Author: Rick

We are hitting the highway again this morning, heading towards the Mexican border. On our way here to San Jose, traffic was congested but still moving fast. I had to get into the left lane to make our junction. At the very moment I shoulder checked to the left, the traffic in front of us stopped. When I turned my head back around, there was a car right in front of us and I swerved hard to the left. We were moving fast and we missed the car by what seemed like inches. 20 minutes later, another car swerved into our lane and I had to honk. Then last night when I was loading the car, a drunk guy came zipping through the parking lot and literally missed the front of our car by an inch.

We got the new computer and Rick spent days transferring all the programs and files from my old one. I just don’t know what I would do without this kind of help. He has really cleaned things up and got me up and running. Thank you Rick!!!!

While Rick was cleaning up my computer, a little voice said for me to clean up his garage and make him some shelves, so off to Home Depot we went and picked up some lumber. I had a few tools in my car. I used the storage bins for saw horses and made him some shelves. It was fun to help a little tiny bit in return for all that he is doing for us.

We ordered new tires for the car so that we could preserve the winter tires we had on our car. We ordered our top pick (Robin’s favorite for traction) and booked an appointment. They called and said the tires were in, but then the day before the appointment, they called again and said only 3 tires had made it. So we re-booked for Monday (yesterday) and ordered different tires. They confirmed on Friday the tires were in, but then yesterday, a few hours before the appointment, they called and said only 2 tires had made it. Since we were scheduled to leave the next morning (this morning), I said well what do you have in stock. They had the most expensive option in stock, so I said go ahead and install those ones. When I went to pick up the car, one of the tires on the winter tire set was damaged. It was obvious that this happened at the shop since the gouge marks were fresh with no dust in them and some of the gouges were on the bead where the tire would be protected by the rim. I pointed this out, but all three of the managers said, “no it didn’t happen here”. I was in disbelief… but they ended up saying they would find me a replacement. I had a headache all day, so it was a stressful day. But after a great sleep last night, my headache is gone and we are ready to load up the car and take off.

We just feel so blessed and upheld by the Lord and His saints and at the same time, we feel battles of various sizes raging behind the scenes of the visible. Thank you for your prayers.

I am pondering often Jesus’ words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs IS the kingdom of heaven”. I’ve always thought of that verse to mean that the spiritually lacking people are blessed because some day they will enter a better kingdom. But I’m realizing that Jesus said, “is”. I see that he meant something different. Kind of like Paul’s words, “when I am weak, then I am strong”. Those who are destitute of pride in the heart, the meek, the spiritually poor are in that moment in a state of heart in which they experience an entirely different realm from heaven and therefore they are blessed indeed. It is so true. What a joy it is to ponder and grow in these simple and basic truths of meekness, humility and seek to be in a state which is destitute of pride.

t.

We arrived at Rick’s to set up a new computer to be used at the recording studio. The new computer was defective so we had to return it and order a new one. This has delayed our trip by about 5 days. While we were waiting for the new computer to arrive, the Lord led us to go spend some time with my cousin on the north coast. She just had surgery for breast cancer and they are also going through some other difficulties, so we felt it would be good to see them. We have been trusting the Lord to be a loving presence and listening ears. We are asking for prayer for Scott to come to know the Lord Jesus. He was raised under a strict Catholic mother who denounced God on her death bed and his father later in life became an atheist, at which time he had a long talk with him explaining why ‘there is no God’. This had a huge effect on Scott who at that same time then decided to denounce God. But we see glimmers of light and faith in Scott. We see he is drawn to the things of God in essence. We are praying the Father drag him to Jesus in Spirit and Truth. What a difference in his life that would make.

Two days ago, Scott set I up with an appointment at his massage therapist in Fort Bragg. The best I’ve ever experienced. Richard, the therapist, really took an interest in our work and so he asked me to give a 1 hour lecture at his home school community. So yesterday, Robin and I took in our Power Point presentation and shared our work with these kids. It was a fun educational and interactive presentation. The kids were fascinated and we trust God has planted some seeds in their hearts as to who we are as human beings and what matters most in life.

The new computer has arrived to Rick’s. We will head back to San Jose today. We hope to get it completely configured and transfer all my essential programs onto it. So thankful to have Rick’s expertise and serving heart! We may be able to visit another church in Pleasanton on the weekend but are uncertain if time will permit. While at Rick’s as he works on my computer, I plan to help him by building storage shelves in his garage. On Monday, we also have an appointment at the tire shop to take off the snow tires and put on some All-Season tires. We hope to be on the road again by Tuesday. We also plan to stop in Cottonwood, AZ to visit and thank SOM and hope to be rolling into Mexico on the 13th or 14th depending on if we spend a night in Tucson or not. We will need to fill up on groceries in AZ before crossing the border.

Thank you so much for your prayers, especially for Scott. May he see the LIGHT of the world which his heart has always longed for.

All is well,

t.

We left Gord and Gail’s this morning (see attached photo Gord texted me) at about 10:30am and crossed the boarder into the US with no issues and not even a line up. We were the only car there! What a breeze. We were so thankful to be able to cross with no covid testing, or lockdowns. The highway was slushy and wet most of the way through northern Washington, but the snow gave way to rain. We made it as far as Medford Oregon and decided to spend the night here.

On to San Jose CA in the morning.

Thanks,

t.