In the Gut

Ministry Update

We had a good close to the meeting in Illinois, despite the fact that we had no unsaved people in the final service. I had been hoping for a great harvest, but we had a good close preaching to the Christians who were there. The people began arriving at least a half an hour before the service started. There was a spirit of excitement in the air and God did a great work in the service. We praise the Lord for the work that He did.

I was in between trailer and church before Friday night’s service when one of the men of the church got out of his car and came up to me with a smile on his face. He began to relate a blessing that the Lord had given Him. He began, “Bro. Paul, I promised God that whatever my stock did I would give it in the offering this week.” I did not know quite what he was talking about. The church being in a rural area, I thought he might be talking about livestock. Maybe he had a heifer that dropped a prize bull calf that was worth $2,000 on the hoof. The man further explained that it was stock in the stock market, not the pasture to which he was referring. He related exuberantly how that one company’s shares had gone up $.74 that day and the other company’s had gone up $.75. He never did tell me how many shares he owned, but when we got the offering check after the service, it was the largest that we have ever gotten from a week of meetings. God knew what was coming in our lives and that we would need it.

We got a late start on Saturday and drove to Wakarusa, Indiana, to the Travel Supreme plant to have some work done on our trailer, this week’s meeting having been cancelled due to the pastor’s poor health. When we arrived at the “park” that the manufacturer has at their customer service department, we discovered that we composed the low income housing section. In fact, not only did we have the cheapest unit there, we also had the oldest. Conversely, we were the youngest people there. Retirees were surprised beyond measure to see not one, but two small children bounding out of our trailer on Sunday all dressed for church. On one side of us was the first in a row of $350,000+ motorhomes, which comprised the majority of the people there. Even the trailers that were there, few as they were, were far newer and nicer than ours.

After a mixed day in two different churches on Sunday, we were jolted Monday morning by a knock on our door. It was a Travel Supreme employee informing us that he was ready to take our trailer into the shop. I had just finished reading my Bible and was in the shower when the knock came. Needless to say, we all scrambled to get ready (the children were yet fast asleep) and got off to a very early start. One of the items on our list of things to do was a visit to my Uncle Pat Silveus. He is a doctor in Mentone, IN and agreed to give me a medical checkup. His word confirmed our fears: I have a hernia in my lower abdomen. So far, it has not given me anything more than a little discomfort, particularly after I preach, but, according to him, that could change at any minute. It could be that the hernia will not give me any more problems for several months, or it could be that the intestine sticking through could become incarcerated or strangulated necessitating emergency surgery. Either way, surgery is a necessity. I can have it done now and it will be a minor thing, or I can have it later and it will be a major thing, possibly including the removal of part of my intestine. I have decided to come home and have the surgery. Please pray that God will continue to keep the problem under control until I can have the surgery. Also pray that recovery would not take me out of too many meetings. Evangelist Bill Abbott will be taking my place in Pennsylvania next week. I hope that I will not miss any more meetings because of this. After all that the doctor can say, we must ultimately go to God because He alone knows best. He has kept the problem from erupting into something dangerous for nearly a month now, and He can continue to do so until everything is repaired. Our eyes are upon Him.

Family Update

Well, you have already read a lot of what our family is going through right now. It is difficult at times not to get dragged down by what we see as “bad” circumstances. We are so glad that the Lord is in control of our lives, and we know He has a plan for us. Josiah has had a rough time the last few weeks, because of struggling with a cold. Both he and Abigail have coughs that just won’t go away. Please pray that they will continue to get better. The worst is over, I believe, but they just can’t shake the sickness.

Sunday night at church, one lady came up to me and laughingly told me that she had asked Josiah when his birthday was. He looked at her and said in his matter-of-fact way, “Four years ago.” She then asked him when he turned four, to which he replied, “When I was finished being three!” I guess I need to work some more on basic facts!

What would you think if you were pushing your cart through the grocery store, and suddenly heard loud car noises and squealing coming up fast behind you? Had you been in the Meijer store Saturday evening, you might have thought that a crazy Michigan driver (no offense Borrmanns!) had mistaken the superstore for a parking garage, and was careening toward you at breakneck speed. Perhaps you might have surmised that an overworked employee was letting off steam as he headed to the break room. In all reality, you would have found, upon turning, that such a disturbance was merely because the Crows were in town. People started and stared as they saw two tired-looking adults pushing a cart with one four-year-old and one 17-month old. Josiah was making the car noises, punctuated with bursts of song (excerpts from “Orpheus in the Underworld”, a classical song, for those of you who might think that we have taken to listening to DC Talk or worse), while Abigail was squealing and waving her arms like a charismatic preacher in a snake-handling service. You might think that we don’t get out much, but on the contrary, we get out so much that the children are as well acquainted with Wal-Mart as they are with their own bedroom! Maybe they just enjoy being the center of attention!

Speaking of being the center of attention, as we pulled into our slot at the service “park” on Saturday, I got out to direct Paul as he backed into the space between two other units. Josiah was peering around Paul’s seat, watching me as I waved my arms frantically back and forth, up and down, left and right (hmm, maybe that’s where Abigail gets it). As Paul centered our trailer, and no longer needed my “help,” I began to modify my arm waving for Josiah’s benefit, settling somewhere between Fred Astaire and a third-base coach. He found it highly amusing, and as I grew more animated, I was startled to hear a strange voice on my left saying, “We’re all watching you, you know.” It was one of the neighborhood elite, standing next to his motorhome. I laughed as if it didn’t bother me, but I suddenly realized – those old, nosy coots were watching! Truly, living in an RV park is like living in a fishbowl. Next time, I’ll make sure no one is around. Paul says that I should just be myself. This is coming from someone who “pushes” open automatic doors as if he were Atlas (no wonder he has a hernia), and who once pulled a frozen pizza around the mall on a leash. I have heard that the pizza in question was the star in a home movie entitled “A Roadkill’s Trip to the Mall,” but I suppose that is another story that will have to wait for another update.

Anyway, we head off to more adventures tomorrow. Who knows what we will encounter! Pray for us – it should become more and more obvious that we need it!