Only Believe

We go through life wondering how things are going to work out.  Whether it is about school, jobs, finances or relationships... we always want to know what's ahead of us and how quickly it's coming to us.

However, as we look at the prayer that Jesus taught us; we read: "Give us each day our daily bread" (Luke 11:3).  It does not say give us our life long stash of food, happiness, finances, etc.  It talks about today.

Scripture is correct, every day we receive our blessings. "Be anxious for nothing"... (1st Peter 5:7)

We serve a good, wonderful, faithful, compassionate, loving, giving God.  Our own response to that ought to be "Thank you, Lord. I receive it."

Just like everyone else, at times I forget to say those words.  However, God is always there to love on us, and to give us the desires of our hearts.  As Nick and I walk the back roads of this wonderful country we have experienced God's unfailing Love through His people.

Few days ago, we arrived in Lynchburg, VA.  As always, when we get to a large town, we look for a Walmart, so we know where we are going to spend the night. Since it is Summer, the last few days have been humid. We went to the store to purchase some items we needed and hide from the heat.  

I mentioned to Nick that I needed to get some deodorant, so we walked to the isle.  I remembered that I had seen an advertisement on TV about some type of body mist. I began looking for it, and it never fails, every time I need something it is always on top shelf.  A young woman was there standing near me, and I asked her if she could help me.  Very friendly, she looked at me and said "Sure" and soon she started to hand me different little bottles of body mist.  

We started to spray the air to try the different scents, and as we sprayed, we began to sniff the air.  One was too sweet, others smelled like a bathroom cleaner, and yet other smelled like pure alcohol.  Finally, we find the right fragrance and I said.  "This is the one, thank you so very much." As I said that I could hear Nick saying.... "Where is a camera when you need it?"  and a young man said, "I got one on my phone!" 

This young man was the friend of my new friend...  Carmen. Haniel (like Daniel with an H) had gone to get some other stuff and when he got back to where we were, he found us smelling the air, so he backed up to where Nick was standing in the middle of the aisle... I guess they did not want people to acknowledge that we were with them.  Hahaha.

Soon Haniel, said to Nick: "Are you a pastor or something?  I see the glory of God all over you." So as always, we shared about our walk.  Haniel, quickly reached for his phone and said. "Let me call my pastor to see if you can come and share some of your biblical testimonies with our congregation on Wednesday night."  and with that we made a date to go to lunch with them the next day after our walk.

We all continue our shopping and about 5 minutes later, Haniel and Carmen found us and said. "Our pastor already has someone scheduled, however, he would love for you guys to come and share about your walk for Christ. Our church is All Peoples Church, so just come over on Wednesday and share about what the Lord is doing in your lives." We bid them good night and we all went on our merry way. 

On Tuesday we had a wonderful lunch with our new friends.  We chatted about  ministry work (theirs and ours), and personal experiences.

Wednesday, quickly came, however on our way back to town we got a flat.  We called Good Sam's Club for road assistance. Finally after 3 hours of waiting a police car parked behind us and wanted to know for how long we were going to be there.  We told her that we did not know, that we had hope to be long gone but we were still waiting.  

So I called Good Sams and I let the officer talk to them.  Well, not long after we got a sight of the truck service... the calvary was finally on its way! However, when he removed the flat tire, we discover that we had two flats!! I guess it has been so hot that both tires got flat. By the time everything was set and done, we waited a total of 5 hours.  We drove back into town, made ourselves at home at a near parking lot and got showered and ready to go to church.

The service was at 7:00, we made it there half an hour earlier so we could have enough time and room to park the RV.  We walked in the church and everyone was genuinely happy to see us.  You could feel the love coming from people we just met. And it did not matter if you were a visitor or have been going there for 100 years...the love was there.  

We shared about the journey, we worshiped and learned.  By the time the service was over, right before we were going to be dismissed.  The pastor said.

"I would like us to pray for Nick and Lucy and for their travel.  Also the Holy Spirit told me three times that we should take a love offering for them.  I do not know what the deacons are going to say, however, lets do it."

As the pastor was saying those words, it really took me by surprise and tears started to stream down my face.  When we go to churches, whether midweek or Sunday service, we never ask for anything, so when a pastor is moved by God act on our behalf when he doesn't even really know us...I know in my heart that it is a gift from my Father.  He give us our daily bread and more ...only believe.   

When Do You Want To Give?

Nick walked 14 miles and he was so excited to be back on the road. We made it to beautiful downtown Chatham.   The afternoon heat started to rise as well as the humidity, so decided to go to the local library and give our generator a little break.  We were there until about 3:30, then we went back to the RV, because Nick was going to have his weekly call with our friend Paul.

Since the library was closing at 8:00 pm, we went back for a while; having our own computers to work on, makes it more enjoyable; this way we do not have to worry about a time limit while we are checking on emails or updating our blogs.

After the library closed, we drove around the town and we found that in town there was a big shopping center area where a Food Lion grocery store took must of the center.  We were able to park in their parking lot for the night and we were very thankful to God. (Most of the time we stay at Wal Mart or at a local churches, it depends what's available).


Since the beginning of summer we have been waking up around 4:30 or so to get ready for our day.  Sometimes we need to drive back several miles, and we need to get position on our route before 5:45 or as soon as there is daylight to avoid the heat of the day and get some mileage done.  -- We usually go to bed by 9:00 or so.


So we made ourselves at home at the shopping center and we were ready to go to sleep by 8:30.  Since it was our first day on the road, we were very tired, we were so tired we just said good night to each other, and we both felt asleep right away.  For me it is kind of rare to do this, I usually toss and turn, make myself comfortable and talk to God for a while, before I finally fall asleep.  This time I do not remember doing any of that.

All of the sudden I heard a knock on our door,  I thought maybe it was a police officer and wanted us to move out of the parking lot... it would  not be the first time that this happened.... so I tried to ignore it and once again, I heard a second knock.  I tried to wake up Nick, but he was sound asleep.  I did not want to get up by myself, so on the third knock, Nick heard it, got up and moved toward the door.  I was right behind him.


As he opened the door, I heard a voice of a man on the outside of the RV.  He said he needed gas and wanted to know if we had an extra container with gasoline that we could give him, or couple dollars so he could make it home to North Carolina.  Nick said, "Wait for a moment." So he came back in and grabbed couple dollars, handed them to him and bid him good night.


As we were making our way back into bed, I looked at the clock and it was 4:00 am.  I thought to myself. "How inconsiderate! It is 4:00 am in the morning! I cannot believe he was so selfish and self-centered and not to think about bothering people soo early in the morning." As all these words started to run in my head, I heard a still small voice.... "How inconsiderate and self-centered? Aren't you just thinking how he just bothered you and got you out of bed???  Aren't you being self-centered too? 


I immediately recognized the voice and I said... "But Lord, it is four o'clock in the morning. "Yesss" He said. All of the sudden a couple bible passages came to mind:

 

Do not say to your neighbor, "Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow"— when you now have it with you.  

                                                                                                                                            Proverbs 3:28

 As well as:

 

Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and  I have nothing to set before him.'  

Luke 11:5 & 6

Then I said to God... "Lord, I do not mind helping, but it is soooo early in the moning." and He replied, "When do you want to give? Only when it is convenient for you or when you feel like it?"  As I laid on bed I looked towards the ceiling of the RV and I reluctantly said, "I want to give when You want me to." After that, I went to sleep for another 45 minutes and then my personal alarm (Nick) woke me up and said "Sweetie, it is time to rise and shine."

We got ready for another day and Nick walked 12 miles.  We made it all the way to Altavista, VA.  Our routine was pretty much like the day before. We went to the local library and stay there until they closed at 5:30pm.  

Once again we went to the local Food Lion, made ourselves at home in their parking lot and enjoyed the weather.... it rained couple of times (it was nice and refreshing).  Nick was reading a book and I was working on writing 2nd Peter in my note book. (I have been copying the books of John, 1st John, 2nd John, 3rd John, 1st Peter and 2nd Peter in my notepad) and this has been a very enlightening experience.   

I was standing by the door, with the door opened, feeling the breeze.  I was soo into my writing that when a man came and knocked at our door, he really startled me. I opened the screen door and as I greeted him, he said to us... "I see that you are in Christian ministry." I said, "Yes", and I began to tell him about our journey. 

As soon as Nick approached the door, Chad asked us: "Are you  in need of  laundry or  need to take a shower? If so you can come to our house. My mother and I are in ministry too and we travel to the local railroad stations or bus stations and if anyone is stranded we offer them something to eat and drink.  We give them a bible and share the gospel.  The name of our ministry is Road of Hope Ministries.We survive by peoples donation and God's provision." 

As he went to his car to get us his ministry card, Nick and I agreed in sharing the blessings that God has giving us, so we went to our piggy bank and got couple dollars and handed it to him.  We wanted to be part of what God is doing. -- So the next time God asks me again, "When do you want to give?" I can freely say, "Whenever You want me to, Lord!"

God Answers In Mysterious Ways

Since last week we have been at a stand still. We have not walked at all. Even though we just purchased a new generator not too long ago, for the last week and a half  it has been acting up.  For some reason it does not stay on.  According to the manual it says it has an overpower surge. On June 30th we made an appointment to see the mechanic on Thursday, July 8th.

Wednesday the 7th, the temperature was over 100 degrees and the humidity was very high as well.  We went in a search of a campground because we needed electricity.  We found an RV park, we drove there, paid our dues and connected to their power. Yea!  Electricity = Air conditioning....what a blessing!

On Thursday morning, after our breakfast, we drove to the RV service company.  They are Onan Generator certified... that means they can work on our generator. When we got there the owner told us that our generator did not have a power box.  What that means to you and me.... and them is:  Our generator does not have a box to test its power, therefore, they took the whole generator out of the RV to test and see what the problem might be.

Once the generator was out, they said we could drive back to the RV park to plug in to electricity so we could stay cool and as soon as they found the problem they would call us.

On Monday, July 12th, we were still at the campground.  We expected a call and a report of what was wrong with the generator.  It never came, however, the amazing thing is that Nick and I had prayed for the temperature to go down to about 80 degrees...(just like Elijah prayed for no rain), and God, instead of giving us low temperatures, He placed us at the RV park for almost 10 days! He always provides but hardly ever the way we think!

Tuesday, July 13, we got a the call!  The RV service center said that our generator was ready. The electronic board that regulates the voltage was out and needed to be replaced. Well, few hours later, we got a generator that works and the warranty covered the cost! Woo-Hoo!  Once again, God takes care of us and because of your financial support and your prayers, we were able to stay cool and collected.

There are two ways we get funding when we are on the road, one is through your generosity and the other is through sharing the Gospel through Biblical storytelling.

The Apostle Paul said to the Thessalonians "... On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you." We certainly do not want to be a burden to you, however, our way of making tents is by sharing our Biblical testimonies of  Zacchaeus, The Boy, The Loaves and the Fish as well as The Innkeeper of Bethlehem.  

If you know of any churches in the Lynchburg, Charlottesville & Culpeper areas or anywhere along our route (currently route 29 north in Virginia)  who would be open to having us share these testimonies, we thank you in advance for putting us in contact with them and helping us make our tents.