Watering My Mustard Seed

Yesterday, Nick was walking on route NC 601. We crossed over to Virginia on route 103.  We still have not had any shoulder on the road, so I have been staying behind waiting for Nick's call.

What can be worst than not having shoulders on the road, you may ask?  Well, not having shoulder on the road and NO CELL PHONE access... is the answer.

As you know Nick has been calling me every time he finds a place for me to park.  However, today I had to water my mustard seed and allow it to grow.

This morning Nick and I knew that we were not going to have phone access. We agreed that I would wait at the local gas station for about 2 hours and then I would catch up to him in the hopes to have a parking area for him to be able to have his first meal break.

Well about hour and a half had gone by and my stomach started to grumble with the feeling of going to the bathroom and I thought.... if I need to go to the bathroom, Nick may have to go as well. I talked to God about the possibility of me taking off to meet Nick and I thanked Him for his provision.

Nick had gone about 3.5 miles and as I drove close to him, we both saw a pull over"" on my side of the road. Yes, I did take advantage of it and parked in the area God provided.  Nick had his meal break and we were both very thankful to God for His provision.

I waited another hour and forty minutes before I advanced again to go meet Nick and as I got on the driver's side, once again I thanked God for the parking area He was about to provide for us; exactly at the time Nick would be walking by.

I took off and I just kept talking with God and praising Him for His goodness.  As I saw Nick, I saw on my side of the road a country church, just about 3 tenths of a mile, ahead of where Nick  was about to walk. I drove over to the church's parking lot and made myself at home. In this segment Nick had walked 4.1 miles

Wow, God is soo good!! I was extremely  happy. He does hear and answers our prayers as we trust in Him. (I have to let you know that He stretched me a lot today and it is not easy nor fun, however it is great to see Him work.)

Mind you, haven't had any cell phone access.  Some one had said to us a while back that if there is an area where there is more animals than people.... the cell phone companies would not put towers in those areas. Well, I guess that's where we have been walking through.

Nick got his second  meal break, some water and took off.  I waited another hour and ten minutes, before I move forward to go meet him.  This time I drove passed Nick, and as I was driving a saw what it looked to be a side road and when I got there I backed up into the road praying that no one would come out of that road.  I was about a mile away from Nick.

I asked God for Nick's protection, and I prayed for God to allow him to get to me in less than 20 minutes, because the heat of the day and the humidity were rising.

In this segment Nick walked 3.4 miles.  When Nick got to me, we both noticed that the road I was parked at, had been closed, so no one would be coming out of it. So once again God provided  me with safety and a place where we were able to relax for a while.

Today, I have been pondering about how much we depend on what we see and what we have. Cell phones, computers, our own understanding ... and God is always there for us. We really need to water our mustard seed and allow it to grow. So that God becomes more real to us in every area of our lives.

Life is like the road we have been in today, you never know what's ahead, however, God always provides.  We just need to rely on Him and His goodness.  He is Jehovah Jireh our provider and  He makes us lie down in green pastures! (Churches, pull overs, old buildings, gas stations).

Thank You, Father for caring for us; even in the smallest things that concern us.  Thank You for being The Reality in my life.

In the Palm of His hand!

We have been traveling many roads and still we do not have any shoulder.  So I have been reading, studying, copying the book of John in my note path and I have been pondering on the things that are written in Scripture.

I came to the understanding that since our first journey, God has always taken care of us in all areas.  Health, financial, spiritual; we have lack nothing.  And as you have been able to travel with us on this, our third journey.  You have tasted some of the wonderful things God has done in our lives and the lives of the people, He has brought our way.

This trip has been been filled with new friendships and marvelous loving people. Yes, we had our times of discouragement, because of our first RV and the mechanical problems, however, God has never let us down.  He has provided for our every need.

This past week we had to put a new generator in the RV and that cost a lot of money (over 5K) because it is a brand new piece of equipment, shipping, labor and taxes.  We had to use our credit card to pay for it and I have been wondering how we are going to complete this journey.  God has said in His word for us to not get into debt but there was no way we could get that amount of money without using the credit card.

I do believe He is going to help us to pay off the credit card and we will complete this journey, the same way we finished the other two.... with His provision and His help. I know that Scripture tells us not to be in debt, however, this was beyond our control especially because it is very hot and humid. I believe what the Bible says, because God has proven Himself faithful to His Word in our lives and I know that He is going to do it once again, because He is good.The best part of it all is that He does not have favorites. If He is doing it for us, He will do it for you too.  Trust in HIM!

I stand on His promises:  Mt 6:25-34

 ²⁵"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

 ²⁸"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

No Cell Phone Access....

Last week we were walking through Union, Monarch Mill, and Lockhart, South Carolina. Just to name some of the areas we have been. Well, on Wednesday we had the wonderful experience to walk through Lockhart and unbeknownst to us.... they do not get cell phone reception for AT&T. My phone had no BARS!!

Nick has been walking ahead of me because of the lack of shoulder on the roads.  So I have been waiting for periods of up to 2 hours, before I hear from him. It has been tough, however, I am relying more on God and less on myself.

As I was waiting, a pick-up truck stopped by me and a beautiful young woman and a man came over to the RV.  He said, "We have seen Zacchaeus walking down the road. We talked with him and we just wanted to stop and give you these". And they handed me two CDs of The Riverside Boys Quartet. Monica was soo excited as she shared with me about her students at church and how the kids would love if we could come over and share about the walk.  I asked her for the address of the church and then said, "Sure we will be there tonight at 7:00 pm."

As they left, my phone rang, I looked to see the number and it was a number with a different area code.  So I answered and to my amazement, Nick was on the other side and I heard him say, "Come on over and there is a big area for you to park on your side of the road... it is a long story, I will tell you when you get here. You will see me by an old house."

I was soo excited about hearing from Nick, that I forgot to ask the lady for her name and her phone number.  However, I had the church address on my GPS.

I drove over to where Nick was and he was talking with a man.  Nick signaled me over and showed me where to park.  As I pulled over, he stayed behind by the house talking with Eric.  A few minutes later Nick and Chris came over. Nick mentioned to me that Chris is a Gideon. (The Gideons are responsible for placing Bibles in hotel rooms and creating small New Testaments and Psalms to give away to people.)

Nick also mentioned that he had met a very nice couple and that the guy had invited us to their church at 7:00 pm that night.  I said, "Oh, no we cannot go!  I promised this lady and a man that we would be at their church to talk to the kids about the walk." Chris, just looked at us and said, "Well, it looks like you guys are going to need to agree on something, I guess I better go." As he left, I helped Nick to get out of his walking clothes and we were talking about these two couples who invited us to their church.  Nick asked me, "Where is the church you are talking about." I said, "Somewhere before the river, I got it on our GPS, it is the First Baptist Church of Lockhart." "Wow," Nick said, "that the same church my couple invited us to."

About  6:00 pm we drove over and as we parked across from the church, we heard a knock on our door.  It was Monica!  I opened the door and we started talking about what we were going to do.  She had told me that she had left a message on my phone, but I did not get it for lack of AT&T coverage.

She wanted us to talk outside of the church in the grassy area and she said that as soon as she shared with the pastor that we were coming, he wanted the whole congregation to hear what we had to say.  We walked to the fellowship area and  we met her children.  We started setting up chairs outside and she said that some people may bring blankets.

     
People started to arrive and we were getting excited.  Pastor Ben, opened up with a prayer and we began to share. God always touches the hearts of the people and I often wonder what do people see.  Everyone was attentive and very receptive. As Nick shared Christ and our mission with them.

The wonderful part of it all is that when we were done talking, Pastor Ben, asked the kids to get around us to pray for us and then the parents got around them and other members got around them we were all touching each other.  They prayed for us and loved on us.  As they finished their prayer, they sang "It Is Well With My Soul." Nick and I were amazed by the love we were given.

Arnold, Monica's dad & the gentleman that had given me the CDs earlier, came to us and said that on Sunday, his group would be performing in Gaffney, SC. and was wondering if we would like to come.  We said, "Yes!"

As we were finishing we were invited to go in the fellowship building and they had pizza, soda and munchies.... and we did not know but Monica ordered a cake and had them write "3,300 miles for Christ" on it.
It was a great time! It was like a wedding feast.

God is soooo good!!

Linked through God's Love

Since we left Georgia, I have not been able to be near Nick.  The roads have been narrow and there are no shoulders. So basically, we find a place for me to park the RV and then Nick goes ahead. As soon as he finds a place suitable for me to park he calls me to come and get him.

On May 15 we had an article on the local news paper in Anderson  and from there on, several people have stopped on the side of the road to talk to Nick.

Well, this past week has been the most wonderful week in the month of May. Nick was walking near the town of Belton, SC.   Nick called me and asked me to come by the Neal Creek Baptist Church, because they had a big parking lot. I drove over and there he was in the street corner waiting for me.  As I pulled over, and parked the RV in the church parking lot, a van pulled in and Eric & Robert started to talk to Nick. These guys were on their way to do a job replacing carpets and they saw a "little guy blessing the traffic," so they had to stopped and see what was going on.

After they left, Nick said "Lets go into the church office.  I though we were going in to ask for permission to spend the afternoon there; when Nick said, "Patti is going to interview us for the local paper." Well, little did I know! Nick had been talking with several people from the area and now we were having another interview another paper! Praise God!

I met Patti and we began the interview.  After about hour and a half of sharing stories and information, we finally asked her if we could spend part of the afternoon in the parking lot, until evening, when Nick was going to walk again.  She said, "It'ss OK. You can stay all night if you want to."   We went back to the RV and tried to take a nap; it was very humid and hot.  So after an hour or so, we heard a knocking and tapping on our door.  It was Patti, Scott (her husband) and her mom, Jean. Jean had read the Article in "The Independent,"and she wanted to meet us.  So we invited them into our cabin on the road and spent a very nice hour or so just talking and laughing.  Patti also mentioned, that she had talked to her pastor and asked us if it would come to her church on Wednesday night and do our Zacchaeus presentation. We were delighted to say, "Yes!"

We were really excited. That night Nick walked another 3 miles or so, into the city of  Belton.  The next morning we did our routine and by noon we were on our way to Patti's church. (New Generation Worship Plaza) The people there were soooo gracious. Actually the pastor, told his people to give us all of their information (name, address, phone number) in case we had trouble on the road, they would come and help us out! He said, "Wherever you are we will come and help you.)  We were in total awe!  This is the first time something like this ever happened to us.  God's power was moving in the church and in our hearts. They took up a love offering and included their contact information. Wow!

Patti is sooo talented! She is an author, a singer, speaker plus she had worked in the radio industry for several years.  I guess they hired her when she was 3 years old!

She told us that on Thursday night, her family and other musicians would be performing in Honea Path (Honey-ah Path) at a street out reach.  So we made it a point to go. Wow!  They are soooo talented.  Nick and I really loved listening to them and praising God on main street USA!

We were blessed beyond compare.  That night, Patti gave me the name of a person we needed to contact as soon as we got to the outskirts of Laurens, SC. There was a possibility of another article!

So Friday afternoon, Nick called me and said he was getting close to Laurens, and he said to go ahead of him and find a place to park. I parked right outside of the Laurens Middle School.  As Nick was approaching the RV, the principal Dr. Harris, came over and talked with him.  He had seen "Christ" written on our RV and wanted to know what we were up to. As Nick was talking with the principal, I got on the phone, to contact Ms. Judith Brown.  She is the reporter for The Laurens County Advertiser and, yes, she was interested in running a piece on us.



Nick got in the RV, and was getting on his civilian clothes and I was on the phone with Judith, when someone was knocking at our door.  It was Dr. Harris, I opened the door and he wanted to see if we would be open to come in the school and have lunch with the kids.  As it is our custom, we said, "Yes!"  I asked Judith if she would like to join us for lunch at the middle school and she agreed. We all went in and had a good time.  While Judith was taking notes, listening and trying to eat all at the same time, (she has 6 kids so she is good at multitasking!) some of the kids were looking at us wondering, "Who are they and what are they doing here?" However, since we were sitting with the principal, no one dare to say anything out loud.

Judith spend between one and a half to two hours with us and later that afternoon we met with her again at a local coffee shop. This has been a week full of wonderful blessings making new friends.

I cannot wait to see what God does this week...... keep your ears and eyes open.

Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision - Psalm 144:13

A couple days ago, we looked at our ministry bank account and we only had $57.00.  We have gone 1400 miles of our 3,300 mile journey and as I looked back to the bank account I said to God, "What are we going to do we still have 1900 miles to go."

My first instinct was to grab my phone and send a text message to our goddaughter to see if she could go check our mail box for donations.  As I grabbed the phone I sensed in my spirit a voice that said, "Are you believing what you see or you are going to believe in My provision?" 

I thought to myself, "What? But there is only $57.00 in the account." So the voice said again, "Are you believing what you see or you are going to believe in My provision?"   Nick and I did not talk about it but we both had the same feeling.  We both wanted to call Jess. 

What were we going to do?  We knew we had couple checks out there and we did not want to bounce anything. Nick asked me to transfer $70.00 from our savings to the BOC (Breath of Christ Ministries) account. We know we're do not supposed to do this, but we thought it was an emergency and BOC could take it as a loan. So, I made the transfer.


The next day, we walked to McDonough, GA.  In the middle of the day we took an afternoon break to stay away from the heat.  As I was taking a nap, Nick's voice woke me up.  He was talking with a Pastor from the First Baptist Church of Mc Donough.  Pastor Tom, took us in the church office to meet Senior Pastor Charles.  

As we talk to them, Pastor Charles invited us to come back on Wednesday night, and do the presentation of Zacchaeus. We were sooo excited! God was providing for us....again!  That night after the presentation, we checked our email and we heard from Jess who said that we had received donations totaling over $700!


We were sooo amazed because God had kept his promise to us and had provided the means for us to buy ink for the printer, pay our phone bills & gasoline for the RV. God 's timing is perfect.  Wednesday night came and God met our needs once again. 

The next day Nick was walking towards Covington, GA. We have not had much shoulder on the road, so what we have been doing is: Nick goes ahead of me and as soon as we finds a place for me to park, he calls me and I drive over.  He found a place by a Waffle House and when I got there, he was talking to a guy. His name was Matt. Well as they both approached the RV, we found out he is the pastor of Greater Love Church, and they invited us to come over and do the Zacchaeus presentation in his church Sunday night. Once again, God provided for our expenses and a wonderful time of fellowship.  I love when God ministers to people through the presentation. It is good to see how His Spirit moves in the hearts of His children.


As we go in this journey, we want to be obedient and to trust in God. We know that He will take care of us in every area of our lives.

Well, last night, we stopped at the Trinity Baptist Church of Athens, for midweek service. Pastor Jim was very nice and he let us park at the church for the night.


After service, we went to the RV, turned the water heater on, expecting to have a wonderful shower.  Well as I got in the shower and we had no water!  Nick went out and we found out our water was all over the parking lot!

When I went to get my towel, I noticed that we had water on our bedroom carpet. Nick got our little wet-vac and started to suck up the water.  As we were working on it.  Pastor Jim came over to check on us and he and his wife invited us into their home so we could take a shower.


We were very thankful as it had been very hot and humid all day. I am glad I am a child of God because He even cares about providing a shower for us.

Well, this morning, Nick called the RV service center to see if they could take us in. A gentleman by the name of Dave said we could bring it in right away and they would take a look at it! We drove about twenty miles to Auburn, GA and Apalachee, RV took us right in.  The problem was that one of our hoses got loose and about one hundred of our DVD's (in the basement of the RV) got wet. The good news was that the water pump worked fine.

They also fixed one of our turn signals as well as hose from the refrigerator that was clogged up. The total cost... $1.75!!! ....and a gentleman named Tracey paid for that!!  They were soo gracious and in a little over an hour we were ready to go.  We praise God because our barns are always filled with every kind of provision. God never leaves us nor forsakes us. We are grateful that God is merciful and faithful. We serve a great God. My Father is a Righteous Father....and....He loves us.

Love, love and more love.

You never know where you are in someone else's life and heart.  Early last April, we had a wonderful serendipity from Brian.  He drove all the way from Baton Rouge, LA (500 miles) to meet us for the first time. We had a wonderful time, talking about God and sharing stories of God blessings in our lives.

A week later we found ourselves in Fort Valley, GA. Visiting Pastor Steve Sandoval and his congregation at Calvary Chapel Heartland. That same Sunday we met with Roger and Debbie Tiffany.  They also drove about 500 miles from Daytona, FL to Fort Valley.  We had met them on our first journey in 2001 (from St. Augustine, FL to Garden Grove, CA). On that particular day they drove all over the place looking for us, to deliver 40 bottles of water, God had told them we needed.  As a tradition, this time too, they brought us a case of water.

Couple weeks went by and our friends Bob and Nancy Wallace, were traveling over the Chicago area and they called to meet with us. We were just north of Roberta, GA, were we met and actually Bob walked with Nick about 8 miles.

A few days ago, we met with Ralph and Cindy.  We originally met them at IHOP (International House of Prayer) about 4 years ago.  They live near Lawrence, GA; but we met them in Winder, GA.

Some times life get lonely on this side of the world, but now we feel recharged. We have been soo blessed with the greatest gift people can give you, TIME!  I know most of you are behind the scenes praying for us and sending us waves of love and for that I am most grateful. Your time in prayer matters to us!

I always thank God for you
1 Corinthians 1:4

  

Am I working?

I think I trust God and I do know that He is always taking care of us.  We have lacked for nothing, but when it comes to the road, my heart and my stomach start to acting up.

This past week has been a bit challenging, actually, I believe everything started when we left Montgomery, AL. The road which Nick has been walking on turned to a two lane Highway and we had not much shoulder, it drops off.  Even though God always provides what we need, some times I feel a little bit apprehensive about not knowing where my next stop is going to be, and if I am going to have enough room to park the RV or what's going to happen if Nick needs me and I cannot park. 


So Nick has been scouting the road and when he finds a good place for me, he calls me and says, "Lucy, about quarter of a mile from where I am, I see a steeple of a church on your side of the road, so come on over, go ahead of me.  I will meet you there." and that's what I do.


While I await his call, I have been copying the book of John in my note book. It is very interesting the things I have been learning as I pay more attention to the written Word. It is fascinating, how God shows us new things in the stories we though we knew.


Last Thursday, we got a call from our friend Brian, he said that he was on his way over to visit us from Baton Rouge.  We decided to have a short day, because we had to drive about 30 miles to Phenix City, AL.  This was the first time we met Brian in person and we had a very pleasant time. Friday, early in the morning we drove back to where we had stopped the night before and continue to walk again. We completed 13.2 miles that day.  Then we drove back to meet our friend once more. 

Friday we had a very good time and Brian brought his laptop in the RV and we were able to watch the Awakening that is happening at IHOP. 

When Saturday morning came we did the same thing, as the day before and drove back to where we stopped for the day. Nick began his walk, however, this day we had a short day, (only 5.9 miles), so we drove the rest of the way to Phenix City, and we met with Brian for lunch and we bid him goodbye. We drove to the  RV Park, to do our weekly routine, (laundry, empty tanks, fill up tanks, etc).  which was on the other side of the river, in Columbus, GA.

When we got to the campground I thought, I am going to ask Nick if we can just continue our journey, on this side of the river instead of going back to that two lane road, it makes me nervous!  If we stay here, we can relax for 2 days and we do not to have to worry about anything.  -- So when I approached the front desk, the man asked me, "How many night are you staying?" and I heard myself saying One...

You see, the week before as Nick was walking, I was copying the book of John in my notebook and on chapter 4:17 reads: Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."   As I read those words, I thought; Nick is working for God.  This walk is not just an adventure or a pleasure journey, or a trip to see how God manifest in our lives.  So I kept those words in my heart, and we stayed at the park for one night.

Sunday, we went to a local church in Columbus, GA and had the pleasure to meet a wonderful couple, Bobby and Virginia.  They were a delight. When our time with them came to a close,  we drove back to the other side of the river, back to Phenix City, AL.  We drove to Walmart for the night. 

As Monday morning came, wee did our routine and we drove back to where we had stopped the Saturday before to begin our day. I was a bit apprehensive, but I did not say a word.  I kissed my husband goodbye and he began his walk.

It was about 11:00 o'clock and I got a call from Nick, he said: "Come and meet me at the Piggy Wiggly store, a man by the name of Bob is going to meet you there, he is driving a white van and is wearing a yellow shirt.  He is going take a look at our computers and I will be there shortly."  Well, to make the long story short....Bob worked on our computers and in a matter of three hours, they were working good. His wife called the local television station and they did a short story on Nick.  We were blessed beyond our imagination.
 
I was so glad that I did not ask Nick to start this week over the other side of the river. We would have missed the blessings of God.  I trusted God's word that Nick is working for Him, as Jesus is working in our lives and God is working in our hearts.

 ⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart
       and lean not on your own understanding;
 ⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him,
       and he will make your paths straight.

Thank you Lord for Your love and insight.  Thank You for working in me.