Meeting Extended

Ministry Update

Here in Tomball, the Lord has led us to extend the meeting another week. We will take tomorrow off and then go at it again on Sunday going all the way through Friday. We have seen some people under conviction this week but we have not yet been able to see them break. We have seen mercy drops, but we plead for the showers. Please be in special prayer for the rest of the meeting. It will stretch me personally to the limit and beyond -- but that is where God loves to have us. Paul said, "When I am weak, then am I strong." I was unable to sleep last night because of an upset stomach that lingers until now. Please pray that God would give me strength. I feel as if I could lose my meal at any minute -- a feeling that has lasted unabated for the last 18 hours.

Thank you to those of you who prayed that the next Sundays would be filled. God has supplied in a wonderful way. As of right now, I am preaching somewhere every Sunday from now until April 16. I am praying that God would fill that Sunday as well. There is something in the soul of an evangelist that causes him to have to preach. God is opening doors and providing for that need for me. Please continue to pray about the fall as there are a lot of openings in the fall as of right now. God knows and He will provide the open doors.

Family Update

Oh, what to say! The weather has been very nice the last few days, up in the 70’s and sunny. Today was a bit cooler, but we haven’t needed to run the heat, even at night. The kids enjoy being outdoors.

It is really exciting to have the meeting extended, although I am scrambling for special music, since I have already done most of what I have in my “repertoire”. I guess we will have to pull out all the stops and do something unusual. Maybe I will gargle peanut butter one night. Josiah sang this past week, but got the giggles while he was up there on the platform, as well as forgot the words to his song. Paul said he was laughing at me mouthing the words on the front row, but I really don’t think I look that funny. I later found out there was a small boy on the back row making faces. Whatever the case, I hope it doesn’t happen again.

Since the weather has been so nice, I have been leaving the door of the trailer open, with just the screen door shut. However, Abigail has learned how to open the screen door and has escaped several times. Yesterday, we were all taking a brief nap before the service, and I heard the screen door bang. I first thought that it hadn’t been latched and the wind caught it and blew it shut. But when I got up to investigate, I found that Abigail had climbed from her bed, and quietly gone outside in her socks. It took me a while to locate her, because she is so fast. I am going to have to keep an eye on her all the time.

Paul has initiated Josiah into the World War II strategy games he plays. Axis and Allies is a board game with a bazillion little tanks, soldiers, planes, boats, and artillery pieces. The object of the game is to re-create the battles and take over the world. Josiah has no idea how to play, but that doesn’t keep him from setting up the game pieces and playing “good guys and bad guys.” He is so enthralled with the game that he will sit and play by himself for hours upon end. My only complaint is that he constantly talks about the game. When he gets up in the morning, he asks if he can play it. When he goes to bed, he asks if he can play it the next day. It is a really handy babysitter! Yesterday, he played all afternoon, very contentedly. That is, until he got so busy playing that he failed to realize how close he was to the edge of the chair. There was a tremendous crash, and then weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. It only took about thirty minutes for him to get over the fall, and we are glad that there was no permanent damage.

Abigail finds Winnie-the-Pooh more her style. Her newest words are “Innie da Booh, Piddet, Tiddah, Ow, and Eeh-yo.” She hasn’t even attempted Christopher Robin. Probably too many syllables. She now knows how to tell me that she got hurt. “I bong head,” is a sentence we hear quite often these days. “Mouf” is another one, usually indicating that she bit her tongue while eating. “Pease” is now a regular part of her vocabulary, and usually accompanies words like “eat, drink, and more.” When I guess correctly what I think she said on uncertain “words,” she nods her head violently, her hair flopping about in a most comical manner. She certainly lives up to her name (gail is Hebrew for joy).

Please continue to pray that the Lord would work in hearts tonight and in the coming week. There have been many attacks on the meeting, mostly in the form of physical problems. We know He wants to do a great work in this church, but we are facing great opposition as well. Last Sunday, there was a teenage couple visiting family and they attended the services. The girl voiced some decided opinions about what she thought of the messages. They left that evening, and on the way home, strangely, they hit a patch of black ice and totaled the car they were driving. Another man, very faithful in the church, has been witnessing to a Lebanese waiter, but on the night he was to come, this man was admitted to the hospital with a painful mass on his adrenal gland, and was unable to attend the service or bring the unsaved waiter. This same man was admitted to the hospital last time we were here, and ended up having open heart surgery that same week. One teenage young man was recently saved, but his mother will not allow him to attend the services because “church is full of hypocrites.” A member of the church has been bringing him the tapes of the services, to which he has eagerly listened. Another young teenage girl has admitted that she is not saved, but refuses to come and get it settled. As you see, there are many things about which to pray, most of all for the power of God to be present in every service. We hope to have some wonderful answers to prayer to report at the end of this meeting.

Sarah