This is the final final post for 4295 Miles! There will be No MORE! However, if you are interested I am going to start a new blog. I'm going to do another blog beginning Saturday, August 1st. Many of you have asked if I would keep this blog going so I have succumbed to the pressures and will go with the small crowd's request (I'm a pushover). The new blog can be located at bi11boards.blogspot.com. Each "l" in bi11boards is a "1" (one). I had to do that because billboards with the normal spelling was already being used by someone who got to it faster than I.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Billboards!
This is the final final post for 4295 Miles! There will be No MORE! However, if you are interested I am going to start a new blog. I'm going to do another blog beginning Saturday, August 1st. Many of you have asked if I would keep this blog going so I have succumbed to the pressures and will go with the small crowd's request (I'm a pushover). The new blog can be located at bi11boards.blogspot.com. Each "l" in bi11boards is a "1" (one). I had to do that because billboards with the normal spelling was already being used by someone who got to it faster than I.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Chicken!
"Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom."
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Home!
"Home is where the heart is."
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Creativity.
“You are created in the image of the Creator therefore you are creative.”
-Barry
“Color outside the lines.”
-Anonymous
"In the beginning God created . . ."
-Genesis 1:1
"So God created people in his own image ; God patterned them after himself; male and female he created them."
-Genesis 1:27
I am in the van and we are presently about 101 miles from Little Rock, Arkansas where we will stay this evening. We’ll be at the home of Brandon and Julie Barnard. They won’t be there but have given me a key to their house! Brandon is with a group of students on a mission trip and Julie is in Athens, Georgia with her sister, Jennifer, who is expecting any day now.
I just spoke with Pastor John at First Baptist in Monticello and asked about Daniel. John said he was sore yesterday and feeling better today. Same thing with Chris, he’s a little sore but doing fine.
This morning, before heading east, we went to Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo. It’s one of those tourist places where people go to take photographs of family and friends. The tourists don’t know why they are there except that it’s a cool place to take pictures. I will, therefore, tell you a little about Cadillac Ranch:
The Cadillac Ranch, located along the tatters of historic Route 66, was built in 1974, brainchild of Stanley Marsh 3, the helium millionaire who owns the dusty wheat field where it stands. Marsh and The Ant Farm, a San Francisco art collective, assembled used Cadillacs representing the "Golden Age" of American Automobiles (1949 through 1963). The ten graffiti-covered cars are half-buried, nose-down, facing west "at the same angle as the Cheops' pyramids."
In 1997, development creep forced Marsh to move the entire assemblage about two miles further west. The line of cars is far enough out in a field to allow for suitably bleak photography. The distance from any authority also encourages ever-mutating layers of painted graffiti, which Marsh doesn't seem to mind.
Stanley Marsh was a very creative person. So are we! God has given us creative spirits and minds just by his very nature. We are created in the image of the Creator therefore we are creative! Because he is creative, we too can be creative, it’s in our spiritual genes. It’s also a choice. We can choose to be creative or we can sit around saying things like, “She’s got more creativity in her little finger than I’ve got in my whole body!” That’s just an excuse. Your creativity may not be like her creativity but you’ve got it. Quit making excuses and look at the things you love to do and choose to be creative with them.
Get the Crayolas, a coloring book, and color outside the lines like crazy!
Today!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Amarillo.
We are now 241 miles from Amarillo, Texas, where we will spend the night. The girls will be staying with Les and Denise Simpson and the guys with Ray and Kim Allen. With the time change we should arrive in Amarillo around 7:30 this evening. Donnie is driving, I am working on this blog, and the other eight are sound asleep. Surprise, surprise! The good news: if they are asleep we don’t do many restroom stops.
We pulled out of the parking lot at First Baptist Church in Monticello around 6:20 this morning. Daniel was awake and came to see us off. He would have been mad if we had taken off without waking him so that’s what we did.
Daniel and Chris, our four-wheeler turnovers, were both feeling fine this morning with the exception of Daniel’s left hip. He said his hip was sore but other than that he said he was feeling okay.
Because we’ll probably get to our beds late this evening I’m going to get some help from the Utah Crew. I’m going to ask them the most important thing God taught them and the most exciting thing that happened:
Preston Willis - Preston said the most exciting thing for him was the ATV accident (It probably wasn’t for Daniel and Chris). What he learned, through the accident, was God has a plan for our lives and that he will continue to use and bless us until the plan is completed. It was obvious to Preston as he witnessed the accident that God is not yet finished with Daniel and Chris.
Caroline Clark - Caroline thought is was pretty cool that when the skit crew (Caroline was part of that crew) did the serious crucifixion and resurrection skit on Thursday and that the children saw that Jesus really died and went through great pain for them. Caroline said she learned that it’s not all about fun and games but more about ministering to the children there.
Corinne Rogero - Corinne said that the most exciting thing of the week was finding out that Daniel hadn’t even broken a bone despite the fact that the four-wheeler pummeled him as it rolled over. What she learned was that just because something seems right for you to do, it doesn’t mean it’s God’s will for your life. He may have something else planned for you that’s even better.
Donnie Brown - Donnie thought that the most exciting thing was the overwhelming friendliness and love of Pastor John, Echo, and the church family at First Baptist. God has taught him, through the experiences of the week, that we must trust God more. Even though things don’t always go as we would want them to we can still learn through those times.
Chris Rogero - Chris learned from climbing a rock formation that we cannot put God in a box and that God is all-powerful. The sight from the top of the rock was breath-taking and spectacular.
Katie Milliner - For Katie, the most exciting thing was that VBS was smaller making it easier to get the children focused. God confirmed the fact that he works all things out for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
Chris Stiles - His most exciting thing was riding to the hospital in the back of the ambulance. He learned that nothing is impossible when God is on our side.
Olivia Ricketts - She said the most exciting thing was when two little pre-school girls in her class accepted Christ. She learned to trust God no matter what the situation.
MacyAnn Holland - She, too, said the most exciting thing was the two girls in her preschool class that trusted Jesus. She learned that God allows us to go through different difficulties to teach us what he wants us as individuals to learn. She also learned how the body of Christ should love one another and God orchestrates and has a plan in everything
For me every day is a brand new lesson. I’m thankful for every bonus day God gives me and want to take in all he wants to teach me. Out here in Utah I was again reminded of the absolutely incredible Creator we worship. Everywhere we went and everything we saw cried out, “We have a Creator, a Designer, and we want to declare his glory” (Psalm 19:1). Over and over, God continues to teach me the real meaning of awesome: Deuteronomy 10:17. My most exciting part of the week was being back again with my extended family in Monticello, Utah.
We’re now 123 miles from Amarillo!
We just ate supper with Les, Denise, Faith, and Meredith Simpson and Ray, Kim, Bailey, and Karley Allen at Blue Sky in Amarillo. The burgers were great and big and the fellowship was even better.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
-Romans 8:28
We are now in Amarillo!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
ER
"Don't talk too much, for it fosters sin. Be sensible and turn off the flow!"
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Love.
"Love is a verb."