November 25 Peterson Preaches

Bet you're surprised, aren't ya? But ya shouldn't be. That little dude's got a lot of "preach" in him. Peterson spoke on a very difficult subject to speak on: SIN. But he did it with love and was able to convey his message without any one coming away feeling condemned, judged, or worthless. By the end of the service, we had several people up at the 'altar' confessing sins and getting in right relationship with the Lord. It was quite beautiful.


We ended up meeting in the Summit Room again. It was a tad bit nippy outside, with a little bit of sprinkling. We still had a great turn out. Today's breakfast was a traditional after Thanksgiving meal....hot turkey sandwiches. Don't worry, it wasn't actually left overs. We made a whole new turkey the night before and served it shredded with gravy on really yummy rolls. It was a nice change for me instead of the same breakfast casserole and potato soup, however, we did have several people really MISS that breakfast casserole! LOL!


We had an older man come in and growl at me and get really nasty with me while I was serving him breakfast. I was like, "Puh-lease, you see "L" over there....if I can handle him and watch God transform that man, you're gonna be a piece of cake." hahahaha Well, one of the other people who know him well told him to knock it off with his gruffness, which he didn't seem to appreciate, but eventually, we loved that mean-ness right out of that fella. And Frank got the opportunity to pray for him (and get rid of some oppressive spirits). He really enjoyed the teaching and at the end of the service went home and came back and gave Frank a hundred dollars for the ministry. Isn't that something?


During Peterson's message, he talked about how we all have sin, and how we are in bondage to it, but don't need to be, and how we have the power to overcome that bondage to sin. I guess you'll just have to get the DVD, cause it was awesome. And at the end of his message when he had a call for salvation, he had anyone who wanted to repeat the sinners prayer to do it audibly, and quite a few people said it out-loud. Even the saved ones, which is ok, it helps others not feel so intimidated and on the spot. Well, when I was "peeking" (yeah, I was) I saw a reflection in the mirror of "L" who was sitting quite a ways in front of me. And he was repeating the prayer!

Now, Frank will sometimes do the same thing Peterson did, have everyone who wants to repeat the prayer, then tell ya if you said it and meant it, and did it for the first time, to come let one of the prayer team know. But "L" has NEVER repeated it on those days. Ever. So I am very hopeful that he DID mean it when he confessed it. I keep praying that God will please, PLEASE, let me KNOW that he has accepted Christ before he dies. I just don't know if I could stand not knowing for sure. When the time is right, one of us will ask him. He's a strange fella, ya know.

After church Sunday we headed to the hospital to see "S". She is in her early sixties and didn't get to come for Thanksgiving. She and "C" (her boyfriend and living companion), however, did invite a few people from the boarding house they live in to come, and they did come. We found out that "S" wasn't feeling well that day, had some dizziness - that sort of thing. We were so disappointed that they didn't get to come, but sent home a meal for them for later. Well, later she came out of the bathroom and she either lost her balance (from the dizziness) or tripped over some loose carpet in the hall, and literally fell through the wall. We have seen the hole in the wall, and it's alarming, to say the least. Well, she suffered a very serious head injury and was bleeding in the brain. She would have died had "C" not known what to do. He was an EMT at one time, and knew the symptoms of brain injury, and called an ambulance. She had immediate brain surgery and has been in SICU ever since, recovering.

When Frank and I got there to see her, we did not recognize her at all. She was swollen and her head was shaven all the way clean on one side. She had at least two large incisions and staples pulling them together. I couldn't believe it was her. We visited for a few minutes and prayed with her. She did recognize us, but was very, very disoriented and didn't make much sense. I found out on our next visit that she is also going through alcohol withdrawals, which accounts for a lot of her agitation and confusion.

Before we went in to see "S", as we approached the SICU entrance, there were a few people standing there waiting to get in to see a loved one. We still had on our t-shirts from church, so we were a walking advertisement for ministry. The mother said, "Yes, I do need prayer," in a desperate and despairing tone. So we spoke with that family a while, ministering to them in prayer and words of comfort, and the mom just laid her head on my shoulder and cried and cried. Bless her heart. Her son is 22 and was in a serious car accident and has extensive brain damage. His name is William, so ya'll pray for him while you pray for "S, if you would. There is a lot of "out of the walls" type of ministry out there, just waiting for our availability. Everywhere we go, people are hurting, hurting so bad. We need to be available and then God will do the rest.

When we left the hospital, we stopped at Arby's to finally eat something about 3:00. When we were done, we walked out of the restaurant and started for the van when we heard a crash. There was a car accident right there on Walton Way. So we walked over there to see if anyone was hurt. One lady was shaken up, and understandably frightened. In the other vehicle, the man was ok, shaken and banged, but the lady with him was hurt. She was 54 (although she looked MUCH older) and had possibly a broken arm and broken leg. She was crying and very scared. Her name was Betty and she told me it was her birthday. Nice birthday, huh?

I stayed at her side til the ambulance got there, and prayed with her and tried to keep her calm. Then while they were working on her, I went to the lady in the van. I didn't see what happened, but it was probably that lady's fault because of the way she was acting. She seemed to feel really, really bad. She did let me pray with her though. I'm glad no one else was injured. I think that Betty will be ok, and I pray that she really didn't have any broken bones. She had a lot of 'padding'. :)

Then we drove to pick up "C" and take him to see "S". She didn't even remember that we were there just 2 hours earlier. We visited a few more minutes then took "C" home. We got his car and had him follow us to the gas station to fill his car up. He is unemployed, and did not have any gas in his car to go back and forth to see "S." While we were with him, he asked us to pray with him cause he was struggling with some addictions. We prayed with him at the gas station, and he was a little teary eyed. Everything in his life was falling apart. He and "S" had just gotten off the streets and had been in a boarding house about a month when they started having trouble with their addictions again. It's so sad.

The enemy was just beating the mess out of "C". The guilt, condemnation, the whole nine yards. We just have to love him and not judge him. Sometimes that is very hard to do when you see someone continuously making the same bad judgment calls. But addictions are difficult to overcome. It can be done, but it takes a lot of patience and love on our parts while we wait on God to do His work. God is patient with us, and we need to be patient with them, don't we? So finally we made it home and collapsed. It was a looooong day. A day filled with ministry and seeing God move, but boy was I ready for bed early!

(I don't know what to tell ya about these pictures....they are not in order and I'm done fidgeting with the photo thingy~ LOL~