Happy Trails

Good news about the vehicle situation (refer to September 17).
It has been a little over 30 days since the actual incident where my 2000 Ford Excursion spontaneously caught fire at a job site. I tried not to fret too much and it worked out with borrowed rides from my children and Hertz. (My daughter even went to Italy so I could use her car for nine days!) Friends and family lifted up prayers of comfort and petitions for my needs. The insurance reps were amiable and settled within three weeks.
I ventured out one evening and hastily left behind one used car dealership with nothing gained but a credit report.
I checked out other leads on used cars recommended by friends. My son, in Florida, had two reasonable vehicles at the pawnshop where he works, with only 150,000 actual miles on the odometers. I even visited the grassy used car lot maintained by the Salvation Army….
My heavenly Father knew the work and ministry he has put in my path. If it were to continue in that way, I would have to have a utility vehicle that could pull a trailer. It needed to be dependable if I travel any distance to work and more miles to the gallon of gas would be helpful. I needed a payment of no more than $300.
I was willing to go in a different direction, if He was showing me to change my pursuits. A small car would fit my need for transportation to and from a job. And it would be easier on the budget.
On Tuesday, I asked God to lead us to the right financial and auto situation. I still had a few days available with the rental car, so I only planned to look.
The south Louisiana autumn air was vaguely cool as we pulled randomly into Team Honda. Of course, we were too soon cordially confronted by an eager salesman named Josh.
As this was to be the first stop of our afternoon search, I did not want to encourage him too much. I told him what we were looking for and he proceeded to take us on a tour of the back lots, with fresh deposits of trade-ins, front-lot hopefuls and employee vehicles.
At the very dead end of the cyclone fence and vehicular maze, he showed me a mildly interesting Trailblazer. It wasn’t my dream car – but it was pretty. Sure, he needed me to test drive it so that he could say that I did. I reluctantly obliged him.
Besides it would get me back up to the front where my car was parked.
It was a little smaller than the Excursion, a few years newer, double the gas mileage expectation, one third of the miles on the odometer and it could easily pull a trailer. Granted it would fit our work needs. But the price sticker told the tale of a $400 payment.
To sum it up, without losing stride by Thursday, Josh and Cathy, the business manager, found a way to reach my goals. There was no place I could object, if God was up in the middle of this. I had invited Him to be there...
When I did stumble and doubt that I deserved to have a useful --and pretty -- tool parked in my driveway, my faithful Father reminded me that he was a good Father.
I had asked Him to take care of me. And He showed off.

As I was typing this, it occurred to me that I have been on a journey, an amazing “excursion”, a trip of consequence. It has been good and worthwhile and we have all learned many things and seen many new territories. I have come to the end of the known trail, the marked path, traveled by many. As the “straw” , (the physical vehicle) burned away, it was not the end of the journey or even a stop sign. It is not a time to put on the brakes and make a tight u-turn. The hour has come to plunge in, cutting away the tangled underbrush and briers that keep one from seeing the true, deep-rooted forest and the protective, healing canopy. “Trailblazing” is a strenuous task requiring diligence and perseverance. One has to have a clear vision of where you want to finish and know that this is the only way to end up in that place. Fully understand that it will be worth it - because it is often lonely; the briers and fallen limbs will scratch and trip you, but any who follow will thank you.
I Corinthians 3:11 -14 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. 12 Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 14 If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15 But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.
New Living Translation (NLT)

MORE THAN CONQUERERS....

WE ARE...

Because we wear the armor provided sufficiently…

NOW we stand,
resisting evil,
turned fully facing our Lord Almighty…..
Still, our enemy crouches in the shadows of our path,
his gaping mouth shamefully dripping
with sweet nothings….
NATURALLY, we know the familiar lure….
we resist the temptation
to cover his tracks with silence or foolish illusions…

We STAND ....Focused ... Justified...

Our counsel applied in love….
Our integrity, firmly established, is cloaked with humility….
We have put on running shoes,,, but We WAIT for marching orders…
WE CLING to Our belief and hope in victory -
Which is like an impenetrable force field, activated 24 7…..

We have been rescued by our King,
Destined… Commissioned...
For this very Confrontation with our enemy…
We have all the weapons we will ever need to overcome….
For we rely on our Commander’s soldiers to back us fully…

We know their intentions because,,,

We stay in communication through a secret code….

Known only to our commander.

Isaiah 30:15; Ephesians 6: 13-18; Ephesians 4:15;1 Peter 5:8,9; luke 8;15,17

Laugh when you wanna cry

They just pulled my truck away to never be seen again.. so many memories.. so many dreams....

Thank God I remembered something my daughter read Friday......

Two cows were visiting,

chatting over the barbed wire fence that separated their farmers' fields.

"You know," the first bovine said,

"this whole 'mad cow disease' thing is making me nervous. They say it spreads fast -- and I've heard it's even struck some of the cows down on the Munson farm."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it," the second cow replied.

"It won't affect us ducks."

Don't stop walking

Romans 8:31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

from my journal of catastophic performances

September 10, 2007
Lord, my God, my Father, I am curious to know what you have in mind for me. I know your plans are good and not to harm me – to bring me hope and a future.
After all that we have worked on for the past few weeks for Charlotte’s Web, my truck and trailer finally sat quietly in the loading dock of the Shaw Center downtown. The set had been unloaded and half of it sat only a few feet away, waiting to be moved into the space we were preparing.
The father and son team, named Pike, were busily constructing their second project of the day. Conan and I were reconstructing our set pieces on the stage they had assembled earlier.
Speedy, our official Shaw Center “overseer” sat in the corner observing. Melanie and Ashley wandered in and out as they conducted theatre and personal business. The day was progressing just as it should.
I sent Juliette for something from the truck. She came back reporting that the police were doing something with the truck. We have struggled to keep our vehicles ticket-free in that loading zone, so that’s what I expected to encounter.
Instead, I looked out to the street to observe smoke encircling the hood which jutted out onto the sidewalk 25 feet away. I took a step into the loading dock and a policeman poked his head around the corner and informed me that he had called the fire department and to get back.
As I told the others and we tried to find out what was happening the building alarm went off telling the building to evacuate.
We exited another door and stood by as the police tried to subdue the flames with all the fire extinguishers we could find. When the fire truck arrived, they had just used their fifth canister and the fire was becoming more aggressive.
The firemen quickly doused the flaming truck, but it still took about 15 minutes to contain the fire damage to the engine and dash. The interior of the truck was filled with toxic black smoke and the plastic parts were dripping onto the driveway of the loading dock.
The tow truck arrived about two hours later and hauled the now black and red Excursion to the house.
The cruise control had a recall on it from Ford, but no one had the time to sit at Ford and wait for the repair. Now we could find time, but we have no truck.
I don’t know where we will go from here. I have to have some sort of vehicle this week to do the job I have contracted. I know that I will be able to borrow and hitch rides for a little while, but we will have to remedy this.
Father, you know where I am and you know all the details of this event. You know what is behind and what is ahead; You’ve been there every step.
We could have been driving it. It could have exploded in the night up beside the house. As it is, my work is loaded in where it is supposed to be. We are safe. And best of all we have shared life with our coworkers at the Shaw Center – another event to remember.
I pray for wisdom and patience to see this finished in Your way, Father.

Hi! This is the first communication to set up this blog. Things will get more interesting as we proceed.