Thanks for Prayers
When the circumstances doesn't fit the situation, God can change our circumstances to fit the situation and His plan.
The CABA (Ohio) Mudout Team arrived in Connelsville, Pennsylvania late afternoon Sunday the 11th. A focused hard working team it was. Mike served as our lead chaplain, an experience I always treasure, because of his enthusiasm . The team went to the Italian Oven for our evening meal. Our waitress was the first person we presented the gospel to and her heart was open and she professed Christ as her Savior. Monday we shoveled several feet of mud out of a basement. The Mud was to the top of a cooking stove and a bicycle had the handle bars sticking out of the Mud. Again the gospel was presented and the father, mother and their 21 year old daughter professed Jesus as Savior. While Mike was witnessing to them, I spoke with Sam the grandfather who is my age. I ended up working on him for two days without success. That night after our showers, a 28 year old man came walking past the Church and after hearing the gospel accepted Jesus.
After suffering through Tuesday with something in my right eye, while waiting for my eye appointment at 1pm on Wednesday , I went with the Site Blue Hat to assess some potential jobs. Because of this I met a 50 year old lady who had lost a lung earlier and lost two of her lady friends in the last month. In addition to being flooded she found out that her sister in law was diagnosed with cancer that morning. After hearing her story with God's help I probably did my best Crisis Intervention counseling session I've ever done. I watched this dear Christian lady move from deep orange to yellow on the stress chart. When we sat down and started talking there was nothing but stress on her face. When we finished she was actually smiling as she talked with excitement about sharing the Evange Cube, I had given her, with her grandchildren.
Her son was able to get the sump pump running to remove the water, and we were able to treat her basement for mold and mildew.
On Friday since I was still adding drops to my eye, before my return appointment with the eye doctor, the Site Blue Hat requested permission from our Blue Hat for me to accompany him as chaplain. The lady which he wanted me to speak with wasn't home, so we went to the home which the team was coming to, once they finished a smaller job. The homeowner and her older sister was carrying various articles out of the basement in order for our team to have room to work. We started working on some of the tear out. During my conversation with the homeowner, when I went out to retrieve a tool, I felt the need to insist we sit down there on the apron and talk. I ask the question, "how are you doing" and found out there was lots of built up stress and hurt. As we concluded the conversation I shared the gospel with her and her sister Jackie professing Jesus as Savior. Jackie hesitated, saying she had prayed before, but then said, "but, I haven't had that moment". I always talk about having that moment, when talking to folks I suspect don't fully understand the Salvation experience.
We got our Mudout Unit hung up and God already had a large Bob Cat and a Dozer at the site. The brakes went out on our Van and God provided a General Motors garage which took it in the same day. Somehow I managed to get a piece of fiber in my right eye, which caused a large scratch and had to be removed with tweezers. God provided an eye Doctor who was the top eye Physician in the area according to many sources, to remove the fiber and medicate it. Not only that, but God had added a lady to our team with 25 years experience working with an eye Doctor, who kept telling me what eye drops to get and when to apply before I got in to see the Doctor. This was her first time to go out.
During the healing process God through the change of my circumstances used me to counsel hurting people and lead two ladies to Christ who were seeking Salvation through works rather than Jesus shed blood on the cross.
I appreciated Mike our lead chaplain so much for his encouraging devotions. The team completed 9 jobs and Mike and I was blessed with being a part of 7 souls being added to the Kingdom and encouraging several. We shared the gospel with 8 lost people and 7 accepted Christ. Perhaps that's why Satan kept putting obstacles in the path of our team.
So, as you can see Satan was throwing lots of things at us. We thank all of you for your prayers and being a vital part of the team as always.
God bless,