>

June 12-14, 2009

"Back to Mayberry"

I read a 17-chapter book, “Ten P's in a Pod” by Arnold Pent, III from cover to cover, out loud on Thursdays' 8 hour trip to Michigan. My throat was sore at the end of the day but what a great read! My cousin, RoxAnne loaned me the book in March and I decided I ought to get it back to her on this trip but get it read first. Although she hadn't read the book herself yet, she loaned it to me knowing the story was about an unusual, large family of 10, who traveled together in ministry. But that wasn't the unusual part. This family's main focus was Bible reading. Starting at birth, Arnold Pent, II taught his children to listen to and then read the Word of God. As soon as they were able to read, the little ones were required to get alone and read for 15 minutes at 6:00 every morning, whether they'd had enough sleep the night before, or not. At age 9, the reading time was increased to 30 minutes and finally from age 13 to adulthood, they were required to spend 1 hour alone reading the Word. That was followed by family breakfast, followed by a 30-minute family devotion. Not to mention the 30-minute devotions after lunch and dinner as well. Father Pent believed that we should feed our spiritual man just as much and more as our physical man. And family devotion didn't mean a book of commentary or nice stories. It meant more Bible reading. And dare the one who thought they could do two things at once like wash the breakfast dishes while they listened to the Bible reading. No. Daddy Pent wanted everyone's rapt attention and perfect stillness. Because of this constant push to stay in the Word of God, the children memorized chapters upon chapters and even books of the bible. The oldest child, David, memorized the entire New Testament and parts of the Old, with no time spent on memorizing, but simply reading the Bible over and over. And because this family spent so much time abiding in Him through the reading of the Word, the Lord gave them a great harvest of souls every where they went. What a wonder. I definitely recommend reading this book.

We've been traveling as a family in ministry for a year and a half so we're starting to make return visits to some of the churches we met last year. We were scheduled to sing at Prairieville Bible Church in Delton, Michigan again so on Thursday we drove to my Dad's house in Burr Oak and spent the night. It used to be that Mom would always have something waiting for us to eat when we arrived at their house and I made a teasing comment to Dad about that once since Moms' departure to heaven in 2001. I got a phone call from Dad on Wednesday morning asking me how to prepare pinto beans to eat with cornbread. And on Thursday evening upon arriving, Dad had some delicious beans and cornbread waiting for us! For someone who never stepped foot in the kitchen except for eating what had been prepared him, he has done well in developing his culinary skills.

Becky Irving was our contact for the church in Delton last year and just like last year, she invited us to her home before the concert where she prepared a crazy delicious meal before the concert and had another meal AFTER the concert. Bobby introduced a few songs from his just-released CD, “Tracks Left Behind” and we had a great time of fellowship before, during and after the concert Friday night. I have to say the best part of the evening for Bobby and I was the fact that Bobby messed up some words in a song he's been singing often the past year. “What's so special about that?” you might ask. You see Bobby messed up the words but it was ever so subtle. I remember thinking, “did he just mix up some words?” Something didn't sound quite right but it was subtle enough that I wasn't sure. After the service Bobby asked me if I had noticed and when I told him I wasn't sure I had, he informed me that Grace caught his mistake. She sat directly in front of Bobby, and upon hearing his goof, flinched and then grinned when she realized Daddy messed up. (The flinching is a sign that she was surprised and caught unaware.) The other children never noticed, but Grace did.

Laverne, our GPS, was on strike this weekend and refused to give us any of the information we asked for. She even tried to trick us and give us false information. Fortunately, the co-pilot (yours truly) was a native of Michigan and was familiar enough with the surroundings that she wasn't deceived by Laverne's lies.

Landis loves to fish so much that we had arranged with my cousin's husband to take Landis and their son, Andrew, fishing on Saturday. Andrew and Landis have been writing letters (nearly 1 a week) to each other since we stayed with them in March. It became part of their schooling and we're trying to keep it up throughout the summer. Landis caught several smaller fish and 2 larger. We thanked Mr. Jeff for taking the boys, scooped Landis up out of the yard and headed to Owosso to sing. But not before we took 15 minutes to sit down in Dad's living room with the children and read the Bible. Maybe we're wimps but we figured we might ought to break them (and us) in easily and just ask them for total stillness and attention for 15 minutes to start out with and work our way up. Remember, it's not a children's story book we're reading, but, like the Pent Family, simply the Word. We're committed and believe that as the habit develops, the interest will grow and we'll reap far more than we could imagine.

In 2003, we got some new neighbors and after Bobby threatened to shoot their dog if it ever came in our yard again, we invited them to Cornerstone Church. Andy and Pam Mishler joined our Sunday School class and their 3 boys, Cameron, Drew and Dustin got involved in the youth ministry. We had a good few years together as neighbors and Andy and Bobby even worked together for Three Rivers Contracting, owned by Kerry Hodges. The Mishlers moved back to Owosso in 2005 and when they learned we were going to be in the area, they immediately made plans with their church to have us there.

We missed seeing elder son, Cameron, as he was working, but it was great seeing everyone else again. After grilling hamburgers at their home and reminiscing about the good old days, Andy led us to the church and we enjoyed a good evening of God's blessings at the Church of Christ in Owosso.

The night was spent at the Comstock Inn in Owosso and I have never had such a difficult time getting a bottle of water. When I checked the vending machine on my floor, the second, I discovered it did not have water in it. So I went to the third floor where Dasani was offered. I put my dollar in and pushed the button but nothing happened. I pushed the coin return button and then noticed that they wanted $1.25 for their water. So I tried inserting another dollar but the machine wouldn't receive another dollar. I tried a different dollar and I tried turning the dollar several different ways but nothing worked. I walked to the bar on the first floor just as the bar tender was closing the door for last call. I told her all I needed were a couple of bottled waters but wouldn't you know, they didn't have bottled water! I went to the front desk to ask for change but wouldn't you know they only had 1 quarter in their till? The clerk offered to check her own purse and came up with 4 quarters. After scrounging in a couple of other places I finally came up with enough quarters to get my 2 bottles of water. One for night and one for morning. That's what I like and I wasn't going to settle for anything less. Especially when it was something so obtainable like water.

The following morning we didn't have far to go as we drove the 4 blocks to First Baptist Church of Owosso. And yes, we had family Bible reading for 15 minutes before church. Again, the service was a little more liturgical, yet informal. I think that's because we were in the North and I purposely found some time alone to pray in the Spirit before the service. I don't consider myself a sensitive and discerning person, at least not like I'd like to be, but I sensed oppression and heaviness not necessarily in the congregation but in the town. Again, the congregation was quiet and not as responsive as Bobby likes but again, we had to consider where we were and the reserved nature of the people in the region.

At the close of the service, Pastor Ray Strawser introduced his parents, who were visiting, and asked his father to close the service with prayer. Immediately after the service his father was by my side with words of encouragement. He told me that his mother was a Mennonite and he was raised in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, but today he is a bible-believing Catholic priest! I love to know that my prayers have not only been heard but answered when I get encouraging words such as the words Brother Strawser spoke when he said as he walked away, “The Holy Spirit leaks from your family.”

After the Sunday morning service, we found the Polar Express. Andy Mishler told Bobby that the train from the movie was modeled after a retired locomotive and its' cars which are now on display at a rail yard in Owosso. We drove by and saw the cars at a distance. However, since the engine was located in a separate building and we would have had to transport Grace's chair through dense gravel to see it, and then we couldn't have gotten her chair into it, we decided not to pay for the tour.

On to Mayberry! Pastor Larry Mayberry's church in Wyoming (Grand Rapids), Michigan! We were so blessed last year when we met Pastor Larry and his precious congregation, Pennellwood Church of God. This brother has been a MidSouth fan since the late 1980's and after finding Bobby on-line last year and getting acquainted, invited us to come in May. Bobby surprised him last year when he invited him to come up on stage and sing a MidSouth song with him. That was a big joy for Pastor Larry, and his congregation was delighted to see their pastor put on the spot like that. Again, last night, Bobby invited Pastor Larry to come to the stage and sing a couple of songs with him and both men, as well as the congregation, enjoyed having a good time in the Lord.

We received a phone call from Dad on the way to Grand Rapids Sunday afternoon saying he decided to make the 2 hour drive up to join us. That was nice surprise and we invited him to spend the night with us since the Pennellwood church purchased 2 rooms for us. We enjoyed breakfast this morning with Dad and I even rode with him until we had to part ways at Kalamazoo. We'll stop and see him again on our way home from Canada as we are scheduled to minister in South Bend, Indiana on August 2^nd. As I write this blog, we are less than an hour from home and yes, we had our 15 minutes of family Bible reading today on the road!

There are so many things to do in the next week and a half, including going to pick up the Caterpillar. I nearly forgot we have a motor home. It's going to be a full week but we can't forget to take the time to read His Word as a family. If we do it, the reward will surely be great.