Greetings from Cleveland, TN...
Our meetings ended here Sunday evening, what a blast we had with our friends at the International House of Fire! (http://www.houseoffire.org/)
Our next venture out on the "Highway to Revival" is Thursday when we take the short trip to Huntsville, AL and our weekend meetings with our friends at Global Impact/The Realm ministries (http://www.globalimpactinc.org/events.html)
We are taking a few extra days here in Cleveland to get a little rest from travel as well as get some things caught up on, like writing blog articles, doing some laundry, making some neglected RV repairs, and even defrosting our RV fridge. So yesterday (Monday) we were very surprised to have a special guest for a few hours.
One of the goals of this blog is to show the very, very human side of our ministry. Corinne and I are not fancy, special people in any way. We have always made ourselves "touchable" to those we minister to. We are very human, and sometimes we like to share our "human side" to those we minister to. Often people only see the "ministry side" of people that come to their churches, and fail to realize that they are human beings too! So many see the the exciting side of our lives, like when people get healed or people get a right on prophetic word. Yet they never see what goes on behind the scenes, or what price that we've paid to be able to do what we do. Therefore, in case you have never noticed, Corinne and I are very human too! The anointing people see in a meeting isn't always with us!
When we were a "normal family," raising our 5 children, we always had pets. We've had many dogs, only 2 cats, several fish, our daughter Stacey even owned a southern corn snake. We used to raise parrots, one time raising over 50 of them, from Macaws to cockatiels in our basement. We really love dogs! I used to be a hunter and had several beagles, and bird dogs, what a blast! Who cared if I ever shot a rabbit, the fun of watching a beagle run a rabbit, howling at the top of its lungs can never be replaced!
About 5 years ago, a little guy, Rascal came into our lives. He's been a riot for us! His official, ministry name is, "Rascal the Revival Budgie!" He's been known to capture my lap top from time to time, and even write a special news letter or a blog article. My good friend Pastor Mike Fletcher in CA always tells me, "You should have Rascal write more articles as he does a much better job than you!" Mike always follows his slick comments up with a "LOL" but I know what he really thinks!
Rascal on the laptop
Corinne says that we're, "Animal Rescuers!" Our Kids do the same.... let a stray lost dog come their way and watch out... they have a new pet for life! Maybe it's the same for our ministry... Corinne says that we are always trying to rescue someone... even some of the people we minister to!
Sunday, while preparing to leave our lot at the KOA Campground here in Cleveland, on our way to our meeting, we saw a beautiful Boxer dog near our car. As we got into our car, he seemed to show great interest in us, he seemed like he was lost. As we drove away he chased us down the road and we feared him getting on the main road and being hit by a car. I sped away so he couldn't see us go. After the meeting, pulling back into our lot, there he was sitting outside the door of "Pilgrim 1." This Boxer wanted in for the night, and it was COLD outside! Of course our hearts almost broke in half as I had to hold him so Corinne could get in, then I had to push him away so I could sneak through the door. We were both very troubled by this!
I woke up a few times, wondering about our new friend. Would he be OK outside in that freezing temps? I thought that if he stayed, maybe he'd get some heat from sleeping under the motor home. I prayed, "Lord send that dog home!" Yet, I felt that he'd be there in the morning, and sure enough... he was! It was at that time that both of us jumped into our "rescue mode!" I opened the door and in came this beautiful male Boxer dog. My guess is that he was between one and two years old, and he was cold and hungry. We didn't have any dog food, so Corinne made a couple of slices of toast and she spread some peanut butter on them. Wow.. did he eat! I was sitting on our sofa and this pup just jumped on my lap and began to lick me and love on me like no dog has ever done! He was thankful that I opened that door! The dog had a collar on that was imprinted, "Harley Davidson," so we called the him, "Harley."
Of course Rascal wasn't so excited to see our guest! We locked him down until we were sure the dog and the bird would be ok together. They were. Harley was a real gentleman towards Rascal, curious, but not aggressive at all.
The question became... "OK Lord, now what?" It would be so hard for us to have a dog living like we do and doing what we do! Yet, everything within us was saying... KEEP HIM! Some days Corinne and I feel like we'd like a normal life sometime! We've been living in "Pilgrim 1" for 8 years now, and from time to time we do get the feeling that we'd like to be "normal people" too! We'd love to once again have a dog!
All morning we played with Harley, taking him outside to run some and take care of necessary functions, wondering.... "Lord, are we supposed keep this guy?" Wow... we really wanted to hear a resounding, "Yes!" come back from the Lord! However, it was one of those times when Heaven was brass... He wasn't saying a thing!
I was thinking, even though Harley seemed a little underfed, and he even seemed a little afraid of quick hand movements, like he'd been beaten some, that he did belong to someone, so I called the Park office and found that Animal Control was looking for him. Shortly after an officer came to our lot and loaded Harley into the back of his truck. Of course we almost cried! Yep, the Revivalists once more had their hearts broken! (we always have to fight back tears when we leave our Grandkids behind as we head out onto the "Highway to Revival.")
Well, heres the deal about this article; Yes, I wanted to show you a little of the human element of our lives, but more so, I think that there is a great lesson here. We all were once strays! We had all once lost our way, when our Rescuer, the Lord Himself, took us in. Some of you may still feell very much lost and alone, but I want you to know that the Lord will never call Animal Control on you, as His plan for you is to give you a life of hope and peace! In the midst of your storm, you can enjoy His peace!
I guess that's my job, just continue to do what I do, sharing His love and advancing His Kingdom!
I really thank the Lord for giving us a few hours with a new friend, Harley! I thank Him for His love for Corinne and I and blessing us with our very own dog for half a day! It was fun and to that we are very thankful!
Kingdom blessings!
Larry the Revivalist
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