Waycross, GA to Thomasville, GA

back to Our Walk of Faith

Note: I had a problem with the pictures on the last up-date. In the process of trying to fix it, I accidentally deleted the comments on 2-3 of the first posts. If anyone has a copy of those or if you remember what you wrote, please send those to us or repost. I know that God's hand is in everything, but I was still sad to lose those comments! That's also why there was such a delay on this post...thankfully Wes & Carol's son is a computer wiz (again we see God's provision), so he helped me resolve the issue and figure out another method for us to use as we continue!!!

Wednesday night we went to Hortense, GA to the Salt House Worship Center to speak. Pastor Deryl Daniels and his wife, Elnita, were very kind. Chris and I weren't sure that we were supposed to go that church or not. Then when we where just about to get started all of the youth went to the back room and closed the door. There was a large group, so we were sad that they left. It turns out, however, that the kids were just going back to get their new devotion books. They were making commitments to read each day for the duration of the study!! The service was incredible...the Holy Spirit was making connections that we couldn't even dream of! After we finished speaking, the youth performed for us! Wow...that's about all I can say...most of us were moved to tears by their dramatic interpretation of a song! The body of Christ at its best...everyone using their strenghts to glorify God and to bring others to the foot of the Cross. (The youth of the church also gave us a shirt so that we can show our support!! Thanks so much!! Y'all keep on being "Sold Out" for Jesus.)

So much for our plans to leave on Thursday...that's what we get for trying to make our own plans. We would have missed some incredible things if we had gone ahead of God! We ended up having an interview with the Waycross Herald Journal. That was pretting amazing...the reporter is a strong Christian man, so he included scripture that we quoted and he include verses that he found on his own! Have I said lately how amazing our God is?!! Well, Friday rolled around, and we were supposed to meet with a deacon and youth pastor, but that meeting never worked out because we were supposed to Jim Bennett. The Lord has so impacted his life!! He lived his life for himself--drinking, sleeping around, cussing, etc.--for 60 years, but March 18, 1997 his life changed forever. Ask us sometime, and we'll tell you his story. What you need to know now is that He loves the Lord with all that he has. He ministers in a prison and shares the Gospel every chance he gets. Over 7000 people have accepted Jesus as their Savior as a result of his testimony. Jim is in the business of restoring cars, and now he shares of the one who who restores lives!!! (Jim also has tons of antiques, so Chris insisted that we should put the picture of me riding the hobby horse!! ha, ha, ha!!) God is never done with us...we are to work for Him as long as we have life in our bodies. What we've observed along our journey has been interesting...many of the people who have taken time with us and have taught us a lot are retired people. They share their wisdom with us and teach us about the Lord because they have tons of experience to draw from. Titus 2 talks about the education that different people need and how more mature believers can teach and pour into younger believers. Again, we are seeing the Word lived out! I spent a lot of time on the computer Friday afternoon and evening and Saturday fixing the site, but Chris was able to go to another of Jacob's soccer games. Then they played soccer together and chatted. Through all of our time at Wes, Tami, Jacob, and Victoria's house (Wes & Carol's son and his family) we got to know them pretty well! They are such a sweet family!! We even went to the Fall Fest a Jacob's school (It's a good fundraiser if anyone needs an idea--we can give more details) where Victoria won a cake on the cake walk.





On Sunday we were able to go to First Presbyterian Church of Waycross. We struggled to know where to go last weekend because we wanted to go to the Highsmith's church and to Pastor Jeff's church, but we just felt like we needed to go with the Highsmiths. It ends up of course that we were in the right church at the right time. We would have missed Pastor Bill and Sister Dorothy Jean if we had waited on their church because they have the month of November on sabbatical. And we would have missed an incredible service at First Presbyterian this past Sunday. The Presbyterian church has its roots in Scotland.
The cross with the flowers represents everyone drawing near to the foot of the cross in humble surrender and adoration. Since the tartans (plaid banners) are so colorful, the flowers needed to be as well!!

For this reason, they were celebrating their spiritual heritage at a service called Kirkin' o' the Tartans. It is a time for families to come together and renew their commitment to the Lord. Pastor Jeff spoke to the church about enlarging their tents--reaching out to the community to lead others to Christ. (Isaiah 54:1-4) He warned of telling the Lord to stop doing what He was doing or telling Him "that's enough." That's not for us to decide...it's up to Him! He also encouraged people to not be complacent--instead "attempt great things for God, expect great things from God." (William Carey) He also pointed out that Is 54:1 points to the fact that God likes to do something new, something impossible, and something beyond our imagination. (There's more to this story too if you are interested in knowing about it.) We were also able to hang out with the youth group that night...we chatted and watched a movie. On Monday, the article about us came out in the paper and we were able to get a couple of copies. Jacob and Victoria came over because they only had to go to school 1/2 of the day, so we went to Saddleup Therapeutic Riding Center, Inc. It's a ministry for Autistic children that Boykin (pictured with Rachel below) and Ann Clarke started about 3 months ago. Mr Clarke told us that he asked God how he could still be useful because he felt like he and his wife weren't doing anything for the Lord. Out of his desire to serve, God gave him this vision and people to help it materialize. We were amazed to see how excited the kids were who were going to ride. Allison (pictured in the green), Tajla (pictured with her hands lifted up in joy), and Shane were some of the really sweet kids that we met that afternoon! Tajla especially stole our hearts because there was a marked difference in her when she got on "her horse." The students are learning skills through horseback riding that help them in their everyday life--telling their left from right, focusing on a task, being able to sit up without support, etc. It was wonderful to witness and to know that those who were running the program prayed for each of those children before they even arrived. They are trying to raise money now for lights (daylight savings time cuts them off early) and for a shelter (so that rain won't stop the lessons). Before dinner we stopped at Florenz and Betty Carol's house to see the racoons. We couldn't believe that there were so many at their house! The racoons even ate cookies our of my hand!! We had dinner with Wes, Carol, Wes, Tami, Jacob, and Victoria!! Tuesday was a day of mixed emotions because the time had finally come to move on. We were sad to say bye to Wes and Carol, but at the same time we were really happy to see some old friends from Girls' Black Mountain FCA camp--Kim Boyce (on my right) and Frances Herndon (between Chris and me). Kim arranged for us to stay with the Herndons, so we met Frances' husband, Joey, and her son, Nick. Nick took us out to his tree house and showed us his zip-line. (I even took a little ride on it myself!!) Frances invited Kim to stay for dinner, and she invited their pastor, Randy and his wife, Lindy. They are planting a church here in Thomasville with a primary focus on unchurched people. We enjoyed fellowshipping with them and hearing about what God is doing in Thomasville. After supper, we talked and sang several praise songs. (Randy played on Nick's little guitar. See the picture below.) I'll post part two soon...just trying to up-date you. We love you! God bless!