Weekend In The rearview Mirror 8/5/19

It has been a rough weekend in America and this time it hit very close to home. We have been and are continuing to pray for many families that are dealing with tragedy they had no idea was coming. God, pull us together in you.

Bro. Larry Lamb
Pastor Larry Lamb from Sweeny, Texas is having surgery this morning. Please pray that it is successful and that he has a speedy recovery. He and his church have been so good to pray for us, please help us return the favor.

Our Weekend
This weekend goes all the way back to Thursday morning so get ready for a long post with lots of pictures too.

House Stuff
"There is always something to do when you own a house"

A truer statement has never been uttered by a homeowner. So, most of Thursday and Friday and a slice of Saturday were "homeowner" days with a little tent revival preparation and general maintenance thrown in.

The mower we purchased in Oklahoma is working out great, but Dad noticed it was mowing low/high side to side. Everything on the deck seemed correct so the next thing to check was the tires. On visual inspection, one front tire was low, but neither tire showed any air pressure and would not take any air. What?

On closer inspection, we could see bits of thorns in the tread, but no air escaped with the thorns removed. When I removed the tires before tent revival in Middletown, one was definitely lower than the other, plus they were incredibly heavy. 

I took them to WalMart, purchased two tires and warned the tire guy that the old ones may be full of Fix A Flat. Nope, it was not Fix A Flat, it was rubber! I found out that in some places if your mowing area is prone to thorns and other hazards, it is common to fill the front tires completely with rubber instead of constantly plugging and replacing tires.

That would be no problem for me at all, but evidently, one tire did not get full and it was riding low enough that it was throwing the cut off. No one gave me much hope of getting the tires off and reusing the rims.

I waded into the first one with a Sawzall and stupidity. A sometimes deadly and sometimes effective combination.

Piece by piece I got it down to the rim and while I was gone to Boston, Dad figured out how to get the edge pieces off the rim.

  

Knowing more about it made cutting the second one easier Thursday morning. I cut the first tire off in the barn and the little bits of rubber covered my face and head. My skin reacted like fire.

This time I cut the second tire off outside and covered my face and head.

Ready.

No banks were robbed in the process. It was also much quicker the second time.

Dad got the edge pieces off and back to WalMart we went. With new tires on the rims and aired up equally we tested the mower in the midday sun.

Perfect! I saved the actual mowing until Friday morning when it was cooler.

Thursday evening we had a nice supper with Steve and Karen.

Friday morning I mowed. Here is the mower afterward all clean, gassed up and ready to go again.

Friday lunch we finally made it to Acapulco and then made a big stop at Rural King and Home Depot for all kinds of stuff. We stayed busy all day with house stuff, barn stuff, bus stuff and other stuff.

Kelly prepared a wonderful meal in Odie's house on Friday evening.

Saturday had even more adventures. I mentioned at the end of May that I had a dust cover fall off one of the tent trailer wheels and I put it back on at a rest area in Illinois.

When I stopped, I noticed the little cap was missing from the centerpiece of the front left wheel. On closer inspection, it was knocked off by the dust cover on the hub. I just had that dust cover off, so that was a surprise. 

I had to jack up the trailer at the rest area and remove the tire to get the dust cover back on. With Kelly Jo's expert supervision, the job was completed in a few minutes.

There is a possibility that I did not get it back on correctly last week OR that I bent it while taking it off and it will not stay on. I will watch it closely today while we travel. I think I may have a spare.

The dust cover stayed on from there to Independence, Iowa to Wichita, Kansas to Colorado Springs, Colorado to Amber, Oklahoma to Elco, Illinois and then came off again just south of Cincinnati, Ohio. That was an hour from home. 

The temperature on that wheel was the same as all the other wheels, so it had not lost grease and gotten hot. I put it back on and when I pulled into the Ranch and one hour later, it was off again.

Saturday morning was time to deal with that. I jacked it up, removed the wheel, filled the hub with grease, cleaned up the wheel cover, put on a new dust cover and reinstalled the wheel.

For my information in the future, the dust cover is 2.75 OD. It does not matter that the trailer guy I talked to first said that there has never been a trailer axle with a dust cover that is 2.75 OD.😀

I cleaned up the old dust cover and I cannot see anything wrong with it, but hopefully, the replacement takes care of the problem.

With that finished, it was time to change the bus generator oil again. Every second or third oil change, I clean the tray the generator sets on and this was the time. I had sprayed cleaner on it before working on the trailer, so that part was easy.

The next part was not so easy. I changed the air filter last time (July 2019) so this time I was cleaning the air filter canister. I noticed that the hose from the filter to the engine was off the fitting that goes to the engine. I did not take a picture of the loose hose, but here it is with the hose reattached.

The arrow is pointing to the air filter canister and the end that was off is circled. Yes, it is at the back of the generator.

It was a bear to get back on. I had to take several things loose in order to put it all back together and for a while, I despaired that I would ever get it. This fat boy does not fit in the back of the generator compartment.

I need the generator to be in top condition later this week. When we arrive in Central City, Kentucky on Friday we will probably run it until we leave over one week later. That made this little problem a big problem. By God's grace, I got it on. Whew!

After that, I made a trip to Home Depot to gather things for a project I will describe later and then it was time to move the bus to Anchor of Hope where we are preaching this week. I cranked it up, did the work of an evangelist, turned the bus around and less than 30 minutes later I was pulling into the church.

I unloaded all the equipment and set it up. Kelly Jo and Odie had gone to Hillsboro for Kelly Jo's Dad's birthday. 

They came in about 7:00 and we finished our soundcheck.

Revival kicked off Sunday with two good services. We always know the services are going to be good here, but I was much in prayer concerning Sunday's sermons. God honored His Word and helped His people. Praise God for it!

Odie took a few pictures Sunday and I will share some of them here.

We enjoyed a little salsa with Pastor EJ Lamb and his family along with some of Kelly Jo's family after church Sunday night. You know that was good!

Odie went home after church last night and we will probably take the bus to the barn this morning. I do not want to be involved in any big projects while preaching revival, but I have a few small things I need to do at the barn before we leave Thursday.

Come be with us in revival if you can. We will be at Anchor of Hope Monday through Wednesday at 7:00 PM. 

Thank you for reading.

Davy

We Need You - Tent Revival Middletown, Ohio

We still have pictures to post from taking down the tent in Amber, Oklahoma and I intend to get to them this week. However, I need to take a moment to give you some information concerning our tent revival in Middletown, Ohio beginning this coming Sunday night.

We have had this tent revival on the books for more than a year and we have been praying fervently about it longer than that. Pastor Kevin Allen started a church in Middletown a few years ago and they now have a building in a perfect neighborhood to build a church to the glory of God.

There is a park that is only a few blocks from his church and is surrounded by houses on all sides. That is where the tent will be, by God's grace. I sent Bro. Allen 1/2 page color flyers and they have passed them out to the whole neighborhood.

They have been praying and we have been praying for a great move of God in people that live within several blocks of the park and Bro. Allen's church. I do not believe that it is unreasonable at all to ask God for two or three dozen converts from the houses that will be within earshot of the Blue and White Gospel Tent.

We will be having tent revival Sunday, July 14 – Friday, July 19. Each service will begin at 7:30, including Sunday.

Our main goal is two-fold. We intend to encourage Pastor Allen and his church, Calvary Pentecostal Lighthouse, to continue and expand their evangelistic outreach in their community and we want to win souls to Christ and send Calvary Pentecostal Lighthouse an influx of new converts. 

It should not be unreasonable to expect multiple people to be saved from that neighborhood. I expect it, my family expects it, my prayer is that Pastor Allen and his folks expect it and I believe God can bring it to pass.

There has been a lot of preparation for this meeting going on for over a year. There remains more to do and by God’s grace, we will all be prepared so that God can do his part. There are three ways you can help us.

First is prayer. Please, please, please go to serious prayer for this revival. Pray that God would remove the hindrances and rebuke everything physical or spiritual that would bind the spirit of revival. Pray for good weather, good reception from the community and health and strength for my family and all those working in revival. Pray that God would prepare hearts around that park. Prayer is key to the success of this meeting.

Secondly is attendance. Pastor Allen’s church is small. It has been my experience in hundreds of nights of tent revival that if we have a good group of people under the tent praising God, He will inhabit our praises, work in the community and draw men and women under the tent. 

If you are close to Ohio, please come. Come because you love Bro. Allen. Come because you love fellowship. Come because you love tent revival. Come because you love our family. Pick a reason or make one up, we need you there as much as possible.

The third is helping to put up the tent and to take it down. Because of the size of Pastor Allen’s church, we know we are going to need more help than they can offer. Many hands make light work and the tent can easily be standing in the air in an hour if we have plenty of help.

We plan to put up the tent on Saturday morning, July 13 at 8:00 AM.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lieU1jyp0aqbM8CYGM6aOB5DOS8hoRt7/view?usp=sharing

Damon Park is at 1500 Pershing Avenue, Middletown, Ohio. It comes up in Google Maps and even though it is tucked in a great little neighborhood, it is very easy to get to. It is 5.5 miles from the Middletown exit off I-75 and just two turns once you are going west on HWY 122. You turn south on S. University Blvd and then right onto Pershing Avenue, easy peasy.

Thank you for praying for us.

Davy

Our Weekend In The Rear View Mirror 6/24/19

I believe that I mentioned here that Pastor Paul Thomas was also having day services under the tent Thursday and Friday. A local Pastor, Bro. Moore, preached Thursday and Pastor Smith from New Mexico preached Friday morning. Pastor Danny Taylor from Neosho, Missouri preached both Thursday and Friday mornings and was staying over for the weekend. 

Pastor Taylor blasted me right between the eyes Friday morning. I swallowed hard and took it right into my heart. His preaching was an answer to a prayer that I had been praying for a good while and had prayed even that morning. Thank God for Bible preaching that addresses the heart of the matter.

Odie captured a few pictures from Friday morning, but first I captured a few from soundcheck and the beginning moments of service.

This is a view of the tent from the church porch Friday afternoon. If you look carefully, you will see that I had already moved the bus and hooked up to the tent trailer in this picture.

Friday was a beautiful day. The forecast was for temperatures in the 70s through church and about 15% chance of rain. Somebody needs to learn to read the radar. Friday afternoon wind from the north began whipping about 25 MPH and by church time the temperature was in the 50s and it was raining. Ouch!

We had the back wall in place to block the wind, but after the sun went down, it was downright cold. Fortunately, the weather did not stop the crowd and we probably had the best crowd of the week. Pastor James McCoy and/or several from his church in Castle Rock had been there every night and Friday they all came. They were a blessing.

The temperature during service Friday night was as low as 52.

Even with blankets in use widely around the tent, the Spirit of the Lord worked wonderfully and several people responded seriously in the altar. It was a blessing to behold. Praise God for His help.

After church, everyone jumped in and helped us take down the tent and then we went to the fellowship hall for a great visit. I will try to have pictures of the tent takedown later in the week.

Even though we had a long way to go and a short time to get there, I did not leave after the tent was down and packed away Friday night. I am sure that I am not fully aware of all of my weaknesses, but I am learning. I knew I was too beat to drive for hours.

It is about 75 miles to the interstate and both of the truck stops there are usually absolutely full at night. I figured I would not have a place to park there and I knew I could not drive much farther so I stayed put until morning.

I was finished with my night early, but I waited until about 6:30 before I stirred Kelly Jo and cranked the bus. While the bus was warming up and airing up, I did a walk around and snapped this picture of where the tent had been. Always a bittersweet picture.

I did not fill up with diesel before I arrived in Colorado Springs and I ran the generator a couple of days so I was down to about 3/8 of a tank. That was plenty to get back to Limon Flying J, but Bro. Gary Thomas told me about a small truck stop nearby that looks brand new, is easy to get in and out and the price was over 25 cents a gallon cheaper. What's not to love about that?

So with less than a mile detour, I saved over $35 with no wait, no rush, no fuss. (For my future reference, this is the Maverick Truck Stop at Fillmore and El Paso and I entered off of El Paso.)

We did need to take care of the work of the evangelist. We found the Evangelist's Station was closed at Flying J, but the many of the rest areas in Kansas are friendly to evangelists. Trust me, that does not go unappreciated, Kansas!

Even before that stop, the wind starting hitting us broadside from the north. After about 300 miles of that, we turned south at Salina and soon the wind was hitting us in the face from the south. I had joked about that happening earlier because I am familiar with the wind in Kansas. Sure enough, we fought it all the way to Wichita.😣

In Wichita, we did something we hardly ever do during a long day on the road. We stopped at a truck stop and walked to a nearby restaurant for a sit-down meal with friends. Soon the radio in the restaurant began to make us aware of severe weather coming in so we hopped on our horse to ride.

We did get some of the stiff winds from the leading edge of the storm blowing against us from the west, but we outran the worst of it. We exited the Kansas Turnpike at a familiar travel plaza 30 miles south of Wichita to escape the wind. The national weather service called for 70 MPH straight line winds that would have hit our rolling wind catcher broadside. I wanted no part of that.

We were able to park with our nose facing mostly west and we rode out the storm. 

With the stop for fuel, the work of the evangelist and supper, we were on the road 11 hours to cover 531 miles. It was a good long windy day after a couple of good long days.

Even before we went to bed more storms were passing over and some of them had lots of small hail and quite a bit of wind. It was only a sample of what was to come later in the night.

I crashed into my pillow early so my internal alarm clock had me awake in the night listening to the storms blow through. There was wicked storm about 4:00 that spawned a tornado warning and we were right in the path. It was a pretty rough ride for a while, but by 5:30 it was passed us mostly. The storms did make for an uncomfortable night.

I had hoped to be in church Sunday morning south of OKC, but those hopes were squashed when I did not have the gumption to leave Colorado Springs Friday night. We spent yesterday getting the rest of the way to Oklahoma, with a visit to the hospital to see my friend, Pastor Rickey Searcy.

We spent a couple of hours with him and Sis. Sharon. I am thankful to report that Bro. Rickey is already doing better. He is facing some health challenges and he needs the help of the Lord. I know that God is able to help him and Sis. Sharon. We know that God is faithful and just and well able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask!

When we arrived in Oklahoma City we first fueled up again at Flying J on the north side of town and then we settled in at a familiar Walmart on the south end of town.

We will be cranking and leaving in a few minutes to finish the short drive to Amber. The place the tent was supposed to go is too wet from abundant rain and Pastor Russell Cheek has a few alternate sites close by. We need to decide which one will be best and then KJ and I need to go to work getting the bus and trailer in position and marking the stake line.

The church folks are coming to help get the tent in the air at 6:00 PM tonight, Monday. We plan to have our part completed way before then.

Thank you for stopping in today for the weekend report.

Davy