Families on Mission day 5

Tuesday

Your days start to slide together when you are merely at someone’s call. We literally do not know what we’ll do each day until that morning.

We are secret agents, with Nate Deihl, NAMB missionary, sending us via text each day our mission. (cue bond music) This message may self destruct.

 The young man with all our kids up there on the left is Nate. You can find him here .http://barefootbelievers.com/

So last night our plans changed and we were on call for a full day of ministry

1. day camps (Island Retreat RV park and Gulf Shores State Park)
2. beach reach at public beach (yes despite double red flags and media warnings there were still people on the beach) 
3. movie by the pool at Island Retreat

Preparing for this trip has been a long time coming, in addition to a year of guitar lessons, preteen leadership camp, working at  the Velma food bank, & leading on Wed. nights our kids also met everyday for  a week learning their patriotic musical. First thing I told them, using the fun new craze silly bands, was to be flexible.

Blessed are the flexible for they will not be bent out of shape.

Our team has now grown to 20. There are many different levels of taste, age, ability and world views represented in those 20 people. We are constantly around each other- eating, traveling from site to site, & talking to people. There are opportunities to be flexible.

Day camps report- Island Retreat was up from 2 to 6, State Park went down from 8 to none.

Beach Reach had us hanging out and playing football with Chad, a single dad with a 2 and 3 year old boys hungry for food and attention . Bryce and I befriended a elderly woman named Chicky and her daughter. Turns out they too were looking to bless some one that day. We had a great visit and before leaving after asking about her salvation we prayed for her daughter who needed truth clarified for her.

Our single dad and his 2 boys was wanting to play football. So today beach reach included a pick up football game. A couple of others joined in and at the end of play Cody prayed and gave a quick devotion.

Movie by the Pool was by far the best attended thing we’ve done.

We “canvassed” the area 2 times and it paid off- we had over 60 people. Barefoot believers has an inflatable screen and the sound system and projection system to do such a thing. Nate put it up and left us with it.

The kids watched from in the pool but us adults didn't have any chairs. Here's what Jimmy rigged-

Are we from Oklahoma or what?

We viewed “Finding Nemo” . I hadn’t seen it in a while- cute and funny. Packed with good tie ins to conversations about Jesus. Some I mentioned at the end-

The scene where Nemo first hears (from the pelican) how he’s dad is coming to find him and all the things he has overcome reminds me of how I felt when I first heard what Father God has done in order to have a relationship with me. Awestruck amazement.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world (me and you) that he gave his one and only son so that we would not die separated forever from him but that we would have everlasting life.

John 14:6 Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life no man comes to the Father except through me .

We were like those fish in the last scene, trapped in our sin and Jesus Christ made a way for us to be free.

Freedom is a wonderful thing. Freedom to choose. Free to leave the God I love. But what I’ve found in Christ is worth leaving everything else behind to follow – he’s all that and so much more. 

As Cody said in his sermon Sunday – Jesus is not the key he’s the treasure!

Mission accomplished day 5 Gulf Shores, Alabama