Was driving up to Santa Fe New Mexico from Albuquerque and I was noticing the green to my left. When I got to Santa Fe I checked my map to see the name of the river. I was surprised to see that it was the Rio Grande moving south through Albuquerque, Las Cruses and El Paso on its way to the Gulf of Mexico. I was acutally preaching in Espanola where I crossed the river to get to the church. I had a great time preaching in the church for Pastor Ben Gomez and his wife Hazel. One of many highlights were my conversations with a man named Steve. Steve is a member of the Jamez Pueblo. He was in line to move along the medicine man path when he began to get frustrated with some of the realities of life as a manipulating medicine man. This led to a series of unfortunate events that led him to Christ and is now serving God there in the church. I thought about my interactions with witch doctors in Zambia and the Greek word for witchcraft in the bible "pharmakia" and all of the manipulation involved when people use a spiritual covering to get what they want. God's warning to us pastors and disciples to not use the word of God deceitfully.

 

I toured downtown Santa Fe and Los Alamos where the atomic bomb was put together. I had taken a leisurely drive to Santa Fe going up the Oak Creek canyon. On the way back after stopping for breakfast with John Robinson in Gallup I went south to the Mogollin Rim to Payson and then Northwest to Verde Junction and then a dirt road over the mountains through Cherry back to Prescott Valley. I still enjoy a good road trip.

I had my first cancellation, the evangelist's nightmare, but Wickenburg and Casa Grande came to our rescue. I was preaching for Tom Cunningham in Casa Grande on a Wed. night and he asked me to preach to his church in the prison where he is chaplain on Thursday. I wasn't sure how to approach it or what to expect. We arrived, first thought, lots of female guards. Second thought as we walked the yard, it is really hot out here. Tom is at perfect ease as he walks towards his office through the yard greeting the prisoners and guards as well as taking time to talk and encourage some of them to come to church. Technically, he is unofficially encouraged to not preach the gospel, but to do the administrative work of the chaplain. You could say his days are numbered since he has no intention of stopping the preaching. He has favor with the warden and their rate of attendance to the different services is higher than any other prison so it makes everyone look good. This night one of the prisoners explained to me the level of favor Tom had within the prison. We were going to have a baptism. Tom had a small plastic pool with him. As the inmates began the almost Zambian task of filling the pool without a hose or able to reach the closet that had a basin to easily fill a bucket this inmate explained to me that he had been in different prisons for over 25 years and this was only the second time that he had seen permission given to have a water baptism. I think we (Tom and his guys) baptised over 40 men that night.

 

I preached my Naaman sermon on submission and integrity. I could not believe the high level of attentiveness as I preached. I reached the last character in the sermon where I ask the congregation if they can guess who the character is. I have waited and waited while people tried to get the answer, but not this night, the answer came immediately. Fifteen men came forward and prayed and seeminly all 150 seriously prayed about the issues of their lives as related to the sermon and brought home by the Holy Spirit. I was blessed and I hope they were also.

 

I was politely complimented by many of the inmates as they put away the equipment and cleaned the facilities. A man came up to me who looked like he was about 55 and in perfect physical condition. He started talking to me and let me know that he was Billy Jack. I decided to not acknowledge the film as I talked to him. He related how what I preached is a lesson he has learned although it was very difficult at first. After we left I asked Tom about "Billy Jack" and sure enough it is the man the films are based on. Only he is not 55 he is 72 and he has been known to still land a good roundhouse kick on someone asking for it. Apparently he eventually lost his battle with the Prescott police and they got him put away. Tom knows the details and thinks he is wrongly imprisoned. They want to remake the movies and he wants a lot of money so that he can hire that expensive lawyer and get him out. Otherwise it is 8 more years on a 20 year sentence. Apparently this all happened in Prescott, so I wonder what I can find out about it.  

I started reading “The Three Musketeers” while I was in Virginia Beach ($1.00 from the local library). I then proceeded to Alexandria to preach for Rocky Calona. I had a good time. My book of choice matched Rocky’s young church. He had 3 committed men and he took on the role of d’Artagnan. The revival finished Thursday night and I was picked up Friday morning by Laura Michelle, Audra and Brooke whom she had just picked up at the airport. We were all rendezvousing for Laura Michelle’s graduation from Saint Mary’s College of Maryland. We had a charming breakfast at the chocolate bakery in old town Alexandria. Then off to Southern Maryland.

 

The graduation went smoothly. We were joined by Joan, her mother Faith and her sister Melanie. Pastor Robinson and his wife Dianne from Wickenburg paid us the ultimate compliment by joining us for the graduation. On the day of the graduation we were joined by Joan’s sister Mary, her husband John and their daughter Karen. We packed and cleaned Laura Michelle’s room and had a meal together and then got ready for our hectic exit strategies. We drove Brooke to the airport early Sunday morning. We parked in down town Annapolis and fell asleep waiting for things to open. When we wonderfully woke up (Laura Michelle, Audra and I) we walked downtown after a morning coffee and then toured the Naval Academy where Justin attends school. The next morning Laura Michelle dropped us off early again for our return to Arizona while she continued onto a campus Christian get together.

 

While home we did the flower pots and attended Audra’s graduation from High School. This was quite an achievement after everything she has went through. The school was very gracious in helping her and she was able to complete all of the tasks in order to graduate. Once again we were blessed by Pastor Robinson and Dianne. We followed up the graduation with our first official barbeque at our home. Rib eye steaks seemed to have fit the bill. In Zambia we had fillets for a fraction of the cost, but I was not complaining.

 

I preached for Terry Wakefield in Austin. His church is the picture of what most pastors in our fellowship would love to emulate. I asked him what he attributed to his ability to get the job done in such an efficient way. He talked about his job as a service route salesman. He dressed properly, he kept his truck clean, and he always did what he said. Good advise for anyone.

 

I am now preaching for Ed Kidwell in Denver. Onward and upward.