Royalty

On the cruise, we were treated like royalty! We were waited on hand and foot. Our meals were 4 course meals with more silverware than was necessary…12 pieces to be exact. Not only do I not know the proper etiquette when it comes to fine dining, but my “clumsiness” is really accentuated. I kept using the wrong silverware, so the waiter would very discreetly bring me the right one and take away the ones I was supposed to use. One night, I did something in which my butter knife went flying over my head and landed on the floor behind me. The guy simply slipped me a new butter knife later. I dropped bread on the floor often. One evening, I spilled food on the white tablecloth staining it in the process. One of the waiters came by and combed up the crumbs left on the table. However, the stain wasn’t removable without some sort of bleach and a washing machine, so the waiter covered the blemish with a white cloth napkin. I really kept those guys running and cleaning up after my messes!

I was introduced to Turkish baths this vacation. A Turkish bath is like a steam room on steroids with aromatherapy smells. There was a Turkish bath on the cruise and at our hotel in Ecuador. When you enter one, it takes some getting used to because the steam is so thick. However, you come out feeling refreshed and relaxed all at the same time. There was what they call a Persian Garden on the boat. It was a quiet area in the spa that consisted of a steam room, Turkish bath, sauna, showers, and heated stone lounge chairs overlooking windows that looked out onto the sea. They played soothing music and to our surprise, most of the time we went there, Brock and I were alone. That was one of the most relaxing things I’ve ever experienced.

In Ecuador, we could get a one hour massage for $22, so we took advantage of that! We also got a seaweed wrap. Since everything was so cheap, we tried all sorts of things. I do NOT recommend a facial in South America, though. I’d never had a facial before, so I decided to try it. Apparently, they do it differently than we do in the U.S. I felt a little uncomfortable the whole time, but when she got out some sort of needle, I stopped her. “No!” translates in every language I guess. Later, my sister told me that botox is often a part of the facials they give in that area. That was a close one!


Our cruise ship...the Celebrity


Our cool waiter, Tangkas


Us at dinner with our table partners, Allan, Penny, their daughter Molly, and her friend, Katie


The Persian Garden


The pool on the ship


Brock's going into a Turkish bath at our hotel in Ecuador


The pool at our hotel in Ecuador


The waterfall at our hotel

We're Back!

We got back in the wee hours of the morning yesterday. When we left Ecuador, it was 84 degrees. When we got back, it was 12! That was quite a shock. We are both nursing a sunburn in the middle of winter. My friends said that I looked like I've been faking baking because my tan is so out of place! Hahaha.

In fact, right now, I'm sitting by a crackling fire that Brock built for me this morning. Today is my birthday which means that I can do whatever I want to do. What I want to do is eat pizza (something I only do on my birthday) with friends and go to the Cocoa Tree where we are going to show pictures and tell stories from our trip.

I intend to do the same thing for you over the next few posts. I have so many stories to tell and pictures to show you! We had a remarkable time! This is an overview: The first week, we went on a cruise with Brock's parents. It was 5 nights long and we made two stops. The first stop was Grand Cayman Island, and the second was Key West. These were two places I've never been before, so that was exciting! The cruise left out of Miami. Then, Brock and I flew from Miami to Guayaquil, Ecuador where my sister, Kay, and brother-in-law, Trent, are right now working on some language skills before they go to their permanent location in Bolivia. Guayaquil is the largest city in Ecuador and reminded me of a city in the states...it actually reminded me of Chicago. It was on this great river. The only difference was everyone spoke Spanish, and, well, there were a lot of differences...I'll tell you later. At the last part of the week, we went to the beach which was a two hour drive away. It was a beautiful beach! More to come...

The Lord Provides

We stopped at a gas station late one cold, wintry night. It happened to be the same station that we had pulled in a couple of weeks before when we had a flat tire. At that time, Brock was having difficulty getting out the spare tire because it was the first time he’d changed a flat in our pick-up truck. He didn’t quite know the right procedure and the owner’s manual was not very helpful. Only one driver pulled in to get gas as we were working on our flat. The driver happened to have the same truck as we did. He showed Brock how to manage getting out the spare. That was definitely God!

Now, we were at the same exact gas station and I noticed a car parked in front of us that needed help. Smoke was pouring out of the open hood. As Brock was pumping our fuel, I prayed that the Lord would allow us to return the favor by being able to help the owner of this vehicle. It didn’t look pretty, though. Money was tight for us at the time, so I prayed that if we needed to help them financially, that the Lord would provide.

About that time, I looked up and Brock was walking toward the broke down vehicle. I love that about him. I didn’t have to lean out of the car and tell him to go see if he could help, he went on his own accord. He also went without hesitation. He didn’t stop and think, “What if it’s dangerous?” or “I don’t think that my spiritual gift is to help people out that are broken down.” He just went to them to see if he could help.

Several minutes later Brock came and informed me that the guys were from Mexico and driving to Alabama to work. One of them spoke broken English and basically told him that he was too tired to drive any longer. Their car was old and overheated, so Brock bought them some coolant for $10. After pouring it into the engine, the car started up and could actually drive. They followed us and we checked them into a hotel down the street from where we lived. The hotel was more money than I thought it would be…$68 including tax.

When I went home, I calculated our finances and figured out that we could just afford it, but we couldn’t buy food the next day. It was the 13th of the month and we didn’t get paid again until the 15th, so for the following day, we would have to skip lunch. However, I felt a peace that the Lord would take care of us.

The following morning (which happened to be Valentine's Day), we went to check up on the guys. All that I had left was half of a loaf of bread and a couple of oranges. I stuck this along with a 2/3rd empty container of mustard in a bag. Brock only had 4 bucks in his wallet, so I told him to give the guys the cash in order to buy some lunch meat. The guys were so appreciative. They told Brock that if he had not helped them, they would still be stuck at that gas station. “Thank help you me,” the guy told Brock.

Add up the money we spent on the guys---$10+$68+$4.

On our way out that morning, I grabbed the mail. I sorted through it and all of it was junk mail except one check from our job. It was an expense check that I’d completely forgotten about and had not counted on for our finances. The check was for $82.

The Lord never tells you to do something without providing the way for you to do it. Whether it’s a talent that you need or wisdom or finances, the Lord will not leave you high and dry. He totally will take care of you.

He may be telling you to do something right now. You may think that you are incapable of doing it. You may have lots of excuses why you cannot do it. They may actually be valid excuses, but not for our God. He can overcome all obstacles.

Prayer in Numbers

We were on the side of the road at 5pm in Nowhere, Missouri. We were to be in Dallas, TX in order to perform the next day. We still had an 8 hour drive ahead of us. That didn’t leave us much time considering that it was after 5pm and most of the shops were closed. I called my mom and asked her to pray for a miracle that we would be able to get there on time. We called a few others from home as well.

As we waited on the side of I-44 with cars flying by, the chances of a miracle got slimmer. A couple of roadside mechanics came out to look at the engine. At first, we all thought that it was just a busted hose. Then, the estimate got worse. They thought that we had blown a head gasket. I’m no mechanic, but I know the difference between a hose and a head gasket. It means more time and money. We called a shop and had a wrecker sent. The shop workers said that they would be able to fix it by Saturday afternoon at the earliest. Other shops in town said they could not get to it until Monday. Our show in Dallas would be finished by Saturday afternoon.

Brock called a friend that lived in Springfield, MO which was about 45 miles away. Our friend knew a guy that lived in the town in which we were stranded. This friend of a friend came to us on the side of the road just as the tow truck showed up and lent us his pick-up truck to pull our trailer to Dallas to do our show. He also paid the tow bill. The next day, we were in Dallas setting up our show. We got our miracle. The Lord hears the prayers of His people.

One time while we were out on the road, I was feeling very down and defeated. I couldn’t shake the doom and gloom feeling that I was waking up to every morning. After a few weeks, I got a cold and was sick while we were on the road. We called several people to pray for me to get better. Not only did I feel instantly better physically, but emotionally something broke free as well.

Anytime I feel as if I cannot handle something, I call on my prayer warriors to battle for me. Sometimes you are too close to the situation in order to pray effectively. Other times it is just too big for you to tackle. These are the times when you need to call on extra reinforcement. The Bible says “Where two or more are gathered in prayer, there I will be.” Many of you that read this blog and pray for us have been such a blessing to me. I could not make it without the prayers of you faithful servants.

Prayer in Evangelism

The summer before my seventh grade of school, we had a youth pastor for the summer that was very evangelistic. He taught us ways to lead people to the Lord. That summer, I was jumping on the trampoline with my cousins. The older of the two cousins, who was about 8 started asking me questions about the Lord. I tried to answer her questions the best that I could.

It began to rain, so we went inside the garage. When I continued speaking about what it meant to be a Christian, I noticed that my younger cousin (age 5) was listening just as intently as the questioning one. With pouring down rain in the background, I
was able to lead both of my cousins to the Lord.

After you’ve had the privilege to lead someone to the Lord, it’s all you want to do. So, I decided to tell all of my friends about Jesus at school. That’s easier said than done. I was in junior high that year. There was a lot of pressure in junior high to fit in. I couldn’t just fumble over my words and start a conversation about the Lord out of the blue.

One morning, I asked the Lord to help me be able to tell someone about Him on that very day. I told Him that I didn’t have much practice at it, so He was going to need to have someone come up to me and ask me how to become a Christian. Around noon that day, a girl came up to me in P.E. and said, “You are a preacher’s kid, how do you become a Christian?” I was able to tell her to the best of my ability how to become a Christian. She didn’t become a follower of Jesus that day, but she still heard the message of Jesus Christ. That was enough for me that day! I think back to that simple prayer to allow me to tell someone about Jesus that day. Can you imagine the Lord saying, “No, I don’t think that I want to grant you that request. I can’t use you today.” Of course He wants us to tell people about Him.

Recently, we were at a camp in Oklahoma. Brock was the camp preacher for the week. I passed by a girl one morning coming out of the cafeteria. I really felt the urgency to pray for her. I also felt as if I should talk to her, but I didn't. Later, the camp leader said that there were a couple of girls from a girls' home there. They were probably ordered to come to this camp. He said that when he shook her hand, she grabbed it really hard and released it aggressively. He could tell that she was very hard. Of course, it was the same girl that I had passed by that morning.

That night, I watched as she sat on the back row and drew the entire service. The next night, I saw her and her friend who was from the girls' home sitting at dinner alone. I joined them for dinner. Arora and her friend, Crissy, had a difficult life. My heart just broke for them. They didn’t click with anyone at the camp. When I asked Arora how she liked camp, she replied, "It's okay."

I began to pray that these girls would be saved and experience the love of Jesus. I also began to pray that the Lord would send these girls some friends at camp. That night, I watched Arora sitting on the back row again. She doodled on a piece of paper again for most of the service, but when Brock began to speak, she listened. Brock gave an invitation. The invitation was really difficult. Brock told them that becoming a Christian doesn't just take all of your problems away. Also, he explained that it doesn't make you more popular. In fact, it probably does the opposite. However, when he had the people who wanted to follow Jesus stand up boldly in front of everyone else, at least 50 stood up to become a Christian! As Brock had all of the people making a decision for Christ go to the back, the rest of the students stood up and faced the back giving the new Christians a standing ovation. It was so moving.

I watched as Arora sat in her seat while people left to receive Christ. I began to pray that somehow she would realize that the Lord loved her. Just then, Brock began to speak again and say something that he normally doesn't say after the invitation...He said that the Lord loves each one of you. He explained that some people in the crowd had never experienced true love, but the Lord wants to give you unconditional love. Those were the same words that I was using in my prayer for Arora at the time! At that point, Arora left the building to find a counselor, and she became a true follower of Jesus that night.

The next night of camp, Brock spoke about growing up and getting off of the milk (Hebrews 5). He told them that if they are a Christian, they are ministers. Then, the worship leader came up and led them in a time of praying for each other. Ministry happened! The Holy Spirit was thick in the room as middle schoolers ministered to each other. I watched as girls surrounded Crissy and Arora and prayed for them. Arora and Crissy were very emotional. Later, I found out that during the ministry time, Arora grabbed Crissy and told her that she needed to get saved. Crissy went outside and cried out this prayer..."God, I hated You, but now I love You."

What a privilege it is to contribute, even if it's simply by praying, to someone finding the saving grace of Christ!

Right Place at the Right Time

I only had one night in between a series of shows out on the road. Brock was actually in another city doing a show without me, and I was to join him the following day. I had just eaten dinner and was walking across the parking lot to the bookstore. Brock was telling me on my cell phone that my friend, Kara, just found out that she had a miscarriage. Not only that, but she found out about the miscarriage that day and her husband was in New York City working for the weekend. My heart instantly went out to her. She was so excited about their first child. Her family lived thousands of miles away. I wondered if she had even received a hug yet.

I immediately called her. Kara said, “I know where you are.” I was walking across the parking lot that she was parked in. Later, I found out that she was just driving around and pulled into this particular parking lot. She was praying a desperate prayer to the Lord. She told Him that she didn’t want to go home and she didn’t want to be alone. That’s when I not only entered the parking lot that she was sitting in, but called her!

I went to her and threw my arms around her. We cried and talked together. It was just what Kara needed.

I didn't do anything special. The Lord simply put me in the right place at the right time. Sometimes I wonder how many of these ordained meetings have I missed out on because I got too busy. I think that if we truly listen to that still, small voice, there are ministry opportunities often along the way of life. Now, my ears are open. I go to a quiet place to get away from the noise if I need to in order to hear God. I want Him to interrupt my day because the joy that comes from ministering to others is addictive!


Me and Kara

Connection in Prayer

It sounded like a gunshot blast and glass scattered everywhere. Time stood still as I debated whether I was dead or alive. We were in Houston, so I immediately assumed this was a drive by shooting. Was I shot? I did not feel any pain. Maybe this is what it feels like to be in shock. Then, I hear Brock instruct me to put on the brake and pull to the side of the road.

I inspected my person as well as Brock and found no evidence of blood just a lot of tiny glass fragments. The windshield of our big rig had a craetor in it the size of a football a few inches above my head.

Brock noticed three pick-up trucks in the oncoming lane pass our truck just as the explosion occurred. As we waited for the police to get there, the trucks came back by in our same lane honking and shouting. At that point, we decided to get moving.
When we finally were able to talk with a police officer, he was very concerned that I was driving. He told us what we had already expected. If the object had hit a couple of inches lower, it would have ripped right through the glass and into my head killing me instantly.

Later, we found out that the weekend before, the same sort of thing happened to another guy in that same area of Houston. Teenage guys in pick-up trucks threw cinder blocks at the car in the oncoming lane, except in this case, they came back by with baseball bats in hand. The victim was able to escape somehow.

This really shook me up. I realized how fragile life is and how close I came to death that night. Brock said that just a few minutes before the incident, he felt compelled to pray for our safety.

The next week, I e-mailed the happenings to a friend from college, Gin. She asked if it occurred on Friday night. I informed her that she was correct in that it was Friday night, but why did she ask? Gin replied that Friday night, she woke up in the middle of the night with me on her mind. She thought this was a little strange because she had not talked with me for a while. She felt the urgency to pray for me.
I was so comforted to know that the Lord not only protected me, but also woke someone in the night so that she could intercede in prayer on my behalf. Interceding for someone before the Lord is one of the biggest responsibilities as well as privileges we have as believers.

At that point, I told the Lord that I wanted to be that person whom He wakes in the middle of the night to pray for someone. I wanted to be a faithful interceder for others. After I prayed that, things began to happen. I'll tell you about one instance tomorrow...


Me and Gin


Our windshield

Calling All Angels

One lonely night in September after performing two shows in a row, I tiredly walked across the dark parking lot to our truck. I started offhandedly singing a Train song, “I need a sign to let me know you’re here.” I began to pray, “Lord, I DO want a sign that You are here with us out on the road.” Then, I sang the only other part of the song that I knew, “Calling all angels…” That got me thinking...I wondered if there were angels around me right at that point. After all, I was in a dark parking lot by myself. I climbed up into the truck and sat on the passenger side.

Shortly after, Brock came out and sat down in the driver’s seat. He looked at me and said, “Are you ready for this story?” He explained that a 13 year old boy came up to him after the show all excited. “Did you see them?” He asked. He went on to say that as Brock was speaking, there were hundreds of angels behind him. Then, one angel whose face was so bright that you couldn’t even see it had his hands on Brock’s shoulders the entire time he was sharing the gospel. The boy asked Brock if he felt the angel’s hands. Brock looked at me and said, “I KNOW that boy saw those angels. In Joel it says that our sons will have visions.” Brock said that he was praying that the Lord would show us how real He was that night. I told him about my recent prayer and song.

I don't know if this happens every night Brock delivers a message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, I know that it happened on that night. The Lord allowed us to get a glimpse into the supernatural through the eyes of a 13 year old boy.

Spiritual Warfare

We’ve noticed that when we do shows where there is a lot of outreach, Satan comes out fighting. We do a crusade in which over 80% of the audience are unchurched. One night of the crusade, Brock came to me backstage before the show and said that there was a girl in attendance that night that the leaders were worried about. She was coming to cause trouble. Shortly after that, one of the guys traveling with us at the time came backstage and said that something was troubling him. He felt that there was some sort of opposition. I told him about the girl that was in the audience. We were all praying that she would not disrupt what went on that night.

The show was in a high school gym. The girl who we later found out was into witchcraft sat in the back against the wall. Some of the leaders kept an eye on her the entire night. She sat up in the stands and cast spells on us during the show. She even took out voodoo dolls. However, we could not hear her disruptions because there were almost 2,000 people in the crowd and she was in the very back of the room. One of the leaders informed us that when it came time for the invitation in which Brock invited people to become followers of Christ, she passed out against the wall and was quiet. After the invitation time was over, she came back to consciousness.

I remember at one show during the most intense part of Brock’s message. A girl in the crowd began to laugh in a way that made the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Brock stopped what he was saying and addressed the girl. She continued to laugh uncontrollably. Finally, Brock commanded her with much authority to be quiet. She instantly stopped. We knew without a shadow of a doubt that this girl was possessed by a demon. We’ve seen a few demons manifest at our shows and they always seem to have one purpose…to distract. They want to get the attention off of the Lord and place it on themselves.

I’ve noticed that Satan uses the same tactic in my life. He seems to make the same thing go wrong over and over again in order to really push my buttons. He doesn’t just allow our trailer to be stolen, it’s got to be 2 trailers, several tools, our laptop, 2 mini disc players, cash from Brock’s wallet, $2,000 worth of stuff from our rental truck (the one we were using after our truck caught on fire).

We do a three day crusade in which we use a band and a bmx team. I can’t tell you how many times he’s made the same thing go wrong in each of our ministries. Once, all three groups were stranded at an event because of vehicle problems. After one crusade, we all went our separate ways and every single group had brake problems. We were all in different states at the time. Everyone was sick at one show.

In one city, something would go wrong every night right before the show began. One of those nights, one of the bmx bikes broke in two pieces during practice. Nobody even knew how that was possible. Brock welded up the bike in the trailer as the band had already begun playing. The rider took to the ramps with his bike still glowing red from the welding.

We’ve had girls flash Brock, people flip us off, and others literally turn around in their chairs in order to turn their backs on us during these kinds of shows.

I was beginning to get so focused on Satan’s tactics and how to combat them that I was getting distracted. I would take my focus off of the Lord and put it on Satan. Even though Satan did these kind of tricks time and time again, I would let it get to me.

I’ve learned to expect this sort of thing. If we do outreach and we’re seeing so many people become Christians, Satan is going to come and harass us. Now, when something goes terribly wrong, I think that the Lord is about to do something incredibly good because Satan is on the prowl. Instead of letting it get me upset, I get excited about what the Lord is going to do. Tomorrow, I'll tell you a story that showed me that the Lord has His side in the battle as well!

Trial by Fire

A year and a half after our trailer was stolen, I was awakened in the wee hours of the morning to the phone ringing. I heard Brock mumble something on the phone. After he hung up, he nonchalantly began putting on his clothes. When I asked him where he was going, he replied, “I’m going out to the parking lot because the truck is on fire.” “What?” I exclaimed. Brock was already on his way out the door.

I was awake then! We had been trying to sell our truck for a few months now. The box truck was always in the shop for one thing or another. I almost didn’t want to sell it to anyone in its current condition. I certainly only expected to break even if we sold it. I had even made the comment that I wish it would just fall in the river so we could be done with it. Now, apparently it just burned up! What about our equipment? Had it burned up as well just after we had replaced everything that was stolen? These thoughts ran through my head as I hurriedly dressed.

I ran out to the parking lot to find the firemen popping open the “burglar proof” padlock we had purchased for the back of the truck with bolt cutters. “I think all your stuff is okay,” he was saying to Brock.

After I realized our equipment was okay, I simply said, “Hmm.” Then, I thought to make sure they didn’t think it was insurance fraud, I needed to seem more upset. The “For Sale” sign on the side of the truck did look a little fishy.

The fire started in the engine. It engulfed the entire cab and began inflaming the wall that separated the cab from the box when the fire department was able to put it out. There was much smoke damage in the box of the truck. Fortunately, our equipment was protected by the road cases we had purchased before.

Brock had been eying these bigger, nicer trucks. The one he really wanted was a Freightliner truck with an RV conversion on it. This would be a more comfortable ride and could handle a lot of miles.

It was going to take some money for a down payment to get into this new truck. We decided $3,000 would do. However, after saving for over 6 months before, we only had $1,200. Within 48 hours of the truck burning, we had a total of $3,000. After 6 weeks of desperately trying to find financing, a company gave us a great deal on financing with NO MONEY DOWN. I thought that maybe we could use the $3,000 we had raised on the taxes, but when we finalized everything for our new truck, we saw that there was an additional closing cost that we did not know existed. The amount was $3,000 which we had, but I did not know how we were going to afford the taxes.

We thought we were going to need to pick up the new truck up north somewhere. The dealership was in Boston and the manufacturer was in Indiana. Someone had been borrowing our truck from the factory, so we were going to pick it up from wherever they were at the time. Of all the places in the country that it could be, our truck was in Pasedena, TX which was 45 miles from our house.

In the meantime, our insurance company settled with us for the fire. From a truck that we would be delighted to break even on, we received an extra $3,742. You don’t have to pay your deductable whenever fire is involved, so we got the full amount.

A few days after we received the insurance check in the mail, we went to pay the taxes on the new truck. The girl at the desk was nervous to tell us how much money it would cost to pay it. She wrote the amount on a piece of paper and slid it across the counter to us. It read “You owe $3,740.” We even had $2 extra!


The burnt truck






Our new truck

The Bubble Car

I was tired of driving the big, box truck around town. Our bank only had a drive thru. The box truck didn’t make the clearance, so I’d have to walk through the drive thru. It was embarrassing. Also, we needed a personal car for tax reasons.

We only had $1,000 available to buy a car. Brock said that if we could find a car that day for under a thousand dollars, we would buy it. After searching for hours and finding the worst cars…cars that didn’t even run for around $3,000, we finally spotted one. The tag on the window said “$995.” However, it was the ugliest car I’d ever seen. It was an ’86 Cheverelet Celebrity. It had been spray painted silver all over. Even the rims were silver. Then, on top of the silver spray paint were little clear balls covering the entire car. The car had been in an art car parade. A third grade class had decorated it.

We bought it for $990 including tax.

On the way home, we almost caused an accident because people were distracted by the looks of the car. That car was definitely a celebrity. It would stop traffic (literally). People would pull over to take pictures of it. Some people even recognized it from seeing it in the parade on television.

We had to do something to not attract so much attention to the car, 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 decided to really simplify our lives and move into our truck/RV (more about how we got into our new truck tomorrow) and not live in a house or apartment or anything.

We gave our car to a guy whose car had just died the week before. Brock tried to warn him over the phone that the car was ugly. He asked if it ran okay. Brock told him that it ran great and didn’t have many miles on it for a car its age.

Whenever the guy came to pick it up, he fell over laughing at how ugly it really 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.
We lived on the road for two years. It was actually quite an adventure (more about some of those adventures in the posts to come).

Road Cases

We stood in the driveway looking at all of our new “used” cases. We had several empty road cases and a box truck...no equipment to go in them. Brock looked at me and said, “Now, we have to pray that the Lord will fill them up.”

Shortly after our trailer had been stolen, Brock saw a road case at a furniture store for $50. Road cases are usually very expensive…hundreds of dollars each. We found out that in Dallas (only a couple hours' drive), they had a warehouse full of these used road cases because a computer company got rid of them. One of our friends went to the warehouse and bought 5 of them for us for $350 total. They were all different sizes. One of them was so big that it should have cost $900 alone.

The only problem with these road cases were that you have a road case custom made to fit your equipment. We didn’t even have any equipment yet. The first piece of equipment we got was our sound system (the one I talked about in yesterday's post). We went to place the speakers in a case and they fit like a glove! It looked as if the case were made for it. What's more is that the other sound system that we were originally going to buy would have been too big.

As we began getting more and more equipment, the same thing was happening. The gear fit to the 1/4 inch! To this day, we are finding how new props fit just right in our old cases.

Anyone would look at this situation and say that we did things backwards. We should have purchased the equipment, then the truck, then the cases. However, God had something else in mind. His ways are different than ours. We must have the faith to follow His lead even if it seems impractical. He doesn’t always answer our prayers in the fashion in which we think He should or expect Him to. If we had done things in the practical order that I listed above, we might have taken some of the glory. The fact that the equipment fit the cases to the tee can only be God’s hand.

In a later post, I'll tell you how those cases literally saved our equipment...

Praying Specifically

If you haven't read yesterday's post, do so now. The Lord told us to pray specifically. So we did...

Once, we went to pick out our new sound system. Someone had given us the exact amount we needed to buy this particular sound system. While we were at the store, Brock found a better sound system that was only $200 more. He felt like the Lord wanted us to get the better system. We decided to pray for the extra $200.

That day, we went to a wedding and didn't tell anyone about our specific prayer request. At the wedding, our friend came up and handed us an envelope. He pointed out a girl at the reception and said, “The Lord told her to give you this.” We opened the envelope to reveal $200!

At one point, I had a friend who was suffering financially. She went to buy some shoes at Payless and realized that she couldn’t even afford a $20 pair of shoes. Her birthday was coming up and I really wanted to buy her a $20 gift certificate to Payless Shoes Store. However, I didn’t even have an extra $20. I began to pray about it. Shortly before her birthday, I received a check in the mail from our water company. I had overpaid them by $20. So, I was able to get her the gift after all.

During this time, we acquired a strong group of prayer warriors that are still on our team. Because of all of the prayers, God was so powerful in our lives.

Even when we did not have many props or illusions, Brock would still perform and give the gospel. Whenever he spoke, the Holy Spirit just seeped out of his mouth and covered the entire room. One time, Brock had just begun speaking and had not really got to the meat yet, but people began flooding the altar. It was almost as if it did not matter what Brock said because the Holy Spirit was speaking in the supernatural realm.

I was just amazed at all that the Lord was doing. He answered each prayer in much the same way as the ones I listed above. In six months time, we had received everything on our list and more. Tomorrow, I'll go into a little more detail about how we acquired some of the equipment during those six months.

Trailer Stolen

Although it was a hot August day outside, coldness was developing inside me. I was sitting in our townhouse asking the same question that had been running through my mind for days: “What are we going to do now?”

Brock and I had been married for 3 months, and everything was going well. We had been all over Texas and performed over 30 times that summer. People were getting saved and I was adjusting rather well to life on the road.

Then, it happened! We had dropped off our trailer at our house in order to drive to a wedding. When we returned, our trailer with all of our illusions, sound, and lighting equipment, everything we needed to do our show was gone. It had been stolen. Our insurance did not cover a penny of it---$20,000 worth of stuff gone! To this day, we have never retrieved any of it.

Shortly after that, our garage was broken into and a lot of Brock’s tools were stolen. A few days following that, Brock’s wallet was stolen and we lost all of the money we had. Then, the new townhouse we had just moved into flooded.

I would love to tell you that I just prayed through it all and I was just living in joy despite the turmoil going on around me, but that was not the case. I was angry and discouraged. That August day I cried out to God, “What are we going to do?” We didn’t have much money before. Now it would be impossible to do shows and get money to replace our equipment. I had given up my career to do this ministry and now it seemed that it had been stripped away. I told the Lord that I could not handle this anymore. I felt like He said, “Good.”

After sulking around the house, mulling over this response, I finally went back to God. I asked Him why it was so good that I could not handle this ministry anymore. He said, “Because now I can.” I was beginning to understand. I had been trying to run the show. I was trying to be the one in control and that is not how the Lord wanted it.

Then, I asked again what we should do. The Lord said in an almost audible voice, “Pray specifically and I will show you my power.” I said, “Okay, I need $50 for groceries and $545 for the rent due on the first of next month.”

For some reason, I did not tell Brock. Maybe I did not have enough faith. Although it seemed a little strange, I did not doubt that the Lord told me to pray specifically. I just didn't quite know how He was going to show His power.

The only engagement we had before the rent was due was Brock would be speaking at his dad’s church. He was to fill in for his dad that Sunday as he was to be out of town. They were going to pay us $150. That was great, but I was praying for $595.

Brock spoke so beautifully that day. He preached a sermon we now refer to as “Does the Devil Know Your Name?” He used the passage out of Acts 19 where the seven sons of Sceva got their tales whipped by the demon. I had never heard Brock speak with such passion and authority before. He basically said that if we were doing the will of the Father, Satan would be coming after us. I knew that we were definitely on his hit list.

After the service, Brock handed me some checks. We did receive the $150 we were promised, but individuals had handed Brock money as well. I gathered all of the checks together and quickly added them up. The money totaled $595…not $600 or $594, but $595 just as I had asked for.

I excitedly explained to Brock what we were supposed to do. We wrote down everything we needed not only to replace what was stolen but to advance our ministry as well. One by one, the Lord answered our prayers and our specific needs were met.

More on this tomorrow...

Asking For a Sign

I was driving home from a long day of work and grad school in the fall of '98. It was Thursday evening and I couldn’t stop thinking about Brock Gill. He and I were such close friends…best friends for that matter. I had never thought about him romantically until this week.

He and I didn’t see each other as often since I moved 30 miles away in order to attend grad school. He was finishing up his senior year of college at the one where I had graduated from the previous year and doing his ministry on the side. I was taking 9 hours of school and working 40 hours a week. We barely saw each other these days.

Sunday night, he had stopped by my apartment on his way home from a show. When I opened the door, he came in and swooped me up in his arms and twirled me around. We were so excited to see each other!

It was now Thursday night and although I had not talked to Brock since then, I could not stop thinking about him. Why was I having feelings for him now? I began to pray about the situation. The deal was that I didn’t want to begin a relationship with Brock unless the Lord wanted us to be together. We were too good of friends to ruin it with a faulty relationship. I had decided that we were either going to get married or stay friends.

I prayed for the Lord to give me a sign. If He wanted me to marry Brock, I wanted Brock to come over to my house that night. This was a tall order because we rarely saw each other to begin with and never on the weekdays. Plus, most of the times when we did hang out, it was at his house because our friends lived there. Also, I asked that Brock would decide to come over on his own accord. I didn’t want to even call him.

When I got home, there were a couple of messages on my answering machine from Brock. The first one said to call him as soon as he got this message. With each call, he was more and more desperate. The last one said that he was on his way over to my apartment. After hearing the messages, I was in shock. This was it! The Lord had clearly shown me that this was His plan for us.

On Brock’s end, he had a bad show the night before. On the way home, he really wanted to talk with me…I’m the one that he felt could comfort him. However, it was too late to call me, so he waited until the next morning. He began calling me as soon as he woke up that Thursday morning.

The Lord started answering my prayer that I made at 8pm several hours earlier. Once we began talking that night, we realized that we had a lot of feelings stored up for each other. At that time, we realized that we were in love. The rest is history. We were married the following year, and Brock is the love of my life!

Praying Your Dreams

I would sit on my bed and dream about what my life would be like. As a 13 year old, I began telling the Lord my dreams. I felt like He was telling me that if I stuck with Him, He’d make all my dreams come true. I did stick with Him. Some of my dreams were rather mature and some were very 7th grade. These were my dreams:

1. That year I had a friend at church who was valedictorian of his high school graduating class. He asked me if I’d ever like to be valedictorian. I told him that I would like being number one in my class, but I didn’t like the idea of all of the pressure that comes with being “valedictorian.” I also would not want to give a speech. I’d rather sing instead. I’m sure he thought I was a cute little girl.

2. My intent was to study psychology in college. Even as young as I was I knew how wacky that major could become. Therefore, I wanted to go to a Christian university. I also wanted it to be a three hour drive from home. That was close enough to come home every now and then but far enough away that I couldn’t come home every weekend. However, in Daytona Beach, FL where I lived at the time, there wasn’t a Christian university within my driving distance specifications.

3. My best friend had my body style…except she was about 3 or 4 sizes smaller than me. I wanted to be her size. I went straight from kid sizes to size 7 in juniors in the 7th grade (ladies you know what that means). I wanted to be thin like my family and friends.

4. People would ask me if I was going to do something in the ministry when I grew up. I told them that all I knew was that my husband was going to be in the ministry and I was going to be very involved. I didn’t quite know what that meant, but I had a few ideas about how I wanted to meet this guy. My favorite show was Who’s the Boss. I wanted to be best friends with a guy and then all of a sudden, we would realize that we were in love just like the characters on the show. I did not know how that could possibly happen. How could you not know that you loved your best friend?

5. I wanted to travel to every state. Whenever we went on family trips, I’d ask my parents to stop at the welcome centers in every state. There, I would collect brochures with information about the state. I was fascinated with the differences in each state just because you crossed some imaginary line.


When I was a junior in college, we moved to Texas. There, my dreams began to come true:

1. In the little school from where I graduated, I was number one in my class, but I could not be valedictorian because they had a rule that you had to attend that school for a certain amount of time before you could be valedictorian. I didn’t meet that requirement. However, they acknowledged that grade-wise I was number one. They didn’t quite know how to handle the ceremony because the valedictorian was to give the speech. Someone suggested that I sing our class song. Therefore, I sang "Hero" by Whitney Houston at my graduation.

2. One day, as I was sitting in the counseling center of my school, I looked at all of the posters on the bulletin board about different colleges. There was a tiny bumper sticker that read “East Texas Baptist University.” I decided that was where I needed to go. My parents encouraged me to apply to other schools, but I was set on this one. I knew it was where the Lord wanted me. Guess how long it took me to get from my house to the college? It was a three hour drive.

3. The summer before my senior year of college, I started dropping weight for no apparent reason. My mom was afraid that I had a tapeworm. I dropped five sizes in less than six months. At that time, the Lord was calling Brock (my future husband) to be a Christian illusionist. Later, I discovered that had I been the same size that I was in high school, I would not be able to be Brock’s assistant (my future career). You have to be rather small to fit in those crazy boxes!

4. Brock Gill fasted for 21 days at the beginning of his ministry. The Lord told Him during the fast how his ministry would go. He also told him how he would meet his wife. He told him to stop dating because he would marry his best friend. I met Brock two days after he finished that fast when I was a senior in college. We became best friends instantly. People were always asking me if we were a couple. To which I would reply, “Nah, it’s just Brock!” A couple of years later, after I had already graduated and Brock was in his senior year of college, I realized that I was in love with him. It was crazy! (More about that in the next blog).

5. Because we have lots of big equipment, we must drive to most of our shows. Before I turned 30, I had driven to every state in the Continental U.S. I’ve since then been to Alaska. I’m sure we’ll make it to Hawaii sometime soon!

The Lord took those tender dreams and prayers at such a young age and made them come into being. In fact, it was all part of His plan for my life. I don’t know if He gave me the desires of my heart or if He put those desires in me. Either way, it’s been a wonderful journey that I’m still going through. I still pray my dreams and am watching the Lord make them come true. Don’t be afraid to pray you dreams. The Lord wants to share those with you.

Vacation!!!

I am so excited!!! By the time you read this, we will probably be in the air flying to Miami to start our vacation. We are going on a real vacation! Brock's always wanted to go on a big vacation after doing this ten years, so this is it! I've been saving some money to go. I tried to book us a trip to Hawaii because it's the only state we haven't been to, but it was too expensive. So, we are going on a cruise for a week with Brock's parents and then, going to Ecuador for a week to see my sister all for less than a 4 night trip to Hawaii. (I guess we'll do Hawaii another time.) Plus, this will be really special to get to spend time with Brock's parents and my sister and brother-in-law.

Over the next couple of weeks, I've prepared some posts. These posts are collections of amazing God stories that we've experienced over the last ten years and more doing ministry. My mom is posting them for me since we are going to be out of the country not knowing how consistent our internet access will be. However, realize that I still want you to comment. When I get back, I'll catch up on all of your comments and fill you in on our vacation. You are not going to want to miss the next couple weeks of posts. They are most of our best stories in a collection. The Lord has been so good and faithful to us!

Brock's Birthday Weekend

Today is Brock's birthday, so we have been having fun all weekend! Brock converted our gas burning fireplace (which we never used because it makes the gas bill too high) to a wood burning fireplace. He kept a gas line there with a key to allow you to turn the gas on and off. There is a perforated pipe where you can put a match on it and it starts the fire for you. After you get the wood burning, you turn the gas off. Anyway, Brock thought that the gas would cause a little fire, but it was a HUGE fire. He threw the match on the perforated pipe and a big explosion occurred behind him. He almost didn't make it to age 33! Some of the hair on his arms were singed.

Last night, we went to a new restaurant for us...it was Cuban. None of us in the group had been. It was really good! We did our normal thing and tried each others' dishes and shared the whole time. Then, the guy gave us a bunch of pastries for free. After that, we went to the skating rink!!! It was hilarious. Brock sarcastically entered the race for adults (which there was surprisingly a lot of) and went extremely slow and dramatic lifting each arm and leg up really high with each slow stroke. We were dying laughing, but Brock could hear other people on the sides saying, "Look at that guy." They thought that he was serious. When Brock does crazy things like that, he never breaks character, so you don't know that he's joking unless you notice us rolling on the floor laughing. He came in last place by a long shot. He then asked the leader if he should go around again. The guy said, "Don't worry about it." Oh, it was so funny!

Today, we are all going to eat at PF Changs for lunch and then everyone coming to the house tonight for chili and a bombfire. We'll also have a fire inside now!

2007 Pictures-Part 5

Brock's brother got married.


And I was the photographer.


My sister and brother-in-law moved to South America.


Plenty of parties at the house with food...


More food...


Fun,


And Fire


Countless times at the Cocoa Tree...





What a wonderful year!!!

2007 Pictures-Part 4

Freedom Experience was bigger than ever!


It took two pictures to get it all in.


The Freedom Experience Gang


New illusions


New shows


We met Barbara in person.


She came to our show all the way from Mexico!

2007 Pictures-Part 3

We spent most of the summer in Florida...


with family...


and friends...


where we performed at Big Stuf camp...


and spent much of our summer at SuperWow camp


We performed at the Hard Rock Live theater in Orlando, FL,


The Crystal Cathedral,


and on the Gospel Music Awards.

2007 Pictures-Part 2

We went to the SuperCross in Daytona during bike week,


Universal Studios


Disney World


The Dew Tour


Baja, Mexico...


where Brock rode the Baja 1000 race course


I went to Florida to hang out with my quatro girls

2007 Pictures-Part 1

This is a time of reflection. I always chronicle our lives through pictures. I thought I'd share some photo moments from 2007 with you.


Brock raced in the Extreme World Arena Cross...


and won quite a bit


Brock and my friends had a surprise birthday party for me


At the party, they flew in pizza from Gino's East in Chicago


Brock almost died. This picture doesn't do it justice, but after being stung by a killer wasp or something, he had whelps all over his entire body.


Lucas moved in.


My village group formed.