Snow in the Panhandle

February 18-22, 2010

Mr. Dale Naylor gave us a motorhome last year and asked only one thing in return. He simply wanted us to visit his parents in Perrytown, Texas, sharing our testimony with them. The actual visiting and sharing isn't difficult, but it does take some planning to arrange our schedule to be in the area at the right time and place for such a thing. We called Dale several days in advance and asked him about coming to see his folks on Friday morning, the 19th since we were to sing in the pan handle of Oklahoma over the weekend. We didn't want to wait until Monday morning to visit with them because it would have been 3 weeks since we'd been home, my dad was at our home waiting for our return and the drive back to Tennessee was so long. Brother Dale said he thought that Friday morning might work. He told us that his dad's brother in Phoenix had turned 100 years old back in November and he was able to take his dad to see his brother and what a blessing that was. However, Dale had learned the day before our phone call that his uncle had passed away and he'd be taking his folks to the funeral in Lubbock on Thursday. So we set out mid day from Texarkana and landed in Amarillo that night waiting for Brother Dale's call the following morning. Unfortunately it didn't work out to meet with the Naylor's on Friday morning as the senior Naylor had to see the doctor, but they asked if we could have lunch together after church on Sunday. We agreed to those plans and after some time on the treadmill and school in the hotel room, we headed north on US 287 up to Boise (boyz) City, Oklahoma.

It wasn't difficult to find our two rooms at the Townsman Motel. Boise City is a small dusty flat and windy town with hundreds of trucks rumbling through every day heading every direction. Five US Highway's intersect at Boise City creating an active community of hairy, deisel-smelling, gear-shifting truckers. I'll mention a couple of them later.

We met Pastor Frank Lynch at the Pizza Hut just a stone's throw from our motel and had a great time laughing at him as he entertained the children. Pastor Frank is a widow of 18 months and he was not alone in his grief. His church family mourned longer for Mickie than he did. The grief stayed with him longer than he thought it should have so one day in his tears he lifted his arms and began to praise God out loud. After a while the grief left. A couple of days later it returned so up went his arms again and praise came out of his mouth. It left again. This continued until one day the grief left never to return. He attended one of our concerts in the Panhandle a year earlier and decided he wanted to have us come share our testimony with his church. So here we were a year later and after our meal we drove a couple of blocks from Pizza Hut to Pentecostal Holiness Church.

We had a great service followed by a moving altar call where I prayed with a dear Indian woman who lifted up her 3 sons to the Lord, one of which was in prison.

The following morning we slept as late as we wanted because there was no free breakfast, rose slowly and I began bathing kids and getting school done. We do school on Saturdays when we're on the road and there's nothing else to do. Might as well, right? We got a late checkout and were back at the Pizza Hut by 1:30 since there was no where else to go. After filling our bellies, Bobby walked to the truck stop next door and bought us a couple of decks of cards. So over the next 2 and half hours we hung out at Pizza Hut playing cards to kill time until it was time to drive to Felt.

I said I was going to mention a couple of truckers. As we played cards, a tall man in a winter parka and flip flops came in for a personal pizza. It didn't take him long to make friends with Faith...or maybe it didn't take long for Faith to make friends with him...I'm not sure. What started out as a little bit of small talk across the room turned into larger talk, sharing of some pizza and moving over to our side of the room all followed by a mini concert by Hope and Faith. The gentleman, Greg, started saying he'd better go get some sleep as he intended to drive later that night to Colorado. But after a song, Hope would say, “one more.” He agreed to one more song three times I think. I didn't feel too bad as he seemed to be happy to talk to us. He was a former pastor from North Carolina, retired and driving for something to do. We saw pictures of his entire family, learned that he had been involved in several church plants and found out he tackled O.J. Simpson in college football. On his way out, without saying anything to us, he gave the cashier $20 toward our lunch. There was something about him that, after he left, made me feel like there was something not quite right about the whole encounter. Many thoughts crossed my mind like, “were we entertaining an angel?” or “was all that he just said based on a true story but none of it was a part of his life any more, including a loving wife at home.” We'll never know.

Another quick encounter with a truck driver was an Irish gentleman that came into the restaurant just as we were about to leave. He answered a question I asked him, starting out with a beautiful Irish accent but as he continued his Irish accent disappeared and all of sudden he sounded like he was from Indiana. He must have forgotten who he was or where he was...or somethin'. Weird!

Finally it was time to make the 20 mile drive west to Felt where we were reunited with our friends, Pastor Orden and his sweet wife, Gayla Hartley. This is a dear and precious family with children, Sherri, who is Hope's age and little Orden J.T. Who is Faith's age. They are also hosting a foreign exchange student this year from Japan and... I hope they can forgive me but I cannot remember his name.

The ladies of Felt Baptist Church prepared a delicious meal before the service and we had a good time that evening with the Hartley's and their church family. At the end of the service Pastor Orden asked our family to come to the front as he prayed for our safety on the road. It had been very foggy all day and the fog remained after church as we began our trek east toward Guymon. In the first 20 miles between Felt and Boise City, we saw lightening, but just east of Boise City it began to snow. It snowed big heavy flakes and soon the road was covered. However, traffic was very light and although Bobby couldn't see the lines, he could see the edge of the road and that was all that mattered. We crept along at 35 miles an hour the entire 80 miles to Guymon, feeling the van slip on the road only twice. How thankful we were for God's hand of protection on us.

With the slow go of it, we didn't make it to bed until after midnight. I so dislike those late nights to bed followed by those early mornings to rise and drive a good distance to the church. We had another 70 miles to Balko Baptist Church where we were sing in the morning. The good thing about it was Brother Dale paid for our 2 adjoining rooms. Everyone went to sleep very quickly and I was up again at 6:00. Bobby was calling Pastor Mark from Balko Baptist before 7:00 and asking him if there was church. Pastor Mark looked out of his window and said that all he could see out there was ice. But he said he'd talk to the board and call us back. Bobby got in the shower and I went to breakfast. We let the children sleep mainly because we doubted there would any church and if there was we'd just put the kids in the van in their pajamas and dress 'em going down the road.

They canceled services at Balko Baptist Church that morning as well as Sunday evening in Clayton, New Mexico where we were going to be that night and rather than start driving home, Bobby said he'd rather sit in the hotel room all day and drive on Monday. Since the expense of the second night was coming out of our pockets, we closed the door to one of the rooms and all moved into the other. I was a little disappointed about not heading home but it was a good and relaxing day. Landis and I went to the fitness room and we took the kids to the pool, an amenity they rarely have time to enjoy.

Bedtime wasn't so relaxing. We didn't get as much sleep as we thought we'd get. Since we had such a long drive home, I had the bright idea of going to bed at 9:00 so we could get a good night's rest and rise at 5:00, therefore leaving for home at 7:00. I usually use the alarm on my cell but I decided to turn it off and charge it. I called the front desk and asked them for a wake up call. Then Grace decided she wasn't ready to sleep. I'll tell ya when Grace isn't ready to go to sleep, there's nothing you can do about it. At home we can put her in her bed, turn the light out and walk away but when we're all in one hotel room that's not possible. You can't go to sleep while she's awake because she might fall off of that high bed onto that hard floor. You can't tell her to go to sleep because she'll get upset and might start screaming. You don't want that in a hotel room. The only thing you can do is either turn the TV on allowing all of the children to stay up later, zombied out on the boob tube, try playing music on the laptop, or talking about things that redirect her thoughts and help her relax. Usually Bobby opts to turn the Tube on and there we are: the whole family up late in a dark room with the TV flashing dark and bright, warping our minds. We didn't get to sleep until sometime between 11 and midnight and then I wasn't even in my bed. I was lying crosswise in a bed with Hope and Grace who I successfully kept from kicking me too much. I awoke to a kicking Grace at 1:00 and pinned her kicking legs down just enough to avoid being kicked again but not enough to make her mad at me until she fell back asleep at 1:30. The next thing I knew Bobby was waking me telling me it was 7:00. The front desk had failed to wake us (that's why I don't trust the front desk nor the room alarm clocks for church mornings) but it was just as well. We didn't get enough sleep to get up at 5:00. So we got started at our usual time – 9:00. We had a few icy patches before we made it to Interstate 40 and other than our left fender on the trailer falling off in Oklahoma City, it was an uneventful trip and I couldn't be more glad to be out of the van and out of hotel rooms, but home where I could rest.

Valentine's Day

February 14, 2010

On Thursday before Valentine's Day we experienced a rare event in Texarkana, it SNOWED! It began snowing around 10 in the morning and continued the late evening hours leaving a beautiful world of white. I hadn't seen it snow like that in Texarkana since Thanksgiving of 1993. Unfortunately, as quickly as it came, it was gone again and everything was brown again 24 hours later. The photo above was taken the next morning and already 1/3 of the snow had melted.

We made our third visit to Trail to Heaven Cowboy Church in Celina, Texas. Pastor Kevin Landis and his son, Hunter were in Vancouver with a couple of thousand other witnesses who were targeting the lost who were gathered for the Winter Olympics. The young man that filled the pulpit for him did a wonderful job teaching from 1 Timothy 2.

That evening we were reunited with family as we sang at Bobby's cousin, Gayle and husband David Massey's church, Calvary Baptist Church in Sulphur Springs, Texas. Bobby's dad, Bob, found out years ago that he had a brother named Dawson living in Texas, a child from his father's first marriage. Gayle is one of Dawson's 4 children and she is a joy to know. Her brother Mike (and Rose) from Jacksonville, Texas was there as well as her sister, Pat (and Bruce) from Grapevine. Also, Bob and Tena drove the 100 miles from Texarkana to be with us and that was nice, especially when Bobby invited his dad to come up and sing a song with him, “Thank You, Lord, For Your Blessings On Me.”

Of course following the service we enjoyed eating together in the fellowship hall. Grace, who was suffering from an awful canker sore had a miserable time trying to eat. I could see she was about to break down so we escaped to a Sunday School room off to the side. It was nice that Cathy, Gayle's daughter-in-law, followed us in to the room and we got a chance to visit one on one for a little while. Clint and Cathy Massey are a young couple with 3 children, and have come to support us in 3 or 4 concerts when we've been in northeast Texas. When we saw them last September, Cathy and Faith really seemed

to hit it off and Cathy said she had to come on the 14^th to get her “Faith Fix,” even bringing a cute little necklace that Faith was quite proud of.

Another few days in Texarkana before heading west again.

February 6 & 7, 2010

It's a little confusing but let's see if I can explain this easily and without making your head spin. As we were leaving North Richland Hills on Tuesday, Bobby checked his messages and got some bad news. The music pastor from the church we were scheduled to sing in on Sunday evening in Roswell, New Mexico, called to apologize because he had forgotten we were coming! Of course Bobby faced the temptation to get angry and insist that we'd be there regardless of whether there was an invitation extended or not. But remembering Pastor Bobby Ready's encouraging words a few weeks earlier, he waited before calling the pastor and gave himself time to think everything through. In the meantime, the Roswell pastor wrote an email giving a more detailed explanation of the reason for canceling and then offered to find us another church to sing in the last minute. He also offered to pay for our hotel accommodations Sunday evening. This was an honorable thing for him to do and when he and Bobby finally spoke, they had a friendly and sincere conversation. It was last fall that Bobby had spoken with the music pastor and he had scheduled us to come in February. However, he put it on a 2009 calendar and when he transferred things over to his new calendar year, he overlooked the Bowen concert on February 6. Meanwhile, the senior pastor planned to make prayer the focus of their church on Sunday evenings letting nothing else take precedence. When the music pastor realized his mistake, he shared it with his pastor and after a meeting with the staff decided to continue with prayer as planned. I know that still doesn't sound fair to the Bowen Family. However, some things in life aren't fair. By the church keeping prayer their focus and showing integrity by finding us another church to sing in, I believe both parties honored God through a situation that could have brought shame to both of our names.

Nadine Baptist Church in Hobbs, New Mexico was our scheduled place of ministry on Sunday morning and pastor Bill Bennett booked us in the Country Inn and Suites for Saturday night. So we simply asked the Roswell pastor that had offered to pay for our accommodations Sunday evening, if he would cover Sunday night, simplifying things for us with not having to move

around so much. He agreed and also found us a church to sing in Sunday evening in Dexter which is just a little south of Roswell. But first, I am excited to write about Sunday morning in Nadine. It's really a community and not so much a town and it's very close to Hobbs. We had a little trouble finding the place. The building was completely white and a thick fog hid it so that we passed right by it. We turned around at Billy Walker road, wondering if it might just be named after our beloved and missed Billy Walker, the country star/Cornerstone elder that passed away in 2006. The picture was taken after church.

Pastor Bill welcomed us and helped us get loaded in and sound checked. While that was happening I combed the hair of my children and asked who wanted to go to the van with me to pray. I'd rather pray alone but I also think we should pray in front of our kids to teach them first of all to pray and how to do it. Surprisingly, both Landis and Hope said they wanted to come with me and we locked ourselves in the van for about 10 minutes.

Like every congregation, there was a variety of saints that came through the doors. Some of them had been in the church for many years and looked like church people. And there were some who were struggling in their Christian walk with the Lord and with every day life. I received a big hug from one sweet old grandma after service who was missing some teeth and wreaked of alcohol. When the altars were opened at the end of the service, Bobby asked Pastor Bill to come and take over at that point while he stayed on the guitar. Some things I prayed before the service that morning I heard repeated back when Pastor Bill prayed during the altar call. A couple of individuals came to the front and were prayed for but the pastor lingered and I could tell there was someone in the room that he was hoping would respond to the invitation. He didn't have to wait too long before an big old cowboy named Robert walked the aisle and when he did, the room erupted into shouts of praise and cheering as Robert prayed a prayer of faith asking Jesus Christ to be the Lord of his life! We found out later that the church had been praying for Robert for years and Pastor Bill had visited him many times, and as recently as the week before he came asking Robert to surrender his heart to the Lord. Each time Robert would say that he figured he still had time and he wasn't ready. What a thrill and privilege to witness this event with this precious congregation that prayed for a lost soul and didn't give up on him. As exciting as it was to hear the shouts and praises of this little congregation, I had to think of what it must have sounded like in heaven at that very moment. (Luke 15:7)

After church we went back to our suite and rested for just a few minutes before picking up some lunch and driving the two hours back toward Roswell. We found Midway Baptist Church and had a small but fun concert on Super Bowl Sunday night. It was a pleasure to meet Pastor Leo Pennington and his wife, Cathy and we thanked them sincerely for allowing us to come on such short notice.

We had all started complaining a little when Bobby would pull into McDonald's for every meal. So he promised that we'd try something different Sunday evening. Golden Corral isn't one of the nicest places to eat (or the cleanest) but I sure did enjoy having a wide variety of foods to choose from and the kids ate well too.

It was a long drive back to Hobbs to sleep but we had two hours less to drive the next day as we made our way across Texas to Bob and Tena's, my “PIL” (parents-in-law) in Texarkana where we stayed for a week.

January 31 - February 5, 2010

It began snowing on Friday, January 29, and continued though most of Saturday and it caused our pastor to cancel church services for the entire weekend. We were so disappointed as we had planned to go to our own church Saturday night; a rarity for us.

We were to sing in Erin and McKenzie, Tennessee on Sunday and services were canceled there also. So we sat at home and waited out the snowstorm. The kids enjoyed every minute of the snow. Even Grace, who we had threatened to throw her out in it, (we did lay her in it for a couple of minutes) was very angry when we actually brought her back inside. But everything was alright again when she got her hot chocolate.

We did get to celebrate Faith's fourth birthday at home. She pulled out her very best clothes and jewelry for the occasion and we enjoyed cake and ice cream in her honor.

Things were sort of upside down or backward it seemed because we were home all weekend and we left home on Monday for a 3 week trip. Usually we're gone on the weekends and coming home on Monday. But that's what we did, drove to Fort Worth on Monday and spent the night as we sang at a Senior's Bible study at North Richland Hills Baptist Church in North Richland Hills, Texas on Tuesday morning. Brother George Dixon and his sweet wife, Millie, invited us back after we had such a good time together the last time which was in September of last year.

After sharing a catered lunch with the folks at North Richland Hills Baptist Church, we drove up to Wichita Falls and found a hotel room for Tuesday night.

The following morning we packed up and took our time with a bit of shopping and some lunch and then moved into another hotel. I now have a new favorite hotel. If you've followed us very long in this blog, you know that Grace's favorite hotel to stay in is the HI Express and mine has been the Hampton. Tough call between the two but usually Hampton is a small notch above the HI Express. But my new favorite is Hawthorn Suites. First of all every room is a suite. It's not like you can be booked in a double and have the option to upgrade (which is something we've been doing more frequently – we just pay the difference out of pocket), every room at the Hawthorn is a suite. And second, there's an elegance and newness that compares with HI Express and Hampton. Third, and possibly most important, they have a large hot breakfast, also comparable to the previously mentioned hotels, but it's even better. At least the one and only Hawthorn we've stayed in had a better breakfast than other hotels. The other two hotels have hot eggs but they don't have dirty rice and taco seasoned ground beef to go with it! Plenty of hot sauce to pour over it and sausage on the side. Now we're talking BREAKFAST! It made this humble traveler very happy. It's the little things. Wednesday evening we found Overcoming Word Praise Center with Pastor Mark Graham. This is a very young congregation with an exciting story of how God is using this young preacher to touch a city. One of the things they do that's different from anything I've ever seen is on Wednesday evenings they forgo the worship with music and instead, have a declaration service. Pastor Mark's sister was telling me this before church and she asked me, “Do you know what that is?” I told her that I guessed it was declaring the Word of God over a person or situation. She confirmed that it was and I thought, “What a great idea! To have a declaration service and declare the Word of the Lord.” However they didn't have a declaration service that night but we had a fantastic time worshiping with the church at Overcoming Word.

Pastors Mark and Linda have 5 beautiful kids. Biologically they have 2 teenagers, and they have adopted Lexie, 6 years old and 2 brothers, Chris and Bubbie who are a little younger yet. The Graham's are living in and giving out the love of Jesus with their every day lives.

Thursday morning we continued west across Texas toward New Mexico, stopping in historic Santa Rosa, New Mexico at the Travelodge for the night. We got settled in our room and then enjoyed dining at the famous Route 66 Cafe. The original Route 66 highway ran right in front of the diner and it's now a novelty for those who stop by and eat there.

The following morning we drove northeast to Farmington, New Mexico

where we had

a great service at La

Plata Valley Baptist Church. Pastor Craig Seigel and his lovely wife, Connie work so hard not only with the pastoring but with cleaning and maintenance of the building and then owning and operating a muffler shop in Farmington. If that weren't enough, Brother Craig is still going to school simply to further

his knowledge. I'd say he has his hands full. The funny thing is it's usually those people who are working the hardest and doing the most that get the most done. Brother and sister Seigel's daughter, Lisa was at the concert Friday night to help with children if she was needed. She and Faith were fast friends and it was a pleasure for all of us to know her.

About 5 minutes into the concert, a family walked in and sat down. I was immediately attracted to them as there were 6 children and there was something about them that told me I'd like them so I approached them afterward. They introduced themselves as The Logan Tribe and indeed with Dad, Jason Logan and 6 of his 9 children (10^th on the way) they did seem to represent a tribe. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting 13 year old Sarah, Colton, Justice, Wyatt, Bailey Jo and Garrett that night. Sarah was so grown and a joy to speak with that I only hope I have the joy of meeting the mother who's raised her. Each of the children were a delight and I wasn't the least bit surprised to hear they were home-birthed and home-schooled. You can almost always tell.

The church had booked us at the Comfort Inn in Farmington and we paid the extra for an upgrade to a suite which provides us more square footage as well as a little more sleeping room. So after a good night's rest it was off for a long drive from the northwest corner of New Mexico to the southeast corner of the state. We landed in Hobbs on Saturday night and this is where I'll end this post as it's already long enough and I'm nearing my destination. Home is nearby and that means my writing time is over until the next trip. I've got some great news in the next post so I'll save that for a fresh new post.