January 10, 2010

We left early Saturday morning and drove to Lake City, Florida where we stayed the night...in two rooms. Bobby, Landis and Hope stayed in one room and Grace and Faith and I in another. You know we always appreciate that second room.

The following morning we nearly froze as we exited our rooms and walked to breakfast! Thankfully, the breakfast was a hot one and it hit the spot.

We found Fort White Church of God in Fort White about 20 miles away. The church building was so small that when you opened the front door of the sanctuary and stepped inside, you were IN the sanctuary. There was no lobby and restrooms were in another building.

Bobby and I joined the adults in the sanctuary for Sunday School and the children went to classes in another building and they had a great time.

Pastor Fred McCray introduced himself after Sunday School and I liked him immediately because he reminded me of Landis Martin, my pastor from my childhood.

We had a wonderful service and some great fellowship with some of the folks before moving southward to Bushnell where we checked into our hotel before driving further south to Webster where Lanny Troller pastors Linden Church of God. We had served here before in December of 2008 and Mr. Pat actually attended the service with us that morning because he and Mary made a trip to Florida with us as we all went to Disney a couple of days later. Mary didn't attend the service that morning because of the death of a close friend.

On this second visit to Linden Church of God, I became acquainted with Tammy Sullivan, a sweet young mother who is very much in love with Jesus and we realized we shared several things in common as we chatted back in the nursery. Then, just before the service began, I encouraged Hope to go ahead and sit with 2 children her age on the opposite side of the sanctuary. However, I nearly messed things up because the little girl and boy were not at all accustomed to a stranger getting so close so quickly and they left Hope sitting there alone a few minutes after church started. Hope didn't seem to get upset as I looked over at her and made some funny faces. But the wonderful thing that happened next made everything right again. Elizabeth is the beautiful young woman that leads worship and when she left the stage, she walked directly to Hope and sat down next to her. If it didn't make Hope feel good, it sure did make my day. How sweet.

We had a lengthy altar service and Grace let me know she wanted to be prayed for. I felt her hitting my backside but ignored her and then felt a little convicted. I turned to her and asked her if she wanted to go to the altar for prayer. She had a quick a positive response so I wheeled her over to be prayed for. I would not have taken her but decided that if she wanted to be prayed for, who was I to tell her no.

Pastor Lanny Troller and his wife, Donna Kaye, have 4 smart and talented boys and very full hands. The oldest, A.J., plays piano with the church band and could compete with the finest in Southern Gospel music. The astonishing thing to me was when after church, Pastor Lanny told me that 1 year ago, A.J. “decided” he wanted to play the piano. So he sat down and taught himself! I told him I thought there was a little more that factored in besides being a quick learner. A.J. definitely has an anointing to make music on the piano. Josh is the second oldest and is certainly destined to be an

entertainer in some capacity. Noah and Joseph are the younger two and are following closely behind their older brothers in talent, wit and charm.

Several families went to Wendy's after church and there I was informed that A.J. wanted to take Faith home with their family. Of course Faith, our little flirt, ate up the attention, being so responsive to everything they said and did to entertain her that it only encouraged them to keep going. Actually, I don't know who entertained who the most.

By the time we got in our van to go back to the hotel Faith was spoiled rotten. Yuck. I don't like rotten.

Fortunately a little discipline can bring a rotten little girl to repentance and she's not yucky any more. I enjoyed watching

Faith “with the boys” and suddenly I could see the future ever so close and I was concerned. We're going to have to keep a close eye on Faith and of course, pray a lot.

It was a frigid temperature again the following morning and our winter coats were still needed as we headed north toward home.