Eleven Hours of Driving Just to Help – Daily Stuff that God Likes.

I had a good but long drive to southwest Kansas – eleven hours of driving.  That’s 22 hours round trip.  At the hotel I stayed at in a town called Hesston, the young lady at the check in desk had been trying to go to a Culinary Art School in Houston but had to drop out because of costs and expenses, and I shared with her that there was one in Omaha and found the website and gave it to her – she was so grateful and excited to check it out since Omaha is only six hours from Hesston.

On Wednesday I preached and ministered at this small rural church.  There were seven people there, but I preached like there was 700.  They have been going through a difficult time and their pastor just recently resigned and decided to start another local church.  This town of 1500 already has 17 churches.  I wish we could all just get along.  Someone had stolen some of the churches decorations that were in a storage unit, so I gave them a check to replace those items.  I felt like lots of bad stuff was happening and so I was looking for ways to bless and encourage.

Thursday we were in Guymon OK and we stopped at a Taco Bell.  A local police officer was in line in front of me and I struck up a conversation with him and offered to buy his lunch.  He let me do that and Taco Bell discounted it too, and then we sat with him and had a nice visit.  He use to be a full Gospel Preacher, and then went into law enforcement in his mid 50’s.  Can you imagine starting that career at that age, and still doing it in his early 60’s as well.  Wow – I was really impressed.  He still preaches most Sundays as a fill in preacher in various rural communities.  I always look for ways to say thanks to police officers, firemen and military folks.  If nothing else, just a handshake or a pat on the back goes a long ways.

Thursday evening I attended a local Aglow meeting and it was a sweet experience with 17 in attendance.  The local guest spoke about Speaking God’s Word instead of other things that seem to grab our attention.  It was a good message.  There was a Baptist pastor there that seemed to have some life to him, so I asked if we could get together so we decided to meet on Friday morning.

Friday morning we met at McDonalds and this Baptist pastor is also ordained with the Assembly of God, yet pastoring an American Baptist Church.  He loves young people and has many years of experience with Teen Challenge.  It was a great learning experience to hear his many testimonies.  I think I maybe shared for ten minutes and he shared for nearly two hours, but I was happy to do that.  There is some tension at his church due to some of his great outreach ideas, but the church body just wants to come and sit in the pews, listen to the message and then go home.  There is great potential in this town.

Friday afternoon, I had an opportunity to return to Guymon, OK and thru a very strange list of events, I had found myself at a Chiropractor’s office praying with someone on the phone, and having the staff stand around me in the office saying amen and yes Lord as I was praying on the phone.  The story is too long, but everywhere I am going it seems that God opening doors to minister.

Right now it is Saturday morning and  I am at the public library in a town of less than 400 and had the opportunity to share Spotify and how you can download Christian music or any music for that matter with the Librarian here.  Later I will be trimming some trees and bushes for my host, and then this evening at the church, we have a meal planned together with and some vision casting. 

Last night I met with the leadership team and we had nice prayer and discussion as to what God might still have for this small church.  Sunday morning I will be preaching again, and then after having lunch, most likely hitting the road for my eleven plus hour drive home to Omaha.  But I will be returning here later this fall in November and early December too. 

Whatever you are going through, if you can find someone to come along side and pray with you and minister to you, it would be worth the chance of asking, because I am an encourager here this weekend to help, assist, promote the Kingdom, teach the Bible, pray with and love on these people in this time of need.  And if you aren’t going thru something, maybe you could find someone who you can help and assist and bless.  It will certainly help them and do you good in the process too. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and God bless you for reading this and for taking time to consider helping someone else.  Galatians 6:10 says that as we have the opportunity, we should do good to all people, especially the household of faith.  Look for those opportunities.  God will show you, and then you can just step into His Kingdom activity and advance His Kingdom as you engage in being kind to someone else.  It’s a good thing for sure.  Check out Acts 10:38 and focus on the word “Good” before the miracles and see what God may share with you. 

In my recent book, “Downloads from Heaven”, I think I quote Leonard Ravenhill a couple of times regarding his words – “The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized within the lifetime of the opportunity.”  Sometimes there is a small window of opportunity for deployment and if you don’t grab it, you miss it, and then later learn that someone else stepped in or you learn that the opportunity has passed with poor results and you are regretful.  If that happens, learn from the mistakes, and then begin again.  God is all about forgiveness and second and third and hundreds of chances and I just know He will give you that chance if you are willing to go for it. 

Why not tell him right now.  Apologize and repent of missed opportunities and ask God to show you this day how you can help someone else, bless and encourage another person, or perhaps offer prayer to bring comfort to someone who really just needs a friend, like you and especially like Jesus.  I know you can do it.  If you are reading this blog it is because you are acquainted with Life and Light and want to be that for someone else too. 

Go For It.  It could fall into any one of the above categories or maybe something different.  Even if it makes you drive eleven hours.  (smile) 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂