Abilene

Shalom y’all, from Abilene, Texas! It’s been sort of a crazy week. Kat and I spent the better portion of our week still touring in Illinois. Then this past Friday we began an 800-mile drive to Texas. We spent Friday night in Edmond, Oklahoma with Steve and Theresa Kahn, friends of Jews for Jesus.

This week would have been exhausting by any means, but Kat and I were very worried about her brother Matt and his family. Matt lives in Ashland City, TN, which you have probably heard about if you’ve listened to the news at all this week. Ashland City got hit hard by tornadoes; there was a complete loss of power and the roof of the hospital was torn off. Praise the Lord, Matt and his family were safe and protected in their basement.

We will be staying with Kat’s cousin Rayna in Lubbock midway through the week, which we’re looking forward to. Rayna and her husband Jay were at our wedding last December, and were a big hit with my family. Keep us in your prayers this week … we are really feeling tired, yet desire to finish the week strong and do some great ministry at our presentations.

Touring and tornados

Well, here I am out on the road. For the last week I’ve been presenting Christ in the Passover at different churches. This is a presentation in which I set out a traditional Passover seder table, and then go through the order of the seder dinner, explaining each of the symbols and how I believe it points to Jesus.

Kathleen and I left Los Angeles on March 25, and the days leading up to departure were quite stressful. Kathleen was very sick, and it wasn’t until the day before we flew out that we were certain she was well enough to travel. The U.S. Post Office suddenly decided that the address I have been using since last July is not correct, necessitating some frantic change-of-address business. And we discovered that someone at some point stole Kathleen’s social security number and used it to establish a checking account, which the identity thief apparently overdrafted. Kat looked at me late Friday night and said, “God must be about to use us in a really powerful way, because Satan is sure knocking us around.”

He hasn’t stopped either. Although the tour has for the most part been great, we’ve continued to have some horribly stressful stuff happen. Early in the week, we got a call from Kat’s mom, letting us know that Kat’s 2-year old niece Annabelle had just gone in for emergency surgery. Annabelle had fluid in her lungs from a severe bout with pneumonia, and when the surgeon got inside, he found the fluid had solidified. She is recovering, but it was awful to be traveling while this was going on. And then there are the tornadoes. You see, it’s tornado season in Illinois.

This past Saturday we were at a wonderful church in Pawnee, IL (near Springfield). In the middle of the service, we suddenly had to stop and cram everyone present into a stairwell, because a tornado was headed for town! Although I grew up in Illinois where this sort of thing is common it was the first time Kat has ever heard the civil service alarms go off, and she was a bit frightened. It’s sobering to realize that such a destructive force of nature is headed for you, and only God can preserve you.

Lest ye, O Faithful Reader, think that this is nothing but a laundry list of whining, let me say that I wouldn’t give this experience up for anything. I’ve done 4 tours like this previously, but it’s so different having my wife with me. There is a depth to the ministry that is accomplished that has been added by her presence. People sometimes open up to Kat that might not open up to me. And I have to say … each night during the presentation when I ask my wife to come and light the Passover candles, and I watch her face as she recites a blessing, I thank God all over again that this is the one He set aside for me alone.

Our travels continue for the next 2 weeks. Keep us in your prayers, please!