Thursday, July 13, 2006

End of Tour

The LifeLight tour with Sin-X, Ryan Daniel, Tapestry and Remedy Drive went more than well. We visited 8 towns in 10 days, with a free concert in every town. Each band had a chance to play music and share testimonies with the predominantly high school and college age students. All the bands worked as a team to communicate the message and love of Christ through everything that we sang and said. It was a time of learning for us as well as a time of being able to share our experiences with the other musicians.

Sin-X (Aubrey and Matthias's band) was voted most improved and it was amazing to see them communicate with more and more confidence the message that they have for suicidal youth, reaching them with the message of hope.

Sin-X has also officially disbanded as it's members are going their different ways. Matthias and Aubrey will continue playing their music as God leads them.

Andrew (from Bemidji) and Rachel (from Sioux Falls), both who are taking steps to become full time missionaries, both came on the tour as helpers, and what a help they were! Thanks guys!

During the tour, we enjoyed ministering and fellowshipping with all the bands and LifeLight people (thanks guys!), and we left the tour encouraged,blessed, tired, and a little bit sad to be parting ways with our new friends.

Now, fast forward not quite a week... Tony, Matthias, Andrew and Sharayah took a trip to Sheridan WYO to pick up the rest of our stuff, i.e. hope chests, books two beds and an old pickup, as Tracy's mom (Pat, who is also our home secretary) is moving to Texas later in this winter.

We packed up the Mother Load and pickup and hit the road on the way to Bemidji. This trip was something else... the Mother Load broke down, the truck broke down... we spent quite a bit of time in prayer, an extended period of time trying to fix vehicles, and some time on the shoulder of the interstate waiting for a tow truck. We ended up leaving Matthias and Tony in Watertown while the rest of us drove the rest of the way to Bemidji. It took the better part of the next day for Matthias and Tony to find and fix the problem in the Mother Load. They had to leave the truck in Watertown, behind the Wal-Mart, for a return trip on Sunday. Which brings us to our next story...



Tony and Ron took a road trip on Sunday, which was the Lord's day for them to have an appointment that to normal eyes would not seem so divine.



Ron and Tony's Divine appointment came at their dinner break after picking up the pickup in Watertown, at a Chinese restaurant.

An elderly man fell in the restroom. He had a colostomy bag that he had been trying to empty and had filled everything, toilet, sink and floor with it's contents and in the process had aslo fallen down. Tony and Ron could hear him moaning from the bathroom and the man's daughter was worrying about him. Tony and Ron braved the smell to find the man in the mess. They spent the next 20 minutes or so helping him, and calming him.

As Tony and Ron were telling the story afterwards and we were listening with open mouths as they talked about helping this man and we were wondering at the grace that God had given them to just jump in and help a perfect stranger with something so personal. Their actions defined by their relationship to Him.



We will be in Bemidji for about 2 weeks, getting ready for our trip south and to Mexico. Bemidji will also be the final resting place for the Mother Load. Whether it was her last roll, from Sioux Falls to Bemidji, we cannot be completely sure, but it looks like this was the Mother Load's last ride.

Someone said that the bus was our trademark, who we are, but we are not defined by our things, we give them their voice. Just as when we walk forward in the things that the Lord has given us to do it is not our actions who make us who we are but it is our relationship to Him that makes us anything.



We are defined by Christ.

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