March 7 & 8, 2009

Felt, Balko and Altus, Oklahoma

The Bowen-mobile had a hiccup. I threw out a suggestion to Bobby on Thursday afternoon, not really sure if I even liked the idea myself, that if we left on Thursday evening, we could wash all of Elizabeth's bedding before we left. We had been planning to leave early Friday morning but there was no way we could get the bedding washed, dried and put back on the beds before we left. We were simply going to have to leave the beds as they were. If we left on Thursday evening, not only could we leave everything cleaner, we could get a little further down the road and stop to sleep when we got too tired. Bobby liked the suggestion and at 9:00 we drove over to his parents' home to say goodbye. But we only thought we were leaving. The battery light came on seconds after we left Bob and Tena's house. We turned around to stay in Texarkana one more night and found a mechanic the following morning to get the alternator replaced. Finally, we were on the road by 10:45 and enjoyed a beautiful drive to Clayton, New Mexico.

We were to sing in Felt, Oklahoma on Saturday but the pastor booked us a room in Clayton, New Mexico, which was 20 miles away, because there were no hotels in Felt. The next morning we took our time and waited until checkout to leave. The only plans we had were to sight-see a bit. We made a last-minute decision to drive on up to the Colorado line so the kids could say they've been there too. The wind was terrific and just to get out of the van to take pictures was a workout but we even got Grace out for a quick snapshot. After turning around and heading back south we came to the "fork in the road." Bobby was going to go the way "Laverne" (our GPS) was telling him to go but I argued that to go right would be to repeat what we've already seen and to go left would mean new and unseen country and it would be heading toward the Oklahoma line instead of away from it. He gave in to my suggestion and 10 minutes later we found ourselves on a 17-mile stretch of gravel road. Bobby was not happy with me because he had just washed the van. :)

Felt was not at all what I expected. I expected a town. However, Felt, Oklahoma is nothing more than about 20 houses, 1 school (65 students, K-12), 2 churches and a fire/community hall. There was no store, no post office and no gas station. Pastor Orden Hartley and his wife, Gayla welcomed us into their home to change clothes and then treated us to pancakes at the fireman's annual benefit down at the fire hall. Several of the folks went from the pancake dinner to the concert at First Baptist Church a hundred yards away. It's very seldom you can enjoy dinner and a concert on a Saturday night in Felt, Oklahoma. The people were very generous to us and once again we were amazed at how God blesses us over and above what we expect.

The Sunday morning concert was in Balko which was a good 125 miles from Felt. However, we only drove 80 miles to Gymon to spend the night at a very nice Comfort Inn, because, again, there weren't any hotels closer. I've always thought people tend to exaggerate the effects of that loss of 1 hour of sleep in the Spring. But after this weekend, I wholeheartedly agree that losing 1 hour can create great weariness. Between the sight seeing, fighting the wind, a concert, a 90 minute drive and an already late night, that 1 hour loss hit hard the next day. Another weariness factor was the fact that at 2:17 a.m. our hotel room door opened. YES! AGAIN!!! This happened to us at the Econolodge back on January 4th in Cleveland, Mississippi, and it was such a scare. When I heard our door open again, it was like a recurring nightmare. I flew out of bed and threw myself up against the door just like I did the first time. I waited for a push back or for someone to yell at me but there was silence. I looked through the peep hole but saw nothing. I dared not open the door but just waited a minute, my heart about to pop out of my chest. When I walked back to the bed, Bobby was still in bed but on the phone calling the front desk. He sounded accusatory when he told them someone just tried to come into our room. The clerk said that the guest must have been given a key that was coded to our room. It took us 2 and half hours to go back to sleep when this happened the first time but this time it took us less than 30 minutes. We've already been there, done that!

The following morning when we went down to breakfast, I approached the front desk and asked the lady what her explanation was for the break in. She said she had checked and the man's key was indeed coded for room 300 but he accidentally got off the elevator on the second floor and tried to enter room 200, which was our room. She concluded that our door must not have been shut correctly. I knew that was NOT the case because we had bolted the door and the safety lock was in place. Bobby let her know that from where he was seated across the room, in front of other hotel guests, I might add. We let her know in front of those other guests that the key that was used to open room 300 also opened room 200...our room. Not good! Interesting that this happened at another Choice Hotel. Choice Hotels runs Econolodge as well.

Balko is just like Felt in that there are no stores, no post offices, no gas stations. It's simply a cluster of houses and a church. But what beauty! It's so flat and quiet. There's no sound of a highway, or machinery. You can see for miles all around and hear nothing but maybe a bit of wind. You don't even hear the birds singing because there are no trees. Again, this little congregation called Balko First Baptist blessed us above and beyond our expectations and Bobby and I enjoyed a great Sunday School class. The teacher was actually passionate about teaching and the subject he was teaching on. He talked about the call of God on Nehemiah's life and of course paralleled that with the call of God on our lives.

From Balko we went south into Texas and drove 3 and a half hours to Altus, Oklahoma, a town we had visited back in January, singing at the Church of God with Pastor Estep. However, this time we sang at the First United Methodist Church...another first experience for us. The pastor, David Player, was such a surprise to us for he was filled with the joy of the Lord. We had never heard of a Methodist church having revival meetings but this is indeed what they are doing this week.

Pastor David was from South Africa, his music pastor was from South Korea and there was Bobby...from South Arkansas. What a diverse group. The guest preacher for the revival was Dr. Thomas Schwartz from the Tulsa area. Of course things were different from what we're used to as the preacher wore the long black robe and there were so many things written down including the message. But it was well-delivered and the thought struck me as he talked about the call on Jeremiah's life paralleling it with the call on our lives, that maybe God is trying to tell me something about His calling on my life. It was then I remembered the inspiring message we heard at the Cowboy church 2 weeks prior about the call of God on our lives.

Monday morning after rising, I found Pastor Davis' sermon from this past weekend and listened. I knew he was preaching on grace this month but at the end of the sermon I realized he'd been talking about being confident in the call of God on our lives!

Finally, as I schooled the kids in the back of the van Monday afternoon, I read the final chapter of a little mystery Grace and Landis had been listening to. I read the book when I was a preteen and for the first time noticed the author wrote about The Call that the story's character had answered as he accepted Jesus as his Savior.

I have always believed that I was going to be involved somehow in public speaking and perhaps even write a book or two. But I always believed it would be at a more “convenient” time. Nevertheless, I didn't avoid God's leading when doors opened for us a year ago to travel and minister as a family. I was not looking for such a thing to happen at that time. We all believed that Bobby would be traveling alone to sing on the weekends. In spite of what we thought should be happening, God led us and we followed willingly. I say all of that to explain that I have not resisted the call of God but have given myself to what is more than a notion that God wants to use us as a family to further His kingdom. I can also look back at the last 12 to 18 months and see where Satan tried to intervene with old and even some new temptations. There have even been some things come along that I never thought I could be tempted by. I don't believe he knows my future but I do believe he sees things that I can't see in the spiritual realm and perhaps he's seen things stirring in the heavenlies and has tried his best to halt whatever plans the Father has for me and my family.

So...what does God want to do with/through me? I don't know yet. Yet...there is a knowing that He wants to do so much more than what's been happening and what I can imagine. This is thrilling to me and I can't WAIT to see what He does this year. I think what He wants from me immediately is what the Sunday School teacher said yesterday and what Pastor Sarah teaches our choir week after week, “we must prepare to do what God's called us to do.” Whew! There's a quickening in my spirit now as I write this. I feel like crying and I think my heart just skipped a beat. God is GOOD!