Maxin' and Relaxin' :)

Sorry, the title's an old army saying for when you're just enjoying yourself. It usually held a negative connotation, though--to imply that you should actually be doing something productive.

Thank God I'm not in the Army anymore. We arrived in Indianapolis, IN on Wednesday afternoon. We are staying in an awesome prophet's chamber at Charity Baptist Church. It's more like a house and it is exactly what we needed. It's very private, outside the city, and within minutes Walmart and a Starbucks. The pastor was very kind to us and even invited us to present our work on Sunday night. What a blessing! This is a great work, here. The younger-aged Pastor has a great vision which is so obvious. He has been out visiting each day lately and their schedule is full of activities, all geared towards building up the inside and reaching to the outside. It's been a breath of fresh air to be around.

Our meeting went very well last night. The pastor promised support to us and we look forward to receiving it very soon. The church was very friendly and full of good questions for us. We met a few Hispanics, too, and I was able to practice up on my Spanish.

Today we ran errands and passed out tracts most of the day. We took a "family nap" this afternoon, even! The church property has a little playground on it, so while Erika did laundry I played with Ashley the Destroyer out there. Erika came out a few times too and took some pictures.

Tomorrow we're off to an awesome sounding church in Chicago, IL. We'll spend the evening in church, then drive 2 hours away to a farm in Wisconsin. We'll stay there all day on Saturday for a church family day, riding horses and fishing, and again "maxin' and relaxin," and then be in that same church on Sunday morning.

We have really needed this little rest. I only made a few calls today and I need to make a couple more tomorrow, but I really have needed just to spend time with my family. Erika is doing fabulous and is recovering well. She scared me last Tuesday night, telling me she felt "cold inside," but that soon passed after we prayed. That "cold inside" feeling is a classic symptom of an infection, and means you'll have to have a D&C. Thankfully, God worked it out. We're still praying, though--and will be praying for one more week that we won't need the surgery. After that we'll declare her "all clear" and give God the glory!

The Hope of China, Taiwan, Ghana, & Denmark is Christ!

I have been burdened/convicted about keeping this blog pointed in the right direction. I want to be positive and honest, and definitely always to remember that it's wide-open for public review. A few weeks ago, I found out that you can check your blog's "stats" and find out all of your blog's visitors information, down to their country. I've discovered it's not infallible, but you can get a general idea of which countries in the world are reading something off of your blog.

So, to that end, I've discovered that our little blog gets hits from all over the world, from Mexico to Taiwan, and a few places in between. Big countries like Russia and little countries like Denmark have had visitors to my website. What a blessing! As I was sharing this bit of info with my wife, I told her we wouldn't ever have a chance to be in all of these different countries, but these dear people are visiting our website and I have the chance to introduce them to Jesus Christ. I'm no 'Internet Evangelist," but I can see the use of the internet as a positive medium to share the Gospel with folks I may never meet. I don't go to chat rooms, I don't do any kind of instant messaging (I think most of all that is wicked, if not 100%) but I do think we need to take a hold on the opportunities we have to sow seeds among the heathen.

That being said, each communist or closed country in the world should be able to get on the internet and find Jesus Christ preached in the right manner. It's their only hope to hear the Gospel, if some good Gospel preaching missionary can't get to their country.

So, if you're from one of those countries that missionaries can't get into, or if you aren't, be saved. Yes, ye must be born again! Your sins have separated you from God and you'll burn in hell for all eternity to pay for them unless you repent and put your faith in the Gospel. You can't be a good enough person, you can't earn your way, and religion will not save you. Jesus is the only way, believe Him. God's Word is 100% true. There is hope in Christ!

I hope some of these people from these other countries that have visited can hear a good, audible Gospel presentation. If not, I hope these dear visitors to our website can be sensible enough to email to ask "what must I do to be saved?"

Please continue to pray for the peace of Mexico, Jerusalem, and the rest of the world. While you pray for peace for them, pray they would accept The GOD of Peace. Pray for laborers into the harvest!

Prayer Request

Please remember Erika if you don't mind. We're praying she won't have to have a D&C. Specifically ask God for that, please.

I Feel Like Travelin' On!

So we've had a great time the last few days. We arrived at home with my parents on last Friday afternoon and have enjoyed being with family. We rested all day on Friday so that Erika would be well enough for church on Sunday. Sunday, we went to one of our favorite supporting churches, Emmanuel Baptist Church in Ashland, OH. It's a small church that loves God and for whatever reason loves us. They took up a penny offering for us during their VBS last August, so we stopped in to give them a thank you card in person. The pastor had me to preach and they even gave us another outstanding love offering. We went to eat Mexican food afterwards, and then made plans to be with them again on Sunday night. Their church is only about 20 minutes away, and money has been kind of tight anyway--so we decided to stay close to home.

Monday was another "trip planning" day. I'm making plans to start cold-calling in Virginia. I spent the entire day getting a list together to start calling on Thursday. That night, we went to the Global Independent Baptist Fellowship meeting at Cleveland Baptist Church in Cleveland, OH. What a good night of godly music and preaching! We ran into several old friends and made some new ones. We went back tonight as well and saw some more old friends and made some more new ones! Ain't God Good.

Tomorrow we're off to Indianapolis. We've got a meeting in Greenwood tomorrow night, Chicago on Friday and Sunday morning, and nothing on the calendar yet for Sunday night (a great pastor just emailed me a list to see if I can drum up something on short notice). We're looking forward to these meetings, and then another in Roanoke, Indiana a week from this Sunday. As always, we're praying each church we get into will take us on for monthly support.

Our "miles driven" since the 4th of September (the beginning of this trip) is now 2,500. 2 1/2 weeks down, and 6 to go! Praise God for safety!