Road to Recovery

Ministry Update

After showing up sick to this meeting in Hot Springs, VA, the pastor decided that it might be better if I did not preach on Sunday so that I could rest and recover. I hope to be in the pulpit tonight, although I am nowhere close to being well. I do, however, feel better than I have since Thursday night, doubtless due to the prayers of all of you. Thank you so much.

Family Update

After thinking that my fever had broken Saturday morning, I was negatively surprised when it came back with a vengeance as the day progressed. We left Luray, VA, and by the time we were in Harrisonburg, VA, the old symptoms were all back: burning eyes, aching bones, nuclear headache, and overall physical weakness. Once we got off the Interstate and began our trek to the church, I was hoping to meet Jack Kevorkian or some half-crazed serial killer to at least put me out of my misery. No such personage materialized, however, much to my wife’s comfort.

The cow path that led to Hot Springs (a.k.a. US 220) caused some close calls for us pulling the trailer: there were several times when we feared we would rear end ourselves on some of the curves. Had the children not been asleep, they probably would have been carsick by the time we arrived.

Set-up in Hot Springs took longer than usual. We had the trailer situated, only to find that it had to be moved so that we could have electricity for the week. Then, I had to wire directly into the breaker box, quite a feat when one’s hands are shaking like a set of canastas. We finally got everything set up, except for water, which I decided could wait until later. I then stumbled back into the trailer for another sleepless night of furnacedom.

Saturday night, I was hotter than ever, according to my wife. Not that she minded. The God of heaven had chosen to mock the meteorologists in their ideas of global warming and postpone spring, at least in the mountains of western Virginia. In addition to the other happenings of the evening, there fell a wintry mix of sleet and snow.

One of the effects of this sickness for me is that it completely takes away my ability to sleep at night. I have not slept except for catnaps here and there since Wednesday night of last week. Saturday, however, was the worst that I can ever remember. I lay in bed generating so much heat that it made a rotisserie of my wife, who had to turn over regularly, so as to avoid spontaneous combustion herself. I felt as if I were getting worse as the night progressed toward midnight. It was about then that I started seeing apocalyptic visions. These visions continued until 1:00 when my wife finally convinced me to take a fever reducer. Looking back on it, I realize that I must have been hot because I don’t remember the heater coming on very much despite the frigidity of the outside air. By morning, I felt somewhat better, the symptoms of my sickness being suppressed by the fever reducer.

After talking to my pastor and youth pastor at my home church, as well as to my Dad and the pastor of the church in which I was supposed to be preaching, I decided that it might be best to see a doctor about my condition. It was either a doctor or a snake-handling faith healer across the line in West Virginia. I opted for the former. Since I obviously had no family practitioner in the area, my only option was the hospital emergency room. I was somewhat embarrassed to go to the emergency room for something as trifling as a fever, but I was nearing the place where pride was completely out of the picture. I was startled when they asked about my living will before they would treat me. I had known that it was bad, but surely not that bad.

Now, I am on three different medications that have taken care of most of the symptoms. I am still weak, sometimes dizzy, and fearful of possible brain damage that may have resulted from the fever. My wife assures me that my brain, dubious as it was to begin with, has now been cooked to the consistency of scrambled eggs, though somewhat less tasty.

Our girls are still sick, especially Esther, who has a nasty cough and a fussy disposition. Abigail is not as bad as Esther, and Josiah seems to be fine. Thank you all for your prayers. They have been felt and appreciated.

Attention: Future meetings with Evangelist Paul Crow are subject to the approval of the Centers for Disease Control.

Sickness and Blessing

Ministry Update

The Lord has given us a wonderful week of meetings at the Page Valley Baptist Church in Luray, VA. Hearts have been touched and challenged by the Word of God. Today, we head to Hot Springs, VA for another week of meetings. Thank you for praying for us.

During the slow months of the winter, God revealed to me through my pastor that I should write a book. I have been working on it ever since the new year and hope to have it available sometime in September. Please pray with me that God will use the book to minister to the hearts of men and women. The title is Cliffs and Fences: Personal Separation and Standards in a Biblical Perspective. I may work with the subtitle a little bit, but the first three words of that title are set in stone.

One of the things the Lord did for us this week was to lay it on the heart of someone to give a large gift toward paying off our trailer. Getting out from under that payment has been on my heart for quite some time, and God brought us much closer this week.

Family Update

This week has been wild from the family’s standpoint because of sickness. First of all, Sarah got sick at the beginning of the week and she has not recovered yet. Then Josiah was touch and go for a while, then I got sick, then the girls got it. Fever, runny nose, and a deep, sometimes barking cough are the symptoms of this diabolical disease. Because Sarah lost her voice early in the week, I had to sing a couple of nights. Due to the negative impact my vocalizing had on the crowds, we decided to have Sarah play the piano for the rest of the special music. Having escaped the plague most of the week, I found myself in its clutches Thursday night. After that service, I was unable to sleep all night long because of a fever of 101. Friday night, the fever had proven itself as inseparable as my shadow. After preaching, I stumbled home for another sleepless night. Shortly after 6:00 Saturday morning, the fever broke and I am on the way toward feeling better. The girls are still sick. Evangelists may not carry revival in their trailers, but this evangelist carries a dreaded sickness. Hopefully, the word won’t get out.

Paul

Blizzard

Ministry Update

The Lord has given us many opportunities of service over the past couple of weeks. During the terrible blizzard (see below), I was in Denver, CO for a training session with Baptist Youth Mission. I will be traveling with them this summer as one of their youth evangelists doing vacation Bible schools and teen revivals. I am looking forward to it.

One of the opportunities that I enjoyed today was preaching to a juvenile detention center. I went in to address an audience that was not really interested in who I was. As my time went on and I preached to them, God gave me an entrance into their hearts. I was interrupted by the guard before I could give an invitation, but I was at least able to go through the Gospel with them. The longer I preach, the more grateful I am to preach in jails, for one, and to teenagers, for another.

Thank you all for your prayers. Our busy season of revival meetings is upon us. Our only hope is that the trailer will be ready to go for that time. The Lord is opening new doors for us as we go, and we are grateful for every opportunity that He provides for ministry.

Family Update

Well, having survived the great “Blizzard” that came through southern Ohio, I now feel up to date on my quota of bad weather. In fact, we had about three months’ worth of weather in the ten days we were there. It was really quite unbelievable. In the first week we were in Ohio, it was sunny, then it froze, then it rained and flooded, and then it iced and thawed. After that, the blizzard came with snow coming down two inches per hour, and then two days later, we were playing in the foot-deep snow in 60 degree weather. Needless to say, our snowman only survived for two days. The kids loved playing in the snow, and I was glad that it was rather warm, since they didn’t have proper snow clothes.

Our trailer has been giving us problems. The brakes have locked up on the rear wheel of the trailer, and must be repaired before we can drive it again. This has made for much scrambling and packing lately as we go to our different meetings. I am looking forward to getting back “home” to the trailer.

Today we had a wonderful meeting with Bro. Don Snow in New Philadelphia, OH. He and his family have been personal friends of our family since I was in diapers (literally). It was such a blessing to see them again and catch up on what is happening there at the church. Of course, I took a lot of teasing from him, but I managed to bear up with a longsuffering spirit, as you can well imagine.

Today, I looked in Abigail’s ears, and jokingly told her that there were potatoes growing in them. With a fearful voice, she said, “For weal?” I am certain that my laughter reassured her.

Esther has managed to fall as many times as possible in the last several days. Probably because she noticed that the bruises from her last tumble have started to fade. She fell out of bed last night in the hotel where we were staying. I say staying because we definitely were not sleeping. She bounced around on the bed for over an hour before we finally called the front desk to see if they had a spare cage. Once we procured a pack-n-play, she promptly fell asleep. Familiar surroundings, I guess. Today, she fell down a short flight of stairs at the pastor’s house. Later, I caught her about to follow Josiah’s example and jump off of the three-foot high platform at the church. She was all crouched and ready to spring, when I screeched “NO!” from the back of the auditorium. Tonight, she opened the drawers of the hotel dresser, and was climbing in them. I am not sure what mischief she was planning, but that also was nipped in the bud.

Josiah came into contact with peanut residue while in the gymnasium, and so, looked somewhat like a spotted hyena tonight, in addition to wheezing a lot. We treated him and washed him off as best we could. Sometimes things happen that are out of our control. He is a little trooper, though, and seems to be recovering quite well. Please pray that he would get over the sickness he has been fighting for a week or so. It puts him off balance enough that other things bother his breathing and complexion (hives, eczema). We are praying that the Lord would heal him of his allergies, and give us grace to deal with them for the time being.