Way Out West Part 2

April 5 & 6, 2022

We had Tuesday, April 5, off, and then sang in nearby Lovington on Wednesday night. That meant we'd camp in Hobbs for a couple of days.  After Justis finished his school in the hotel room on Tuesday (minus the history), we visited the Lea County Cowboy and Rancher Hall of Fame.  There's not a lot to do in Hobbs, New Mexico, and we figured that would be just about the most exciting thing for our cow and bull lover, Justis.  Then back in our hotel room we ate our chili and enjoyed an old movie and popcorn.  We brought kernels, popcorn salt, brown paper bags and even a stick of butter from home.     

                                                                           

Wednesday night we sang at Revolution Church of God.  It was a reacquaintance for Bobby and Faith but a first-time meeting for Grace, Justis, and myself.  Pastor Kevin Dalton came straight from work, shortening his hour-long drive to 45 minutes. Pastor Jeff ______ and his family were the ones to let us in and help us get set up. 

Just as we were surprised on Monday night in Hobbs, we were thrilled once again to see the elder Mr. & Mrs. Neufelt walk through the doors and they brought more friends with them.  We had the privilege of meeting Canuto and Alvina Elias and had a brief but good visit with them before and after church.  

To travel the way we do may not make a lot of sense to people.  When Bobby traveled for a couple of years with our daughters, Hope and Faith, it worked well.  The three of them were able to travel faster in a smaller vehicle, eat quicker and cheaper and sleep more soundly when Grace, Justis and I stayed home. When Hope left for school last summer Bobby was considering just taking Faith with him on the road.  Yes, Justis can sing a melody well but he doesn't seem to hear harmonies. I told Bobby that if he wanted to travel with Faith, I'm happy staying home.  However, if he wanted me to sing, keeping the trio, I'd be happy to do that but it would mean that Grace and Justis would come too.  It would mean traveling in a larger vehicle, sometimes pulling a trailer, spending more on gas, sometimes requiring 2 hotel rooms, sometimes asking for a handicap accessible room in order to shower Grace, and of course taking longer for stops on the road to take care of Grace's needs.  My husband and the father to our children decided to go with the latter choice.  It's not easy to travel with Grace when it comes to caring for her needs on the road nor when it comes to sharing a hotel room with her.  She awakens many nights and disturbs our sleep.  Because she will not tolerate sleeping with anyone, we usually buy a suite with a pull-out couch so that Grace can have that to herself while Faith and I share a bed and Bobby and Justis share the other bed.  Justis interrupts Bobby's sleep often too so it can really take a toll on a 3-week trip like this.  

In light of trials and challenges we have in traveling with Grace, it made my heart happy to catch a glimpse of Bobby spending extra time with Grace, after we got her ready for bed on Wednesday night. You can sure tell they love each other. 

Way Out West     

April 1-4, 2022

Getting ready for a long trip is challenging.  I've got to pack enough diapers for Grace, enough clothes for her for a week with bibs to match her clothes (because they gotta match), socks, shoes, and barretts for her hair. Then there's food / drink for the road.  I used to give her a lot of Ensures but too much of that stuff is hard on her.  I had a lot of eggs at home so I made eggs salad for all of us.  I pureed a slice of bread with egg salad and contained it in something I could throw away after the meal. Because we're out for a long trip I filled a larger cooler with contents from our refrigerator including a large container of chili, cheese slices, summer sausage, baby carrots, green pepper slices, 3 salads for myself, not to mention all the chips and pretzels. And don't forget to pack school work. Gotta look ahead and make sure I've brought all of the tests and quizzes they're supposed to take.

Friday was uneventful with an all-day drive to Fort Smith.  The usual school on the road - except that after 14 years of homeschooling on the road, I've learned to abbreviate lessons and to use a different approach to subjects like geography and history.  Obviously, we can see things that we might have only read about had we not been on the road.

On Saturday evening we made it to Guymon, Oklahoma.  And the following morning we still had an hour and a half drive to the First Baptist Church of Felt. We have known Pastor Orden and Sister Gayla and their 2 children, Sherrie and Orden JT for 13 years.  Our kids have and are growing up together and we love this family dearly. 

Sunday morning in Felt marked the first time I accompanied our trio on the bass.  I told Bobby a year ago that I had a desire to learn the bass.  He really didn't see the point so he didn't encourage me in that.  In 2018 in La Crete, Alberta we saw a family group sing and one of them played a Uke Bass.  I was amazed at the deep sounds made by this tiny bass guitar.  When in Pigeon Forge last summer for the Inspirational Country Music Awards, I had just dropped Bobby off at the venue for a rehearsal and with time on my hands I decided to drive to the music store on 66 and see if they had any Uke basses.  They did have just one, a Kaia, with pickups, built-in tuner, and a gig bag.  I bought it.  

When Hope left for school, I began moving bedrooms around and when I gave Grace her new room, I decided to put the keyboard in her room.  She loved it when I played for her so I decided to add a bass amp under the keyboard, my bass mounted above it as well as a blue tooth speaker for purposes of practicing the bass with music played from my phone.  Grace is so happy that there's a music corner in her bedroom.  Bobby, Faith, Justis and I have gathered beside her bed with our instruments and practiced a few times to her delight.

Anyway, I took a rabbit trail from our western tour to give you the back story about the bass guitar addition. My habit has been to practice the bass every morning after I dress Grace for the day. It's been working well and we decided that I'd begin playing the bass on stage in April on the tour west.  I'm still getting used to it but it's fun and it's only 3 songs.  We use tracks for everything else. 

Back to First Baptist in Felt.  Gayla fixed us an amazing roast beef and potatoes lunch and then we continued westward another 20 miles to Clayton, New Mexico to Pastor Randall Floyd's church - another friend of many years.  Randall had tables set up in the sanctuary at Clayton Assembly of God and we enjoyed a variety of soups for dinner and then sang. Pastor Randall and his beautiful wife, Cindy, have 3 sons that, just like the Hartley's in Felt, we have watched their children grow up.  

On Monday morning we made our way south through the Texas panhandle to Hobbs, New Mexico where we sang at Full Gospel Assembly of Faith, pastored by Benny Greenlee.  We had a wonderful surprise when 3 couples walked in and introduced themselves as friends from Canada.  Nellie Derksen told us she was Joella's aunt.  Joella is a dear, dear friend from La Crete, Alberta, who, shortly after we sang there in 2019, she came to visit us in Tennessee.  Nellie was with her husband, Carl.  They were visiting their daughter and son-in-law, Joe and Crystal, who live in Seminole, Texas.  The third couple was Joe's parents, Neil and Tina Neufelt.  (We can't figure out why they weren't in this group shot but we got a pic of them in the next post.) We couldn't believe we had La Crete friends at a concert way down in Hobbs!  We were thrilled.  

Fremont & Muncie, Indiana March 26 & 27, 2022

 I want to try to post a little more frequently as we head west for three weeks.  But I can't leave out last weekend in Indiana.  We made something like the 6th visit to Revelation Chapel northeast of Fremont.  We just LOVE this place.  There's an excitement within this group as they welcome us each time and they respond with so much enthusiasm.  And they always eat well afterward.  It's always a little challenging when a Saturday night service is spaced a couple of hours away from the Sunday morning service but we drove up to Muncie the day before, spent the night, drove further north to Fremont the next evening, and then had to drive the 2 hours back to Muncie after the service on Saturday night.  The good thing was we were only 5 miles from the church on Sunday morning. 

To sing in Muncie again caused us to reminisce to January 2008 when we first began singing as a family.  The funny thing was, back then when we started from home pointing our minivan northward on Saturday morning, we didn't know we were going to be ministering as a family.  But on the drive north Bobby told me he believed God was telling him to take his family with him in ministry.  Bobby sang at my Dad's church east of Lagrange on Sunday morning and then we drove south to Muncie to sing at Victory Temple pastored by Bobby's first cousin, Rick Bowen. Bobby solo'd the entire service and I gave a short testimony.  Pastor Rick prayed over us that night at the end of the service.  We were officially commissioned by God and man! 

So to return to Muncie for the first time since 2008 was meaningful for us, although we were less 2 children as Landis and Hope are not traveling with us now.  We had a great service there and were reacquainted with a few people and saw some new faces.  I was especially blessed to befriend the minister of music, Bonita Petersen, a very gifted pianist. 

Sunday night we revisited Anderson Church of God of Prophecy, pastored by Charles Barker.  He too has become a friend as we have ministered there several times in the last few years.  At the close of the service last Sunday night Pastor Chuck asked us to stand at the front as a family and called others up to lay hands on us and pray for us.  I was touched that he took his time praying for so many aspects of our lives and ministry and included ALL of our children, not hesitating in recalling everyone's names and lifting each of them up to the Father.  

Headed to our hotel in Fishers that night, we experienced trouble with our van.  The throttle body was failing / going out...I don't know how to say it.  We had a little trouble earlier this year on our way to Shepherdsville, Kentucky and it acted like our shuttle did in West Tennessee several years earlier.  We knew what to do - pull over, kill the engine, wait 60 seconds, pump the gas peddle and restart the engine.  We did that on the way to Shepherdsville and we got back home with no other instances.  Well, you know how it is.  If there's no evidence of trouble you tend to forget there's a problem.  Until the problem shows up again.  It showed up Sunday night driving from the church to our hotel.  The van stalled probably 6 times but we finally got to our room, exhausted.  The next morning we prayed before we left the hotel and expected the best but it was not to be.  We hadn't even driven a mile when the the van stalled again.  My thoughts were like this:

    "Why didn't we get this fixed earlier so we could avoid being stranded and have to possibly stay another night (or more?) in a hotel?  What if we DO have to stay in Indy while we wait for some part to be ordered?  We've got to leave for a 3-week trip at the end of this week.  Is this delay going to mess us up? If we could somehow get home, there's no way our busy mechanic is going to be able get us road-ready in time."  

You can see where my faith was.  But I also resolved not to get upset and trust that God would take care of us if we rested in Him.  

I looked on my phone for a mechanic near us.  Safe Haven Auto Mechanic was the first name I saw and it was less than 2 miles from where we had pulled off the interstate.  I called him and he said he'd look at it at 1:00 if we'd come by then.  Well, it was only 10:30 but I suggested to Bobby that we drive to the place immediately and just make sure we could find it so as to waste no time later.  Bobby didn't stop with just finding it, he went inside.  When the mechanic learned we were already there, were from out of town and had children he dropped everything and got to work.  We mentioned getting a hotel and Dave quickly said there aren't any hotels around that he'd stay in.  It was pretty cold so he told us we could wait inside.  However, we weren't there 45 minutes and he had our van up and running again!  Bobby told me later that after telling Dave that we had prayed and that HE was an answer to our prayers, Bobby could tell the comment got to him.  He didn't see tears but he could tell it effected him.  As we drove off I told Bobby that had we tried to get home or had our van fixed at home earlier, we would've waited in line and been without our van for a couple of days.  The way it happened was perfect. We had our van fixed much quicker than expected and we were able to point a mechanic named Dave to Jesus.

 Tornado in Timbo

We travel nearly every weekend and I feel like there's very little blog-worthy events to write about.  However, the events on Sunday night, March 6 in Timbo (Leslie), Arkansas were a first for us.  We sang at the First Assembly of God of Timbo, which is 2 hours north of Little Rock at the southern end of the Ozarks.  The temperature reached a very humid 82 degrees.  Bobby and I were not aware of threatening weather but right before the service started several alarms went off on phones alerting people of severe weather. Around 6:15 a gentleman rose from his seat and quickly hurried to the exit.  He returned a minute later and whispered to the pastor who stopped the service when we'd finished a song. He told us there was a tornado warning and that there was a twister near Clinton, Arkansas which was 45 minutes southwest of where we were. We prayed, speaking to the storm, and continued singing.  About 10 minutes later the same gentleman hurried to the exit again and returned quickly to speak to the pastor.  They stopped the service again and updated us by saying the tornado was headed on a path between Timbo and Mountain View, which was where our hotel was, 30 minutes away.  The pastor strongly suggested that no one leave but insisted we were safest right where we were and I completely agreed with that.  However, when he suggested that if we needed to, we could take shelter under pews (which were bolted down) in the 400-seat sanctuary or in the baptistry, I disagreed, especially when it came to Grace's safety.  I laid my mic on the altar and took Grace out of the sanctuary to a Sunday school room.  Mark, the song/worship leader, followed me out and asked me if I'd like to take Grace to an adjacent room that had a closet under a stairwell.  Indeed, I would!  We wheeled Grace into the next room and I backed her into a closet.  He ran across the hall and grabbed a couple of comforters from the nursery and I asked him to grab the mattress in the crib.  As I was on my way back to Grace I asked another gentleman to get Grace and I a bottle of water.  At that point all was still quiet so Mark told me he'd stay with Grace if I wanted to return to the sanctuary.  I picked up my mic just as Bobby was about to get to the first chorus of "Land of the Free", and we finished the song as a trio.  The service was interrupted a third and final time, this time because the sheriff had stopped by to urge us to take cover.  The lights had already flickered a couple of times but immediately after stopping the service the last time, the lights went out.  We all made our way to our safety spots of choice, Justis following me.  Faith wasn't far behind and we talked in the closet as we waited for the storm to pass. 

At no point was I afraid.  There were no raised voices except for some women singing as they waited for the storm.  All was reasonably calm - even the storm.  Yet Justis told me later that he had been shaking and that he had prayed quietly, asking God to forgive him of any and all sin. He took it all pretty seriously and wanted to be sure that if something happened to him there'd be no doubt he'd go to Jesus.  

After the storm there were no lights, but there were sales!  People still came to the merchandise table while phone lights were held up.  And there was still food!  With a little light ahead of us we made our way to the fellowship hall and filled our bellies, eating and talking in the very dimly lit room. Everyone was satisfied except Grace.  There was no power to purée her food and so I prepared a to-go box and, fortunately, the electricity never went out in Mountain View.  We had lights and Grace had her puréed food in the hotel. (There had been a tree down on the way to our hotel but it was cleared by the time we left the church.)

There are many times that God spares us from accidents on the highway by delays in our schedule.  We've seen that happen many times and we often contemplate and question how often we are spared from things that we aren't even aware of. God has been very protective over the last 14 years, that's for certain.  Last Sunday night was an obvious reminder of His protection and care for us.

The concert on March 6 was cut short by a tornado and the concert scheduled for March 13, in Kentucky was canceled because of a snow storm.  It's ok!  We are happy to go to our home church for a change and we're all together, safe and warm.

It’s Been a While!

 Another life change.  Hope will leave for Highlands College in less than 2 weeks which means in order to keep the trio going I will join Bobby and Faith on the road.  We’d love for Justis to join the trio but as of right now, Justis is not hearing harmony parts like the other kids did.  He can certainly sing well but just doesn’t hear the harmonies...yet.  We’ll work on that.  

This past weekend, July 17-18, we all traveled together to Texas and Louisiana we were close to Texarkana and had opportunity to visit Bobby’s mother, Tena, after not seeing her for 19 months.  

Hope and Faith returned from their High School Missions trip on Friday and then early Saturday morning we left for Atlanta, Texas, stopping to check in to our hotel in Texarkana on the way.  We spent time visiting with Pastor Neil Adams and some sweet, hard-working sisters, Lennie and Vicki.  These ladies made a huge spread for us and we were very appreciative.  

We had a great service and afterward, more good fellowship.  Our discussion led to the events of 2020 and Pastor Neil told us their little church, The Church at O’Farrell, never closed.  Bobby asked him why and Pastor Neil’s reply was perfect:  God told him not to.  He said that he read Psalm 91 to his congregation and stated the Church believes the Word of God or they don’t.  He told his congregants that if they wanted to stay home, they could, but the church itself would not close.  

Here is what happened as a result: no one in their congregation got sick.  As well, the little church had 8 salvations and 5 baptisms. One of those salvations, Chris, was at the concert Saturday night.  Chris told us his story of how he’d driven past the church early on a Sunday morning to go hunting.  Afterward, he passed the church building again on his way home, noticing there were cars parked in front of it and thinking it was strange since churches were closed.  But a moment after passing the church he said “something” told him to turn around and go back to the church.  He did.  He went inside and asked to speak with the pastor.  Chris and Pastor Neil had a conversation which led to Chris accepting Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.  He reported to us that he’s been to every service since that day. Pastor Neil told us that Chris brought his son and grandson not long ago and the son shared with Pastor that his dad is changed.  “All he talks about now is God and church stuff.”  He doesn’t cuss anymore and he’s happy.  Chris says he doesn’t know that any of this would’ve happened if that little church had been closed.  

We had another great visit with our friends at Victory Tabernacle in Ida, Louisiana, and met some wonderful people at Center Cross Church in Longview, Texas.

On Monday we took BBQ and all the fixings to Bobby’s mother in Texarkana and spent some much needed time with her.  We also spent a few hours with longtime friend, Elizabeth, and her family.  

Trying to get home as quickly as possible as Hope wanted to attend a gathering at our church tonight.  

Blessings from The Bowen Arrows.

I get up before everyone else to shower and dress before waking the girls in our hotel room on Sunday mornings.  Bobby comes from his room an hour later, bringing Justis with him to put a dressed-for-church Grace into her wheelchair and take her to breakfast. Hope is ready for church when Bobby comes and she and Faith go to breakfast also and they help Justis get his food.  I'm left in the room alone for 30 minutes to finish getting ready and get luggage by the door so Bobby can pick it up later.  This morning Bobby finished feeding Grace and brought a luggage cart up before I left the room and told me how he silenced the breakfast room below a few moments earlier.

In the wake of the Supreme Courts' ruling for gay marriage, all of the news shows were left with nothing to talk about but...gay marriage.  The children in the breakfast room, including my own watched the TV as it flashed pictures and videos of same-sex weddings and same-sex kisses over and over.  Finally my husband had had enough.  Standing to his feet he said, "Would someone PLEASE change the channel?!  I don't want my kids watching this."  The room fell silent as the breakfast cook quickly changed the channel to Sesame Street.  With no applause or "amens," Bobby spoke again with, "...and thanks for the support!" and left the room.  

It took guts for Bobby to do what he did and I applauded him afterward.  I was proud of him for speaking up and putting his foot down for the sake of the children.  

Bobby posted this event on Facebook and was reading the comments he received while on our way to Ebenezer Church of the Nazarene outside of Crowley, Louisiana when he pulled our van and trailer into a church driveway, parked, grabbed some gear and started walking toward the church, only then  reading the church sign: Ebenezer United Methodist Church!

To the gentleman silently watching all of the action from the front door of the church, he said, "How you doin?  I'm at the wrong church!"  The silent observer said nothing and we drove away laughing.

Our drive to Hammond Sunday afternoon was intense as we sat high atop the Mississippi River bridge in Baton Rouge waiting for traffic to move.




Bobby called his contact at New Beginnings Christian Church to say we were running late.  We never did see what caused the jam when we finally got rolling again.  However, we had to keep our speed down because of the torrential downpours.

We had just driven out of the storm but it was catching up to us when we got to Hammond and stopped at the church with only 10 minutes to spare.  There were some men outside with umbrellas waiting on us to help carry equipment inside.  Bobby and Landis had the stage set up in 10 minutes and a couple of women met me with kitchen dish towels for drying off and led me to a bathroom with a hair dryer and a tall can of hair spray.  Someone else parked our van and trailer after we unloaded Grace.  We had a full room of people waiting on us patiently and we had a fun evening of music, food, and fellowship.

Okay, so it took an eventful day like this one to break my 19-month silence on The Bowen Arrows.  After Bobby went to the wrong church I knew I had to share our laughs, but the last laugh was on all of us at the end of the day.  We said goodbye to the precious folks at New Beginnings and drove a mile before Faith said from the back seat, "Hey, where's Justis?"  Suddenly, the peace and quiet we'd been enjoying in the van for the last 2 minutes made sense.  We had left our noisy kid behind!  I told Bobby not to be too hard on Justis because he'd been hanging with a really cute 7th grade girl and was helping her and several other kids move folding chairs. Turning around on a dead end street we were back at the church a couple of minutes later to pick up our once-was-lost but now-he's-found baby.

Earth, Wind, & Fire

November 2013

In spite of the fact that all parts were not in good working order, we decided to start traveling in our motor home at the end of October, as it would allow Grace to lie down instead of sitting in the wheel chair all day long and it gave us some options for sleeping that we wouldn’t have otherwise.  We had been to Houston (in the van) and on the way home on Monday, Bobby told me he would drive our shuttle bus to Michigan on Tuesday, leave the shuttle with a friend to begin renovations, and drive our motor home back on Wednesday.  Three days after that we left for Kansas and stayed in Kansas and Oklahoma for 10 days.  The motor home served its purpose for the most part.  We couldn't totally get away from hotels (not that we want to) as the hot water isn't working, but we were able to keep our purchases down to 1 room per night because the motor home provided extra sleeping space, whether it was for the oldest children or for "the guys."  It also provided a pantry and refrigerator so that we didn't have to buy as much food.  As a matter of fact, in those 10 days we only bought one meal!  On top of that, we were given food - enough that we didn't even have to buy groceries like we had planned on doing.  The Family of God Church in Topeka, Kansas gave us some munchies before the service on Sunday evening, and then brought us fixings for sandwiches, plus canned fruit, after service!  The next morning we went back to the church to help with their monthly food distribution and received even more food afterward!  We even received a cake for Bobby's 50th birthday and that afternoon, Pastor Randal took Landis, Hope, and Faith, along with his own daughter, Hannah, to see a matinee.

Thursday evening we made a return visit to Chisolm Trail Cowboy Church in Enid, Oklahoma.  Landis said this was our 10th visit there but I think this was more like our 8th visit.  And then on Sunday we sang in Paden in the morning and Chickasa in the evening, both Oklahoma.  On Sunday evening, Pastor Gary Rogers was moved to tears when Hope admitted to her dad on stage that she didn't even know what state she was in.  Her ignorance, I thought, reflected on my ability to home school my children and I chuckled at my embarrassment.  I wasn't aware of Pastor Gary's emotional reaction until later.  He was moved by the fact that this 10 year old girl is gone from home so much that she's not even aware of what state she’s in.  My take on it was more that Hope just isn't paying attention all of the time and has no conviction about that.

Our pastor had requested that Bobby sing a song at our church on the weekend of November 9th and 10th so Bobby made that work out with our schedule.  This was great for the kids and I as we got to stay home and attend weekend services at our own church - first time since Mother's Day. 

The drive to Michigan on Thursday, November 14th was easy but the wind picked up steadily as the week drew to an end. We sang in Bay City Friday evening and plugged in and slept at the church, leaving for northwest Ohio on Saturday morning. 

Sunday.  Big Wind.  Here’s what I posted on Facebook:

"What a day!  Bobby struggled to keep the motor home between the lines as we drove from Grand Rapids, Ohio toward Coloma, Michigan, the wind gusts rocking us. While on the toll road near South Bend, Indiana, the storm hit and Bobby pulled over along with many other drivers and just parked on the side of the interstate because we couldn't see 20 feet in front of us.  When I saw leaves and debris coming toward our huge windshield I got up and moved toward the back, urging Bobby to do the same.  Arrived in Coloma to sing only to find out the church was without power and the service was canceled.  Drove back to my sister's house passing many dark homes without power.  Sister's house lost power shortly after we arrived and Dad started the generator.  Now we're being rocked/sung to sleep in a cold motor home by a fierce wind.  Very thankful for His protection in this big box today."

And now for the "fire" part of this story: We had an oil leak repaired on the motor home on Thursday and Friday and on Saturday, after driving not quite 30 minutes up the interstate toward Ohio, I smelled something burning; an electric smell - maybe plastic.  Bobby pulled over on the side of the highway and confirmed the smell.  He went outside and could see smoke coming from underneath. He drove us safely to the next exit and pulled into a truck lube/tire place.  Seconds after we parked, I could hear someone outside yell something about a fire and extinguisher.  I turned around to look toward our engine (which is our bunk room and Landis was sleeping) and saw Justis waving his little arm through smoke rising from the engine box below.  I grabbed Justis and yelled for Landis to get up fast.  I knocked the open suitcase upside down in the process.  Poor Grace had to wait until last to get out as Bobby and Landis struggled to get her down without a ramp. The fire was out quickly with no significant damage. However, Bobby was uncomfortable with the idea of continuing on to Ohio and since we were so close to home we went back and got the van and trailer. We grabbed a bite for lunch at home, repacked, and headed north, Take 2. 

As I finish writing this on Monday morning, there are more adventures to add and I can’t close without including them.  Evidently they weren’t expecting any snow in southern Ohio but it fell heavily between Cincinnati and Columbus and the ice trucks hadn’t done their job yet.  Traffic slowed to a crawl as we inched along on black ice for several miles.  Conditions improved and we alternated back and forth between clear, wet, and snow-covered roads the remainder of the way, driving through very heavy snowfall around midnight.  But God delivered us safely to our hotel at 1:00 a.m. and I actually made it to bed less than an hour later.  Intermittent snow showers continued on Sunday morning and it was absolutely beautiful against the birch trees as we kept an eye on it from inside the warm sanctuary. 

I’ll close with one last “event.”  With six o’clock came a crack, thud and a cry from Justis.  He fell out of bed and hit the corner of the nightstand on his way down!  It wasn’t just a bump.  He hit the corner of it with his forehead and at first there was an indentation but a few minutes later it began to bleed. I ran down the hall for ice and held it on his head for several minutes until he went to sleep.  Of course this morning he’s showing it off to everyone. 

I know the enemy wanted to keep us from going on the road this weekend. I don’t know of any salvations this weekend but we did give an invitation in both services.  What did happen was following each service I was asked to pray with people and that’s something that doesn’t normally happen either.  You know sometimes we forget just how powerful our prayers are because of WHO we are praying to.  How many times have you heard people say, “Well, all we can do is pray.” Are you kidding me?  ALL WE CAN DO?  Sadly, Satan is more aware of the power we possess when we pray than we are.  He didn’t want those moments of prayer for healing from cancer for Lucille or for Susan’s spine to be healed, or for Daniel to surrender his heart to the Lord, or for peace for Nancy whose wayward son passed away in August.  Satan knows his kingdom suffers greatly if Daniel gets ahold of Jesus. (Daniel lives in Nashville, by the way.)

It’s a beautiful sunny but cold morning in Columbus and I expect good things on our drive home today.  We will celebrate Jesus and give thanks this Thursday with the rest of our country.  I’ve often wondered how long we’ll acknowledge Thanksgiving as a nation because, after all, if you’re thankful, isn’t your thankfulness directed toward someone?

Happy Thanksgiving!