Texas Tour, Part 3

April 3-5, 2010

While Grace and I laid around in the hotel room on that beautiful Saturday before Easter, Bobby and the rest of the kids met Pastor Ron Kelley from Horizon City Assembly of God at the park near their church for their second annual Easter egg hunt, an event organized to reach out to the city. Bobby sang about 15 minutes and Pastor Ron gave a short message. Our children received tickets along with all of the other kids to be eligible to receive prizes throughout the morning. They had given away everything but the last prize which was a boy's Huffy bike. Landis hadn't been paying attention to the numbers being called but Bobby reminded him to look at his ticket just as they called out his number for that bike! He was riding that bike through the park the rest of the morning shouting, “Thank you, Jesus!!”

Resurrection Sunday morning I awoke feeling great. I had watched our church services back in Nashville by streaming video the night before and was so excited about what God did through the music and drama departments as they portrayed so well the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I laid down to sleep at 9:40 and fell asleep immediately. I awoke at 6:00 and realized I had slept the entire night through. Grace didn't wake me, the people that had been above us a couple of nights and never slept were gone. Nothing had disturbed my sleep in those eight and a half hours and I felt so good.

We joined our friends at Horizon City Assembly of God and had an absolutely GREAT service. Pastor Ron was fired up. He and Lori had been hosting a prophetess from Sydney, Australia in their home the previous 2 weeks and after some spiritually rousing fellowship with her, a new passion for God was kindled in their hearts. Bobby sang for 30 minutes and Pastor Ron preached a convicting sermon about not playing church any longer and walking closer to God. He wept as he said he wanted to see healings and miracles much more frequently. Most of the congregation gathered at the altar that morning. We prayed for Grace and a young man with Multiple Sclerosis followed by a sweet time of worship.

After church we went to Pastor Ron and Lori's home to have lunch with their family. Lori and her daughter even organized an egg hunt for the kids after lunch. We love these folks and we believe we'll hear of great things happening in this church.

Sunday evening we made a return visit to First Assembly of God on Montana Avenue with Pastor Phil Sanders. This is where we met Mr. and Mrs. Robert

Rodriguez, the couple that spoke Spanish to Grace to cheer her up. She had thrown a fit in the fellowship hall (for a reason I can't remember) and cleared the room. Mr. Robert and Mrs. Yolanda were brave enough to come back into the room and I asked him to speak Spanish to Grace, knowing she'd forget about herself. There's something about the sound that makes her giggle. That was last November. This time Mr. Robert blessed another one of our children. With Bobby standing next to him he presented Landis with an

electric guitar and small amplifier! Landis' eyes were as big as quarters when he saw it. He'd been asking his dad for an electric guitar for a couple of months. Mr. Robert said the Lord led him to do this one other time for a boy of about 13. He said that today that boy is grown and serving the Lord by playing in a Christian band.

The following morning we took our time checking out. I'd rather the kids would just get their schoolwork done in the hotel room rather than in the van, although it doesn't usually work that way. Pastor Ron came to the hotel to pray with us and see us off so we enjoyed just a little bit more fellowship and building of our friendship as we sat in the hotel lobby talking and praying together.

As we drove east on I-10 we looked over to the right at Mexico. This time we didn't take an exit toward the border in order to take a picture at the fence like we did in November. The last time we did that we heard gunshots to our left as well as to our right. This time the latest word in the evening news was that footprints were found on a ranch near Fort Hancock, Texas, which is on I-10 just east of El Paso.

Our ride home was long but easy and at one point I talked to Landis about how God had blessed him the previous weekend. I asked him if he knew what Matthew 6:33 said and then I told him that when you make God's desires your desires, He'll see to it that all the other things you need in your life are taken care of. I reminded him that when he fasted back in January, he showed God how much he wanted to see people saved at our concerts by setting aside his own wants and needs. A brand new bike and an electric guitar were not things he needed but they were things he desired and longed for. I was thrilled that he could see the Word of God come to life and overjoyed that he could experience the overwhelming goodness of God, not in a shower of blessings, but in a downpour.