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Alabama '96
On Dec. 2nd I packed my van and drove to Alabama to walk the highways with the cross of Jesus Christ. I met with Lance Rowe in Mobile and we began to carry the cross together, walking on both sides of the highway. Lance, with his long hair and beard, wearing a white robe, looks strikingly similar to the American version of what Jesus would have looked like. This has been very fruitful as many people pull to the curb to talk to him. Christians, backsliders and sinners are drawn to the sight. Some repent, others ask for prayer or ask to pray for us. Still others are offended and voice their opinions. Yet the greatest joy is the 1 or 2 people daily who surrender their lives to a new Master and Savior, Jesus Christ and turn their backs on the god of this world, Satan. Newspapers take pictures. Local television news reporters follow us with cameras, and Christ is preached.
Each day begins between 6 and 7 AM. Living in an RV motor home is tight quarters with a husband, wife, 4 children and a guest (me). Breakfast is served, the children get ready and at about 10 -11 AM we get to the streets with the crosses and carry them until sundown, stopping to talk to anyone who desires to talk about Jesus. Michelle brings the children, drives us to the drop off spot (where we left off the night before) then she takes the children to a place where she can park while they home school. Occasionally she catches up to us to bring refreshments. If the weather is bad, she stays near us in case we may need shelter. She picks us up at the end of the day. After dinner (or while it is cooking) Lance and I will go shopping... for a place to park the RV for the night. We go to the nearest churches and ask if we can park in the parking lot. Some turn us down (I wonder what they do when a homeless or needy person comes to them). The word “Refuge” really hit home with me on this trip. I can really feel the compassion for the homeless people who do not know where they will lay their head one day to the next. Jesus said “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” and “inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” Matt. 8:20 & 25:40.
Crossing the bridge into Biloxi, Miss. will slam you with its lights, glamour and wealth. I nearly felt sick as the multitudes of blind souls sell their souls to Satan as “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves with many sorrows” 1 Tim. 6:10. Several men stopped for prayer for deliverance from this lust for money and addiction to gambling. One man had just gambled away his last $40, stepped outside and met Lance. He surrendered his life to the Lordship of Christ and repented of his sins, seeking to be freed from this Lust to gamble. Another man, who also called on Christ as Lord and Savior from gambling in a prayer with Lance, had liquidated nearly all of his savings without his wife's knowledge, to feed his lust for gambling. To look at these worldly mansions of lights and bricks and glamour should be a clear sign to any passerby who is REALLY getting rich from this devilish scheme. “Having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.” 1 Tim. 6:8-9.
In Moss Point, a man watched me from the door of a pool hall. As I walked towards him with the cross, he turned and went into the building. So I followed him. Once inside, I got a very cold feeling I wasn't welcome by those inside, but I pursued the man and gave him a tract. As I asked him about his relationship with Jesus, a drunken man, Mitchell, playing pool attacked me verbally, speaking foul words and challenging the gospel and its truth. Every time I would turn and talk to someone about Jesus, this man would attack my faith. So I got wise and challenged him on his faith. He took me outside and my sincere concern for him broke through and he softened. Mitchell said he loved the Lord but lived in sin. He grew up in church and knew the things of God. I encouraged him to turn from sin and serve the Lord. When I gave him a pocket sized Gideon's bible, his eyes began to water and he tried to hide his emotions. Another man came against me and the Lord Jesus Christ as he entered the pool hail. Mitchell, now filled with godly indignation, rebuked the man and went into the pool hail and began to preach. I picked up the cross and left.
One time, as I walked past a school, I only saw the edge of the fence around the corner of the building but I could hear the sound of a basketball on the court around the corner. As I drew closer, I saw two men chasing the ball to the fence so I walked up to the fence to hand them a tract. As I pushed the tract through the fence, I noticed that there were about 50 men around the basketball court, playing ball, pumping weights and wearing a t-shirt with green and white striped pants. And then I heard...“GET AWAY FROM THE FENCE” from the guard. Oh well! It's not everyday the men in jail get approached by a man with a large wooden cross. I'm sure every police officer in town kept a close eye on us after that.
One day we were on a back road looking for the way out to Hwy 90. With a giant cross on the roof of the van and JESUS stickers pasted all over it ,the security guard at Kessler Air force Base simply saluted us and let us pass onto the airbase. But we wanted to get to Hwy 90 and when we backed up to ask directions he discovered his error and with embarrassment he told us we could not come on the base and gave us directions.
I approached one young man at a convenience store who was at the phone booth. He lifted his shirt as I walked toward him to show me the tattoo around his belly button. The words “you are entering satans realm” was written in a circle around his belly button. I handed him a tract and asked “will you read this?” He said “Did you read this?” again lifting his shirt I said “Yes, will you read this?” and he took the tract and said “OK.”
This Friday (Jan. 3rd), I hope to return to continue carrying the cross with Lance. I will meet him in New Orleans, where we hope to pave the way for the “Mighty Warriors” of God who will gather there to do warfare against Satans biggest party of the year, “Mardi Gras.” If you are a soldier of Christ and ready to battle the darkness with the bright light of Christ, Please come.
Your prayers are precious and I covet them. We are a team fighting together for righteousness and the Glory of Jesus Christ. You and I are simply tools for the Master to work through to reach the lost and the perishing and I encourage you to do your part. “We are Ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us:
we implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God. “2 Cor. 5:19
For those of you reading this letter who are not yet reconciled with God, as an Ambassador for Christ, I beg of you urgently, BE RECONCILED (MAKE PEACE) with God.
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