Wednesday, February 6, 2013

A Bit of Good News - Bro. Marty Millikin

Tuesday afternoon Bro. Marty Millikin received his first bit of good news in this whole cancer ordeal. The MRI on Friday and the Cat Scan and Bone Scan on Monday revealed no spreading of the cancer. No cancer in the bones, no cancer in the brain and no cancer in the upper abdomen. Hallelujah! We are praising God for this good news and rejoicing with Bro. Marty. God knows the Millikin family needed this glimpse of hope since everything to this point has seemed so dark. Praise the Lord!

God has used this family so mightily to bless so many folks across this country. Thank God for the Millikin family. Please keep praying for Bro. Marty! We are believing God for a complete miracle.

We are enjoying revival at Corwin this week. Tuesday night was an awesome service. God blessed and helped in a tremendous way. There were several visitors from area churches and it was great to have them.

Today we will be pulling everything together in order to leave early Thursday morning. We hope to have most everything completed before going to the last night of revival tonight. It seems like such a big deal when it is so cold outside but I am sure we will get through it.

God bless you all.

Davy

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Cheesecake, A House Fire and the Providence of God.

I had these pictures ready to post before we went to Nigeria and some how did not get around to it before we left. After we returned from Africa we had more pictures and stories to post than we could get to and I let this one slip through the cracks. That happens occasionally and once the story gets old I usually delete it altogether. These pictures tell a story that is too good not to tell.

Does this cheesecake look good to you? Believe me it was delicious! It was so good that I ask for seconds before everybody had been served their first piece. That is a big "no no" but it was really that good. But the story behind this cheesecake is even better than the pie itself.


This is Herb and Samantha. They had recently started attending Desert Cove in El Mirage, Arizona when we were there in revival the week of Thanksgiving. They made the cheesecake in the picture above.




They started to leave for church on Sunday evening and at the last minute they decided to make a cheesecake for me and Pastor Noah Martinez. They were hurriedly making the cheesecake when they began to smell smoke in the house. They traced it to the utility room and when they opened the door the smoke was billowing out of the room.

Their dryer had caught fire and really burning by the time they discovered the fire. They were able to put it out without damage to anything but the dryer. I think they had some smoke damage but the fire was contained to the dryer and it was a total loss.

If it were not for the last minute decision to make that cheesecake they would have been on their way to church while their house burned to the ground. Think about that. Now, I am not saying that everybody ought to make a cheesecake for the preacher before they go to church. Although in limited quantities it might be the will of God.

But it is interesting that a last minute decision to delay leaving in order to prepare a dessert caused them to be home long enough to discover the fire and put it out. That is neat. Coincidence you say? I choose to chalk it up to the providence of God. God keeping them home just long enough to smell the smoke.

Does everybody get a chance to save their house from fire or avoid the collision at the traffic light? Does God care for some people less than others because their house does burn down while they are away from home. No, not everybody gets a chance and it does not mean that God loves one person less than the other. It does not happen every time the way it did in this situation, but it sure is neat when it does.

We could not help but tease them the next night when they brought the delicious cheesecake. It was some of the best we had ever eaten because of its secret ingredient. It was the only cheesecake we had ever had with a little bit of a smoke flavor!

We were definitely thanking God for cheesecake that night.

Davy

Monday, February 4, 2013

Super Sunday 2/3/13

We had a great day Sunday in Ohio. Sunday morning we went to our home church at Dryden Rd. and Sunday night we started a few nights of revival at Corwin Pentecostal Church. Both services were good and we enjoyed getting to see everybody. It is always good to be at home church and since Corwin is our home area we get to see a  lot of friends and family there too.

My parents and Kelly Jo's parents came to Corwin Sunday night. Courtney and Kayla, Kelly Jo's nieces, came too. My parents live just up the hill about a mile and hopefully they will get to attend every night. Kelly Jo's parents live about an hour away and Sunday may be the only night we get to see them. Thank you all so much for coming.

Odie is finally feeling better. We kept her at home Sunday morning but took her to church with us Sunday night. She has not been out of the bus since Wednesday night so she was a little stir crazy. Her voice is not strong enough to sing much but she did sing some and helped Kelly Jo during the altar service too.













We stopped by this little pizza place on the way home Sunday and picked up a pizza or two. Odie was hungry.



We went to Frisch's after church Sunday night with my Dad and Mom. This is Odie's food. She almost always orders the best looking food on the table. She had very good training.




It was an all around great day. We are not scheduled to be back in Ohio until June so we are making the most of our time here. Of course if they reschedule Dad's surgery then all of that will probably change. We plan to leave as early Thursday as we can. We have an appointment to have the bus worked on in Nashville Thursday afternoon and then we are supposed to start revival Sunday morning in Waynesboro, Mississippi.

That means we only have three days to wrap everything up that needs to be done. I hope to slip a couple of California Burritos in the schedule and my mother mentioned biscuits and gravy one morning too. Surely I can make time for some of that!

Have a great Monday.

Davy

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Cold, Snow, Family and Food

I hope you are having a good weekend and I hope the weather is warm and sunny. The projected low for Friday night was only 13 but as you can see in the picture below the word did not get out to the proper authorities. We had a good dose of snow by Saturday morning and it snowed most of the day. It finally made it up to almost 30 degrees on Saturday and it felt great. 


Lunch Saturday found us at Acapulco with my brother Steve and his wife Karen.

I wonder who's California Burrito that is?





We had a wonderful time visiting with Steve and Karen as we always do and of course the food was great. We went to WalMart too and if it had not been for a voice of reason (Coming out of the mouth of our wives) my Bubba and I would have rode through the store in the electric wheel chairs. As Karen said, "There needs to be at least one adult in every crowd."

Saturday evening we went to my parents for supper and visited with all of the family that could come. My sister and her husband were working and my little brother was working too. Mom prepared a great meal and I ate until my heart was content. We had a super great time. I din not take one single picture the whole evening. I must be falling down on my job. 

This is really the last evening that we will have free at home. We sure did enjoy it but I am ready to climb back into the saddle. I love family. I love friends. I love evenings with nothing to do but sit and talk. But I am called to be an evangelist and I love revival too. We will be in revival at Corwin Sunday through Wednesday and then we plan to hit the road early Thursday morning.

If you live any where close we would love for you to visit us at Corwin Pentecostal Church. The service starts at 6:30 Sunday night and at 7:00 Monday through Wednesday. The Corwin church is only a mile from where I was raised and where my parents still live. Kelly Jo and I both attended special services there a lot as kids and we are related to most of the folks there. But last year was our very first revival there. 

We only had about four nights available the last time but we had a wonderful revival. We only have four nights this time and we are expecting God to help us again. I appreciate Pastor Acy Lamb inviting us to be with them at Corwin. Please come and visit the revival if you can.

We are going to Dryden Rd. church this morning. I am supposed to preach unless I can talk my Pastor into preaching to me. He has been under the weather this week so I will preach if he needs me too. Odie is still not feeling great either. Hopefully she will be able to get out for church tonight.

God bless you all.

Davy

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Doing "Stuff" at Home

Thursday night we went to our home church at Dryden Rd. We enjoyed the service very much. Bro. Darrell Meadow was in town taking care of some business and he preached that night. He preached very good. After church we took Bro. Meadow to Cassano's and it was fantastic! Bro. Meadow was raised in Dayton and I think he loves Cassano's as good as we do.

Friday afternoon I went to the doctor with Dad and Mom. Dad's hemoglobin count is better and the doctor was pleased. He said if Dad keeps improving at the same rate then they will reschedule the surgery. That is good news. Thursday the surgeon checked the blood levels that indicate cancer and we are waiting on those results. Wouldn't it be awesome if those levels were normal now? With God all things are possible!

Please keep praying for Dad, Bro. Marty Millikin and add Sis. Mary Ann Lindsey to the list. Sis. Lindsey is a precious lady from our church and she has been a very sick woman for over four months. She received a terribly disappointing diagnosis from the doctor on Thursday and she really needs a miracle to live. Sis. Lindsey and her whole family are really special to us and we are believing God to help them. 

Pray for Odie too. She is under the weather and is stuck in the bus. She sure would love to spend some time with family the next few days.

I spent the early morning Friday getting new tires for the Green Machine. I mentioned that in yesterday's post and I promised to let you know how that turned out. We actually replaced the tires and the wheels. When we bought the Green Machine back in May we knew the tires were not long for this world. They were not in terrible shape but the tires almost caused me to pass on the Scion altogether.

The 2006 Scion xB originally came with 15" tires and somebody had "updraded" the one we bought to 17" wheels and tires. Although we really liked the color and design of the wheels I have never liked low profile tires. I do not love the look of them most of the time and I definitely do not like the ride. Plus they are much more expensive than a normal 15" tire and that is a big consideration since we tow our car behind the bus and wear tires faster than normal. When I could not drive any where in the snow the day after Christmas I knew it was time to do something.

We normally replace the tires on our car about every 18 months because of miles and extra wear and tear they endure behind the bus. I could not justify spending $200 plus per tire for the low profiles that I do not like anyway. That would mean an absolute minimum of $800 every 18 months for car tires. Not going to happen if I could help it.

I knew I could buy nice 15" wheels and tires for about the same amount and then replace the tires every 18 months for less that $300. In addition to that, the 17" wheels that were on there sell for about $200 each new. I should be able to sell the set of four with tires for a few hundred and cover quite a bit of my cost. These wheels fit dozens of types of cars so if anybody wants to pay top dollar for a used set of rims, let me know. I am joking about the top dollar part but they are for sale.

Kelly Jo really liked the old 17" wheels so I wanted her to pick out the new wheels. I found her several to choose from and these gold wheels are the ones she liked. I think she did a very good job. I like them too. The little Green Machine rides and drives super great and seems awful happy to have new shoes. It was nice to drive in snow today and actually be able to move.

Here are a few pictures. We had the Green Machine cleaned up on Tuesday but we are dealing with snow and ice and super cold temperatures so please excuse the dirty car.




Afterward I went by Dad and Mom's to spend some time with them and visit some. When it was time for lunch I invited them to Acapulco and Dad took me up on it.

My food


Kelly Jo's food


And Dad's food was a little late in coming.


Once it all arrived it was bad good! I may have to visit that place again before we leave Ohio.

Davy

Friday, February 1, 2013

New Shoes

Yesterday we actually had some sun. No warmth but some sun.



Today we would like to have some of that balmy 30 degree weather. This was the weather a few minutes ago.



Folks, any way you slice it, that is bad cold.

Right now I am at Discount tire in Miamisburg getting badly needed new shoes on the Green Machine. That is never a painless process so I will let you know later how that goes.

Davy