This year has been an amazing year in
many ways. First of all, the Lord provided a new-to-us trailer in which to
travel, and we are enjoying it very much. Just today, I received word
that our old trailer sold. We are glad to have that matter settled as we
move forward. Selling the unit is a definite answer to prayer.
We have also had some really good
meetings. Perhaps the highlight of the past few months was our Victory
Gospel Crusade tent meeting in Thompson, Manitoba. After traveling that
far north, I have decided that no place in all the lower 48 United States can
be rightly classified as "out in the boonies." We drove for 500
miles in Manitoba on the same two-lane road. If you do that in the United
States, it is because you choose to ignore the four-lane highways that
intersect from time to time.
Thompson is a very needy area, boasting
one of the highest per capita crime rates in all of Canada. Alcohol and
drugs are Satan's chief tools in this area, luring indigenous people and
immigrants alike into sin of all kinds. There were very few services in
which there was not at least one intoxicated person seated under the
tent. Some had to leave because they became disruptive; others stayed and
heard the Gospel. It is always difficult to know how much the drunkard
will retain. If they did not disrupt, we let them stay and hear.
In all, 15 people prayed to trust Christ
as Savior during our time in Canada. In addition, we made some wonderful
friendships with some of the Lord's people there. We even got to go
fishing there a couple of times.
After leaving Canada, we made our way to
Colorado where I preached in Fort Morgan and where we spent some time in the
mountains celebrating July 4th with some friends. From there, it was on
to Southern California where I will preach in two different churches before
heading to Arizona for three weeks. Life is busy during the next weeks as
we change ends from California to the Carolinas.
Thank you for all your prayers for us as
we travel and preach. As I look at the spiritual climate of our nation
today, there seems to be a hunger for something. Many do not know exactly
what it is, but they sense that the culture of the day has been less than
honest with them. They desire something real. Happily, some are
finding it in Bible-preaching churches.
As Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990,
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is reported to have commented to US
President George Bush: "This is no time to go wobbly." If you
know Jesus Christ and the truth of the Word of God, now is not the time to go
wobbly. Rather, it is time to stand and be counted by giving the Gospel
at every opportunity.
