It seems we had to travel 1000 miles for God to do something spectacular in our own lives; we have truly been blessed beyond words.

The bus ride was a long 20 hours, so we were able to share a lot of good laughs – you know those belly laughs that make you feel so good after they are over. They just seem to happen in the moment, and certainly are enhanced by the fact that you are tired and haven’t had much sleep. I will treasure those times also, for I find myself much too serious most of the time thinking about all the things I need to get done. It was wonderful to be able to let our hair down and just have some fun.

From the time we got off the bus, the people welcomed us warmly and were genuinely glad we had come. As the week wore on, we saw a deep and desperate desire for God to do something in their life. All of them had been touched in some way by the economic woes that have hit the whole State of Michigan. I so admire their tenacity and trust in God to meet their needs. God has given us a miraculous bond with these people in only 5 days.

On the last afternoon, it was really cold and after we had been out walking about 30 minutes it started to rain. We got wet and had to get back on the bus and go back to the church. It was a special time, though, as all the women in our group gathered in a circle around their women and prayed for strength and encouragement for them in the days ahead.

I also want to share about our prayer and Bible study times together each morning. That was such a special time as many of us became transparent and shared things about which God had been dealing with us, or areas in which we needed to get rid of pride. I feel such a bond with the 14 people who went, and we will always be able to share that special time.

The day after we got home, I received an email invitation to join Christine and Amanda, two of the women in the church, on Yahoo Messenger. I accepted, and we have already had some good conversations. In fact, God showed me yet again just how awesome He is.

Christine knew that I had some websites and she asked me their names, so I typed them out for her. She wrote me back and told me that she and her husband had found one of my sites some months ago, had bookmarked it, and now read it regularly. She said she would never have imagined she would meet the author.

God is so awesome. When you really think about it, you can see that God was preparing us all months ago to be a part of His plan for revival in Lake City. We are just humans, though, and will never be able to see the whole picture like God. He really knows how to encourage you in a great way when you need it most. All I did was obey his instructions as to what He wanted me to put on the site, and He took care of the rest.

I can’t close without talking about how beautiful this state is. There are lakes everywhere from the time you cross the state line. There are many farms with beautiful, lush crops waiting to be harvested. We also saw a tremendous amount of Christmas tree farms. The leaves ranged in colors from yellows to fiery oranges and reds. When you live in the South, you don’t get to see beautiful fall foliage like that.

Here are some more pictures. Some of them were taken as we were traveling, so they are a bit blurry.

A soybean field in Indiana - the leaves turn yellow and fall off right before they are harvested

Look at these lush fields in Michigan!

A shot of a typical Michigan farm taken from the road

We saw these all over

There were also lots of Christmas tree farms

I had never seen black squirrels until I saw these

Seagulls were flying all over Lake Cadillac

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living – Practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

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It has been a very emotional day. I have had very little time to write since we have been here – just small snatches of time late at night. It could only be a God-thing that we have all grown so close to these people in just 5 short days.

I want to post some more pictures and write in a lot more detail about the things that happened here, but it will have to wait until later. We have to be ready to leave on the bus at 6 AM and that is 6 hours away.

Our prayer and Bible study times have been so awesome. God has really been in the room as all 14 of us filled it up. There is such a bond that has grown between us as we have shared laughter and tears. We know that we must continue to get the fleshly things out of our lives so that God can work through us.

Brother Randy preached from Revelation tonight. It was one of the most powerful messages I have ever heard on the subject of why you don’t want your friends and relatives to go to hell. We all have prayed that God will give us a greater passion for the lost. God has changed us while we have been here, and we don’t want to go back to the same way we were.

I will write in more detail as soon as possible.

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

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We met at 8:30 again this morning and had another awesome prayer meeting. Brother Randy gave us a powerful teaching on James 3: 16-18 – the fruit of righteousness. God really opened my eyes to some things that I needed to change in my life.

The whole team has been praying hard for God to remove everything that is not of Him so that He can use us in a mighty way. The prayer times have been so powerful. We walked a good bit this afternoon delivering flyers and were all tired, but happy. A rain storm caught us and we all got soaked before we got back to the bus. Nobody complained, though. There has been a great spirit among us.

We only rested for a short while before getting dressed for the night service. We were late getting there because of a small problem with the bus, but in the end everything turned out fine. We rolled in right in the nick of time to start the services.

We were determined not to let Satan take away any victory that God had planned for the night. Brother Randy preached with a huge anointing on him. Afterwards we talked to many that said their life had been radically changed by what has happened this week. I am truly thankful I came on this trip.

There has been a few more in the services each night since we have been here. I really believe God is going to bless this small church.

Below are a few more pictures from our fellowship:

The Mission Church

Look at that slam dunk!

Cooking hamburgers

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living - Practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

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playing tag

We had our first whole day of services on Sunday. The people at Lake City Baptist Church are so friendly and welcoming. It is almost like we are at home. Brother Randy has really been preaching the Word, and at the night service, several people came down to make some things right with God.

We have also had some great singing. Ricky, the minister of music, invited the church members to join us in the choir, and several of them took him up on his offer. There are 14 of us on the mission trip, and we all happen to be members of the choir. The singing has been really awesome and there has been a great spirit here.

They have not had anybody to play the piano for quite some time, so they have been really enjoying the live music. The church is very small right now, but I believe God has awesome things in store for it. The pastor is very humble and really wants to do what it takes to have revival.

Monday morning, we met at 8:45 AM for a time of prayer and Bible study. It was an awesome time and ended up lasting until 11. The Spirit of God was in the room, and everybody left really encouraged. We then had 15 minutes to get back to our room and get what we needed before leaving for lunch.

That consisted of fast food eaten in less than 30 minutes so we could go to the church and pick up Pastor Dane and his wife Amanda and two children. They went with us to go around the city and hand out flyers inviting people to come to the revival.

We got home around 4 and had 1 1/2 hours to be ready to go back to the church for the service.

We are staying in Cadillac, Michigan, and there is a huge lake right across the road from the motel. We walk there every chance we get because it is so beautiful. It is hard for me to believe that the whole lake freezes in the winter.

We spent the time on the bus in silent preparation for the service. God was really there, and I think we are being changed as much as the people in Michigan. He certainly was in the service tonight. It seems like everyone came with an air of expectation that God was going to do something great.

We also had a wonderful time of fellowship over food after the services. There has been much laughter on this trip, as well as serious preparation for the work that God has called us to do. I am so glad I came, even though I have missed my family.

All the pictures on this page were taken at the fellowship dinner we had on Saturday night.

Cooking french fries

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We were all pretty wiped out and went to bed as soon as possible. It was a good day, though, with everybody excited about what is to come. We got up early again and left today about 8 AM to complete the last leg of the trip. We ended up driving about 6 more hours before getting to our motel.

We certainly had some interesting conversations and a lot of laughter. It was an enjoyable trip, even though it was long. We finally checked in about 2 PM.

We took along a cooker and bought some food when we arrived so that we could meet the people of the church and share a meal with them. We had some great grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, some of the best french fries I have ever eaten, and some great desserts.

The people here are warm and friendly, and already we have had some great conversations with them over food.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring, as we actually start revival services in the AM Sunday service. We will be leading the whole thing, and have been praying hard that God will do something miraculous this week.

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living - Practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

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