Friday, July 31, 2009

Spirit West Coast in Monterey, CA

Pray for us as we participate in this festival for the next couple of days. We are doing the same thing that we did in San Diego in May. Brock will be speaking on the main stage one night giving the gospel. Pray that many lives are changed.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Misty Edwards

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Bird Nest

PhotobucketWhile we were gone this summer, a bird built a nest on our front porch. It's hard to see, but there are tiny baby birds at the top of this nest. We decided to wait until the birds flew away before we got rid of the nest. It was all good until I walked out one morning and saw bird doo all over the porch!Photobucket(Sorry if this grosses you out.)

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

A Blessed Day

The other day, I had the best day! It was such an average day, yet I felt the Holy Spirit all over me. As I was checking out of Walmart, I asked the cashier how he was doing. Instead of saying, "Fine," he actually sighed really big and said, "I've been having a hard time lately." I told him that I would pray that things would get better for him, and I really did! I prayed for him on and off all day.

Then, I noticed a group of elderly people walking around the track as I was running at the park. I think that they were from some sort of home or something because there were several of them. I decided to reverse the direction I was running so that I could face them instead of blowing past them. As I ran past them, I was able to look in their eyes and smile and pray for them.

That night, I joined my friends in feeding the homeless in downtown Nashville. This guy just began making meals out of his house and we all met there and loaded them up and took them to this section of Nashville. They've been doing this for several months, so the homeless people were all lined up waiting for us when we got there---about 150 people!

Several gave me sincere thank you's. I talked with one guy who had 6 kids and 8 grandchildren. His wife died of cancer when she was 33 (my age) and he became an alcoholic because of that. That's why he is on the streets today. He said that the people who come every Monday night have become family to him. Before we left, he grabbed our hands and said a prayer. He thanked the Lord for all of the things He'd blessed him with. Can you believe it? A homeless man thanking God for all of his blessings? Again, all of this blessed my heart just as much if not more than the people I encountered. Oh, that I would have more days like this!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Cool Snap

Last week was uncharacteristically cool in Nashville. It would be in the 70's in the day and 50's at night! It was breaking records. It made a great time to hang out. We went to the Cocoa Tree with friends one night and sat outside because it felt so great. We even walked to a park and hung out.

Another night, we went to our friends house and actually got cold sitting out on their patio. We lit a fire and made smores! When do you ever roast marshmallows in July? (Sorry to those of you who are experiencing a heat wave in Texas.)

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Sunday, July 26, 2009

Psalm 16:5-6

"The Lord is my portion and my cup; You hold my lot. The lines for me have fallen in pleasant places; Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance."

Friday, July 24, 2009

Pictures from the Show for Charlie

PhotobucketBrock and Charlie

PhotobucketBrock onstage. Do you see the buckets of sand and the sand dunes in the back? I love it!

PhotobucketThe audience

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Pictures from South Padre Island, TX

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PhotobucketBrock sitting under the umbrella that Charlie let us use.

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PhotobucketWhere we ate every night.

PhotobucketThey had the best salsa!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Almost Kidnapped in Mexico

This is the video we took right after we crossed back over into the U.S.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Dream and Matamoros, Mexico

If you haven't read my last few blogs, go back and read them. Begin with Saturday, then read Sunday's, then yesterday's, and then today.

I've read a book called, The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker. It's very interesting, but it talks about how we all have this natural instinct of fear. When we are in danger, we just know what to do. This is what happened with me last Wednesday. I didn't panic, or think, or anything. The only thing I did was follow Brock. I was in survival mode. It was like I was on auto pilot. Therefore, I didn't even pray.

However, I realized that I'd prayed for this situation months before it even happened. Now that I look back to that moment I knew that we were in danger, I'd felt that same way before. Whenever I looked up and saw the whole street looking at us and guys coming up surrounding us, I felt the same way that I felt in my dream when the snakes were everywhere looking at us.

Think about the parallels between the dream and what happened. We left a "conference of some sort." Then, we went to a city. We saw one venomous snake (the guy who first came up) and Brock threw a rock at him (Brock pushed him away). Then, there were snakes everywhere and they were all looking at us. (Everyone on the street began looking at us and guys came out and surrounded us.)

As I was sharing this with some of our friends, one of them said, "Do you know what the Mexican flag looks like?" Here's what it looks like:


I want to thank all of you that pray for us. Prayer is sometimes the difference between life and death. Please continue to pray for our protection as we travel. I truly do believe that the Lord chose to save us Wednesday. We stayed in the shadow of His wings, and He protected us.

Monday, July 20, 2009

The Scaryest Seven Minutes of My Life

Last Wednesday, while we were in South Padre, we decided to go over to Mexico to go shopping and eat. Now, we've both been to Matamoros, Mexico before. It had been several years, but it was a fun place to hang out...very touristy. A lady from the camp had gone last year, and it was cool. Things had changed for sure!

We took a cab over to the market. When we got to the market, we didn't notice any other tourist. Also, there were no children (that made me a little uncomfortable). When I came the last time, children would run up and try to sell us something. With no other tourists and Brock being 6'4," we really stuck out. We tried to dress down...I had my hair up and Brock had his hat on but someone had already asked if Brock was Kid Rock. So much for blending in.

We weren't there 3 minutes when I took my camera out and began filming them doing three card monte with shells and a pea. It was fascinating to us. I was slick about it though. I put Brock in the picture to look like I was taking a picture of him. Then, a guy walked up and got right in the camera. He began to reach for it and Brock slowly pushed him away from me. Instead of walking away, the guy stayed right beside us very boldly. I put my camera away and he got out his phone which was also a two-way radio. As he began to speak Spanish into his radio, every single person on the street turned and looked at us. I knew at that point that we were in danger. Guys began coming out of the shadows and surrounding us.

Brock calmly said, "We've got to get out of here." At that moment, instincts kicked in and my only goal was to get out. The only way I knew to get out was to follow Brock. Brock began to smile and wave at the people. I immediately smiled as well. Then, Brock said, "Follow me." He walked quickly all the way to the right and literally ducked (you know he's so tall) behind a display and went around it. Then, we sort of zigzagged to the other side of the market. By this time, we were back to the street. We crossed the street right before a bus came by. When the bus crossed, we went to the left behind it (it was just like a movie). Basically, the bus separated us from the guys following us. When we got behind the bus, Brock said, "Run!!!" That we did. We ran for our lives through the streets and alleys of Mexico.

At one point, we hid in a store. We found one American, but she wouldn't even talk to us. Then, Brock saw a police officer, so he ran to him. However, we didn't know if the police there were in on it or not, so Brock just asked him where a cab was. He pointed to one across the street. When we got to it, it was empty. I wondered if the keys were in it. At that time, I was willing to steal the cab to get out of there. We ran a couple more blocks and found a cab. We had him drive us all the way up to the border. Not until we were back in our rented car on U.S. soil did I feel safe.

I couldn't see what was going on around me because I had tunnel vision only watching Brock's back and following, but Brock was watching. They were radioing people down the street and all of them were pointing at Brock and then following us. Brock was their target, and they were marking him. We talked with our friend who lives in South Padre and he said that they were planning to kidnap us. This has been happening in Matamoros lately.

Here's the video I was taking when the guy walked up. He's the one that set this operation into motion. You can barely see the guy playing the three card monte look up at us with evil eyes at the end of the video:
After this video was taken, I began the scaryest 7 minutes of my life.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

The Hawk

If you haven't read my blog from yesterday, read it before you read this one.

In January, I saw a hawk sitting on a small road sign a few feet from my car with its wings spread out right there in the middle of the city. This got my attention. Then, over the next couple of days, I saw two more hawks. For some reason, I thought that the Lord was trying to tell me something.

I looked up "hawk" in my Bible concordance and I couldn't find anything about it. I looked up "hawks" online and found out that they eat an average of 2 snakes every 2 days. I read an eye witness account of a hawk swooping down and grabbing a snake in its talons.

Then, I began reading my Beth Moore "A Woman's Heart" Bible lesson for the day. Everyday, the study has one verse that we focus on. Guess what the verse was for that particular day? Psalm 91:4 "He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart." My study also led me to these scriptures: Psalm 17:8, Psalm 63:7, and Matthew 23:37. They all refer to His wings being our refuge.

I felt as if the Lord was saying that He was going to take care of the snakes. As long as we stay in the shadow of His wings, we would have His protection...

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Dreams and Snakes

The story that I am about to tell you is one of the biggest stories of my life. I will blog about it for the next few days...

Several months ago (Nov. 16th to be exact), I had a dream that Brock and I were at a conference of some sort. We left the conference building and went to a city. (I didn't know what city it was.) As we walked out onto the street of the city, I saw a snake on the sidewalk. I knew that it was venomous because it had a triangular head. Brock threw a rock at it, and it came after me. I walked a little way and stopped. At that moment, I looked up and there were snakes all around me looking at me. The snakes were everywhere, surrounding us. At that moment, I knew that we were in danger.

Then, I woke up with an eerie feeling. I thought that this was a strange dream because it wasn't a typical dream for me. Plus, I hadn't seen anything about snakes on tv or anything in the last 24 hours. Here's where it gets weird. Brock had the same dream on the same night.

There had to be some significance to these dreams. Was the Lord warning us about something? If this was the case, the dream stopped right there. We didn't know how or if we were going to get out of this danger. For the next several days and months, we began to pray for protection from whatever was going to happen...

Friday, July 17, 2009

Rosa


Brock's message about that scripture "whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me" has wrecked me. I'm finally beginning to see what it's all about. As one of the pastors said one week, "Instead of trying to be Jesus to everyone else, see them as Jesus and then they will naturally see Jesus in you." I've been more aware of people around me recently and trying to really listen to the Holy Spirit.

The first morning that we went to the camp, I was drawn to a security guard at the venue. Her name is Rosa. Everyday, I would see her and talk with her. She doesn't speak perfect English, but we were still able to communicate. On Wednesday, as we were leaving Brock said, "There's your friend." I hadn't seen her yet that day, so I went to speak with her.

Let me set this up for you. I was very tired and a little discouraged on this particular day. It was just one of those days. Almost immediately in our conversation, Rosa, with tears in her eyes said, "You and your husband are warriors for my Lord. Thank you for speaking to these kids. Keep following your heart and always listen to His voice." Rosa, in her broken English, ministered to me more than I've been ministered to in a long time. In fact, I've never felt that way before. That day Rosa was Jesus to me. I literally felt as if Jesus Himself were speaking to me and looking at me. I thought that the Holy Spirit was drawing me to Rosa so that I could help her in some way, but that wasn't the case. Rosa was sent there to encourage me!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Goodbye South Padre Island

We ate some good food: actually we ate at a place called the Big Donkey every night because it was so good. It was mexican food. They have the freshest salsa that I've ever had. Plus, they have this wonderful thing called chicken mole tacos. Mole is a sauce with chili peppers, fruits, nuts, and chocolate. It's great!

We met some cool people: Charlie, who owns the umbrella rental organization, is one of the coolest people I've ever met. I will remember one of the security guards at the venue, Rosa, for the rest of my life. I will tell you more about her later.

We had a fun camp: I think that the Lord was really working in some of the students' lives. I know that some of them experienced the freedom that comes from choosing to forgive.

We leave today to go back home. Then, we have a weekend at home before we begin a camp on Jekyll Island, GA. I will post some pictures later.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Day Two on South Padre Island

The show last night went really well with the umbrella rental people. This is how we got hooked up with them. The guy who owns them all came to camp the first day. He's a really cool guy who really takes care of the guys who work for him. Come to find out, everybody knows Charlie on this island.

Anyway, he asked us to come and perform for his team. It was so cool! This group is a little community. Several of the guys were riding skateboards and hanging out. There were young people. One young couple had a 2 month old baby (that may be the youngest person to ever attend our show). There was a few older people as well. They all watched the show and ate burgers together.

Charlie had rigged a few flood lights on a pipe propped up by two ladders to light the "stage." We used buckets of sand to hold down our tarp. We were right on the beach. I loved it! Brock did the straight jacket last night. He actually escaped from a straight jacket for the first time here in South Padre Island in 1998.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Day One on South Padre Island

It was a tough morning yesterday. Brock was at an FCA camp all weekend. He quickly came home Sunday afternoon and we hopped on a plane that night. We got in at midnight Sunday night. Then, we had to go to the venue Monday morning at 8am. We had an hour and a half to get everything ready. That was difficult. Plus, we had problem after problem. However, we pulled it off.

We were some kind of tired, but we have the nights off at this camp. That's a blessing. Pray for us tonight because we're going to do magic for a bunch of guys who work at a chair rental place on the beach. We're not planning on sharing the gospel or anything, but pray that we will be dripping with the Holy Spirit.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Fun in the Son Camp

Please pray for us these next couple of weeks. We are going to be doing the Fun in the Son camps in South Padre Island, TX and Jekyll Island, GA. We start in Texas today.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

The Stanky Leg

This is one of the guy's from the band's version of the stanky leg. It's so funny to me!!!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Pictures from Jekyll Island, GA

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Friday, July 10, 2009

Pics from Superwow in Jekyll Island, GA

PhotobucketThe girls

PhotobucketThe staff eating over at our house that we had for the summer

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Photobucketand the band

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PhotobucketOf course we ate at Barbara Jean's a lot!

PhotobucketHere's us at Barbara Jean's with Amber and Kristin

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Camp Electric

We did a show yesterday at Camp Electric. It's a camp here in Nashville geared toward aspiring musicians. It was really fun! The audience was wonderful. One guy came up after the show and said that he was seriously considering doing this for a living because the show moved him so much. That was a great compliment. We want to do art that moves people.

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Soles4Souls Brock Gill Sandal

We are selling sandals especially made for us for Soles4Souls. If you buy a pair for $20, another pair of shoes are sent to people all over the world who need them. We've had some cool things happen with them in the last few weeks. One girl bought a pair and immediately donated them to Soles4Souls. It's like double giving. Another guy bought a pair of sandals and put them on. He then placed his nice work boots that he had on in the box to donate. One kid threw his nice Nike's in the box and went home barefooted.

If you would like to buy one of these sandals and contribute to Soles4Souls, go here.

Monday, July 06, 2009

4th of July Weekend

Did you have a fun 4th of July? Mine was fun. We got in late Friday night. Saturday, we went to lunch with some friends at one of our favorite restaurants. Then, we all drove to Cookville, TN where one of our other friends was putting on an event with motocross, bands, and fireworks. It was fun! Everything got rushed toward the end because it began to rain, but that was okay with me because I was so tired. What did you do?

Friday, July 03, 2009

Goodbye Superwow

We leave today to go home. Although I had a good time here, I'm ready to get home. I haven't been home in over a month. I'm also a little peopled out. Whenever I get excited to go to the bathroom because I get a chance to be alone there, I know I need some time to myself. I will post some pictures from our time here soon.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

A Trick that Stings


Today while I was onstage helping Brock with a trick right before I did my part, I felt something on the back of my neck. I reached up to brush it off and it stung me! I still don't know what it was. One of the girls helping out with the camera onstage saw the bug fly off of me. We still don't quite know if it was a wasp or what but that was a first for me!

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Freedom in Forgiveness

The theme of Superwow this year is Freedom. Yesterday, Brock talked about the freedom that comes with forgiveness. Did you know that recent studies have shown that unforgiveness changes your DNA? If you cannot forgive someone then you are the one who suffers. It may be true that the person who did you wrong doesn't deserve forgiveness, but neither do you. We all deserve death, but because of God's great mercy, He gave us freedom. Colossians 3:13 says "Forgive as the Lord forgave you." That person may not even ask for forgiveness, but until you forgive, it will eat you alive.

After Brock did an illusion illustrating forgiveness and then spoke about it, he invited everyone to simply release whatever unforgiveness they were harboring for someone. He said that they may need to make a phone call or go be by themself for a little while. There were about 50 people who immediately left the room with their phones in hand. Others left weeping as a group. It was amazing! People were being set free of that bondage of unforgiveness.