First and foremost I want to say that if I had to turn around and go back home today, this trip would still have been worth everything that God promised me it would be! Today I led a man to the Lord! His name is Norman, and we met him at Starbucks tonight. We went to dinner with Dads friend Daylin tonight and afterwards went to Starbucks to hang out. While Dad and his friends were visiting, I noticed a man sitting alone on the patio. I was really having a good time inside, but God spoke to me and led me to go outside and sit with him. I introduced myself, and he shook my hand and said his name was Norman. It didnt take a genius to tell that he was homeless, but that didnt matter to me. I spent the next 20 minutes or so trying to get to know him, and after a few minutes he really started to open up. On the inside I was begging God to give me the words to say. I feel like God has really opened my eyes to the pain people endure because they lack basic shelter and I really wanted the opportunity to speak into this mans life.
I dont really remember how we got on the subject, but we started talking about the walk. he said that he believed in God, but that he was scared of him because he couldnt see him. I shared with him that God hasn’t given us the spirit of fear, and that if Norman would allow God to live in his heart, he wouldnt have to worry about the fact that he couldnt see him because he would always know where he was. He said that sounded good, and I asked him if I could pray with him. I wasn’t sneaky about it at all. I asked him straight up if he was willing to allow God to change him from the inside out. If he was willing to turn from his sins and follow Him. He said yes, and I asked him to repeat the sinners prayer with me. He did, and it was such a beautiful experience. I dont know what I really thought leading someone to the Lord would be like, but it felt like making a friend for life, or better yet, a brother! Thank you God for your faithfulness and your grace!
We were TIRED this morning! Dad woke me up to go with him to dry the clothes. The closest laundromat was like 10 miles away, so we called the groundskeeper at Messenger College and he allowed us to use the laundry facilities here. It hadnt even crossed our minds to ask until now. There is a small student center with a laundry room attached. And check this out, the machines are only a quarter!!! We kicked back and watched Sports Center while the clothes dried, and basically just vegetated on the couch trying to rest before our walk today. With more family coming into Joplin today, were not trying to break any records. We just want to get out there, hit our 15 mile minimum, and call it a day. And thats what we did.
Mom called us this morning to tell us that she met a top ten heavyweight MMA fighter last night. Apparently, there is an MMA fight in Tyler this weekend and Rico Rodriguez is headlining it. He came into Carinos with a few friends last night and Mom got to sit and talk with him for a while. Of course I m missing all of this (for a very good reason of course)! Anyway, Rico used to fight in the UFC. If you are wondering how good he is, check this out. He made Randy Couture tap to strikes! Now THAT is one bad dude! Mom told him about my walk and the fact the we trained at the world famous “PIT” when we lived at the beach. He was really impressed with what I was doing. He asked Mom to write down my website and promised to donate to the walk! How awesome is that!
So once again we decided to mix things up a little in our walk. Messenger College (where the RV is parked) is only 6 miles from the Kansas border. So we figured what the heck, lets add another state to our walk. We have now walked through 5 states! Thats right. Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas…and then Missouri again! LOL. We hit the border, turned around and walked about 12 miles to a Flying J truck stop. Dad met us there and spoke to the manager, David. He let us shower and then offered us a really good down-home lunch at the restaurant there. As we always do, we left our server a good tip and she gave it back, plus $10!!! She said she wanted to bless our ministry and said she’d be praying for us. How cool is that?
3 interesting thoughts on todays walk.
1. About an hour after we started walking this afternoon, an officer named Baxter stopped us on the highway and asked us what we were doing. We told her about our mission and she said dispatch had received several calls from concerned motorists. She said she didnt know what in the world two pedestrians would be doing walking on the interstate in 100 degree weather, so she came out to find out for herself. She commended us on doing something for others and asked us if we needed water or anything. We thanked her and headed down the road.
2. When we were in the truck stop a trucker asked us what the (bleep) our shirts meant. We told him we were walking 500 miles to raise money for missions, and his response was “and?” We really didnt know what to think so we were like, ok man have a good day. Then he said “thats nothing compared to the crazy (bleeper) thats riding his bike across the country for some Christian (bleep). He said he had seen him and an ugly (bleepin) RV on a couple of runs in the last month. Said he was going to Florida! I said no way, thats Johny Kelly! The trucker said “figures you crazy (bleeps) would know eachother”. And then he just shook his head and walked away! LOL. For those of you who are not familiar with Johny’s ride, check out his website. www.bikeforthelight.com
3. We are praying that something we encountered today was proof of deliverence! Because we found about a mile long stash of porno mags and dvd’s on the side of the highway today. So far we have found an ipod, a tackle box, a phone, a sweet knife, a platinum visa card, several hats, a life jacket, a few bucks in change, a guitar pick etc… But seriously, this was a first! I swear I thought it was a trap! I thought that if I bent down to pick one up, that some reporter was going to jump out of the bushes and take a picture of me. After the photographer jumped out of the bushes in Bentonville, I can just imagine me in my iwillwalk shirt on the front page of the paper, holding the latest issue of “Barely Legal”! Who in the heck buys a magazine named that anyway? All I know is this, we left them right where they were!
