Tuesday, February 28, 2006

South Beach in Miami

Today was awesome! I've never been to South Beach in Miami. Today, Brock arranged for us to have a rental car. They upgraded him to a Mustang convertible for practically nothing. So, we drove around Miami in a convertible. The weather was perfect...in the 80's and not a cloud in the sky.

I've got one word for South Beach...swank. That place is classy yet diverse. There are very few chains in Miami. I like that. They enjoy lounging there. They didn't just have lawn chairs, they had couches out on the beach. The furniture was extraordinary.

Miami is home of the art deco. That's where they use the architecture to decorate the buildings. It's so unique.

I'm tired tonight and we have to leave again in the morning. We just flew home an hour ago. That's the downside of this career, but the perks like today make it worth it!

TBN

It was surprisingly good last night. They picked us up in a stretched limo and the stage was gaudy, but the people were great to work with. I just love Luis Palau and his sons. They reach hundreds of thousands in Latin America.

The show was good. It had an underlying message that I think the Lord brought out himself. The message was use your unique talents to reach people for Christ...answer God's call no matter how strange and outside of the box it seems.

The bad guy from the Karate Kid movies was there. He's a great guy (not really a bad guy). We had dinner with him and Kevin Palau (Luis's son).

The show is supposed to air again tonight at 5pm Eastern/4pm Central time on TBN. Watch it if you get a chance. I was pleased in how it turned out.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Television Show with Luis Palau

Today, we are filming a television show with Luis Palau. The studio is in Ft. Lauderdale. So, we are in Florida! They put us up in the Westin (which happens to be my favorite hotel chain) right on the beach. I feel like I’m in heaven right now.

I went outside this morning to check out the pool area. It’s fabulous and the weather is incredible. I wanted to wait for Brock to walk on the beach since it’s one of our favorite things to do, but I could not resist. I slipped off my sandals and walked just a little. I love to feel the sand between my toes.

I feel like it’s easy to talk with the Lord at the beach. The only sounds you can hear are the waves coming in and the wind rustling in your ears. When I watch the mighty waves crashing against the shore, I cannot help but see the power of God.

We go to the studio to film this afternoon at 3:30pm. Look for Brock on TBN tonight with Luis Palau.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Brock Speaks

This weekend, many different youth groups from several different denominations came together for a rally each night. Brock was the speaker. I enjoy it when Brock is the speaker for a weekend.

Friday night, he gave an evangelical message. Several people became Christians. I've said this before, but I wish that you could see what I see everytime Brock gives an invitation to follow Christ. It really is supernatural. The Lord completely takes over at that point, and Brock is just the vessel. It's unexplainable. Therefore, I know that it is the Lord.

Yesterday, I suggested that Brock give a certain message that he gives occasionally. He had actually been thinking about giving that message even though he had not preached it in years. Then, he opened up his Bible to study for last night and opened right up to the passage of this message. He delivered the message well. It's always different no matter how many times he does it.

Last night, he talked about unity. He had everyone walk around and find people that they know from school but not from their church. It was cool to see groups getting together to pray for their school even though they were in a variety of denominational churches. They unified to pray for their school.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Heart Miles Away

The show was great last night. However, I have to admit that my heart is not here. My heart is hundreds of miles away to a house in central Florida where my whole family is getting ready for a funeral. I cannot be there because I'm here.

I realize that funerals are just a formality, but I wish that I could be there for just a few hours. They are going to play a recording of me and Papa singing a duet. I was about 13 years old. That's cool, because I'll have a little bit of a presence at the funeral.

The good thing is that we are going there in a couple of weeks to spend a few days. It will be especially good to spend some time with my grandma.

Friday, February 24, 2006

Packed and Ready to Go

I did it! I packed us up for the next month. It was difficult. We're going to Oklahoma, Miami, Georgia, Alabama, St. Louis, Orlando, and Alaska. I was pulling our bathing suits out of the closet and getting our ski clothes down from the top shelf. It was crazy!

I feel completely better! Either my little "self hypnosis" worked or your prayers did the trick. My vote is on the latter. I layed around all day Tuesday and felt fine other than a little stuffiness on Wednesday.

Yesterday was a downer for me and Brock. We couldn't get our bike fixed so we won't have it for bike week in Daytona. We found out some bad news about a friend of ours. Plus, my grandpa died this week. We were both feeling down and come dinner time, there was nothing in the house to eat. So, we drove into town and decided to eat at the same place we'd eaten the night before. There were only two tables with people sitting at them, and there at one of the tables was our friends, Ben and Kara. They just happened to be there. I know that the Lord sent them to cheer us up, and that's what they did. They were like our little angels last night.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Preparing for the Road

We leave tomorrow and don't come home except for a couple of stops to sleep here until March 21st. It's going to be a crazy day preparing to go. On this trip we're going to Florida and Alaska. This is going to be a packing nightmare.

Brock's going to be working on fixing our street bike today. We want to ride it in Florida. I'm going to be doing laundry and packing as well as cleaning out the fridge today.

This next month is not going to be all work and no play, though. We're going to Orlando a little early in order to go to bike week in Daytona. Then, we'll stay a little later and visit my family in central Florida. In Alaska, the host is taking us snowmobiling one day. It should be a fun trip.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Casual Dining

My favorite places to go out to eat these days are casual dining places. You know the ones where you order and pay at the counter, but a "waiter" brings out your food. You get your food quickly, but it's not fast food. I enjoy it because it's so much cheaper, but the quality is there. Plus, you usually don't feel the pressure of having to leave because the waiter needs some new tippers.

Being on the road so much and eating out all of the time, I'm over the whole sit down and order. Also, many of the chain sit down restaurants have gone up in price and down in quality. Therefore, I try to avoid those chains.

Some of the casual dining places I like in Franklin are: Wolf Gang Puck Express, Pei Wei, Blue Coast Burrito, and Jason's deli. You should try casual dining places. They are a healthy alternative to fast food.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Sick

Well, I'm officially sick. I escaped it a couple of weeks ago, but it chased me down. I'm praying that if I take it easy for the next couple of days that I'll be better by Friday, because we leave then and don't really come back until March 21st. I need to kick this thing!

Right now, my throat is on fire. Yesterday, I began sneezing sometime in the afternoon and didn't really stop until last night. I haven't had any fever though...I never have fever. I think that the "normal temperature" is just an average. Mine is very below average. I remember my school nurse in elementary school telling me that according to my temperature, I was dead. That was a little traumatic to hear for a child.

I learned in my psychology courses in college that 86% of sickness is in your mind. So, when I get sick, I try to control my mind and tell my body when to get better. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. I'm trying to tell myself that I will start feeling better tomorrow and be completely well by Friday. We'll see if it works this time!

Monday, February 20, 2006

Church Service Yesterday

Yesterday at church was a great day for us. Brock did another form of "Brockwalking." This time, he sat inside the auditorium. Brock started the service by interviewing the girl in the seat beside him as the cameras turned to face them. He said that he had just found this microphone underneath his seat and thought that he would speak into it. He then said that some others might have mics under their seats as well. Many people looked under their chairs at that point...it was funny! Again, you can go to pclive.org and watch the video from yesterday in order to see it.

It has been fun for Brock to be apart of our church service. It's a different way to minister. The staff is very excited because 200 more people are in the worship center as it begins since Brock started doing the "Brockwalking" segments. We don't know if it's because they go on into the worship center instead of hanging out in the lobby so as not to be caught by Brock on camera or if more people are actually coming on time. Either way, it's accomplishing what the staff at our church wanted to accomplish...more people coming into the service on time.

At the end of the service, Brock baptized three boys. All three boys responded to an invitation to follow Jesus that Brock gave in one of his local shows. I stayed with the moms of the boys as the baptism took place. They were moved to tears. It was a really special time.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

This Weekend

This weekend was great! It was probably our best weekend on the tour (ciy.com). We did our big stunt for the second time and it went even better. This weekend was fun. I'm rather tired this morning though, and we have a big day today.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Energetic Crowd

Well, it snows everytime we come to Cincinnati and today is no exception. Stephanie came and met up with us here. I'm so glad that she is here! She is feeling much better...just a little weak still.

Last night was fabulous! There are over 5500 people here at this student conference. I'm less nervous in a crowd of thousands than one with 100 people or fewer. Last night, the audience had so much energy. You didn't have to create that energy...it was naturally there. Everything went very smoothly and Brock was feeding off of the crowd. Let's hope and pray that today goes the same way!

Friday, February 17, 2006

Sleep

I slept 10 hours last night. I guess I was more tired than I thought. The hotel room was dark and the temperature was just perfect. It felt really good to sleep a while.

The news did a segment about the Olympic athletes' training the other day. Do you know what their number one discipline is?...getting enough sleep. They said that if they don't get at least 8 hours of sleep a night, then nothing else makes a difference. In fact, most of them flew over there several days early to get acclimated to the time zone so that their sleep schedule could get set up.

A few years ago, I read an article about the secret to growing old beautifully. All of the women had different work out regimens and ideas about diet, but they all said that they get at least 8 hours of sleep every night.

Really, 8 hours is just the minimum you should have nightly. Some people need more. So, don't feel lazy for getting a good night's sleep. It will help you be more productive in your waking hours.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Shows in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati

Last night, we did a big show in Pittsburgh. It went fairly well. Many people came to know Christ. It was difficult to pull off without Stephanie though. She is very sick. Pray that she will get well. Also, pray that we can make it this weekend without her if we must. We drive to Cincinnati today in order to perform at a conference there this weekend.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Follow Up from the Guys with the Smoking Car

Read my previous post before you read this one because this is a follow up. Money is sorta tight for us right now. So, when we pulled into the gas station last night and saw the smoking car, I immediately began praying. I prayed that we would some way be able to help the owner of the vehicle. If it was to be financially, I prayed that the Lord would provide the means to help them.

As soon as I looked up, Brock was talking with the guys about their car troubles. When I saw Brock go help them without hesitaion, my love for him soared.

Brock bought coolant for them that cost $10. He also checked them into the hotel down the street from our house. The hotel was more expensive than I thought it would be. With tax, it cost us $68. However, I felt as if the Lord was telling me to trust Him because He had it under control.

This morning, we stopped by the hotel on our way to town. I had placed two oranges, some mustard, and half a loaf of bread in a bag. I told Brock to give them all of the cash that he had so that they could pick up some sandwich meat. Brock only had $4 in his wallet.

So, add that up---$10+$68+$4.

On our way out, I had grabbed the mail. Amidst the junk, there was an expense check from our office. The check was for $82.

Happy Valentine's Day

Since we have to leave to drive to Pittsburgh today, we celebrated Valentine's Day yesterday. It was just as good yesterday. In fact, there was no wait at the restaurant we went to and no traffic on the roads. Tonight will probably be a different story.

We started out our day at the Cocoa Tree eating chocolate. After eating dessert first, we went to the mall and split up to buy each other little $15 gifts. Then, we went to a museum downtown. One of our friends' little girl has her picture displayed there. We had some time to kill, so we went to the skate park. After that, we ate at our favorite restaurant in Nashville (which we determined last night) Zola's. It was very romantic and delicious!

On our way home, we stopped to get some fuel. We happened to be at the very same gas station where we pulled over when we had our flat tire a couple of weeks ago. On that night, someone helped us out. As we pulled in, a couple of guys had their hood up and smoke was pouring out of their car. Brock went over to help them. These guys were desperate. They were out of money, spoke little English, and needed to get to Huntsville (about 100 miles away) to work. Brock got them going again as well as getting them into a local hotel. It was nice to be able to return the favor in the same place where we were stranded not too long ago.

I hope that you are able to show love today not only to your close friends and family but to others as well. That was the highlight of my day!

Monday, February 13, 2006

My Hideaways

I love my little hideaways in my house. We have two closets. They were just rectangle shaped rooms in our bedroom when we first moved in. Therefore, I made one a clothes closet and one a prayer closet. I place pictures, art, and candles in my prayer closet for inspiration. I have a single desk at the end with one chair. Three bookcases line the wall full of books that help me with my walk with the Lord. On one wall, I have a big bulletin board that my grandma gave me when I was young. On it, I tack up pictures, encouraging letters, scripture verses, prayer requests, and the eminem t-shirt that I told you about in another post.

Right now, I'm sitting in my laundry room waiting on some clothes to dry. It's only big enough for the washer and dryer and some shelves. Although there is snow on the ground outside, it feels like the beach in here because of the decor. Rope that is used on docks string up a white curtain. I also have it strung up along the wall above the washer and dryer. Clothes pinned to the rope are five pictures of the beach that I took when I was there. Some of the beach pictures are from Florida and some are from Maine. On my dryer, I have a dish with powder detergent in it to look like sand. My dryer sheets are in a small chest that I bought while I was on St. Simon's Island. Shells pepper the dryer top and the shelves...shells from Florida, Australia, and the Georgia coast. Also, on the shelves I have a picture that my parents brought me back from Hawaii. I have my two shell candles lit as I type.

Since the beach is so relaxing, when I come in here to do my laundry, I seem to relax.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Week at Home

This has been a great week at home. We've had friends come over to the house two nights. One time, I made taco soup. Friday night, Brock grilled steaks and chicken. It was so good! Brock is definately the cook. His "spice rack" takes up most of the pantry. He's been frying plantains for dessert often. They are delicious and are actually good for you. I plan the meals, but he cooks them for the most part.

Friday night as he was grilling, it began to snow. Now that's dedication...to grill out in the snow. It was really beautiful when the snow started to fall heavily on Friday night. It stayed white until almost noon yesterday.

Last night, we went to eat dinner with two other wonderful couples. We had a great time sharing what is going on in our lives. In fact, we met at 6pm and didn't leave the restaurant until almost 10pm! When we did leave, it was snowing again.

This morning, it's white all over the ground and the tops of trees. I'm up early because Brock is doing another "Brockwalking" at our church. Therefore, we have to get there slightly early.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

The American Dream

The American dream is a bunch of baloney. The reason being is that I know tons of people who have the "American dream" and all that comes with it right down to the picket fence. The problem is that they lock themselves up in their suburban fortress and don't let anyone else besides their little kingdom enter.

When did we start becoming an island? When did we begin to look out for number one? You would think that families would be getting closer during this time since they are always together, but they're not. They are falling apart more and more. We need each other...that's the way we were created.

I wonder if we gave our days, not just our lives, but our days completely over to the Lord, how He would change it. I'm sure He wouldn't have us cooped up in our houses with no human interaction with the outside world. He'd have us ministering in some sort of fashion. He would have us see beyond ourselves and into His world that needs us...you and me. The world needs as much help as it can get!

Friday, February 10, 2006

Speaking Update

At first I was a little disappointed because only two people were there at 7:30pm. Then, others started to trickle in and there were 6 of us when we began at a little after 8pm. During this waiting time, I got more and more anxious.

One girl had just come from work. Her husband was out and town, and her dog that had been in the garage all day really needed to be let out. She actually debated on whether she should stay or go on home. As we were sitting down to begin, I heard her tell the host that she would probably slip out early. This made me even more nervous knowing that someone might have to leave in the middle of it.

I know that you guys were praying because something happened that only the Lord could do right before I began to speak. Suddenly, I didn't care what I sounded like or looked like or anything about me. I just felt an unexplainable love and compassion for these girls. Now, I had faces and lives to actually share with. After that, the words just tumbled out of me.

The girl that needed to go home to let her dog out, stayed the entire time. In fact, toward the end of my speaking, I saw tears falling down her cheeks. When we were sharing prayer requests at the end, she told us that this was just what she needed. She had prayed the day before for some encouragement and she felt like this was her answer to prayer.

One of the other girls knew exactly what she was going through because she was going through the same sort of thing. We all layed hands on both girls and prayed for them. It was a special time. Tears flowed and passionate prayers were lifted up.

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouraging comments. I knew that last night would indicate if this is what I'm really supposed to do. I would either fall flat on my face, or the Lord would move. The latter happened...it was a wonderful night.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Speaking

Today is the day! I'm speaking for the first time tonight. Even though it's in front of a few ladies that I know from church, I'm still nervous! Sometimes it's more nerve racking to be in front of people you know.

Please pray that even though I'm nervous, it will not reflect in my voice. Also, pray for the women in attendance tonight. Pray that there will be a good crowd. Pray that the Lord uses me to encourage these women to pray more in order to change their world. I'll explain more about that tomorrow.

Please leave me comments...I am so encouraged when you comment even if it's just to say hello. I'm sharing my life with you. I would love it if you share just a little of your life with me. You don't have to be a blogger in order to leave a comment. Just click on "other" and type in your name.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Heather...A Childhood Friend

I had a dream last night about my friend, Heather. She and I were best friends while I lived in Daytona Beach, FL growing up. The dream was just a silly dream, but it made me think about Heather. She and I were inseparable. During the summer of my 7th grade year, we would go somewhere to play everyday. We couldn't drive yet, so we would call up our older friends from church who could drive us. We'd ask if they wanted to go skating or to the mall or something. Come to think about it...we were a little obnoxious!

Do you ever wonder about those friends that you grew up with? Hey, do any of you Daytona people know about Heather Priest right now? If so, let me know. I tried to search for her online, but there were several Heather Priests in the Daytona area, and I don't even know if her name is "Priest" anymore.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

The Bubble Car

Last weekend, we saw one of our friends, Matt, that we have not seen in years. The last time we saw him was when we gave him our car...the bubble car.

About six years ago, we were driving around town in the only vehicle we owned which was a box truck that had all of our equipment in it. I was tired of walking thru the drivethru at our bank because the truck didn't make the clearance height. Plus, we needed to get another vehicle for tax purposes. We had $1,000 to spend, so we decided that if we could find a car for under $1,000 that day, we would buy it.

We found one that day. It was $990 with tax. It was beyond ugly. This car was spray painted silver and had clear ball ornaments all over the entire car. A third grade class had decorated the car for an art car parade in Houston. It was hideous!

The car was an '86 Celebrity. When we drove it around town, it attracted alot of attention. People would stop and take pictures with our car. Some people actually recognized it from the parade that was on television. In fact, we almost created some accidents. Drivers would be so distracted by the car that they would almost run into objects.

We had to do something to not attract so much attention, so we removed each ball individually. That took a while. It didn’t do much good. The silicone used to attach the balls remained on the car causing it to be polka dotted. We later tried to scrape off the silicone, but to no avail. It was there to stay!

We used that car for a while and it served its purpose. After about a year, we gave it to Matt because we were about to move into our truck and live on the road. Matt's car had just died the week before so he was in need of some wheels.

Whenever Matt came to pick it up, he fell over laughing at how ugly it was. He used it for a couple of years and then gave it to someone else that needed a vehicle.

The rule was that when you were done with it, you had to give it to someone else in need of a car. The bubble car has been passed around to at least 5 people now.

Monday, February 06, 2006

The New Stunt

We performed a brand new stunt Saturday. It went great! We practiced through lunch and did it immediately following the lunch break at the student conference. The stunt is hard to explain, but it involves a dirtbike, chains, disappearing, and a surprise ending. It was exciting!

In order to perform this stunt, we only needed a couple more things. We had to have some riding gear and clothes. Brock had been talking with Fly racing company about sponsoring him, but he thought that it would be a long shot. It's diffficult for even racers to get sponsored. Brock's not a racer...he just uses his dirtbike in a couple of stunts.

Since we were leaving Thursday, Brock called one last time on Wednesday to see if Fly could give him a good deal on riding gear. The guy on the other end of the phone who was our connection with Fly asked Brock when he wanted to pick up his stuff. It had already been sent and was waiting for him right here in Franklin, TN. We got about $1,500 worth of gear for free!

Also, we received it the day we needed it. If we didn't get it on that day, we would have had to go and spend the money to purchase our own gear, because we had to have it for this new stunt. The Lord seems to always work things out for us at just the right time!

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Rough Start

We had a rough start on this trip. When we were leaving yesterday morning, we had two flats and the truck battery was dead. It set us back a while.

Since Brock is sick, I drove the whole way to Tulsa. I stopped at a truck stop to fuel up. Usually Brock handles filling the tanks with diesel. However, he was sleeping in the back, so I did it. I don't know if it's because of my lack of experience or my clumsiness, but I showered myself with diesel fuel. I immediately went and changed my pants because it received the bulk of the splash. Then, I tried to clean off my shoes because they are the only pair that I brought on this trip.

I began driving again and noticed that the gloves I used were covered in fuel, so I just chunked them out the window. It helped a little, but I still reeked of fumes. In fact, a couple of people noticed and asked what the smell was. I had to confess that it was me. Diesel doesn't come out easily...once it's on something, it doesn't come off. I didn't have a chance to really shower off until I got back to the hotel room last night.

Friday, February 03, 2006

Fireworks!

We are staying with some friends that we haven't seen in five years. Now, they have two kids and live in Oklahoma.

Brock actually worked with the guy, Jeff, at a church in Texas long before we even met. They were sharing crazy stories about their time there. Both of them are very passionate and extreme. They were also so young and inexperienced when it came to church work at the time. One of the things they did once a year was a big bonfire. Because they are so radical, they wanted the biggest bonfire ever! That often led to a near disaster.

One time, Jeff got his hands on some Class A fireworks. (Those are the ones you see at the real fireworks show on the 4th of July.) He was going to add this to his bonfire production. He decided to try one in his backyard. He set it off and it let off a loud noise. During which all of his windows on the backside of his house blew out. The garage doors around the neighborhood were going up and down and car alarms were going off. About ten seconds later, a big metallic piece fell from the sky. Plus, Jeff now had a big crater in his yard.

What happened was that he placed the firework upside down. It shot down into the earth and sent the base flying up in the air.

Well, the neighbors thought that a bomb went off, so they called the police. When the police came to Jeff's house, his petite wife, Stephanie, greeted them at the door. "It was him," she said pointing to Jeff. "Take him to jail." The police officer decided that Jeff would receive enough punishment from his wife who was not too thrilled about her busted windows and the whole in the backyard. So, the officer didn't arrest Jeff the youth pastor.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

New Direction

I'm excited about where the Lord is taking me. I've been feeling like He wants me to write a book about my adventures in prayer which I've already begun. A couple of weeks ago, someone talked with me about speaking to women about prayer. The more I thought about it, the more I began to think that the Lord wanted me to speak at women's conferences and seminars.

I discussed this with Brock and he was encouraging about it. We decided that the first thing I needed to do was to go to women events and learn from them. That very day, I received a brochure in the mail about the women events that our church was doing for the year. That Saturday, they were having a women's breakfast. I decided to go.

On the way to the breakfast, I prayed that if the Lord truly wanted me to do this that He would have someone ask me while I was there to speak to women sometime in the future. Long story short, after the breakfast, my friend asked me to speak at her women's Bible study. Therefore, I'm speaking next Thursday night. I'm so nervous!

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Miracles of Jesus on DVD

Thanks for your prayers yesterday. I could feel them. I'm feeling much better today.

Many people have asked me how to get a copy of the show on the Discovery Channel. You can now purchase the Miracles of Jesus on DVD! Go to discoverystore.com and go to the DVD section. Then, go to the religion DVD section. It's called "Miracles of Jesus DVD Set." It's quite pricey, but remember it is 3 hours worth of material.