Ministry Update

After basing for a couple of weeks out of Pine Forest Estates Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL, we headed across the panhandle into GA today. We left behind some new friends and some good memories: in a small church in Citronelle, AL last Sunday, a girl was saved. Tomorrow it is Leesburg, GA and next week we move to Jessup, GA before blowing back through NC on our way to OH.

My book has brought me more delays than I had ever anticipated, but I hope to have it available for purchase by March 25 of this year. Please keep that date in your prayers.

Family Update

UN-believable! That is my estimation of this day as I reflect back over it. It began when the church work day started at approximately 6:00 a.m., rousing me from slumber with slamming car doors, happy voices (I am not a morning person), and revving leaf blowers. After a futile attempt at going back to sleep, I finally crawled out of bed and prepared for the day. Before we left, I had to run to the store and get a few things. I hurried to the nearby store, and gathered my purchases, glad to find things that matched with my coupons. When I got to the checkout counter, though, the problems began. A manager was called, and things took about five times as long as I had anticipated. After one more stop, I drove toward home, deep in thought. I guess I was a little too deep in thought, since I passed the church and didn’t realize it until I reached the interstate. I turned around, mentally kicking myself, because I knew Paul was in a big hurry to get on the road. When I opened the trailer door, there they all were, sitting – waiting for me.

About an hour into our trip, we had to make an emergency “pit stop.” When I got out of the truck on the side of the road, little ones in tow, I looked up and saw the trailer awning sagging and partially deployed. I quickly ran back to the truck and told Paul we would be a little longer than we had expected. He got out and the fun began. We had to roll the awning out all the way to roll it back up. He ended up climbing on top of the trailer and unrolling one end by hand, while I stood below and pulled on the tarp. It took about ten minutes to fix, and then we were back on the road, grateful that we hadn’t lost this one on the side of the road like its predecessor.

A few miles down the road, another truck, pulling a fifth wheel, pulled alongside us and began honking and pointing. After recovering from the mistaken assumption that they were just “happy campers,” we realized that they were trying to tell us that the stupid awning was flapping again. We pulled over again, and saw that not only was the “sail” out, but the clips that hold the aluminum supports had snapped off, and the pull-down strap had disappeared. Now there was no way other than duct tape to hold the awning onto the top of the trailer, and we were running low on duct tape. Paul climbed back up onto the roof of the trailer to remove the awning. Then it began to pour down rain. I don’t wonder that no one stopped to help us. If I saw an RV on the side of the road with the awning out, a man on the roof in a thunderstorm, and a woman standing in the rain laughing and waving a long lightning-rod looking stick (the steel rod that grabs the loop on the awning to pull it down), I would have kept driving as fast as possible, too.

We finally got the awning off the track, and decided to put it in the trailer. It sounds simple enough, but have you ever tried to shove a wet 20-foot awning through a 26-inch door in a 38-foot trailer with the slides in? We decided the only way that it would work was if we were to extend the slide in the oncoming interstate traffic (speed limit 70 mph) because of the angle. Seeing that this was impossible, we hauled it back out into the rain and pursued the only remaining option which was to simply leave it: yes, it still sits neatly rolled up on the side of Interstate 10 Eastbound in the Florida panhandle. We have decided that we were providentially hindered from having an awning on our trailer, since now we have left two on the roadside within the space of three years. To be quite truthful, we were glad to be rid of the thing. Paul crowed with delight when we removed it, and broke into song, “Thank God, I am FREE, FREE, FREE!”

The rest of the drive was comparatively uneventful. That is, if you disregard the fact that the GPS decided that we had taken the road less traveled, and kept telling us to make a u-turn on the two-lane road. As if we needed anyone else talking in the truck! When we finally reached the church, I got out of the truck looking like a drowned rat that had been resuscitated by a tornado. My hair was dreadful, and my partially wet clothing was smeared with mud from the wrestling match with the erstwhile awning. Paul looked okay, since his hair is so short. I don’t even want to know what the pastor thought when he saw me get out of the truck! It was probably something like, “Aaaaakk! What is that?” or perhaps, “Man, I hope that barn gets some paint before tomorrow!” No comments were made, but the pastor kept asking if we were SURE there was nothing we needed… hair spray, curling iron, spare paper bag…whatever.

We parked the trailer, and lugged our remaining groceries into the church kitchen by way of a cooler. Did I mention that our refrigerator died this week? Talk about exciting! After deciding on supper plans, we sat down to the table and gratefully began to eat. “How nice to have a candlelight dinner,” Paul observed. “What’s the occasion?” I only pointed at the fixture above the table. It contains four bulbs, and to our complete amazement, three of them were blown! Some days, we just have to laugh – and then write an update!