How do you explain a day filled with divine appointments other than – “To God Be The Glory”? We are at the half way point -places were memories of bad wrecks are behind us – some of the most difficult places to travel are gone and we have not had one person involved in a wreck. Thanks for your prayers!
Today we started off with a glorious service -a service that drew a large number of the riders to stand for the whole thing. Keith O’Neal from Fayetteville, NC played his trumpet and sang several songs – that began drawing the crowd. Then he played and sang the song he wrote, “We’ll Not Forget”. It was met with so much excitement – oh did I forget to say this service started at 6:45 am? Then Chaplain Tim Moore delivered a powerful word from the story of the Prodigal Son. Then what a glorious sound as we ended with “Amazing Grace”!
People came and asked for prayer – my marriage, my friend with cancer, my Mom’s really ill, etc. It was an awesome time of ministry after the service and throughout the entire day! One man I spoke to was embittered from the ‘welcome’ he received in 1968 when he came home from Viet Nam. I listened for a while and then told him if there was anything I could do – please just let one of us know. He looked at me and said, ‘pray for me’, I asked if he would like for me to pray for him now for the Lord would take a little of the bitterness away each day. He said ‘sure’ and we had a wonderful prayer, standing in the parking lot in the heat. Don’t tell me this trip is not fruitful.
We arrived at our last stop to be met by Pastor Robbie Jones, Parkway Christian Center, Chesapeake, VA. He was so excited; God had given him a divine appointment. He made contact with a family setting in a pickup waiting for us to arrive. They had a friend just five minutes away that had lost a son in Afghanistan last Tuesday; his body was not home yet. They wanted to know if some of us could do a drive by. I will not go into detail but the short of it was Chaplain Tim Moore and Pastor Robbie had the honor of praying and blessing this man in his grief.
Greg Kunz joined us for the communications department of the IPHC today to film. He and Carolyn traveled together getting pictures to share with you in the future. It is a great honor for Greg to sacrifice his time from his family for our efforts.
There is so much more that could be written but let me end it by saying, The Lord is being exalted by our trip this year more than ever. We love these men and women, have prayed over them, visited with them and built relationships with them for the past 6 years. We consider it an honor to serve those who have served. Please keep us lifted in your prayers. One more – one man came to me at dinner and thanked me for the prayers I am praying, he stated that an eighteen wheeler blew a tire while he was riding by it and the ‘shrapnel’ blew right by his wife’s head. He gave credit to the Lord.
This is the first year since 2006 that I have not been on the RFTW Southern Route. I am known as Shrinkwrap and I do miss all of you. I know they are giving away my books along the way. So I am for sure there in spirit. I am so pleased to hear of the great work you are doing and the lives you are touching. Being a part of this incredible experience is life changing. I wish you all a safe journey with abundant blessings along your way. Hopefully I will see you in 2011.
Shrinkwrap (bridget cantrell)