I mentioned in Tuesday morning's post (which I was writing late Monday night) that they were forecasting a storm to come through that night. Well...It did! The first big gust was only moments later at almost straight up midnight. They were calling for wind gusts of 60-70 mph and it seemed the first one qualified. The wind was coming out of the south and the BoggsMobile and the Millikin's fifth wheel are parked east/west so it really rocked us good. The Millikins came running by with their children toward the church and as soon as we could get Odie out we followed them.
These pictures were taken over two hours later but that first gust took down most of these chairs. The weird thing is that as you look at this picture the right side of the tent where most of the chairs are down is actually the north side of the tent. (The Bible stand wasn't knocked over, we had already laid it down.)
Bro. Millikin and I drove some of the stakes in farther on the south side and tightened the straps and spent most of the next two hours standing on the porch watching wave after wave of storm blow through. We kept reinforcing the tent as much as possible and at 2am we were waiting for the last little squall to pass over so we could go to bed. The storm saved the best for last and for 5-10 minutes it blew the tent all out of proportion. It looked like it was going down for sure. I believe those last few minutes we experienced the 60-70 mph wind that the weather service was forecasting.
I wish I would have snapped some pictures during that time but we were busy praying. When it seemed like the tent could take no more, the wind died down to almost nothing and the rain stopped completely. We then found most of the rebar stakes on the south side were bent and the straps were loose. It is amazing the tent was still standing at all. God stopped the wind just in time. A few more minutes of wind at those speeds and the tent would have been down.
Before going to bed we drove more rebar stakes in the ground in several places and changed the straps over to them. Tuesday morning I went back to Miami Missionary Tent Company and bought 12 more 40 inch long and 1 inch round steel stakes and put several of them nearly 3 ft. in the ground. I could not have done it without Bro. Millikin. He worked so hard swinging that sledge hammer. I now have 22 of the heavy duty stakes so I shouldn't have to use the rebar stake at all in the future.
Last night the weather was absolutely perfect for tent revival and it was hard to imagine it had been so bad less than 20 hours before. Praise God for His protection, His guidance and His strength. Praise God for Bro. Jimmy Millikin as well!
From now on when the tent goes up the stakes will go all the way down when possible. I have hesitated to drive them all the way in because I couldn't get them out. I solved that problem at the Miami Tent Company as well by buying a stake puller. It's a nifty and pricey device that uses leverage to pull them out and it works beautifully. I am living and learning!
The service last night was amazing. God is touching and the altar services have been wonderful. I wish you could all be here to experience it for yourself. We are working hard but it is worth every labor, every dollar, every drop of sweat when folks come to the altar underneath that tent and receive help from God. Praise God!
Below are a couple of pictures Tuesday morning and a picture of two of the stakes that were bent trying to hold the tent down in the wind. Thanks for your prayer to God for us. I think you can see it is paying off!
God bless,
Davy
