July 13-16, 2009

Back in the mid-nineties Bobby sang with MidSouth. They did some touring in Canada and were fortunate enough to find Nowell Seaman who filled in as their lead guitarist for a couple of years. The guys found a good friend in Nowell and have stayed in touch with him over the years. Bobby went back to Canada in recent years with Heritage Road and Nowell, again, filled in a couple of times.

Monday and Tuesday, July 13th and 14th we had some time off and then a concert on Wednesday night in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Since Nowell lives in Saskatoon, Bobby asked him if we could come and invade their home. Nowell and Sandra were such thoughtful hosts. Nowell works at the University of Saskatchewan, and Sandra works in the medical field, yet they took the time to compose lists of things to do in the city and cook superb meals for us. Nowell the “grill man” prepared hamburgers on Monday evening and steaks and vegetables on Tuesday evening. Sandra whipped up salads and desserts and everything was absolutely delectable. Even her experiment with stir-fried Chinese broccoli was so tasty. I cut off a bit of that and after telling Faith to close her eyes, put the bite in her mouth. She said she liked it and wanted more but this time she kept her eyes open. How powerful the mind is. Because she could see the wet green leafy vegetable, she decided she didn't like the taste after all. Bobby and I agreed that we ate the most delicious and nutritious meals of this long trip at Nowell and Sandra's house. Oh, and Sandra introduced us to Saskatoon berries. Good stuff.


We are so grateful to have had such beautiful weather on this trip. However, Tuesday, the 14th was the only exception to this. It rained and blew and the temperature never got above fifty degrees. I was wishing by the evening hours for the heat to be turned on but just putting some socks on my feet helped tremendously.

We did venture out on Tuesday over to the University where Nowell is employed. But first Nowell came home to check on us during his lunch. I was not surprised by this as that is the kind of person Nowell is. He just wanted to check on us and make sure we were OK. Then he offered to go get his fifteen year old son, Aaron, and bring him over to play with the kids. He was back a half hour later introducing us to a blond-haired, blue-eyed, sweet-faced kid who, in turn, introduced our kids to Wii. Of course that was a big hit with the kids and it occupied their time with the exception of the jaunt over to the college to see Nowell.

As cold and rainy as Tuesday was, Wednesday proved to be just the opposite with bright sunshine and temperatures in the seventies. After doing up our laundry and packing up, we headed out to our hotel to check in and move in and then on to Living Hope Church on the northeast side of Saskatoon.

Pastor Stan Hussey and his wife, Linda welcomed us and made us feel right at home. After asking him how he pronounced his last name, he told me that he had been in the hospital within the previous week and a couple of nurses teased him about his name because it is, indeed pronounced “hussy.” The following day, one of the nurses returned for her next shift and with embarrassment, offered her apologies to Pastor Hussey. After he asked her why she was apologizing, she told him that if she had known he was a pastor she would have never teased him about his name. I laughed because this so reminded me of experiences that I've heard another beloved pastor relay to his congregation. So I added to his story in the fashion that I believe my pastor would have: I asked Pastor Stan if he told the nurse that he wouldn't forgive her unless she came to his church. It was his turn to laugh and admitted he'd never thought of telling her that. I admit I wouldn't have thought of it either but my pastor has.

I have to tell a funny story on myself in this post. As I was giving my testimony, I knew that I was about to use the word “prostrate.” At least that's what I was supposed to say. Seconds before the word came out of my mouth, I thought to myself, “now don't mess this up and say the wrong word.” And then as it came out of my mouth and as I saw the faces of the people in front of me, I knew I'd flubbed it up. Yeah, I said prostate.

Before the night was over we'd had some good fellowship with Pastor Stan and Linda and their son, Terry and his beautiful wife, Ruth. Someone very special joined us for dinner and that was one-week old Micah. Pastor Stan and Linda's very first grandchild. I was itching to hold him but didn't dare for fear of clearing the room with Grace's jealous screams.

The Travel Lodge where we slept had a 250 foot indoor water slide and how can you deny your children the opportunity to slide down a 250 foot waterslide? Since the pool was closed when we returned after church and a meal, the plan was to wake the children up in time to eat a quick breakfast on our balcony overlooking the pool and be dressed to swim when the pool opened at nine. And that's exactly what happened. Bobby watched the kids while I attempted to do laundry (the machines were busy) and showered. Then it was back toward the southeastern side of the province to Broadview.

We had some confusion about the time zone we were in versus the time zone we were about to travel to. Was it the same or were we going from Mountain Time to Central Time? I looked it up on the Internet while the kids and Bobby were at the pool and Google told me that Broadview, Saskatchewan was in the Central Time Zone. So we were losing an hour heading south and east. We called Pastor Abe Driedger, who was grilling burgers and hot dogs for us, to let him know where we were and that we were running a little late. We decided to check in to the motel Pastor Abe booked us in. The gentleman behind the desk at the Sweet Dreams Motel gave Bobby the key and then told him we were still on Mountain Time. This was a pleasant surprise and we realized we had time to move our stuff in and change clothes before proceeding to Pastor Abe's home.

We ate well once again and afterward Pastor Abe led us 4 blocks up the street to Broadview Community Fellowship, which is affiliated with the Cleveland Church of God. The antique building has been there since 1890 and its doors were closed for a period of five years before Abe and Donna opened the building up for the assembling of the saints. It only holds sixty to seventy people and Pastor Abe said the roll had gone up to twenty-five, "but then," he said, "all hell broke loose," and now only a faithful four meet there on Sunday mornings. The exciting thing is they are having Sunday school and eleven curious children are coming to hear about Jesus. I just had the thought that if Jesus started with eleven, then Brother Abe is on the right track. He told us that even with the children there has been some testing of the waters. One certain little whippersnapper walked up to him one Sunday morning and proudly announced to the pastor that his daddy told him God wasn't real, and looked at him as if to say, "so, what do you think about that?!" Pastor Abe proceeded with sharing the love of Jesus with the little guy without missing a beat.

On Friday morning we hugged Donna goodbye as she had an appointment in Regina but we had a quick breakfast with Brother Abe before moving on. He shared with us his burden for the town of Broadview and his realization of what he's up against. The religious spirit that is over the town has been there a very long time but he believes this stronghold can and will be broken and people will come to the realization that even though they acknowledge God, they need his Son Jesus desperately. We told him we'd be praying for him and to keep the faith because one man (and his faithful wife) can make a difference.

Onward to Sandy Creek Gospel Jamboree in Caronport for the weekend.