WOW! I can hardly believe it’s been almost a year since I’ve been on my own blog! Been more on facebook these days but I really have been feeling more compelled to spend time writing my inspirational articles here. I’m gonna focus on that more in the coming weeks.

Well, I have gone through a lot of growing pains the past year or so. Ultimately I’ve ended up moving my home and business from Black Mountain, NC to Rutherfordton, NC. Not a great distance but lots of heavy metal moving in this one! In case you don’t know, I own a stove and fireplace store. During the move I got to thinking I might go into pillows or comforters instead. Would sure be easier to move than dozens of 500 pound stoves. It’s all good though. We made it and we’re settled into our new home and community.

The church hunt was totally blessed by God. I am grateful for that. He planted us in a great church where we are growing!

Ministry outreach for me has been very minimal the last year. God has given me many, many opportunities to minister but as for going out on a mission, it’s been far too long. I really miss it and hopefully can get into something down here in the low-country before too long.

I better get off here for now but wanted to shoot an update for those that follow… if you’re still there, LOL.

With Love,

John

Posted under WASSSUP!

Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and tried to light it?

Did you know his trial is over?

Did you know he was sentenced?

Did you see/hear any of the judge’s comments on TV or radio?

Didn’t think so.

Everyone should hear what the judge had to say;

Ruling by Judge William Young, US District Court.

Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant, Richard Reid, if he had anything to say. His response: After admitting his guilt to the court for the record, Reid also admitted his “allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah,” defiantly stating, “I think I will not apologize for my actions,” and told the court “I am at war with your country.”

On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in prison in the custody of the United States Attorney General.. On counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run consecutively. (That’s 80 years.)

On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years again, to be served consecutively to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes upon you for each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 that’s an aggregate fine of $2 million. The Court accepts the government’s recommendation with respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines..

The Court imposes upon you an $800 special assessment.

The Court imposes upon you five years supervised release simply because the law requires it. But the life sentences are real life sentence s so I need go no further.

This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.

Now, let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of you or any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire before. There is too much war talk here and I say that to everyone with the utmost respect. Here in this court, we deal with individuals as individuals and care for individuals as individuals. As human beings, we reach out for justice.

You are not an enemy combatant.. You are a terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature.. Whether the officers of government do it or your attorney does it, or if you think you are a soldier. You are not—– you are a terrorist.. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not meet with terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice..

So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are a big fellow. But you are not that big. You’re no warrior. I’ve known warriors. You are a terrorist—a species of criminal that is guilty of multiple attempted murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago had it right when you first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the press and the TV crews were, and he said: ‘You’re no big deal.’

You are no big deal.

What your able counsel and what the equally able United States attorneys have grappled with and what I have, as honestly as I know how, tried to grapple with is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led you here to this courtroom today?

I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hate led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing? And, I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you, but as I search this entire record, it comes as close to understanding as I know.

It seems to me you hate the one thing that to us is most precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not believe as we individually choose. Here, in this society, the very wind carries freedom. It carries it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom. So that everyone can see, truly see, that justice is administered fairly, individually, and discreetly. It is for freedom’s sake that your lawyers are striving so vigorously on your behalf, have filed appeals, will go on in their representation of you before other judges.

We Americans are all about freedom. Because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties. Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bear any burden; pay any price, to preserve our freedoms. Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. The day after tomorrow, it will be forgotten, but this, however, will long endure.

Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America , the American people will gather to see that justice, individual justice, justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done.. The very President of the United States through his officers will have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be judged and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to mold and shape and refine our sense of justice.

See that flag, Mr. Reid? That’s the flag of the United States of America . That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag stands for freedom. And it always will.
Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down.”

So, how much of this Judge’s comments did we hear on our TV sets? We need more judges like Judge Young, but that’s another subject. Pass this around. Everyone needs to hear what this fine judge had to say.

Powerful words that strike home.

God bless America

Posted under RANTS & RAVES

I’ve been thinking this week about a lot of things both present and past while I eagerly anticipate the future.

One thing I have thought over is my ministry life so far and where it has brought me as well as what has been accomplished.  The memories have been bittersweet.

That night when I visited that coffeehouse and discovered how badly I needed a Savior, my life was changed. I started onto a road that has been amazing in a lot of ways. So far this journey has given me experiences beyond what I could have ever expected. I have felt unbelievable pain, joy, peace, brotherhood, friendship, betrayal, love, and just about every emotion you can list, I have felt it in its full form. I’m not the “thrill seeker” type person but if I were, this might be just what I would look for. It is definitely a rush sometimes.

You know, almost every thing I am speaking of whether hard to cope with or on the positive side has had a lasting effect on my life. It has ALL worked itself out to mold me into a better person, and I hope, a better representative and defender of the Faith. Even though I am a better man for it, these have not come without ransom. A great price was paid for my salvation and it cost me nothing. To live according to my calling and to make the most of what was purchased does sometimes have costs.

As I reflect, I can see many times where groups sharing the journey and cause with me were moved. Sometimes it hurt, sometimes it was a joyous occasion. The point is, God’s people should always be on the move striving towards our individual duties. As we travel along towards the common goal, my duties may change or yours may change which will take us away from each other for a time but to be reunited later.

I had some close friends and we were an amazing team working for the cause of Christ on a world-wide scale. As circumstances changed in our ministry, the team separated into 2 distinct groups each with their vision and tasks but on different paths to the same destination. There was some bitterness between some of us during this time of division and for a long time it was hard to accept. That is until I realized what I am writing about today, that God moves his workers around and we must embrace that and realize we’re all still on the same team although our place is changing.

Whatever brings on the change has to be overlooked in acceptance of the fact change is taking place for God’s purpose and whether it feels like it or not, God is very much in control of it. He is never out of control of our chaos. NEVER.

What would I change if I could go back and change anything considering my perfect hind-sight?

I’ll tell you because I have thought plenty about it over the past couple of years. I would absolutely stand against hell and the harsh words spoken to save the Godly relationships that were martyred to the changes in my life and ministry. The brotherhood I had with some men in my life was destroyed by harsh words and fighting for who’s right and who’s wrong. At the time I did not understand that no one was wrong, it was just time for our workers to stop occupying the same place. It was about placement, not power or right and wrong.

Right now those men are about their work doing what God has them to do and we are about our work doing what God has us to do. There is no hatred for one another but the bond we shared was broken through the process because neither side accepted what was happening as divine intervention. Each of us saw it as a struggle for place. NOW, I can see that my placement is just right. Now there are different ministries happening that would not be happening if not for the movement.

Wherever you are in your life or ministry, take comfort in knowing that God is so in love with you and when you feel like you are being opposed or betrayed by a co-worker in Christ, just try to realize that however unorganized or chaotic it feels, God has your place already secured and it will not be behind you, but ahead of you. Even though it hurts, it is progress. Accept some hard-learned wisdom today and do whatever it takes to save the relationships you have earned along the way. There WILL be a day when those paths will merge again and it will be great to truthfully embrace your friends and say it’s good to see you again!

Whoever said the Christian life, and especially the minister’s life was easy was probably as lost as a blind hog. It is not the easy life, but it is real life and not just a worthless existence with no eternal significance.

Last night I watched Kingdom of Heaven again for the 4th time. I love that movie. In the blacksmith’s shop the beam is carved to read, “what man is a man who does not make the world a better place?” We don’t make the world better by saving the dogs or cats or whales. We don’t make the world better by buying carbon offsets or stopping cruelty to animals. All those are great causes and they improve our environment. But, we make the world better by investing into people and building relationships that impact lives on an eternally significant level. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize and not let the enemy deceive us into squandering our most precious assets in the fight, our relationships.

May God bless you with an abundance of peace and discernment to remain victorious in your quest to further his Kingdom.

John

Posted under FROM THE HEART

This week I had a very harsh reminder of how smooth our enemy is.

You’ve heard me say many times, Satan is too predictable to me during a direct attack and the only way he is able to get to me is through other people.

Just this Sunday morning I got a brutal wake-up call from some people close to me that I love a whole lot. I’ve come to see that some folks I thought were friendly to me are in fact impostors just friendly for their own personal gain.

When the truth came out by way of a fiery tongue, I was devastated. My heart was broken so hard I felt like my world had come to an end.

Not knowing what else to do, I called on God to help me with this unbearable pain I was feeling inside. The more I cried the more it hurt and the less it seemed like God was going to answer my prayers.

The only other thing I knew to do was to call on my friends. I mean the friends who have nasty ministries Those men who shine the light of Jesus but you can always tell that light is shining through the grit , grim and puss that got all over them from someone else’s sores from life. The one’s who people call “dangerous Christians”. Those 3 men who I know would walk through fire to Carry me out if I couldn’t make it. With only a short plea typed through eyes swollen from all the tears, my friends came to my aid.

Unable to speak myself, I just listened to the counsel of a friend and prayer and a word of encouragement. Then emails and text messages leading me back to my feet where I could stand in the strength of the Lord again. OH GOD I THANK YOU FOR MY FRIENDS! PLEASE LET ME BE ALL TO THEM THAT THEY ARE TO ME!

A little later I started getting calls and messages from another group of people, those that were so brutal in their verbal attack on me were now telling me how sorry they were and how they did not mean anything they said. They tried but the honesty if it is that once things are said to hurt someone, they are said and can’t just be erased. I will say I love them and was never mad about that, just deeply hurt in it. Be careful what you say and be slow to say it. I’ve come to appreciate my Grandma’s advice as some of the best teaching I ever had. She always said, “If you can’t say something good, don’t say anything at all”. Good stuff Memaw! Thank you.

Today is Tuesday. The pain is still there and will be for a while I suppose. If I explained, you’d understand but that is not what my blog is about today. I want to offer you both a warning, and some advice.

WARNING: Be very careful who you allow to befriend you. Not everyone who speaks good to your face speaks good behind your back. They could be speaking badly of you to some people that are close to you and those words can rise up when you least expect it and pierce your heart and cause you unbelievable pain.

ADVICE: Develop Godly friendships of like-minded people. You may find that a handful will develop into a bond that has depth and power in it. These are so important. I know a lot of people. I have a lot of Christian friends. The brotherhood I speak of, I have 3 right now and those 3 men have been my strength on occasions when I really did not feel like I could get up and swing the sword again. While I just breathed, they locked me behind their shields and fought for me until I could get up and shake the enemy off me. WOW, how amazing it is to have even one friend like that! I am truly blessed.

Be very careful of your friends who are not born again believers. They are nice. They are friendly and you may have fun together but there are things about your life they just cannot understand and therefore will not be of any help in a spiritual battle. Spiritual battles are fought by spiritual warriors and if you have 3 or 4 fighting with you the battle will be easier won. Believe me, I know. I just had my biggest reminder ever this week.

Blessings and peace to all my friends who visit inthestreet.org. Whether we share faith or not, I love you all so much and hope that this message will offer encouragement and wisdom to you today.

No matter what you’re going through today or how hard it is, God is totally in control of the chaos. I know that does not sound acceptable but it is true. I can’t completely explain it but God is never out of control. All things (not all good things) ALL THINGS work together for our (the saved) benefit.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose ROMANS 8:28

With great big heaping piles of love for you today, 

John

Posted under FROM THE HEART

Kaine and I were having dinner with someone recently. As the waitress kept passing by, our friend kept commenting on how much he disliked this lady. After the comment, he’d always grin and say, “I don’t know why, I don’t know her but there’s just something about her I can’t stand”.

I asked him why he felt that way or what does he think might make him feel that way about someone he doesn’t know. We never could figure it out.

Now I admit the waitress was not the most professional waitress I’ve ever had at a restaurant but hey, great wait staff is getting harder to find – much like any other good help.

For a week or so now those comments have been weighing on my mind. I sometimes compare events like that with our entrance to Heaven. For instance, there is this couple I know and am good friends with. Even so, they are EXTREMELY legalistic and judgemental. You know the type of person I am talking about – their appointment on Earth is to point out even the slightest infraction on your part and to let you know what the bible says about it (which is often a twisted interpretation). Anyway, what if when we walk up to heaven’s gates Jesus is standing there and says to them, “your only assignment was to show mercy and grace to [your name here] but you just showed them criticism and condemnation”. How will we explain ourselves on that day?

Now I’m not trying to say that is what is going to happen but I like to think along those lines. Mostly because if Jesus were to ask me about how I treated someone, I want to have an answer.

How many times have you been in a group and someone else shows up to say hi and exchange pleasantries? when they leave someone in the group says “oooh, I just hate them” after just two seconds earlier giving them a hug, a handshake, and telling them they MUST DO LUNCH and catch up! What’s that all about?

Here’s my thought for this article;

We can put a dress on the pig but it is still a pig. Just because we put up a front to people and act like we love them does not change the fact that it is all just lip service. Maybe no one we do that to will ever ever know it but the ONLY one who matters already knows it.

Jesus knows us not by our deeds, but by the condition of our heart. What I mean is that no matter what we do or say, if the motives are not pure, it makes no difference.

If we go out and feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the prisoners for selfish reasons or to show what we can do, the power in it is lost because we have claimed any glory and honor for ourselves.

If we treat people nice and show them love to their face and then secretly hate them in our heart, we have proved ourselves unworthy of trust.

If you feel you have your outward appearance all polished up and make a good showing, think about the only thing that matters, the condition of your heart. That is the part Jesus sees and the part he loves or despises.

Ask God to reveal to you the thigs he does not like about your heart and to help you purge those parts from you. Ask him to place in you the love he feels for people. When you see someone you can’t stand, ask God to show you how much he loves them and to give you that love for them too.

God will change your heart if you truly want him to. Sometimes we hang on to things from the past or even superficial things that we hold against others. We have to let it go. If we can truly understand how much God loves all people, we can become more like him and find it within ourselves to allow our heart to be healed.

Blessings & Peace.

John

Posted under FROM THE HEART

You know, lately things have been very difficult. Not just for me and my family, but for almost everyone I know.

Sure the economic state makes it tough to get by day to day. But surely we must get hold of the fact that our economics are just a small part of our everyday lives. So much more is happening around us.

I notice for many people there is a lot going on their camel’s back and they are showing the signs of exhaustion. Believe me, I recognize it becasue I’m there too.

For a while now I have been almost overwhelmed by the lack of customers and work for almost 2 months straight. I have always tried to keep a month or two’s expenses saved up for a rainy day but that does not cover a rainy quarter!

A long time ago God proved himself to me all he needed to for me to understand that he is in total control and is more than capable of turning the circumstances of my life on a dime. I am very thankful becuase it was those hard times and difficult training that have given me the faith, strength and persevereance to stand strong and wait on the Lord through a time such as this that demands more than ever.

No, I’ve not made a 180 turn in circumstances but they have turned. I believe they will completely turn around.  Not just for me, but for everyone who shares this with me.

I just want to encourage all my readers & friends to stand up and be strong. Praise God for all those times he has seen you through. He does not change but your life goes to new levels, higher than before and more demanding than before. It is the strength we build now that will allow us to rech further next time to become better than we were. To grow in our spirit and to better reflect the image of God in us. That is a good thing!

I know many are fighting the battle of their lives at this very moment. Just hang on. Know that God is God and has YOUR best interest at heart and will cover you with his protection through all this if you just trust him.

Know that God loves you very intimately and cares for every concern in your heart. Know that I love you too and I pray for all my friends regularly. Please contact me if you need me or want me to pray for a specific need in your life.

Blessings,

John

Posted under FROM THE HEART

This weekend the crew (Russ, Richard, Kaine, Barbara, Bart, Tim, Jimmy & Yours Truly) was ministering at the Maggie Valley bike rally. What a great time! I believe this was the largest Maggie rally I’ve been to yet! Lots of bikers from all over were here to enjoy some biker fun in one of God’s greatest creations, THE SMOKY MOUNTAINS! WOO-HA!

This year was especially great for Kaine because he just finished up his bobber project the night before the rally and he got to bring it along to show off. Let me give just a bit of history with the bobber so you know where I’m coming from.

I bought a little Honda Shadow about 2 years ago with the intent of chopping it up and making a bobber. I looked all over and finally found a very nice, extremely low miles bike in Louisville, Kentucky. I bought the bike in the winter so you know how my time is in the winter being a stove & fireplace man. I just never got time to fool with it. When spring rolled around, Kaine started to tinker with it. He would check with me about what was ok to do and would do what I said was ok.

It wasn’t too long before the bike became Kaine’s project bike and his project evolved into a labor of love. He tried many things and worked the bike into something very cool. He has sweated, bled, and been burned to transofrm the machine from what was common into something unique. I, as well as many friends have been very impressed with what he has done over the past 18 months or so.

This weekend, the fruits of a labor of love showed big time. OK, I have a very nice bike. But, I bought it that way. Someone else put the love into it and I just bought it. That is ok, I like my bike and really enjoy it when I can. Now that Kaine is riding, I enjoy it a lot more.

What happened this weekend? HA! Kaine pulled his bobber up about 6 or 8 feet beside my bike and as people walked by, I was quite humbled. My bike might as well have had a tarp over it. people would steady walk by and stop. Then there would be a whole crowd around kaine’s bobber taking pictures and asking what it was. When Kaine or his buddy would cruise it around the rally grounds, they would constantly be stopped by people wanting to look at it and ask questions.

I was soooooo proud of my boy this weekend and the more I watched and thought, the more proud I was of him and his accomplishment. Kaine has put in so many hours of hard work to bring the bike to completion. I’ve worked with him some here and there with design but I had not broken a sweat until this week as we painted and assembled it. For the most part, it was all Kaine. Kaine did not do all that work to have people come up and make a fuss over the bike. He did it because he loved doing it and wanted to make the bike something better than it was in the beginning. His love and hard work caused the fruits of the labor to be instantly recognizable – it stood out and showed among the others. It wasn’t the flair and chrome, it was that his bike was different!

As I thought about all that I just said, I thought too about our labors because of our love of Jesus.

There are some that do with the attitude of adding chrome or loud pipes – stuff that gets attention and looks pretty. “Get yourself a haircut. Put on these clothes. Stop doing this. Start doing that. Act this way. Walk like this.” You know what I mean.

There are some that labor strictly out of love. They love Jesus and want to be his hands and feet while they’re here on Earth. They want to share his love with others who need to know. Not so they can be shiny but so they can be better than they were before. When we invest a labor of love into a fellow human being, no matter how fat, skinny, dirty, smelly, or whatever, our love will show in them because they will be so much better than what they were.

As we invest in people, we have to remember why we do what we do. It is becuase Jesus loves that person with a love that we can’t comprehend. We have to love them too and if we truly love them and sew our love into their life, they too will be set apart from the everyday crowd. They will shine not with a thin shiny coat of chrome, but with a radiant glow of uniqueness that attracts people to them to see what is different about them.

When those that have been truly transformed stand beside those with only superficial changes to the surface, like my bike, you may as well throw a tarp over the latter because the one who is truly changed into a new creature is the one that will stand out in the crow. They will be the one that gathers the crowd overwhelmed with a desire to hear about who they are in contrast to who they used to be.

Be Blessed,

John

Posted under FROM THE HEART, WASSSUP!

To be honest, I’m not quite sure where to start with this rant.

It seems there has been a need for prayer automation since we Americans are so busy these days! “No time to pray? NO PROBLEM” is the tagline of http://www.informationageprayer.com/ who, for a monthly subscription fee of $5.00 will translate your uploaded text prayers into speech so you don’t actually have to speak your prayers anymore!

I remember a former friend who gave me one of the few gifts I found almost completely useless. It was a book of prayers. He had gotten one for himself a while before and had given his book the power of prayer in his life. He would record prayers he read from the book and publish them online as if they were going to achieve some great connection with the spiritual realm because they were so well worded. He would even have his children read the prayers while he recorded them. To me that was just creepy. Now, here I was with my own bright red book of prayers and I didn’t know if I should offend this guy and decline it or just accept it with a thank you. I chose the latter.

I confess, I would sometimes thumb through the book to see what was in it. I suppose someone sat down and wrote out a prayer for just about any situation a person might face. The motive of course was to sell a book but I think the outcome proved much more dangerous.

As with my former friend, I would wager that many immature believers have put their faith into that or a similar book hoping their great sounding prayers will reach the throne of God and their needs would be met.

What I actually have witnessed in this person’s life is a rapid decline. From the outside looking in it would seem that the power of prayer had completely left his life. Where God would move, provide, and prove himself was now a place of loss. Today he is still fighting the same old battles wondering why things aren’t changing in his life. Where there used to be a blossoming heart of service and a strong witness is now just a shell – a facade that he has created to project an image of what could have been but it is all man-made. All power and credibility is gone.

I can’t say that the book of prayers in completely to blame but I am convinced it was the point where the wrong path was chosen in his life. The sad part is that now he is unteachable and unwilling to listen to reason. Once we get to that point, no one but God can fix what’s broken.

With all that said, why is it people have so much trouble realizing that prayer is not a ritual? Is it that we do not believe Jesus lives? If we believe Jesus lives, we should believe that we can have a relationship with him. We should believe that we can sit and talk with him, confide in him, love him, praise him, and even share our troubles and needs with him. THAT IS PRAYER!

Think about this;

Let’s say I sat one of my sons down and just talked to him for a few minutes about stuff. You know, just talking. Maybe I would tell him how proud I am of him or how he makes my life better by being my son. I know we would both love and cherish that time spent together.

Now think of the same situation except we did not actually sit down together. I’m in the living room and my son is in the kitchen. I pull out a book and read to him a letter that another man wrote to his son. How would that effect our lives? Would either of us find the experience of any benefit? Not likely.

So, do you think God would prefer that you devote a little personal time to him engaged in meaningful conversation or would he equally appreciate that you had a computer speak your prayers because you did not have the time? Would the words someone wrote in a book be sweet music to God’s ears because you read him the book instead of praying from your heart?

I just want us to think about this for a little while. God does not require much from us. Just 10% of our best. That begins with time. Is a couple hours a day so much to give consider what has been given us? 6 minutes per hour meditating of God is pretty easy to do and God loves that time with you. While we work we can take just a few minutes now and then and just praise God for all he is. No rituals, just words spoken from your heart wherever you may be is the sweetest sound to God’s ears. Just give it a test and see for yourself. Ask God to show you and you will know.

Thanks for listening & I hope no one signs up for informationageprayer.com. If you need to let go of $5 per month, We sure could use it for the ministry!

John

Posted under RANTS & RAVES

As many of you know, Richard Mills and I went to Daytona Bike Week this year in search of those in need.

We rolled in about 7:30pm and met up with our friend Pyro from Columbia, SC in a vacant lot at a busy intersection where he had set up the tent where we had church services each evening. That’s Pyro in front of the tent. Check the banner. That sure got a lot of attention from the cruisers all week.

Richard and I rolled in and got the RV leveled up and water connected before walking up the block to a chicken place for dinner. The day on the road was a long one (we left with 6″ of snow and drove through Ice on I26 until Spartanburg) so we were ready to eat.  

After we all ate, there was some food left that we boxed up in case one of us wanted to go for seconds later on. Carrying our bag, we all started walking back to camp. We were about half way back when we met a young man on the sidewalk. As we passed we gave each other the nod and “how you doin” and walked on. maybe 20 or so yards between us I hear someone yelling “HEY!” I turn around and it was the guy we just passed. He yelled back and asked me if we were with that ministry down on the corner. I said yes and he immediately started to jog back toward us. Richard and Pyro turned to come back by now and we all got together about the same time.

The young man introduced himself as Howard and began telling us of his walk up the street. He said he walked up the street every night after work and tonight as he walked up the street he noticed our tent and read the banners as he walked. He explained that he felt conviction of his sins so strong he could not get away from it and he knew he had to repent and give himself to God right then! Howard confessed his sins to us right there on the sidewalk with hundreds of people passing by. Howard named the things that had control of him to the point I started to feel embarrassed and this guy did not know us at all.

We talked with Howard for a while there on the sidewalk – counseling him and finally joining with him in a great time of prayer and moving of the Holy Spirit. We left Howard with the food we were carrying and wished him well. I saw Howard a couple more times that week and he had a great smile on his face. It was great.

If Howard’s story was all that happened, the week would have been great but that was just the beginning.

Every night the bikers would be out late. The rumbling would go on until 4 or 5 am before it would stop. The early morning was relatively quiet. Most bikers were still asleep and traffic was predominately morning commuters. The very first morning I saw how alive the homeless community was in Daytona when the shelters returned the homeless to the streets. Homeless are handled differently in Florida than they are around here. Shelters are not open unless the temperature drops below 40 degrees. If the temp is above 40, there is no shelter, only the streets.

Each morning around 8am the homeless would be bussed back from the shelters and would march up the street. I liked pulling a chair out of the tent and sitting near the sidewalk in the mornings. The folks would just come sit down with me and we’d sit and talk about what’s happening. I met some really good people that way. I got to counsel a lot and pray a lot with people. I met some interesting people too. A couple were homeless by choice or by their own bad decisions but most, I mean MOST resounded the story I hear all over. That is that they are on the move and on the street in search of work and just trying to make it.  

Each day Richard and I would take a ride out to the swap meet to give our friends Preacher and Poo a break from their ministry tent. We’d work there for a couple hours a day to let them go get some lunch ro take a ride and rest a bit. Preacher and Poo are awesome servants. Their work never ends and they travel the whole country with their booth sharing the love of Jesus and giving away bibles and tracts.

Each evening we’d have a church service on the side of the busy street. The music was always great. A local lady comes each year to sing. What an awesome voice Nicole has. I could read the faces on the street clearly that they were liking it no matter where there heart was at that time.

The messages were great too. It was very nice to see people just coming in and taking part in a church service.

One night a group of about 20 college kids came by to talk to us. These kids would spend their time making sandwiches and snack bags then walking the streets giving them to the homeless folks. It was a nice mission they were on but when Pyro asked them why they did it, no one was jumping to answer. One kid finally said “it’s what we do. We may be homeless one of these days”. So we started talking to the kids. Pyro went and got a painting he had in his motor home of Jesus holding up an addict and talked to them about the picture and what Jesus has done for us. It was a great time indeed.

As I was talking to a couple of the kids, I was paying attention to some of the other cross-talk among the group and I heard a small group talking about how they liked these guys (speaking of us). What I hope is that through the time they spent with us, that they have found purpose in what they are doing. I hope that they have learned of the hope that they can share. It is so nice of them to give away food and sacrifice their time to help the homeless. To see college kids doing this is very refreshing. Now when someone asks them why they are doing this, they can answer, “It’s what Jesus would be doing if he were here today”.

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Last night at the rescue mission was exceptional.

Adrianna Paoletta and I were the counselors and Adrianna gave the devotion. Everyone was thoroughly impressed with the scriptures Adrianna chose for last night as they led us into a deep and meaningfull life application of encouragement and knowledge about the ways of God in the life of a believer.

We got to bed about midnight as there was quite a bit of “post lights-out” counseling.

I am confident that God worked last night to strengthen many of the newest member of the family of God.

Keep the folks in your prayers as they struggle, and the ministers as we work to help them get back on their feet. There are many needs of work, homes, and for us, strength to keep moving forward for the cause of Christ.

Blessings and Peace,

John

Posted under WASSSUP!