Joy in the Presence of the Angels

Ministry Update

Who hath despised the day of small things? Tonight we had a crowd of 24 people with several visitors. Four were young people in their twenties. Sarah and I got to talk to a newlywed couple named Matt and Sarah. Sarah (Matt’s wife), who had been in a previous service, trusted Christ as Savior tonight. Praise the Lord, I got to personally lead her to Christ! What a blessing today to see Sarah saved. Not only did Sarah get saved, but also another young man in his twenties named Devon. Another eight-year-old named Lorissa was saved as well. Devon was in church for only the second time in his life. Please pray for them as they grow in the Lord and are discipled. Also, please pray for Matt (Sarah’s wife) that he would be saved. He heard the Gospel plainly tonight and I would not be surprised if he gets saved soon. Thank you all for your prayers. What a blessing it is to know that people all over the country are praying for us!

Paul

Mountains, Ostriches, and Taking Bets

Ministry Update

After a week of not having services, we are back in a revival meeting again in Hadley, NY, not far from Albany. Please pray that the Lord would work in the hearts of the people in the area, that some would be saved. We had one visitor tell the pastor after the service today that she disliked preachers who raise their voice when they preach. Oh well, you can’t please everybody.

Family Update

It was a dark and foggy night. We had been driving for hours on the New York Thruway, and, in addition to being tired, we were now also broke. We figured it cost us one dollar in tolls for every book of the Bible. This, we thought was somewhat unfair, since Paul has not yet preached from every book of the Bible in his short tenure as an evangelist, but we decided against arguing with the toll booth attendant. The pastor met us at McZoomies restaurant, also known as the Golden Arches Dining Club, and we partook of the finest cuisine in the region. After the experience was over, we piled back into the truck and the pastor into his car. We were to follow him to the church, which, we were told, was twenty minutes away. For the first five hundred feet, the road looked promising, causing Paul to comment, “This is a pretty good road!” I thought to myself that it was a bit soon to say, but, like the good wife that I am, I nodded and smiled.

We groaned up to the speed limit ascending a 15 percent grade, while the pastor zipped away into the darkness. In fact, so rapid was his acceleration, that we wondered if he had a jet-assisted take-off. To put this in perspective, imagine a race between a road runner and an ostrich. While both are capable of great speed, it takes the ostrich a bit longer to attain the higher velocity. Speaking of velocity, by this time in our trip, we were now going down the other side of the mountain, which was an equal or greater grade than the previous hill. Paul was wishing there was a gear lower than first, and I was wishing that I had not eaten dinner. I suppose our eyes might have bugged out at the hairpin turns on the road, if they had not been pressed inside our skulls by the sheer velocity we had attained. Meanwhile, the pastor had disappeared. As we screamed around another corner, on six wheels (we have twelve total), we spotted him, sitting at a stop sign. After furiously mashing the brake pedals on both floorboards (mine is invisible as well as worthless), we came to a grinding halt just shy of the pastor’s back seat. He seized this moment to once more utilize his JATO (jet-assisted take-off) and disappear into the gloaming, with only the red glow of his taillights to offer a clue as to his former whereabouts. After twenty minutes of driving through the Adirondack Mountains in this breakneck fashion, we were beginning to wonder if the whole meeting was a hoax, or worse, if this was really the pastor that we were following. Then, as if out of nowhere, the church appeared on the crest of the next hill. Now the fun began.

“Pull in here,” the pastor said, pointing to a space made for a much smaller vehicle; a Yugo or perhaps, a go-cart. As he spoke, a crowd of curious onlookers collected in the parking lot opposite the church and began taking bets as to whether we would hit the trees or the sanctuary first. We pulled in with relative ease, only to find that there was no way to extricate the truck, since the church, built in 1869, also had a cemetery surrounding it on three sides, effectively blocking us in. We shrugged our shoulders and set to work leveling the trailer. Life is such an adventure.

Don’t try to call us this week, because we have absolutely no cell phone reception. We do have high-speed internet, though, so e-mail is the best way to get in touch with us. We still need your prayers as we travel. The Lord has kept us safe over many miles, and we are thankful. We know that your prayers have an effect on our ministry, even though you may not always realize it immediately.

The children are doing well, although both Josiah and Abigail had a cold last week. Josiah needed breathing treatments several times last week – the first time since April, I believe. He is doing much better now. The kids enjoyed running and playing outside in the nice 68-70 degree weather today after church. Abigail is the “little mama” dragging dolls around with her all the time. Esther grins and giggles when you talk to her, and perpetually blows spit bubbles. At times, it looks as if she is foaming at the mouth. Thankfully, she has no teeth, so the chances of getting bitten are slight. Paul says that I need to put something nice about him, too, so here goes. He is the only one of his kind.

Sarah

In's and Out's

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a meeting in Quincy, MI, that was difficult in some respects. Shortly before I got there for the meeting, the pastor resigned. Despite this and other difficulties, the Lord gave real grace during the meeting and God’s people were encouraged.

Yesterday found us in southern IN at First Baptist Church in Laurel. God gave us a great service both morning and evening. Praise the Lord that after a more difficult meeting in MI, the Lord gave us a respite in Laurel.

Sunday, we start a meeting in upstate NY in the Adirondacks. Thank you all for your prayers.

Family Update

We are enjoying warmer weather this week than we had last week. I know it won’t last for long, with fall coming and our travels taking us farther north. We have met some wonderful new friends, and renewed acquaintance with “old” friends. This week, during our time off, we are able to spend time with my mom and step-dad, as well as assorted other relatives – aunts, grandparents, etc. They are all quite willing to spoil the kids, especially sweet little Esther.

Josiah, Paul, and Allen (my step-dad) went fishing today. It was raining, but they had a great time, with Paul catching the smallest fish. Ha! Josiah has his own little fish pole. Paul had him practicing his cast today in the church parking lot. Thankfully, there were no cars, or he might have brought home a Chevy for dinner. That would be worse than a carp… They came back all wet and cold, but with smiles on their faces and even a few fish in their bucket.

Abigail woke us up this morning by howling at the top of her lungs. At 3:30 am, it was because the neighbor’s dog was yapping incessantly. She, by the way, is terrified of dogs, even when they are outside and she is inside. Anyway, after I calmed her down, she let us sleep until 6:30 am before howling again. This time, Paul went to investigate, and found her sitting in a puddle of the previous day’s dinner. Gross only begins to describe my feelings for an encounter like that so early in the morning. We cleaned up all the bedding and bathed and changed her, the nervously set her on our bed surrounding her with towels and jumping every time she coughed, sneezed, or sniffed. Esther woke up in the meantime, and was crying loudly to be fed. Josiah was on his bed asking questions like, “Where is my ladder?” (we had moved it for the cleanup) and, “Can I get down now?” The whole house was in an uproar. As many of you already know, I am not a morning person, and mornings like this make me wonder why anyone would want to get up and deal with such things. They never happen in the evening, so that makes me think that sleeping in later makes your day go better. Try it sometime – it works for me!

Since we were already all awake, we just ate breakfast and hit the road. After an unintended detour in the wrong direction, we headed toward Ohio and arrived in about two hours. That’s really what people mean when they say they took the scenic route, you know. They went the wrong way. Even seasoned travelers sometimes do it. Tomorrow begins another “normal” day, I hope.

It is late, and we are all tired, so you will have to wait with bated breath for the next series of misadventures in the Crow family! Thanks for all your prayers. We need them.

Love, Sarah

Sweet Alabama

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a great meeting Semmes, AL (Mobile area) with Pastor Tim Whigham. There was a spirit of contrition and repentance throughout the meeting as God’s people responded to the Word of God. On Thursday, there was a man who walked the aisle to trust Christ as Savior.

Today we were with Pastor Mark Falls in Bible Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa. Some of you may know from his days at Faith Baptist in Avon, IN where he was an assistant. It was such a blessing to spend time with him and his family.

I found to my chagrin that my son is gaining an affinity for young pastor’s daughters. Tonight, for instance, I walked into the auditorium to see him and the pastor’s daughter hugging in the middle of the aisle of the church. We can only wonder what the future holds for him (a girl in every church!?).

Tomorrow, we head to IN to the family farm for a week of relaxation with family and friends. A week from today, we open a meeting southern MI.

Give Me Diesel in My Dodge

[This update actually went out August 20, but I was unable to post in online until now.]

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a good start to the meeting here at Gilead Baptist Church in Macon, GA. I am eagerly looking forward to the schedule of preaching twice a day every day this week through Friday. Please pray that the Lord will give me an entrance into the hearts of the young people and the adults of the church.

The Lord supplied our needs in an unusual way today. After the afternoon meal, I had to fuel my truck. I had noticed diesel for $2.89 a gallon, but passed up the intersection without making the proper turn. I found another corner station that also had fuel, but the young man in charge of setting the pump had made a mistake. Instead of setting the pump to charge $2.89 a gallon, he set it to $1.89 a gallon. I paid with my credit card and pumped and pumped as much fuel as I could fit in my tank. I got over 30 gallons for less than $60. I tried to communicate to the store owners that their pump was set wrong and they argued with me. It may have been hard for them to understand since they all spoke English as fourteenth language. At any rate, it was a blessing from God to be able to save $30 on fuel today.

Terminator-Teacher

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a great meeting in Macon, GA. For those of you that prayed that the Lord would give me an entrance into the hearts of the young people, be assured that God answered your prayers. I suppose the culmination of my friendship with the young people at Gilead Christian Academy was the opportunity I had to attend a volleyball game on Friday afternoon. I was amazed anew at how much it meant to everyone involved. We also had a great beginning to our meeting here in Semmes, AL (Mobile area) where beginning tomorrow, I will once again be preaching twice a day. Thank God for the busy days of service! The meeting runs through Friday and for all of those concerned, we do have a contingency plan in case of a hurricane. God knows whether or not we will have to use it; at this point I am putting little confidence in meteorological predictions.

Please pray for our fall schedule, it having been decimated with cancellations. I would love to see those empty weeks fill up. As always, God knows and He has a specific plan for us. Your prayers for us are always greatly appreciated, and I will do my best to keep you informed of how God answers.

Paul

Family Update

Well, the last time we were in this area, some of you may remember, we were invaded by hordes of ants. Guess who dropped in for a visit? You got it – the ants! It must be something about the area. I really don’t think it has anything to do with Paul’s preaching, as good as it is. We have sprayed ant killer stuff outside the trailer in vain. They still come and come and come. Did you know that Windex multi task spray will paralyze them in their tracks? It is kind of cool. I feel like the Terminator. The house is really clean, too.

The pastor told us Sunday morning that tropical storm Ernesto had just been upgraded to hurricane status and that it was headed straight for us. The people of the church scoffed, saying that it will change directions fifty times before landfall. That is a great comfort. By Sunday evening, it had downsized to a tropical storm again. What a relief. The humidity right now is extreme, even though the temperature is only in the 90’s. We are anticipating a great meeting anyway. Pray that Paul doesn’t preach up any more storms. Ha!

Most of you know how hectic a Sunday morning can be trying to get everyone ready and out the door in one piece. We were doing well as far as time was concerned, and I was pleased with myself for getting everyone ready not just on time, but early! I had set my shoes out by the door while I finished my hair and makeup, etc. So, I was very unpleasantly surprised when I went to put on my shoes and there was only one! Of course, the kids knew nothing about it. Josiah blamed it on Abigail, and Abigail “didn’t know.” It resulted in a ten-minute, four man search around the trailer. As I limped around the trailer on one shoe, feeling like Cinderella, I muttered under my breath about how many places it could be in a 38 foot trailer. I mean, really! We looked under the chair, the couch, the beds, the toy box (as if anyone puts anything in there), and even outside, thinking that it might have fallen out when Paul opened the door. I don’t think I looked in the refrigerator, but we checked the bathtub and the trash. It finally came to light under a laundry basket full of clothes. How it got there, I can only imagine. I threatened the children about ever touching my shoes again, and we all went happily off to Sunday School. Of course, by that time, we were no longer early. Oh, well. We will try again next week!

Josiah has completed his second week of school, and has learned to write almost all of his vowels legibly. There is something to be said for handwriting practice. He is still very excited about the whole thing, and I am capitalizing on that fact. Someone gave him a three-foot inflatable bat in junior church on Sunday, and it has already been doomed to the trash can. I told him, while we were driving down the road, that if he hit me in the head with it again, I was going to bite holes in it. That calmed things down a bit, and I have to wait a while longer to get rid of it! I am such a heartless mother! I suppose I could always deflate it and send it on a mini-vacation under the bed. That would be nicer than biting holes in it.

Abigail is as wild as ever. She climbs, jumps and falls with such regularity that it is no longer remarkable. However, the other day, I was getting ready to give Esther a bath, and carried her into our bedroom while getting out her towel and washcloth. I heard a commotion in the kid’s room at the other end of the trailer. I turned nonchalantly and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. There was Josiah, lying on the floor with the bunk bed ladder on top of him, and hanging on for dear life above him on the bunk railing was Abigail! I quickly (but gently) dumped Esther on the bed, and sprinted for the impending disaster, calling out to Abigail to “Hang on!” Thankfully, I reached her before her arms gave out and the disaster was averted. Somehow, between the two of them, they managed to unhook the ladder form the top bunk without realizing it. I lectured them once again about being careful, and they continued playing.

One of their favorite things to play is “puppies” where they crawl around on all fours, barking, panting, and whining. There is a slight variation of this game called “dinosaurs” in which they crawl around the house roaring. Lovely. Anyway, it was not long ago when I overheard Josiah telling Abigail, “No, I will be the Mama dinosaur, because I’m the prettiest!” What will he think of next?

Sarah

Last night after the service as we were having a time of fellowship with the pastor and other members of the church, I looked up to see Abigail picking up each of the CD's on our table and running them through the drinking fountain. She had finished about a third of them before I was able to stop her. This morning, while I was preaching in a preacher's fellowship meeting, she irrigated my sermon notes from last night's message. Evidently, she finds my pulpit ministry dry and wants to help in that regard.

Paul

Terminator-Teacher

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a great meeting in Macon, GA. For those of you that prayed that the Lord would give me an entrance into the hearts of the young people, be assured that God answered your prayers. I suppose the culmination of my friendship with the young people at Gilead Christian Academy was the opportunity I had to attend a volleyball game on Friday afternoon. I was amazed anew at how much it meant to everyone involved. We also had a great beginning to our meeting here in Semmes, AL (Mobile area) where beginning tomorrow, I will once again be preaching twice a day. Thank God for the busy days of service! The meeting runs through Friday and for all of those concerned, we do have a contingency plan in case of a hurricane. God knows whether or not we will have to use it; at this point I am putting little confidence in meteorological predictions.

Please pray for our fall schedule, it having been decimated with cancellations. I would love to see those empty weeks fill up. As always, God knows and He has a specific plan for us. Your prayers for us are always greatly appreciated, and I will do my best to keep you informed of how God answers.

Paul

Family Update

Well, the last time we were in this area, some of you may remember, we were invaded by hordes of ants. Guess who dropped in for a visit? You got it – the ants! It must be something about the area. I really don’t think it has anything to do with Paul’s preaching, as good as it is. We have sprayed ant killer stuff outside the trailer in vain. They still come and come and come. Did you know that Windex multi task spray will paralyze them in their tracks? It is kind of cool. I feel like the Terminator. The house is really clean, too.

The pastor told us Sunday morning that tropical storm Ernesto had just been upgraded to hurricane status and that it was headed straight for us. The people of the church scoffed, saying that it will change directions fifty times before landfall. That is a great comfort. By Sunday evening, it had downsized to a tropical storm again. What a relief. The humidity right now is extreme, even though the temperature is only in the 90’s. We are anticipating a great meeting anyway. Pray that Paul doesn’t preach up any more storms. Ha!

Most of you know how hectic a Sunday morning can be trying to get everyone ready and out the door in one piece. We were doing well as far as time was concerned, and I was pleased with myself for getting everyone ready not just on time, but early! I had set my shoes out by the door while I finished my hair and makeup, etc. So, I was very unpleasantly surprised when I went to put on my shoes and there was only one! Of course, the kids knew nothing about it. Josiah blamed it on Abigail, and Abigail “didn’t know.” It resulted in a ten-minute, four man search around the trailer. As I limped around the trailer on one shoe, feeling like Cinderella, I muttered under my breath about how many places it could be in a 38 foot trailer. I mean, really! We looked under the chair, the couch, the beds, the toy box (as if anyone puts anything in there), and even outside, thinking that it might have fallen out when Paul opened the door. I don’t think I looked in the refrigerator, but we checked the bathtub and the trash. It finally came to light under a laundry basket full of clothes. How it got there, I can only imagine. I threatened the children about ever touching my shoes again, and we all went happily off to Sunday School. Of course, by that time, we were no longer early. Oh, well. We will try again next week!

Josiah has completed his second week of school, and has learned to write almost all of his vowels legibly. There is something to be said for handwriting practice. He is still very excited about the whole thing, and I am capitalizing on that fact. Someone gave him a three-foot inflatable bat in junior church on Sunday, and it has already been doomed to the trash can. I told him, while we were driving down the road, that if he hit me in the head with it again, I was going to bite holes in it. That calmed things down a bit, and I have to wait a while longer to get rid of it! I am such a heartless mother! I suppose I could always deflate it and send it on a mini-vacation under the bed. That would be nicer than biting holes in it.

Abigail is as wild as ever. She climbs, jumps and falls with such regularity that it is no longer remarkable. However, the other day, I was getting ready to give Esther a bath, and carried her into our bedroom while getting out her towel and washcloth. I heard a commotion in the kid’s room at the other end of the trailer. I turned nonchalantly and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. There was Josiah, lying on the floor with the bunk bed ladder on top of him, and hanging on for dear life above him on the bunk railing was Abigail! I quickly (but gently) dumped Esther on the bed, and sprinted for the impending disaster, calling out to Abigail to “Hang on!” Thankfully, I reached her before her arms gave out and the disaster was averted. Somehow, between the two of them, they managed to unhook the ladder form the top bunk without realizing it. I lectured them once again about being careful, and they continued playing.

One of their favorite things to play is “puppies” where they crawl around on all fours, barking, panting, and whining. There is a slight variation of this game called “dinosaurs” in which they crawl around the house roaring. Lovely. Anyway, it was not long ago when I overheard Josiah telling Abigail, “No, I will be the Mama dinosaur, because I’m the prettiest!” What will he think of next?

Sarah

Last night after the service as we were having a time of fellowship with the pastor and other members of the church, I looked up to see Abigail picking up each of the CD's on our table and running them through the drinking fountain. She had finished about a third of them before I was able to stop her. This morning, while I was preaching in a preacher's fellowship meeting, she irrigated my sermon notes from last night's message. Evidently, she finds my pulpit ministry dry and wants to help in that regard.

Paul

Sowing

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a good meeting with Pastor Roger Maxwell at Emmanuel Baptist Church of Keene, NH this week. It was his first revival meeting in the history of the church and Pastor Maxwell was very pleased with the faithfulness of his members. We had visitors every night of the meeting in addition to the members who were so faithful. We also had a group of teenagers from Northside Baptist Church in Charleston, SC who provided special music and did whatever was asked of them.

Every night we met in a room of the local YMCA building. Last night when we arrived at 6:30, we found the pianos rolled out of the room, the chairs taken down and the room prepared for a rock concert featuring several bands from all over New England. The Y had doubled booked and in the end, we relocated to another church in town that was gracious enough to lend us their building on the spot. In spite of the relocation, we still had visitors, two of whom were in their late fifties or early sixties and heard the Gospel for the very first time last night. Although they did not move during the invitation, the response to Pastor Maxwell after the service was very positive. He reminded me that we very well could have planted seeds that will take some time before they yield the fruit. He was very gracious.

A week from today we leave for another meeting, this time with the whole family and the trailer. We will start in GA in August and will not return to NC until December. Thank you so much for your prayers.

Family Update

It has been a busy summer for us. Esther is adjusting well to the family, and the family all loves her. She is proving to be a very happy and “good” baby, for which I am very thankful.

Josiah is now five years old (can it be possible?) and ready to start kindergarten next week. As I was going over my lesson plans, the thought occurred to me that before I started reading the lesson plans, it seemed a lot simpler than it did after I finished them. Josiah told me that he is “very exciting” about starting school. I believe my biggest challenge in schooling Josiah will be Abigail. Consequently, both children have new crayons, pencils, and folders. Perhaps Abigail will be easier to handle if she is doing “school,” too. Only time will tell.

We had a birthday party for Josiah last weekend and invited a bunch of his little friends. There were eight boys from 4-6 years of age, so, as you can imagine, it was quite wild. They played pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs, and balloon volleyball inside, and then the fun began! What little boy doesn’t enjoy running, jumping, yelling, and throwing things? We went outside in the extremely hot afternoon and had relay races and a huge water balloon fight, complete with squirt guns and a water hose manned by Paul. After the 200 water balloons were gone (I actually had blisters on my fingers from tying them all), we went in and ate hamburgers, hot dogs, cake, ice cream and Popsicles. Josiah was so excited that he actually was able to have cake. This year, I made him baked oatmeal and put cream cheese icing on it. Everyone commented on how surprised they were that it tasted good. After the last “cake,” I was a bit surprised myself! Anyway, Josiah ate lots of birthday cake. He even tried to eat the piece he dropped on the ground! I have finally found the perfect recipe for his birthday cake, and I am thrilled!

Abigail is slowly being potty trained. I say slowly because she stays dry all night long and will go in the morning, but will not tell me any other time during the day. We are, however, making progress, so I am not the least inclined to complain. I have a lot of other things on my plate right now.

This past week, I had Esther’s picture taken with a coupon for a free picture. The photographer told me that the packages were comparable in price to the hospital pictures that we purchased earlier, so when I saw the proofs I was excited about getting some pictures. The photos were so good! Then she showed me the packages. After I fell off my stool, I got back up and pretended that the prices were not really outrageous, and smiled and nodded politely – all while in shock. I sent the lady away with nothing but my free pictures. I suppose every mother’s heart squeezes when she sees the cutest baby pictures walking out the door never to be seen again, but I have survived, and am now wiser than ever. Lesson learned: don’t believe anything a salesman tells you.

This has been an extremely long update by reason of the fact that I have procrastinated in writing the last few weeks. Please forgive me… Hopefully, the next one will be much shorter. Be in prayer for us as we head out next weekend for several months. We will be gone until late November/early December. The Lord has been so gracious to us, giving us safety over thousands of miles, but we do not want to take that for granted. Thank all of you for your prayers.

Sarah

Home Again

Ministry Update

I arrived back home around 1:00 this morning. It was good to be home. The Lord gave us a wonderful meeting in New Castle IN. The meeting went Sunday through Sunday with no services on Friday or Saturday. During the week, each service was a teen rally in which I did almost all of the public work: piano, program, preaching, etc. The only thing that I didn’t do was pray for the meal each night. It was a tiring week, but a fruitful one: we saw 8 teens trust Christ as Savior.

I leave again Saturday headed for Keene, NH to preach a revival meeting for Roger Maxwell. Thank you for your prayers last week and I covet them again this coming week.

Family Update

My wife and family are glad to have me home. Sarah had a list of things for me to do from unusual cleaning projects to fix up things around the house. She took a few hours getting used to having a man to order around the house again. Before long, however, she was back to normal. When I went outside to take out the trash Tuesday, Abigail got a forlorn look on her face and asked, “Is Daddy gone again?” She was much encouraged to hear that I would be right back. After the NH meeting we will take off driving and be together again.

Paul

Rally Time

After several weeks off for the birth of our third child, I am in a meeting once again. I am preaching a teen meeting in New Castle, IN that will run through Thursday night. I will also be preaching to the church on Sunday following the teen meeting. I am program director, pianist, and preacher for the meeting, so things are a bit hectic right now. Last night, however, we did have 16 visitors and one young man trusted Christ as Savior. Please pray for the following things:

1. Revival in the hearts of the saved teens in attendance. Several are really struggling spiritually.

2. A good rapport with the teens. Pray that God would give me an entrance into their hearts.

3. Attendance to be good. Pray that God will bring in teens whose hearts have been opened by the Spirit of God.

4. Salvations. The pastor's main goal in this meeting is evangelism.

The man who is currently the lay youth leader was saved as a 15 year old in this church years ago and now is one of the core leaders in the church. We would love to see those kinds of results this week as well -- fruit that will remain.

Paul

Post Partum

Family Update

I know many of you are wondering how the family is adjusting to a new little one, so I thought I would take a few minutes and send out an update. Esther Faith is making her presence known in the household at all hours of the day and night – as was expected. We are parked at the home of some dear friends who have really helped take care of the two older children during my hospital stay and subsequent recovery from surgery. This has been an incredible blessing to me and has allowed me a little more peace and quiet than I would have had otherwise.

Josiah and Abigail have taken to her quite well. I knew Josiah would have no problem, but I thought jealousy might be an issue with Abigail. Thankfully, this is not the case at all. She wants to hold and admire “Bee-bee Essah” just as much as Josiah does. She seems to be quite pleased with this living baby doll that has come to live with us. I will say, though, that she gets very upset when Esther cries. Josiah was likewise horrified when he saw her umbilical stump (those things do look pretty nasty). I have assured him that it will look just like his belly button in a few days. I think he was relieved.

I am recovering slowly from the c-section, but so far, everything is going well. I was really disappointed to have to have the surgery, but I believe the Lord had a reason for it, even though I don’t know or see what it could possibly be. This means that Paul will have to go to a few meetings without the family just because I will not be able to travel and exert a lot of activity for several weeks, but the Lord knew all that ahead of time also. Please pray that my recovery will be quick and free from complications. Thank you so much for your prayers on our behalf over the last several months.

The trailer is rather in an uproar with baby stuff everywhere. It will take a while to get things sorted out and put in their respective places, and probably some trial and error runs on final resting places of certain items. It is a little crowded and disorganized at the moment, but I hope to remedy that over the next few weeks. In the meantime, pray that I don’t trip over diaper bags and baskets of baby clothes while I am wandering around the trailer in the middle of the night, sleepy and disoriented!

Baby Girl

Our daughter Esther Faith was born at 1:34 pm yesterday. She weighed in at 8 lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long. Both mother and baby are doing well.

Manner Matters

Family Update

Although we have been working for several years on our son’s table manners, there seems to have been a gap in the flow of instruction somewhere between our mouths and his ears. As a result, our dinner discussions frequently include admonitions about what is considered proper etiquette – mostly directed at our four-year-old son. If you were a fly on the wall in our trailer, you would hear some of the following comments. That is, if Abigail didn’t see you first and begin screaming frantically that there was a bug in the house.

“Chew with your lips together, please.”

“Don’t comb your hair with your fork.”

“Take smaller bites, good grief!”

“Slow down! No one is going to take your food away, unless, of course, you keep eating like that!”

“Chew with your lips together, please.”

“You know, you wouldn’t choke on your drink if you would slow down.”

“Please don’t blow your food OFF of your plate!”

“Do NOT wipe your hands on the chair – use the napkin sitting right in front of you!”

“Don’t wave your fork around in the air. You are going to poke out your sister’s eye!”

“Quit talking and eat!”

“Chew with your lips together, please.”

“Move your cup away from the edge of the table.”

“You know, you wouldn’t drop so much food on the table if your plate was in the same zip code as your mouth.”

“Don’t touch the curtains!”

“Do not stick your fork and spoon in your mouth at the same time!”

“Please only blow on your own food!”

“Chew with your lips together, please”

“Stop roaring at the birds outside – they can’t hear you. You are only disturbing the other diners.” (This at a restaurant)

“Do not talk with food in your mouth!”

As exasperating as it is at times, I will say that he does manage to do some things correctly. Paul was laughing at the table the other day because of the multitude of instruction I was spouting. I turned to him, and, in an effort to relieve myself of the feeling that all I had done was criticize table manners, commented that although I had given Josiah so many reminders, there was one thing I did not have to tell him. “Oh? What’s that?” Paul asked.

“At least he doesn’t have his elbows on the table!”

At this juncture of the conversation, Paul hastily removed his elbows from the table and with a guilty look finished his meal. So much for positive reinforcement. Perhaps one day it will sink in, but for the present, I will have to be content to sound like a broken record.

Hanging Out

Ministry Update

After a couple of weeks without preaching, it was good to be able to preach at the church in which I grew up. The Lord gave us two good services, with my two brothers attending the morning service. Both my brothers claim to be saved, but they are not in church right now. It was a blessing to have them attend. The Lord also gave us a generous love offering from that church to help with the expenses of not being in meetings right now. What a blessing it is to serve Christ!

Family Update

Many of you may have thought that we had fallen off the edge of the world since you hadn’t heard from us in so long, but despite your hopes, we are still here! We haven’t had a lot to write about, so I haven’t taken the time to sit down and narrate our adventures as a family this past month.

Abigail celebrated her second birthday on May 4. We had an awful cake (made so that everyone could partake with no ill results) that nearly made Paul and me sick. The kids were thrilled with it until they tasted it, and then they quickly lost interest. Josiah ate all the icing off of his piece, but no one else bothered to make an effort. There are just some things that cannot be substituted!

Now when we ask Abigail how old she is, she proudly holds up five fingers and says, “Four!” We are still coaching her on the correct answer. She is now out of the nursery and in the 2’s & 3’s class, which she seems to enjoy. She is learning new songs and Bible stories each week, and when she chooses to talk, she can go on and on. Josiah is a great teacher, and is always singing with her. Their best duet numbers as of right now are “Jesus Loves Me” and “I’m in the Lord’s Army!” Usually, Abigail lags behind on the tempo, and ends up being an echo, but it is fun to listen to them sing together.

Josiah will be starting kindergarten in the fall, and he is looking forward to it. He knows all of hi letters, so that job will be easier for me when the time comes. Now all I have to do is teach him the sounds and how they go together. No Problem, HA!

No, we have not had the baby yet. I will go no further on this subject. I have had all kinds of suggestions from drinking castor oil to horseback riding to shoveling mulch. The thought that comes to mind is, “Why make myself more miserable than I already am?” The baby will not come until she is ready anyway! As one well-wisher told me recently, “Keep hanging in there and hanging out there!”

Right now we are just sitting around waiting for the baby to make her appearance. If you are on praying ground, please pray that she comes soon. Boredom has set in, and I can only do so much about it. If I do not go by June 23, they will take her by C-section. This would effectively ground us for the rest of the summer, and we would have to cancel some meetings, which is wholly undesirable for all of us. The last thing I want is another major operation. Do keep this in mind as you pray for our family. Josiah asks every day if the baby will come today. I have to tell him that I don’t know – we will have to wait and see. This is not a satisfactory answer for either of us, but that is the answer I have to give. Abigail is still clueless, I think, even though she knows there is a baby in Mama’s tummy. I don’t think she realizes that the center of attention is going to take a drastic shift in the next week or two. Life is so interesting!

My youngest brother graduates from high school this coming weekend. He was selected to be the valedictorian of his class – we are all very proud of his accomplishments. After graduation, he plans to attend Ambassador Baptist College in pursuit of the one-year Bible certificate. Our family traveled up to Ohio two weekends ago to be a part of his baccalaureate exercises at the church. We put on a mini concert and Paul preached the Sunday evening service. It was really neat to be a part of Micah’s “festivities.”

Broken Spring

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a good meeting in Amarillo. Sunday morning there was a girl there who was weeping over her soul, having admitted in the invitation that she was lost. She never did come and talk to us, even though we had a fellowship following the service. I tried to approach her to talk with her about it, but she always avoided me. She did not come to any of the rest of the services.

The drive back home was a most interesting experience. We left Monday night after the service and drove 125 miles before stopping in the parking lot of Flying J for the night. Tuesday we did 791 miles, again stopping for the night in a Flying J just west of Nashville, Tennessee. We got a decent start that next morning, especially considering how late we got in the night before. We planned to fuel once at the Flying J west of Knoxville and then head over the mountains in plenty of time to make the Wednesday night service at our home church. As we moved around the parking lot at Flying J, Sarah was in the trailer fixing lunch for the family and heard a horrid grinding sound. While the children ate their food, I crawled under the trailer to check it out. I found a broken leaf spring on the passenger side middle axle. After several phone calls, we were able to accurately assess the situation: although there was a dealer in Knoxville that had the spring in stock, there was no one that could do the work right away. A call to a mobile RV repairman has still not been answered; the dealer that sold me the part was so covered up that they could not get to it for at least a week; an RV dealer that could do the work was twenty miles east over Tennessee interstate under construction. TN seems to have the roughest construction zones of any of the states that I have been in. Traveling this stretch of construction would have wreaked havoc on any trailer with a broken leaf spring. Things did not look good. I had just finished preaching a message about joy and how God wants us to have joy in our lives in both good times and bad. Now we were stranded in a Flying J with no one to work on our trailer, bone weary from long hours of travel, the heat of the parking lot adding to the potential for irritation: I was being tested. I was reminded of what Moses said to God: “[The people] be ready to stone me.” Had any suitable stones been available at that time, I think my family might have tempted.

After a couple more phone calls, I decided to buy the part and install it myself. It took little time to get the part and after a good time of witnessing to the employees who sold me the part, I was on my way back toward the trailer to change my first ever leaf spring. I found that the parking space that I had chosen was covered in part by a fresh blanket of motor oil, not far from where I had to work. Consequently, whenever I got under the trailer, I had to go around to the other side and crawl on my stomach or back to where I had to work on the broken spring. Every time I needed to get a tool, it was back out again, rocking my body back and forth on my shoulders to achieve some kind of motion. After three or four trips like this, I asked my wife to come out and join me just so that she could hand me tools.

In the midst of this project, the Lord sent along a man by the name of David. He was literally a truck driver who came off the street, initially to buy fuel. He saw that we were working and he and his wife came over to help us. As we worked together, we were both feeling each other out, looking for an opportunity to witness to the other. It turns out, he and his wife had both trusted Christ as Savior many years ago. Hours later, with the greatest help coming from our Lord Himself, we were able to finish the project. I went to pay David and he insisted that I take some money from him. In the end, he gave me a few tools, a can of WD-40, and $240. We were able to get on the road again and finally made it home well after everyone had left the church. It was a trip in which God reassured us of so many truths of His Word, not the least of which is that “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” The total cost of the repair, if you discount the gifts that David gave me, came to less than $40.

We will be in NC for most of the month of May, going to Ohio for a short time around the 20^th. We will home the entire month of June and most of July before our schedule gets busy again. Thank you all for your continued prayers.

Potential Shocker

As a student at Ambassador Baptist College, I enrolled in the evangelist program, believing that God would one day put me into that ministry. It wasn’t long before I was sitting in Bro. Ron Comfort’s Evangelist class listening to a most timely lecture. As I recall, the lecture was entitled “So You Want to Be an Evangelist.” I do not claim to have near the experience that he has, but I have learned by experience the veracity of all that he said in that class lecture(s). (I think he actually spent a couple of classes finishing that lecture.)

After months of communicating with this pastor about the needs of our trailer, we arrived to find a potentially disastrous electrical setup. The pastor had asked an RV dealer how to set things up and had been misinformed from the start. From there, someone in the church volunteered to do the electrical work and his knowledge of electricity was less than desirable, at least for the project at hand. For the neophytes of electrical science, there are some basic principles that are necessary when wiring a receptacle. First, electricity only works in a circle. There is no such thing as running a wire one way and having electricity. Even though you may see only one wire, there are actually at least two wires, one called hot and the other called neutral. Without two wires, there could be no electricity because there must be a circuit. In today’s wiring, there is usually a third wire called a ground that is present. That is why most receptacles have three “prongs”: one hot wire, one neutral, and one ground. When we arrived at this church, there was a 30-amp plug wired horrendously wrong. Instead of there being a hot, a neutral, and a ground, there were two hot’s and one neutral. The problem was that where the neutral was supposed to be, there was a hot wire, and where the ground was supposed to be, there was the normal neutral wire. In short, it could have spelled disaster for us had we just plugged in. Not long ago, I invested in a voltage meter and was able to ascertain the problem before disaster had a chance to strike our trailer. (There was a day in which I foolishly trusted any plug that was present.) We pulled in, unhooked the trailer, and headed out to Home Depot to get the parts to give us power.

It was at this juncture that things began to go wrong. Leaving a sick, feverish, teething toddler with her mother, Josiah and I found the electrical section of Home Depot. In mere seconds we had located the proper plug and gone to the wiring section to pick up another piece of wire. I wasn’t sure at this point that I would need it, but I thought that I would pick it up just in case. After calling and calling and calling over the telephone for someone to help us in the electrical section, no one ever showed up. We waited for half an hour all to no avail. By now, though the trailer was parked, we were without the most basic need of trailer life: electricity. To compound our problems a primal disease was beginning to afflict us, threatening to rob us of reason and turn us all into ravening beasts: it was the disease of hunger. Otherwise happy children would cry at the slightest hint of provocation. Otherwise patient parents felt their fuses shortening by the minute. Reason was taking flight and being replaced by omnivorous hallucinations. Suddenly my son resembled nothing so much as an Oscar Meyer hot dog. My truck magically morphed into a turkey on the table, complete with all the trimmings. I am not the most efficient electrician in the world, even when I am in a healthy frame of mind, but in my current state, the chances of getting much done quickly were about as good as my pregnant wife winning the Boston Marathon. When we returned from Home Depot, I backed the truck neatly into a parking space, only to have the guy wire of a telephone pole hook on my back bumper. I decided to pull up a bit just to better center myself in the space and the wire ripped and bent my back bumper. In spite of the current opposition, I plunged ahead with the electrical project, feeling like a horrible provider while my family sat in the dark, boiling trailer. I discovered that I did indeed need the wire that I had waited for at the store. I would now have to return all the way across town to the slow Home Depot. My wife was able to cook supper without power (no TV dinners tonight) on the gas stove and she insisted that I eat something. As I left the church parking lot, my truck resembling an insurance claim, I made my way toward the interstate that would take me across town only to find the way blocked by a train over 100 cars long, oozing along the tracks almost imperceptibly. I drove and drove, trying to get around it, but to no avail. When I finally got around the train and onto the interstate, I ended up missing my exit. After turning around, I found that Home Depot had shut off all the lights in their parking lot. I almost left without the wire when I noticed people going into the store. I went right back to the electrical department, finding no one. Finally, a woman appeared, though she did nothing for my confidence. I asked if she could get me the wire I needed, and she lamented to me, “I don’t know how to cut wire.” At that point I bit my tongue trying to resist all the chauvinist comments that came to mind, not to mention a commentary on the wisdom of allowing a woman who cannot even cut a wire to work in Home Depot. After another half an hour and two more female employees later, I finally got the wire I needed and paid for it. Of course, it was totally dark by this time and I would have to probe around in the electrical box with the minimal light of the streetlight thirty yards away. The children were both in bed by the time I returned and enlisted my wife’s help. By 11:30 pm, after arriving at 6:30 that evening, we finally had power to our trailer.

If my wife had anything to say about the curriculum of the Evangelist course at Ambassador Baptist College, she would insist that it include a course in electricity with the following inclusions: wiring a hot box, while holding a flashlight between shoulder and chin, squatting in the bushes with twigs raking your legs, the twigs providing a ready bridge for the local insect population – all in the dark. Extra credit might be doing it all in the rain. As for me, I don’t really see much hope for her as an academic dean of the program, but that does not mean that she might not have an occasional great idea.

Paul

Fort Worth

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a great meeting in Fort Worth. On Tuesday night there was a fourteen-year-old girl named Lacy and last night an 11-year-old boy named Elijah was saved. It was a great meeting with the Lord giving us a tremendous rapport with the pastor and the members of the church.

Our next meeting is in Amarillo TX where I will preach a very unusual schedule for a revival meeting: Saturday through Monday. From Amarillo, we will head back to North Carolina to be there, for the most part, until the baby is born.

Family Update

The family is doing well. Josiah has improved since we have been in TX. I am not sure if it is because of the change in climate, or the cold front that has moved in the last few days. Whatever the reason, I am pleased. Abigail woke up last night with a fever, but has only a runny nose and cough this morning. Pray that it doesn’t turn into an ear infection.

I took the kids outside yesterday to play for a while. I gave them squirt guns filled with water, and I blew bubbles for them to shoot. You should have seen them, running around the yard, shrieking and laughing and squirting their guns. I was thankful that I was shot only once by a stray stream of water. I nearly hyperventilated blowing a half a jar of bubbles, though!

The day before yesterday, I was taking a walk, and just as I came in sight of the trailer, a dog started growling and barking and running in circles around me. He kept snapping at me, and I thought I was going to get bitten! Then, all of a sudden, he ran across the street and threw up and began doing unspeakable things. I hurried on to the trailer, thankful to be in one piece. The last several times I have gone out, I have carried a length of dowel rod with me, lest I be attacked again. It did come in handy when another dog started to chase me. I shook it at him, and in my sternest voice said, “Stay right there!” He did, and I lost my opportunity to get a world class punt record. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

We were in the truck the other day, and Josiah was asking his interminable questions, and Paul responded to one with one of his own, “How would you like to be jack-slapped?” There was a pause, and then Josiah said, “Am I allergic to that?” We died laughing. Pray that his sense of humor won’t be totally warped!

Shoes

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us an excellent close to the meeting in Virginia and then some exciting times of rest and relaxation for a couple of days in North Carolina. One of the highlights for me was getting an education in the woods turkey hunting – but that is another story. Today we traveled over 400 miles and are staying in the church parking lot of Bible Baptist Church just outside Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where Mark Falls is pastor. Our plan is to continue on to Fort Worth in the next two days. We will be in a four day meeting there and then go on to Amarillo.

Family Update

This has been quite a week for us. Early Monday morning, I had to go in for the three hour glucose test since I didn’t pass the one hour test that I had two weeks ago. This entailed not eating or drinking anything from midnight the day before until after noon on Monday. I was allowed to have water, but nothing else. I had to drink 12 ounces of the awfullest tasting orange sugar drink, which is bad enough by itself, but when taken on an empty stomach while pregnant, was almost more than I could handle. I thank the Lord that I only had one elevated reading, which means that I do not have gestational diabetes, but they recommended that I go on the diet anyway, since all the readings were not normal. After “donating” seven vials of blood for the testing, I was feeling rather anemic when I finally left the clinic, and my right arm was throbbing. I am glad that ordeal is over.

The children enjoyed their first Easter egg hunt on Sunday (yes, we are complete heathens). Of course, I could not use real eggs for health reasons, so plastic candy-filled eggs were our alternative. It was so much fun to watch them run around the yard finding eggs. Josiah was much faster, and if he found two eggs together, he would call out to Abigail, “Abigail, here’s your egg!” She would then run from wherever she was, calling, “Thank you! Thank you!” It was so cute!

Josiah has been having more trouble this week than he has all this year. There is something about this time of year. He has had several breathing treatments each day, but nothing serious up to this point. We would appreciate your continued prayers throughout this season, especially since our travels have coincided with spring in each area of the country we have visited for the last six weeks or so.

Josiah was talking today (as usual), and began a discourse on hot air balloons. I am not sure where he learned about them, but he is extremely interested in taking a ride in one. He said that if we got a hot air balloon, he and Daddy and Abigail could ride in it while I drive the truck. He also said that he would blow it up for the ride. He couldn’t understand why we laughed when he informed us of this plan. I will say, though, he could probably put enough hot air in it to get it off the ground! We are trying to teach him proper grammar as it comes up in conversation, but it doesn’t seem to be working. I know it is confusing for him at times. The other day, he was telling a story about a bird and said that it “flied” through the woods. “Flew,” I corrected. “Yes,” he continued. “The bird was flew-ming through the woods.” Whatever.

Abigail has learned the first line of “Happy Birthday” and will sing it several dozen times in a row before getting distracted. She has also taken to repeating the last two or three words of each sentence she hears. We were in the store the other day, and I had to get her a new pair of shoes. As I stood, looking at the meager selection, she looked up and saw a pair of shiny, purple shoes. “Ohhhh!” she breathed. “Shoes! I like shoes!” It was so funny I had to laugh. Paul groaned when I told him. I know he envisions our trailer looking like a shoe outlet as she gets older. He will get used to the idea eventually. He can at least be thankful that she doesn’t know that for every pair of shoes there is a purse and earrings to match!

Rosedale

Ministry Update

It is always a blessing to be here at Rosedale Baptist Church. The meeting has gone well, though we have not seen anyone saved. I have been preaching three times a day since Sunday – what a blessing! The school meetings are going well, too. There was a girl today that came to one of the staff members in tears, wanting to get right with God. The school has a history of wickedness and this girl wanted to take a stand against it. Praise the Lord for what He is doing in the school. God has done a great work in the hearts of the church people from the pastor on down. Please pray for the close of the meeting tonight.

Family Update

The family is doing fine, although Abigail had a bout with the stomach flu or something twice in the past few days. She seems to be recovered now, and I am almost caught up on all the resulting laundry! Josiah is doing great, and has even been able to play outside with no ill results. He really has enjoyed the nice weather. There is a playground just outside our trailer at the RV park where we are staying this week, and the kids have had a great time just running in the fresh air. It has been especially nice for me, too because I can look out the door or the window and see what they are doing while being able to accomplish my housework at the same time.

We have had several unexpected blessings this week. One of the ladies in the church approached me and told me that she was a Mary Kay dealer (for those of you who are clueless, she sells makeup) and that if I needed anything, she would give it to me. It just so happened that I was out of several things, and the Lord provided them through this lady! Another blessing was that Paul needed some new boots. The ones he had were nearly three years old and beginning to hurt his feet, just because they were wearing so badly. I went online (another blessing is that this RV park had wireless internet access) and found a boot store less than two miles away. We drove over, and, lo and behold, they were having an Easter sale. After we found the boots he needed, we went to the counter to pay. At the counter was a wheel (sort of like the Wheel of Fortune game) with percentages marked in each slot – 10,20, & 30% off of each purchase. I spun the wheel and got a “free spin.” I spun again, and received another “free spin.” By this time, the suspense was killing me. The next spin landed on the 30% off space! We cheered and ran around the store, screaming, “We won! We won!” Just kidding! Anyway, we were excited, and it was such a blessing to get nearly a third off the price of his boots! The store manager wasn’t nearly as pleased as we were, but Paul invited him to the meeting that night. It is so neat to see the things that the Lord does for us on a daily basis. Great is His faithfulness!

Please be in prayer for my family. There is a very crucial decision that must be made in the next 24 hours, and we are praying that the right decision will be made by the individual involved. I am not at liberty to say what it is, but it is a very serious issue with long-lasting consequences, and much wisdom is needed.

Scottsville

Ministry Update

We had a good meeting at Calvary Baptist Church in Scottsville, Virginia, with Pastor David Morris. It was a tremendous blessing to see the growth in the lives of the people during the week. Today we head to Winchester, Virginia for a four-day meeting with Pastor David Martin. It is a blessing to have less than three hours drive between meetings.

Please pray for me: I am having problems with a disc in my back. I am not sure if the technical term is herniated, slipped, or whatever. Please pray for the inflammation to go down so that I can get back to doing my normal activities.

Family Update

We have had a pretty good week. Josiah has been relatively free of breathing problems, which is an answer to prayer. Please keep praying for him during this season. He has had a great time playing with Zachary and Collin Williams this week. He even spent the night with Zachary one night, which was a first for him. As you can imagine, I am very careful about where he goes alone, mainly for health reasons. He had such a wonderful time! Josiah has discovered the gift of compliments. He says to me at almost every meal, “Mama, you are a good cooker!” Many times when we are getting ready for church, he will say, “Mama, you look pretty,” or “Mama, you smell pretty.” The other day, he was singing in the truck, and had just finished singing “Jesus Loves the Little Ones Like You, You, You”. Then he said, “Mama, I sang that for you because you are so short!” This comes from someone who only reaches my waist – or where it used to be. The other morning, he said, “Mama, your tummy is really big. Did you eat too many grits?” Paul even had the audacity to laugh. No respect.

Abigail has been increasing her vocabulary at an amazing rate. She can really communicate surprisingly well. She had a bout with the stomach flu or something this week, and woke up in the middle of the night crying. We had to bathe her and throw her bedding in the wash at 2:30 am. She seems to have recovered, and we hope that no one else comes down with it. The rest of us have already had it this year!

Pray for Paul and a quick recovery for his back. It is hard for him to wash the dishes and do the vacuuming now. Ha! (No harder than it was before, I guess!)

Sarah