May 22-26, 2010

We were delighted to be able to attend our first Saturday evening service of this year at our home church, Cornerstone. It was Grace's first time to go to “big church” as she is now in 6th grade and has graduated to Jr. High. I tried so hard to be ready early so that we'd have plenty of time and opportunity to find a good seat because of needing an appropriate place for the wheelchair. I was so proud of myself for being ready and leaving the house 45 minutes before service started only to be shocked when we got on the Interstate and saw brake lights ahead of us. Because of construction we crept along for the next 4 miles or so making our 20 minute drive well over an hour. We were embarrassed as we walked into the sanctuary on the main floor nearly 30 minutes after the service had started. Thankfully, we had called Mr. Pat and asked him to help us in saving a couple of seats and a spot for Grace to sit with us. He did and it all worked out except that Grace decided this wasn't church as usual. She would have rather been back in the Children's Ministry with Mr. Pat. I may have been successful in leaving early for church but I failed to remember some items for Grace, like something to drink during church to keep her quiet. Finally, Bobby had had enough of her moaning and complaining and felt that we were at the point of disrupting the service so he took Grace out in the hall. I was so disappointed and discouraged, even to the point of tears. I absolutely HATE feeling like I'm giving in to the Devil when we make exceptions where Grace is concerned. I know some people reading will think I'm a little extreme by saying that but that's exactly why we have sickness and disease...because we make exceptions and excuses. In other words, we PUT UP with sickness and disease. As long as we are willing to put up with sickness, it will be with us. And if you're wondering, yes, I've put up with it too. I'm no exception. In the estimated number of 20 personal and specific healings that Jesus did in the Gospels, a little over half of those healings occurred because the person being healed did something. They didn't just wait to see what would happen, they were aggressive in stretching out the little bit of faith they had. I'm tired of people being offended so easily by saying that they are being picked on by those “faith people” who say, “If you just had enough faith!” It's not a matter of having enough faith. It's a matter of doing something with your faith...not just sitting there waiting for something to happen. Because it might and then again, it might not. That certainly is true and that's why sometimes God heals and sometimes He doesn't. Those are the cold hard FACTS, I agree, but the TRUTH of the Word of God is, it is His will to heal us. He made that very clear in Isaiah 53:5, Matthew 8:17, Hebrews 13:8 and 2 Peter 2:24. There are a lot of things that happen though, that are not necessarily God's will. I mean look at how He said that He is willing that NONE should perish but for ALL to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9) ..but they don't.

Ha ha! I never intended to get into all of that when I started writing but my emotions got caught up when I started writing about Grace being taken out during the church service. There are TV monitors, great sound and overstuffed chairs in the hallway, so Bobby and Grace actually got more out of the sermon than if they'd stayed in the sanctuary. He said she was quiet and paid attention the remainder of the service. God works all things out for our good because He loves us. And that's what I need to close this subject out with: even though we don't always do the right thing or make the right decisions, God's mercy and grace is abundant to us and greater than our weaknesses (or our greatest strengths, for that matter) and even when precious saints die from sickness, even then there is victory. Satan is already defeated and God has already spoken the last word.

We drove home, ate some egg sandwiches and Bobby took a nap while I finished packing. We got on the road at midnight and after putting the children to bed in the van, headed west.

I spoke with my dad the following morning before he'd gone to church. He chuckled when I told him where
(Landis and I snapped some pics of the sun rise in Arkansas.)

we were (eastern Oklahoma) and that we'd been to church in Nashville just 12 hours earlier. In our conversation we realized we were going to be in Oklahoma at the same time as he planned on driving out there from Michigan in a few days. So we made plans to meet up in the small town where he'd be (where he was raised) on our days off between Enid, Oklahoma and Sheridan, Arkansas. Not only did we plan to meet up but to do a little singing at the all-school reunion he would be attending in Mazie. You can't blame us for snatching up any opportunity we can find to make a few bucks by selling some CDs on our day off.

The week prior, when Bobby and I discussed our schedule for this weekend and saw that we'd have some time to kill between Sunday evening in Ardmore and Thursday evening in Enid, Oklahoma, meaning we'd have to spend some money on lodging, I suggested that the 2 rooms that the pastor from Ardmore was treating us to Sunday night might be changed to 1 room for two nights so that we might benefit by not having to pay for Monday night and he'd still be spending the same amount of money. Bobby called Pastor Robert Peterson and talked to him about our situation and asked him about changing the reservation from 2 rooms for 1 night to 1 room for 2 nights. Pastor Robert agreed and upon hanging up the phone but he called back moments later telling us that when he explained the new plans to his wife, Paula, she immediately retorted, “You mean you're going to allow him to drive all that way from Nashville and then stuff the whole family in 1 hotel room? I don't think so!” I told Bobby, “I like her already!” So he decided to just keep the 2 rooms for 2 nights. However, he had a better and more economical idea a little while later and called yet again letting us know he moved us to another hotel and got us a suite for 2 nights. How generous.

After driving all night, we finally arrived in Ardmore a couple of hours before it was time to freshen up and head to New Hope Church of God. We loved Pastor Robert immediately and appreciated his down to earth personality. We expressed our deep gratitude for the generosity regarding the suite and just had a great time visiting before the service.

In spite of our weariness, we enjoyed the moving of the Spirit of God in that service. In our weakness He is strong. It's when we acknowledge that we need Him in order to accomplish anything that He proves Himself faithful and we walk away with the biggest blessings.

A great meal and fellowship followed a great time at church and all of that was followed by a great night of much needed rest.

(Pastor Peterson and his wife on the left.)

We spent a couple of hours in the pool the next day, something that doesn't happen often and after another restful night, we left the following day and headed north to Oklahoma City where we spent a couple of nights at a Microtel. We did a little shopping on Tuesday and Wednesday and then found a church that we thought looked like something we'd enjoy just 3 miles east of the hotel.

We were made to feel very welcome at OKC Faith and enjoyed some teaching on the Revelation by Lead Pastor TL Bates while our children enjoyed Royal Rangers and MPact Girls Ministry. As we sat and waited for the service to begin, Bobby leaned over and whispered that he was sure he had contacted this church about coming to minister.

After the service one of the greeters asked us not to leave until the worship leader, Jamie, spoke with us. Jamie had greeted us before the service and it occurred to her afterward that she might know Bobby. Sure enough when we visited with her in the lobby after church, her suspicions were confirmed that this was Bobby Bowen from Mid South whom she had listened to as a kid. And yes, she remembered being contacted by Bobby previously and promised that we'd be hearing from her in the near future. Isn't it cool how God blesses our faithfulness and obedience. I mean, we didn't have to go to church. We weren't scheduled to sing and we could have made ourselves comfortable in our hotel room as the visitors from out of town that we were. OKC Faith is a large church and could turn out to be a good booking, financially speaking, if Jamie does give us a call.

The following morning we would be heading up to Enid for a third visit to Chisolm Trail Cowboy Church. More on that in the next post.