YOUR STEPS ARE ORDERED BY GOD

Friday night Phil and I were going on a date to see a movie. This was a time we were both looking forward to. It was "our time", and we both needed it. Let's set the stage. Phil came home from work hung with the kids for a while. While playing with the kids he asked me which movie theatre were we going to? I wasn't very sure, so he asked me to look it up. While he was in the shower I told him I remember which theater, because I saw it earlier that day. So we travelled to movie theater that I remembered seeing the sign at. Okay it was the wrong one. There are only two theaters in Conway so it wasn't a big deal to go to the next one.

Remember how I said your steps are ordered. Well, as we were on our way to the other theater we saw a man walking. This man looked just like a man who lived in the trailer park about a year ago. His name is Rusty and he was married to a woman named Julie. They had a child while living in the trailer park, we had a showering of gifts for the baby. This couple was one of the first we actually invested in at Oakwood. To give a little more history, I would often go to their home and help with the baby and Phil would spend lots of time with Rusty. Then one day they just moved out of the state. They had talked about it but did not give notice or anything. We were surprised and of course sad because we did not feel the work was complete. Now you are up to speed.

We see this guy who looks just like Rusty. Phil looks at me and says do you want me to call him and see? I said yes. Then Phil cautions me, if I call him we need to commit to whatever happens after that. Reminding me of the fact that we are on a date and I can't complain if we move in a totally different direction. I thought for a second and I was really happy to see if this was him and meet his need. Phil yells out from the car. He responds. It was Rusty! So we turn around and pick him up. He looks us over and calls Phil's name. He then gets in the car. He was on his way to his mother's house. He had just arrived in Conway about 10 minutes ago. He had been travelling for two weeks from Louisiana (by bus, foot, and car etc..). So I began to ask him about his life and where is Julie. He then proceeds to tell us they are divorced. She tried to microwave the baby!?!?! He tried to kill her?!?!?! They lost custody of the baby girl and she is with a good family in Arizona. He goes on to tell us how the Lord has been good to him even though he did not deserve it at all. He told us the God finally delivered him from drugs and alcohol. Now I want you to clearly understand these were the words coming from his mouth...not us! There was a look of sheer horror on my face mixed with an odd delight. God was working in his life amidst ALL KINDS OF CRAZY!

We then arrive at his mother's trailer. Yes I said trailer! We found a whole new trailer park that we had not even known existed. Rusty explained that this park is full of displaced Katrina victims. This park is different in some ways from Oakwood in that there are tons more people. It seemed like every trailer had two or three cars in front and families living in groups. Rusty's mother had three young boys in her trailer. After we dropped Rusty off and exchanged phone numbers, we took a trip around the park. Many of the people were living in campers, trailers, or whatever. It was certainly the Lord who lead us in this direction. Rusty was excited to reconnect and we are too.

So we were able to take care of Rusty, locate more "souls" to hear the gospel of Christ, and get to the movies on time. All in all we had a wonderful time!

Again our steps are ordered by GOD! This is the second person the Lord has brought back that we may continue to serve. I am very excited about what the Lord is doing and going to complete.