a while and then got busy doing other things. Before we left Iowa a brother in the Lord came up to me and said, “God says to write the book”. Well considering he didn’t know that I had been writing a book I would say that was a definite word from God. So after we settled in here in Virginia I finally got around to picking up working on my book again. I have worked and reworked it till I am getting happy with what it looks like, but still after all of this I couldn’t help but wonder. Is this the book that I am supposed to write, am I just wasting my time on something no one will want to read? In the last couple of days I have been really thinking about the cover of the book, I am most likely going to self publish an E-book and that means that everything has to be done by me including the cover. So I have been obsessing over the cover without mentioning anything to my family, then today my son looks at me and says “you know dad, I think for your book you should make the cover like this.” He then proceeded to describe the exact cover that I have been thinking I would like to do. I sat there with my mouth open as he described it, yet again father God has shown how he cares about the silly little things that we obsess over. Now I do feel the need to point out to those of you reading this that I put this blog out on my own, that means no proof reading or help……which come to think of it I definitely need. For the book however there will be plenty of proof reading and rereading.
So those are two of the ways that God has been speaking to our family, as for when we are going to start traveling again. We are thinking probably at the end of March beginning of April. Then I will have a little more exciting things going on and may not wait two months to post….but I wouldn’t hold my breathe. Until next time, may you listen to and obey all that God speaks in your lives.
To explain each of them I must first provide some background to each prayer request that has been going on for some time in our family. First is this trip that we are on, both BB and I have felt for quite a while that this trip would eventually end with us settling down somewhere outside of Iowa. I am going to pause there for a moment to let all you Iowa readers stop screaming now, ok are we good? I know that there are several families in Iowa that expressed there earnest desire that we come back to Iowa, including my family. That being said we have felt like we would end up settling somewhere, but we don't really know where. For quite a while now we have felt a great love for Texas. I can't even say when this started, all I know is that for several years now both my wife and I have greatly desired to settle some land in Texas. This past week we were leaving the library when a man walked up to our van as we were getting ready to pull out and struck up a conversation. Now if you are anything like me your first thought is do we have any valuables and then is that what he is after. I joke around but that kind of thing is out of my comfort zone were as Angie always tells me I need to relax. It seems that this man saw our Iowa license plates and had to come over and talk because he use to live in Wisconsin and work in Iowa. (Quite a commute huh.) It seems he had a territory that included Iowa, anyway after a bit of talking we found out that he had just moved to Virginia from Texas. After talking to him for a few minutes about Texas he looked at us and said, “You know if you’re going to ever settle in Texas you should really live here” he then proceeded to describe Texas and all of the areas and even went as far as to see the Almanac on our dash and pull it out and show us on the map where everything was. Now we may or may not settle in Texas, it is all in God’s hands. This meeting seemed all to coincidently to be just a passing meeting. We all felt as we were rolling away in our van that God had put that man in our path that day. It was one of those things that though it definitely doesn’t decide for sure where we will live, we haven’t started looking for land, it is nice to know that God is definitely in control.
The second instance was just today, but first I have to give the background. For over a year now I have been toying around with writing a work of fiction, I labored over it while we were in Iowa for quite a while and then got busy doing other things. Before we left Iowa a brother in the Lord came up to me and said, “God says to write the book”. Well considering he didn’t know that I had been writing a book I would say that was a definite word from God. So after we settled in here in Virginia I finally got around to picking up working on my book again. I have worked and reworked it till I am getting happy with what it looks like, but still after all of this I couldn’t help but wonder. Is this the book that I am supposed to write, am I just wasting my time on something no one will want to read? In the last couple of days I have been really thinking about the cover of the book, I am most likely going to self publish an E-book and that means that everything has to be done by me including the cover. So I have been obsessing over the cover without mentioning anything to my family, then today my son looks at me and says “you know dad, I think for your book you should make the cover like this.” He then proceeded to describe the exact cover that I have been thinking I would like to do. I sat there with my mouth open as he described it, yet again father God has shown how he cares about the silly little things that we obsess over. Now I do feel the need to point out to those of you reading this that I put this blog out on my own, that means no proof reading or help……which come to think of it I definitely need. For the book however there will be plenty of proof reading and rereading.
So those are two of the ways that God has been speaking to our family, as for when we are going to start traveling again. We are thinking probably at the end of March beginning of April. Then I will have a little more exciting things going on and may not wait two months to post….but I wouldn’t hold my breathe. Until next time, may you listen to and obey all that God speaks in your lives.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Smelling the roses!
On our journey so far we have met some wonderful people. And most of the time we met them in times of trouble were I was forced to stop and look around. One such instance happened when I needed to light the water heater for the first time, unlike those at home an RV water heater has an open flame and looked completely foreign to me. So just to make sure I wasn't going to blow up our home I asked a couple of ladies that were staying a crossed from us if they knew anything about it. They did, and the RV was safe. This started what ended up being an ongoing friendship. Over the next few days we talked several times and learned lots about Florida cotton and life on the road in general. When we were getting ready to leave they came over and gave us there contact info and said to stop by if we are ever in there neck of the woods. Now we never quoted scripture or called them to make a choice for God right there, but we did spend allot of time talking with them about lots of things including God and his church. They had been hurt by people that called themselves Christians in the past and that wound was still festering in them; hopefully God used us to heal that wound and to start calling them back to him.
There was also a ministry that we came across that is doing some amazing things for the people of Florida. When we left we had less time to organize than we had hoped because of dealing with the vandalism on our house. As a result we had more in our RV than we had hoped for. (Not quite as bad as an episode of hoarders, but pretty close!) As a result we have been purging things that we don't need along the way. One set of purging led us to a thrift store named "Well of Hope thrift store" we walked in to make a donation and were blown away by the servants we found there. This store is run by a couple who are both pastors of a local church. They have the thrift store there to help fund the food pantry that they run. In talking with the pastor he said that the only reason he has a thrift store is so he can meet people to pray with and keep the food pantry well funded. While I was there I saw them pray for three or four different people and bless others with free stuff not to mention offering us a free turkey to take with us (it was a couple of days before thanksgiving.)
Now there were other people on the way that we met and talked with and that we are still talking to, the point of these to stories is to make me remember and maybe help some of you to stop and talk to people. If you make yourself available to people you will learn about them and hopefully minister to them as well. I know this is the journey God has me on, when we started out God had me read a story in Genesis where he told Abraham to go to the place He would show him and that through him God would bless the nations. Now I don't mean by this that I believe that we will be a big name or known to really anyone but our friends and family but rather that God can use us to bless people everywhere we go. I believe that is what God wants from all of us everyday, as the saying goes, stop and smell the roses. Don't be so focused on your schedule that you miss that person who is hurting and really needs someone to talk to. Until next time, may God give you a fresh perspective of those around you everyday.
There was also a ministry that we came across that is doing some amazing things for the people of Florida. When we left we had less time to organize than we had hoped because of dealing with the vandalism on our house. As a result we had more in our RV than we had hoped for. (Not quite as bad as an episode of hoarders, but pretty close!) As a result we have been purging things that we don't need along the way. One set of purging led us to a thrift store named "Well of Hope thrift store" we walked in to make a donation and were blown away by the servants we found there. This store is run by a couple who are both pastors of a local church. They have the thrift store there to help fund the food pantry that they run. In talking with the pastor he said that the only reason he has a thrift store is so he can meet people to pray with and keep the food pantry well funded. While I was there I saw them pray for three or four different people and bless others with free stuff not to mention offering us a free turkey to take with us (it was a couple of days before thanksgiving.)
Now there were other people on the way that we met and talked with and that we are still talking to, the point of these to stories is to make me remember and maybe help some of you to stop and talk to people. If you make yourself available to people you will learn about them and hopefully minister to them as well. I know this is the journey God has me on, when we started out God had me read a story in Genesis where he told Abraham to go to the place He would show him and that through him God would bless the nations. Now I don't mean by this that I believe that we will be a big name or known to really anyone but our friends and family but rather that God can use us to bless people everywhere we go. I believe that is what God wants from all of us everyday, as the saying goes, stop and smell the roses. Don't be so focused on your schedule that you miss that person who is hurting and really needs someone to talk to. Until next time, may God give you a fresh perspective of those around you everyday.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
The road we travel
Ok, so I decided that I have to post some of the crazy things that have happened to us on the road so far. I know that God has used all of this stuff to get us where we are now, where is that you ask? Well I'll tell you, we are in Richmond Virginia. Now I now that is not Florida like I was at my last post or the Keys like we planned but after telling the story I'm sure it will all make sense in a crazy all over the place kind of way.
So back in Iowa we had our house rented out and trying to pack as fast as we could to be out by November first. Long story short, that didn't happen. Instead we found ourselves leaving Des Moines on the night of the second. One of our tires was low on the car dolly and had to be aired up and we went on our way, we made it about four blocks to the library when the tire on the dolly popped. So we pulled in to the library and proceeded to try to get BB and our boys out so they could go into the library while I changed the tire. That is when the wheelchair lift stopped working. After about a half hour of messing with it I was able to get her out in manual mode but barely got the lift closed again. Did I mention it was dark by this time and raining? Well after messing around with it for quite a while I finally got the tire changed and back on the road. We made it to BB's Dads house about one o’clock that night, and crashed almost immediately. The next day while looking at the ramp we realized that the dolly frame was bent and in the period of about 200 miles had removed almost all of the tread from the brand new tire. So with the help of some of BB's Dad's friends we got it straightened out and ready to go and it only took about three days. After finally getting to Orlando and hooking up the water we found out that there was a leak, evidently while putting in the new floor I had accidentally put a screw threw a water line. Two days and $250 later we had water. (We now have a new appreciation for silly little things like showers and drinking water.) That is when we discovered that our fridge didn't work so instead of being able to cook our own food like planned we had to eat out or eat only nonperishable food.
We had planned on doing what is called boon docking for allot of our time in Florida, (boon docking is when you park somewhere like a Wal-Mart over night with there permission. however we know now that Florida has strict rules against this and they will give you a $500 ticket if you are found boon docking anywhere. So after our exhausting 16 days at Disney we started out of town and stopped at an auto part store to pick up a few things. We realized after pulling in that they did not have a pull through type lot, to most people that isn't a big deal but to a guy driving a vehicle that measure about 58 feet long having to turn around is a big deal. While in the process of turning around the tong on the car dolly got bent bad enough that we could no longer pull our mini van on it. So feeling down and out but trying to make the best of a bad situation we visited a church the next day and looked around for ways to fix the car dolly. After failing at finding a fix we decided to continue on with our journey with BB driving the mini van and me the RV. That is when the last piece fell, a tire blew on the RV and I spent two hours in the rain at a gas station trying to put on the spare. We finally had to call a mobile auto company as six of the lug nuts just would not budge no matter how much wd-40 and beating on it I did. That was when BB and I looked at each other and agreed that we were almost out of money and frustrated beyond belief, so we called her uncle in Virginia and asked if we could come there for a while. We found out that BB's grandma was about to be transferred to hospice care and that they simply didn't know what would happen from there. We immediately pointed our grill to Richmond and got there as soon as we could. I believe that God let all that stuff happen so we would end up in Richmond where BB can spend as much time with her grandma as she wants and we are able to stay in her house while we are here. God always has a plan, we have been so blessed by the churches we have attended and know that God has us right where he wants us. The first church we went to have a guest speaker in that preached about being a servant wherever you are, if you serve people they will listen to you. So God has been reminding me daily to serve everyone I meet in any capacity that they allow. The second church we went to was here in Richmond and we plan on going back, we felt like the pastor knew our whole story, he talked about living a life that wasn’t concerned with being comfortable but rather following God in whatever he calls. I want to post again soon about some of the awesome people and ministry’s we met along the way but that will suffice for now. Until newt time may you find God on your journey in the sun or in the rain.
So back in Iowa we had our house rented out and trying to pack as fast as we could to be out by November first. Long story short, that didn't happen. Instead we found ourselves leaving Des Moines on the night of the second. One of our tires was low on the car dolly and had to be aired up and we went on our way, we made it about four blocks to the library when the tire on the dolly popped. So we pulled in to the library and proceeded to try to get BB and our boys out so they could go into the library while I changed the tire. That is when the wheelchair lift stopped working. After about a half hour of messing with it I was able to get her out in manual mode but barely got the lift closed again. Did I mention it was dark by this time and raining? Well after messing around with it for quite a while I finally got the tire changed and back on the road. We made it to BB's Dads house about one o’clock that night, and crashed almost immediately. The next day while looking at the ramp we realized that the dolly frame was bent and in the period of about 200 miles had removed almost all of the tread from the brand new tire. So with the help of some of BB's Dad's friends we got it straightened out and ready to go and it only took about three days. After finally getting to Orlando and hooking up the water we found out that there was a leak, evidently while putting in the new floor I had accidentally put a screw threw a water line. Two days and $250 later we had water. (We now have a new appreciation for silly little things like showers and drinking water.) That is when we discovered that our fridge didn't work so instead of being able to cook our own food like planned we had to eat out or eat only nonperishable food.
We had planned on doing what is called boon docking for allot of our time in Florida, (boon docking is when you park somewhere like a Wal-Mart over night with there permission. however we know now that Florida has strict rules against this and they will give you a $500 ticket if you are found boon docking anywhere. So after our exhausting 16 days at Disney we started out of town and stopped at an auto part store to pick up a few things. We realized after pulling in that they did not have a pull through type lot, to most people that isn't a big deal but to a guy driving a vehicle that measure about 58 feet long having to turn around is a big deal. While in the process of turning around the tong on the car dolly got bent bad enough that we could no longer pull our mini van on it. So feeling down and out but trying to make the best of a bad situation we visited a church the next day and looked around for ways to fix the car dolly. After failing at finding a fix we decided to continue on with our journey with BB driving the mini van and me the RV. That is when the last piece fell, a tire blew on the RV and I spent two hours in the rain at a gas station trying to put on the spare. We finally had to call a mobile auto company as six of the lug nuts just would not budge no matter how much wd-40 and beating on it I did. That was when BB and I looked at each other and agreed that we were almost out of money and frustrated beyond belief, so we called her uncle in Virginia and asked if we could come there for a while. We found out that BB's grandma was about to be transferred to hospice care and that they simply didn't know what would happen from there. We immediately pointed our grill to Richmond and got there as soon as we could. I believe that God let all that stuff happen so we would end up in Richmond where BB can spend as much time with her grandma as she wants and we are able to stay in her house while we are here. God always has a plan, we have been so blessed by the churches we have attended and know that God has us right where he wants us. The first church we went to have a guest speaker in that preached about being a servant wherever you are, if you serve people they will listen to you. So God has been reminding me daily to serve everyone I meet in any capacity that they allow. The second church we went to was here in Richmond and we plan on going back, we felt like the pastor knew our whole story, he talked about living a life that wasn’t concerned with being comfortable but rather following God in whatever he calls. I want to post again soon about some of the awesome people and ministry’s we met along the way but that will suffice for now. Until newt time may you find God on your journey in the sun or in the rain.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
John 14:10
I have to go ahead and post this one as well even though I just posted moments ago. I am sitting at a star bucks in Orlando and it is so much easier to post while I am using wi-fi and I just reread verse 10 and I just have to share it. It is a little bit shorter than my previous post but just as powerful.
John 14:10 (The Message)
9-10"You've been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don't understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, 'Where is the Father?' Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren't mere words. I don't just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act.
The Father who resides IN ME crafts each word into a DIVINE ACT. Praise God. That is my prayer in my life, that as I go forth on this journey of faith that God will breathe His words into me and pour them out to the people I meet and make it a divine act in there life. It makes me excited just to think about it. If we start going forth with this prayer on our lips imagine what God will do to every person we meet!
Father God, I just come to you right now and ask you to make the words I speak not mere words but that you who reside in me would craft each word into a divine act. Use me Father in this generation, do your works through me. Do not allow my flesh to get in your way, burn it our of me God. That I may follow you all the days of my life.
Until next time may Gods words be the ones you choose to speak.
John 14 verses 13 and 14
Ok, so first of all wow it's been a while! Since I last posted we have moved out and made it to Disney! So after 11 days of straight disney we are finnally taking a break..... for a day.
This is the version I first read that made me nervous. Then I read.
So back when we thought we would never get moved out of our house I was prayed for by a good friend and brother in the Lord and he told me to read John 14 and that I needed to realize who I am in Christ. Those turned out to be timely words as I received several revelations in that chapter that have definitely helped me in our journey.
The first thing that jumped out at me was in verses 13 and 14. It made me a little leery at first as I have most often heard those verses quoted by those in what I would call name it and claim it crowd. The people that I have had run ins with in this crowd always seemed to me to be more interested in what they can get from God rather than how they can serve Him. And then I read it in the message version of the Bible and it all came together.
John 14:13-14 (New International Version)
“13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. “This is the version I first read that made me nervous. Then I read.
John 14:13-14 (The Message)
From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I'll do it. That's how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I'll do.
Whatever you ask that lines up with who I am and what I am doing. That hit me like a ton of bricks, it’s not ask anything you want but rather if you are in line with God you can ask for anything that he would want for you and he will do it! I can’t tell you how much more confidence that gave me as I began to stand against the attacks of the enemy. I now know that I can petition daddy God to move the road blocks that I know are the devils work and He will do it.
I put this into immediate practice, over the next several days I started having pain in my hands that I had never had before, had to deal with the house vandalism plus getting us packed and out of the house just to name a few of the issues we faced. All of these were almost immediately resolved upon my knowing how to pray to my God. God is so good, he allows things to finally sink in that should have been realized years earlier. This is the first of the things that I learned in this chapter with more to come. Until next time may His love abound in your life today.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Joseph
For the past several days I have been reading and rereading Joseph's life in Genesis. The thing that stuck out to me more than anything was how long Joseph was in prison. Over and over it says some time later.... then two years later. Joseph must have been in prison for many years and yet he still trusted God to take care of him, and God did. I wish I could say that there is where the lesson ends, however this week has made me feel as though I were in prison for years. It started out simple enough, with a sink that wouldn't drain but after two days of being unable to yield any tangible results we called a sewer company to come take a look. I ended up calling the sewer company, the police and my insurance agent because we found out that our clogged pipe was the result of some neighborhood kids pouring rock into the sewer pipes on my roof. I can't begin to say the battle that raged in our hearts when realizing what had happened. But the fact of the matter is that this was just Satan trying desperately to distract us. The bible says in Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (New International Version)
So, in the midst of our trials, we choose to praise the Lord. Daddy God will not let us fall. I know he has a plan and he will turn these trials into a testimony. Thank you God for taking care of us, You are so good. Until next time, God bless.
So, in the midst of our trials, we choose to praise the Lord. Daddy God will not let us fall. I know he has a plan and he will turn these trials into a testimony. Thank you God for taking care of us, You are so good. Until next time, God bless.
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