Gideon’s Trailer

Our hearts are full tonight.  Before the service, a young man named Robert asked to speak with the pastor after the service was done.  The pastor asked that I meet with them also.  After listening to him talk for a while, we were able to steer him to Christ.  After explaining the gospel to him, he bowed and trusted Christ as Savior.  In retrospect, maybe his salvation was what Satan was trying to prevent by even more trailer troubles.

Up to this point, our current trailer has enjoyed the soft, cushy life of a southern RV—lots of sunshine, with the temperatures dipping into the 30’s occasionally, but not any serious cold weather.  The past two and a half years of our schedule have been pretty easy on this bad beast.  While our schedule has been kind to the trailer, it has not reciprocated in like manner.  Apparently, it prefers the cozy warmth of the repair shop to our grueling road trips, replete with potholes, dirt roads, traffic jams, and angry motorists.  In retrospect, I think it has fought us every mile of the way for the past two and a half years.  We have had five tires blow out—one tire just flew the coop while we were driving through construction—leaking toilets, falling closets, broken dresser drawers, blown fuses, a power cord that will not stay plugged in while driving, and the list goes on and on.  Really, when one thinks back, it seems like a great deal of trouble.  One problem at a time doesn’t seem overwhelming, though, so the evil thoughts of the trailer toward its beneficent owners were overlooked. 

We arrived in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia  on a beautiful sunny day, with temperatures in the high 60’s.  Spring was in the air!  The children laughed and played in the church parking lot, and we quickly set the trailer up with a lovely view of the not-too-distant mountains.  Then, out of nowhere, bad weather blew in.  The temperature dropped, then dropped some more.  Instead of playing outside, the children began asking for blankets, gloves, and hot chocolate.  It snowed.  The trailer sulked.  She decided that this weather was not for her.  Unbeknownst to our family, revenge was being plotted.  After borrowing a kerosene heater in addition to our normal electric heater, we went to bed that night, leaving the water running, so the pipes wouldn’t freeze (this is a trick every evangelist needs to learn).  When we woke in the morning, we found that the pipes had frozen in spite of our precautionary methods, and we had no water.  The trailer snickered with evil glee.  Now life would be extremely inconvenient for this bunch of trailer trash. 

As you can imagine, living in an RV with no water is  difficult, to say the least.  We had the means to make a waterless breakfast, but could not wash the dishes. There were no morning showers, and one of the kids had a midnight accident that could not be laundered, unless we chose to take it outside and scrub it in the falling snow.  Things were beginning to stink in more ways than one.  All bathroom trips had to be made across the freezing parking lot into the church.  All the while, the heaters were keeping things at a tropical temperature, albeit the fumes from the kerosene were a little strong.  No wonder we were all still smiling!  Around two in the afternoon, the pipes finally thawed out, and we were able to resume normal activities.  We weren’t going to let that happen again. 

After the service that night, Paul disconnected the hose, and we thought everything would be fine.  Without water running to the trailer, the pipes would not freeze again.  We also had turned on the propane furnace that day, having exhausted the supply of kerosene in the borrowed heater, and discarding it.  In the period of time that we have owned the trailer, not once had we ever turned on the furnace.  We weren’t even sure that it worked.  Thankfully, it did, but the result of at least three years of dust(not to mention untold amounts of food particles, toys, erasers, and hairbows) burning off was far from pleasant, but we went to bed that night secure in the knowledge that we were snug and warm.  In the middle of the night, though, there was some concern that we would all be roasted alive.  While the furnace was working great, the thermostat was not.  The furnace didn’t shut off the entire night.  The resulting sweat bath was at least purging the kerosene fumes from our bodies.  Parched with thirst, we headed to the the sink to get a drink, but alas, the hose was disconnected, thus no water came out of the faucet.  No problem.  Just throw on some shoes, gloves, scarf, long johns, earmuffs, ski mask, and a parka, and head out to turn on the water.  The trailer cackled with fiendish delight when, after all the hoses were connected, the water still wasn’t working.  It seems that the water that was still inside the pipes froze, and we were once again without water.  Most of the day was spent trying to thaw the pipes inside the trailer walls, a difficult proposition seeing that we could get to none of them without dismantling the trailer.

With two waterless days behind us, we vowed that today would be different.  Indeed, it was.  This time, we had cold water in abundance, but no hot water.  The pipes leading from the hot water tank had frozen going to the faucets.  While we were half-heartedly trying to work on those, one of the kids ran in to tell us that the toilet was overflowing.  A quick inspection  revealed that the hose going to the toilet had developed a leaky valve, and was dripping water all over the floor at a steady rate.  I was puzzled  at the discrepancy of this dilemma.  How could the pipes be frozen and yet the toilet leaking?  The irony was amazing.   How could the water be disconnected, and yet the pipes still freeze?  How could the trailer be as warm as Death Valley in July, and yet the water freeze?  We decided that it must be a miracle of the same type that Gideon had when he put his fleece before the Lord.  One morning, the fleece was wet and the ground dry, the next, the ground was wet and the fleece dry.

One thing is sure, though.  If you visit us before two in the afternoon this week, don’t sniff too closely, because you might get more than you bargained for.  As for us, we are just taking it one day at a time.  And don’t be surprised if you see our trailer smirking…

A Father’s Dream

It was a great victory when each of my children bowed their hearts to the claims of the Gospel and trusted Jesus Christ as Savior.  The next great spiritual goal in my mind for my children is for them to totally surrender their lives to the Lord.  Each needs to realize that after salvation, he or she needs to present his or her life as a living sacrifice to God.

As I look at Josiah, it often seems too soon for him to be involved in youth activities with other seventh through twelfth graders.  Yet, he is in the seventh grade and is perfectly eligible to go to youth meetings, my nostalgia notwithstanding.  Because of the broken down trailer and our being detained in Mobile, Alabama, we were asked to join the church youth group in a trip to Acworth, Georgia, to a youth rally in which several churches were involved.  Josiah came with us while a family from the church watched our younger children in Mobile.

The music and the preaching at the youth rally were Christ-honoring and Scriptural, and Josiah sat on the front row taking it all in.  After hearing a message on Abraham offering up Isaac to God, Josiah decided to give to God his most prized possession, his life.  After hearing how God wants what matters most to us, the decision was very plain in his mind.  He would surrender his life to do whatever God wanted him to do.

As different young people were responding in the invitation, one of the rally workers approached me and asked me to deal with Josiah, not realizing he was my son.  So it was that father and son got a chance to speak freely about this monumental decision.  It was a time of real tenderness on Josiah’s part and great victory for me as his father.

My dealing with Josiah was not unlike my dealing with anyone who makes public a decision of total surrender.  I stressed to him that the decision of full surrender is one that must be revisited daily.  He must remind himself of this promise often, lest he be tempted to take back what he has given to God.  Only God knows what Josiah will ultimately do, but as long as recalls this decision made at this rally today, God will gently lead him every step of the way.

I invite all of you who pray for us to rejoice with me over the broken down trailer.  I invite you to praise the God Whose ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts.  The seeming difficulties we have faced with the trailer are more than worthwhile when we consider all that God has done in the lives of many in our extended stay in lower AL.  Praise the Lord!

Being in the Way

Although few can call his name, most know the most famous statement to come from the mouth of Abraham’s servant in Genesis 24.  He said, “I being in the way, the Lord led me.”  So it was with our ministry.

On Wednesday of last week, we closed a meeting in Semmes, Alabama, or so we thought.  During the course of the meeting, a man came to me and told me that I was having some real problems with my trailer.  He said that they were the kinds of things that I really needed to get fixed or else I should trade my current unit in for another one.  The timeframe?  Sooner rather than later.

Having made some decisions in haste in days gone by regarding these matters, I resolved to pray about this one and seek the Lord’s wisdom.  Not surprisingly, the Lord answered and directed us to repair the trailer we currently have.  He even led us to the proper facility.  The repair, however, will cost us time and we are detained in Mobile for the time being. 

The pastor of the church in which we just closed a meeting asked me to preach on Sunday as well, a Sunday through Sunday meeting of sorts.  It was the Lord’s will and the Lord’s timing in every respect.

All throughout the week, God worked in the hearts of people in the church and they got things right.  By the following Sunday, the Lord was prepared to move on to working in the hearts of lost people.  One man had been praying for his lost wife and mother for many months.  Both ladies came on Sunday morning and were born again.

At the invitation Sunday morning, I specifically told the unsaved people to come forward and get my attention and I would direct them to the personal worker.  In addition to the two ladies who responded, a teenage boy responded immediately.  I had instructed the people who were unsure of their salvation to not merely kneel at the front as others (Christians) would be doing.  They were to look me in the eyes and get my attention.

Kyle didn’t wait.  He didn’t hesitate to follow my instructions perfectly.  I had been paying attention to the ladies, who I knew had been the objects of prayer for some time, and failed to realize that here was another precious soul very serious about salvation.  It was powerful service and one that did a lot to encourage the pastor and his people.

Now, we are involved in a waiting game.  We have no idea how much time will be involved in our trailer repair, nor do we know for certain how much it will cost.  What we do know is that God is in control, and He is in heaven waiting to show Himself strong in response to our faith.

Please pray about the timing and finances of the trailer repair.  As you pray, know that God is hearing and showing Himself mighty in our lives.  For those of you who pray for us, the victories we see are as much yours as they are ours.  Mostly though, the victory belongs to our God, Who has left us His Word and His Spirit with which to minister.  It is our joy to be a part of His plan.