January 17, 2010

We had 2 dates in southern Louisiana and because it's such a long drive Bobby suggested we pull out around 11:00 Friday night instead of leaving early Saturday morning and driving all day long. I'm so glad we did that. It just makes the majority of the drive so easy because the children are sleeping and we can make some good time in peace. Bobby drove until 7:00 and then I drove for only a couple of hours because the children were all awake by 9:00 and he can't get much sleep when they're awake.

We pulled over for breakfast at a Waffle House, got the wheelchair out of the trailer and put bedding away. I chuckled when Hope asked if we were still in Tennessee. I told her she missed the whole trip. We were almost to our destination.

Our destination was a re-visit. Pastor Weldon Moak of First Baptist Church of Broussard, Louisiana was a pleasure to work with last January and we got to spend a little more time with he and his 3 wonderful kids this time as we had lunch together.

Someone else that has become special to us at First Baptist of Broussard is Gary and Glenda Gray. Last year this dear couple paid for our hotel expense and then gave us a large offering. This year they took care of us again. There are certain people out there that God has blessed abundantly and those people, in turn, know how to give and take care of others. Gary and Glenda are such a blessing to us and our lives are richer because of them.

From Broussard we headed east to Denim Springs where we found our room and after some freshening up drove south of the Interstate to a community called Port Vincent. We found River of Life Worship Center easily and joined the large group that had already assembled for dinner. Of course we ate gumbo and enjoyed every bite. You can't visit Cajun country and not eat gumbo. The place was a bit crowded and when one dear sister saint named Margaret saw that I had a mini food processor to puree Grace's gumbo, she commanded me to give her the chopper as she would chop it up herself and ordered me to have a seat. I wasn't expecting that but I received it with a glad heart. Most folks are usually very helpful and thoughtful but it's people like Margaret that just know how to take care of you that really leave their mark on your heart.

As I was finishing up feeding Grace her dinner, Bobby introduced me to Pastor Bobby Ready. When Pastor Bobby met Grace he told her he thought she was pretty in the picture he saw but she was even more beautiful in person. Grace just batted her long lashes at him with only the slightest hint of a smile.

From dinner, the church moved directly into a short business meeting just before it was time for church to start. The room was full and the people were expectant. We enjoyed a great time worshiping in music with these folks and at the end of the service when Bobby normally asks the pastor to come up and lead the altar call, we were surprised when Pastor Bobby turned things around on us a bit. He asked Bobby and I to stand together at the front and pray for the people that wanted prayer. Many people came forward. I was amazed at how many people are ill with tumors. Others came forward for prayer for family problems, fear and grief. Bobby and I had never done anything like that before and I told Pastor Bobby so as we were getting ready to pull out later on. He was surprised. He reminded us that when someone ministers and the anointing is on them, there is a window of opportunity there for them to lay hands on the sick. He told us that his usual time to visit the sick in the hospital and pray for them is right after he's preached on Sundays because there's an anointing available right then to take advantage of.

Pastor Bobby was such a blessing to us as we visited at length in the church parking lot after the service. He and his beautiful wife, Lollie and their 3 children used to travel in ministry as well. Sister Lollie spoke into my life after the service and advised me to keep the children involved in serving the Lord along side us as much as we possibly can. Pastor Bobby was an evangelist and seemed to know exactly the joys and sorrows of the ministry that we do. He ministered to Bobby in a mighty way concerning pastors along the way that mistreat evangelists by cheating them of money or by not keeping their word. Of course there aren't very many out there like that, but there are a few.

Another thing that Pastor Bobby did to bless us in a very big way was he recorded nearly the entire concert. A few weeks later, Bobby received an edited and condensed video that he has uploaded to his website and it has helped tremendously in showing pastors what we're about and obtaining bookings.

Bobby and I both felt so encouraged by this meeting with Bobby Ready, his wife and even their church family. God loves us and knows us intimately. He knows what we need to hear and who we need to hear it from.

We were home by bedtime Monday night.