7Nomads

I know we are in 2025 now. Lately I have been wanting to do an update, telling about our recent travels. Before I can talk about the most recent things we have been doing, I feel like I need to talk about last years travels and adventures. 2024 was a year to remember. It was memorable in lots of good ways, at times it was also very difficult. It was a year full of adventure and excitement, as well as trials and hardship.

Last year, our family and Kingdom Pursuit Ministries traveled more extensively and did more ministry than ever before. There were so many experiences last year, and I know I will not be able to cover all of them, but I would like to give a recap, month by month.

I know that someday I will enjoy having this record of events, to remember all the adventures that God has taken us on. I hope you enjoy reading along as well.

January – Indiana and Alabama

In January we bought a fifth wheel because of the unfortunate diagnosis of our beloved motorhome. Through a miraculous gift we were able to buy a truck to pull the fifth wheel. This was a complicated time of change and I did write about this in a previous blog post.

We started the year at Open Door Church in Converse Indiana. This is the church where Matt first gave his life to Christ at the age of 8. It has been wonderful to start out here the past few years.

It was cold in Indiana in January! Some of our team already made their way south and we all met up the next month in Florida. Matt preached at Goshen First Assembly of God on Sunday and later in the week we celebrated Olivia’s 19th birthday with family and friends.

We made our way south for revival services in Alabama for what has become a yearly tradition. The Davis family traveled with us and helped out with worship as requested. The region around Clanton, Alabama has become so dear to our hearts. I believe we started coming here in 2017 and there is a refreshing and reviving as we return every year.

We try to make an effort to do some exploring wherever we land, and although Clanton Alabama isn’t a tourist destination, we have enjoyed exploring this region over the years. Birmingham and Montgomery are both about an hour away and are full of civil rights history . We have often made the trip to Prattville to walk around the Bamboo Forest, do some shopping, and grab some donuts at Krispy Creme – yum!

February – Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida

From Alabama we made our way further south to Gulfport, Mississippi. We tried a new-to-us bbq restaurant called “The Shed” to celebrate our son Caleb’s 17th birthday. Matt preached at Extended Hands Assembly of God. Gulfport is a nice area and our family along with the Davis Family enjoyed some exploring during the down time.

We took a little day trip to New Orleans because our friends had never been there. It is iconic, but I would say that there is a lot of spiritual darkness in this city. We had some beignets with the kiddos, but left with a burden to pray for this place.

Our two families traveled further south with our campers to Dulac, Louisiana. This area of Louisiana, south of New Orleans, is what I always imagined Lousiana to be. There are swamps, and shrimp boats, and the people are just as interesting and charming as the landscape. Matt preached at the Lord’s House of Refuge and our musical friends had fun playing music with the talented Pastor Carol and her family.

From Dulac, Louisiana we made the long trek down to Florida City, Florida. This was our 3rd time to setup the tent in Florida City! All of the team was excited to kick off the tent season. When we all met back again it almost felt like we were kids returning for a new school year, asking all your friends how their summer was, excitement and anticipation filling your hearts for what the new year would be.

Our time in Florida included the tent revival, a wedding of some dear friends, eating fresh, wonderful fruit and smoothies, a beach day in Miami, ministry in Miami, and trying out a Cuban restaurant. Florida City was awesome, I wrote about it (mostly the food) in this blogpost.

March – Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana

By March we were making our way back north through Florida as we trekked back to Gulfport for a tent revival! It was our first tent revival in this location and we were encouraged by the unity among the churches in attendance.

We typically head back to Indiana in the spring, but this year was not typical, and we knew that this was the closest we would be to our Indiana family until after Alaska, in August! So we made a quick trip up to Indiana and the Eckart family graciously celebrated Easter early with us. The Davis family also drove back and had their truck repaired ( they had been without reverse while in Florida!)

After some family holiday togetherness, and getting our mail, we made our way back south to Irvington, Alabama for the next tent revival. This tent is close to the location in Tillman’s Corner, Alabama where Matt and I spent our first winters on the road, back in 2017. If you would have asked me then what I thought we would be doing 7 years later, I don’t know if I could have imagined what we are doing now. I’m so glad that God knows the details, and I can trust Him to guide our steps! Lord, help me to be obedient, because this life can be complicated to figure out!

April – Louisiana and Texas

April was a crazy-busy month, this was our first time to do 3 tent revivals in one month, as well as one in-house revival.

From Irvington, Alabama we made our way to Elton, Louisiana. This particular drive felt exciting because we would be heading west, west, west, north, north, and then further west for the next few months until we made it to Fairbanks, Alaska. We would not be making the long return drive until late June.

The 4-hour-turned-all-day drive became a little too exciting – and terrifying when our friends got a flat tire on the Atchafalia Hwy! Matt and Isaac crammed themselves between the camper and bridge guardrail on either side of the tire and literally felt the camper squeeze them as trucks were flying by! They finally got it changed and we made it to a truck stop to buy a patch kit. While there, the box truck keys were accidently locked inside of it. So, we bought a door-unlocking kit and eventually retrieved the keys. It was a stressful travel day, but right in the middle of the stress, a sweet friend texted me, reminding me of God’s goodness.

In Elton, Louisiana we set up the tent at the Coushatta Reservation. This was our second time to setup the tent here, and the first time to do a “kid’s night” outreach. The kid’s night is always loved, but I think it was everyone’s favorite night here. The people here are especially generous, and fed us a wonderful, full meal every day before service.

Our daughter Jessica and her husband Ethan were finally able to join us in Elton Louisiana. I had missed having her with us and they had been waiting on a truck repair before they could meet up with us.

From Louisiana we made our way to Waco, Texas. Even though this trip gave us another flat tire (this time on our truck), we had a wonderful weekend indoor revival with Waco First Assembly of God. We also had some time during the day to explore all that Joanna Gaines and Magnolia Farms have done to the city – peaceful, lovely, beautiful. Waco is a great little city, it is high on my list of girl-time-shopping-getaways.

We made our way to Dayton, Texas for our next tent revival. Old River Assembly of God is where we first met our Texas friends that now travel with us. It had never entered our mind that anyone would ever want to get a camper and travel with us, and yet the Frazar family truly have a heart to go after the lost through evangelism. They have such a gift for children’s ministry and we are so thankful that they do the kid’s night under the tent!

After Dayton, we moved our traveling band of nomads to Cayuga, Texas for a 3-day tent revival. The Revival in Cayuga was small but mighty! The tent was smaller due to the location, and the length of the revival was shorter due to time restraints, but people came hungry for God and the services were powerful! It was wonderful to see some old friends from across Texas join us at this revival!

May – New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon

We made our way further west across Texas toward our next destination – Prewitt, New Mexico. This was a drastic change in climate, from the warm, wet, swampy area of southeast Texas to the dry, dusty, windy region of northern New Mexico, not to mention going from 308 to 7815 feet above sea level. We were surprised at the effect on our physical bodies. After a day or so, our bodies acclimated and we found ourselves enjoying this new place. It was our first time to minister in New Mexico and we enjoyed exploring this region.

While we were there, our daughter Olivia got engaged! Her boyfriend and his family came out for a visit as they were friends with the pastor. We went for a small hike at Window Rock and Malachi proposed. It was a very special day and marked another monumental change for our family.

We also visited the flea market in Gallup, New Mexico. I would totally recommend. There were so many local foods to try and interesting shops. I bought a tiny vase painted by a local artist and I love it.

We left Prewitt after the tent revival and made our way further west. We knew this epic journey west would not be complete if we skipped the Grand Canyon! So we made a small detour to visit this amazing natural wonder. It did not dissappoint, of course. We camped at the Flinstone campground. This was our second time to camp here as a family and it has been remodeled, I would recomend it if you are looking for a fun and unique family campground near the Grand Canyon.

We spent our Mother’s Day driving along route 66, it seemed slightly unconventional, but we had a lot of ground to cover! We did find a restaurant to accomodate the entire crew and had a meal together for the moms.

Long hours of driving were ahead of us, and although we were in a motorized caravan of RVs, I found myself imagining what it must have been like for those adventurous pioneers years ago. They trekked these paths with horses and buggies, wow! It makes me thankful for modern conveniences, like pavement, and tires, and bathrooms, and air conditioning, and internet, and grocery stores, and restaurants!

Eventually, after driving some unforgiving, seemingly always climbing roads, we made it west to California, and then to our next tent revival location, Corning, California. This was another new place for all of us! The town of Corning is beautiful and known for olive groves, but the authentic Mexican food and local ice cream place were also very nice! The tent revival here was very well received and we saw many make the decision to follow Christ and it was just a wonderful experience overall.

From Corning we made the short trip to Bethel in Redding, California. They have a spot just for RVers to dry camp. We visited the prayer room, garden, healing rooms, and I found a great book at the bookstore.

Once again we were westward bound, this time we were making our way to the Giant Redwoods along the coast. This is one of my favorite places in all of America. Northern California, especially along the coast, is such a beautiful place, I love it. We found a campsite and had a day and a half to explore the Redwoods. It was so fun to have our tent team with us, to show them one of our favorite places and see them love it as much as we do! We feel so blessed that this trip, even though it was rushed and crazy, was also full of beautiful experiences.

Northward bound was on the agenda next. We all traveled along the coast, enjoying the beautifully scenic HWY 101 on our way to Oregon. Matt and I split off from the team to head inland because we had a boxtruck to pickup. A 7Nomads reader reached out to us and wanted to donate their boxtruck complete with a tent, chairs, stages, lights, and other equipment if we would use it to further spread the Gospel! We will! (The boxtruck has been used to some capacity and we have great plans for it later in 2025 that I will tell about in a later post!) Matt and I met up with these sweet generous people, picked up the truck, and then met back up with the team in Newberg, Oregon.

June – Oregon, Canada, Alaska

Newberg, Oregon was a new location for most of our team, with the exception of Jonathan McCormick, one of the ministers on our team. He grew up here and a pastor friend of his wanted us to bring the tent here. So we did! It was a great time to do it as we were on our way across the country and headed for Alaska! We met some very sweet people in this town and enjoyed being in yet another new place with the tent.

So much happened logistically while we were here. From Oregon we would be making the long trek to Alaska, and there were a lot of moving parts that frankly felt chaotic. Jessica and her husband Ethan flew back to Indiana for a maternity checkup, Olivia joined this adventure so she could see her fiance for a couple of days. My parents, who also travel with us drove the newly-donated boxtruck all the way back to Indiana and flew back to Oregon (thanks Mom and Dad!). My sister and her husband who traveled with us, Celia and Jeremy Fitzcharles, went down to Colorado to visit their son while the rest of the team left for Alaska. One family left Oregon and went to California as they felt God was leading them to something entirely different and new. One of the Frazar family’s children had a swing accident the day before we were to leave for Alaska, leaving him with a broken arm that required surgery, delaying their departure by a few days.

Inspite of all of that, 4 campers and 1 box truck left for Alaska as planned and 1 would meet up with us a few days later. The Alaska trip was an adventure all by itself, full of excitement and more vehicle troubles than any of us expected, I already blogged about it and you can read it here if you would like.

July – Canada, Montana, South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois

We made it back to the lower 48, Montana, specifically on the 4th of July. We dry camped at a very patriotic Cabellas and watched some fireworks in the parking lot. From there we made our way east, with the goal of having a couple slow days at Rapid City/Mount Rushmore. We didn’t make it far and the truck that had been giving us fits in Canada finally blew the turbo, on a hilly highway in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t the restful campground in South Dakota we were hoping for, but we found a pull off along the highway where the guys could change the turbo on this diesel truck. Had any of them done this before? No. Would that stop them? Also No. I am thankful for my resourceful husband who didn’t give up and got the job done!

We made it to South Dakota and had a somewhat rushed, but memorable visit to Mount Rushmore. It was another check off of our site-seeing-bucket-list and that was good. The next day we would be heading further east toward Clinton, Iowa, a familiar place that we were all excited to return to.

We were back under the tent with some dear friends in Clinton, Iowa, and my sister and her family met back with us here. The services were great and many were baptized that week.

As a side-quest, Matt and I decided that we would make a quick trip back to Indiana to list our little lake house. We had been thinking about it for a while, and it seemed to be the right time. A four – hour drive ended up being an all day adventure when we had some truck troubles somewhere in Illinois. We finally made it, listed the house, and were able to visit with some family while there..

Back with the team, we made our way to the next tent revivals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Peoria, Illinois. These tent revivals were held at the same time, and it did look different than when we originally planned it. We were short on some of our team, so we called on our evangelist friends, Randy and Joanna Coe Herndon to help out at Peoria, Illinois while half of us stayed in Milwaukee. Doubling our efforts, and splitting our team came with some challenges, but it was exciting to see God move in both places simultaneously.

While in Milwaukee, we found Olivia’s wedding dress! Gorgeous, off-the-rack, and a great price! I highly recommend Vow’d if you are wedding dress shopping.

August – Indiana

In August, we finally returned to Indiana, our home sweet home. We had tent revivals scheduled in Seymour, Indiana; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Sturgis, Michigan; and North Manchester, Indiana.

At the first tent revival back in Indiana, in Seymour, I had a stroke. Yikes, that was crazy. My arm went completely numb, my face was tingly, and I felt like my feet weren’t touching the ground. I was sitting next to Matt in the tent during the kid’s night service. I told him what was happening and asked him to pray for me. He did, those symptoms stopped. I still felt weird. The next day I still felt bad and noticed a slight droop in my smile. Matt took me to the ER in Seymour and they found the evidence of a small stroke while doing an MRI (I did not like that MRI at all by the way, in case you were curious).

They sent me home with some blood-thinning meds which did little to ease the uneasy feeling that came with not knowing why I had a stroke at 44 years old. The next day Matt called the neurologist that had been recommended and miraculously I was seen that day. He had me admitted to the hospital where many tests were performed. They found a small hole in my heart. They said this was probably the cause of the stroke. (This is an ongoing journey and the plan is to patch the hole on May 9th)

Because of this stroke ordeal, Matt and I decided to rest and regroup. We cancelled the tent revival in Sturgis, Michigan and those sweet people committed to pray for my recovery. We stayed home while the rest of the team did the tent revival in Fort Wayne without us (thankfully our friends, the McCormicks, were now back from Alaska and they were able to lead this tent). That was hard. I hated missing. We attended the Sunday service under the tent and I found myself very emotional to be there, and thankful for this revival life.

We had good news in the midst of this health scare. Our house sold after 3 days of being on the market. This was good, it was also a bit stressful because we had to move all of our belongings out of the house. I was not put on any sort of physical restrictions, but I was often fatigued, and frustrated by this. Matt and the kids packed up the house and I rested in the RV.

Our next tent revival was in North Manchester, Indiana. It was good to be back in the tent. It was our first time to have a tent in North Manchester and the pastor and congregation were excited for a move of God. They incorporated our tent into their church’s anniversary celebration. It was a wonderful time.

September – Indiana

In September we held tent revivals in Cayuga, Bloomington, and Clarksville, Indiana. As a team, we focused more time and energy on prayer, and we found ourselves even more hungry for God. The services in the tent were very powerful as well.

The congregations from Kingman, Blanford, and Cayuga joined with us and others from the region for the Cayuga tent revival. We held it at the fairgrounds and saw the various congregations blend together with great unity.

In Bloomington, the tent revival services were marked by a hunger for God. We had a prayer-tunnel on one of the nights that lasted over 3 hours!

The excitement and hunger for revival continued at the Clarksville tent revival. We were rained out of the tent for some of the nights but that did not dampen the spirits of everyone in attendance.

Even though we were back in ministry, full-swing, I was on light-duty, at times I struggled with (and still do) feeling frustration that I could not do what I would normally do to help with tent setup and tear down. I am also thankful for our loving team that picked up my slack.

In between tent revival and Sunday morning services, we were also enjoying spending some time with our Indiana family. Jessica had two baby showers during September, friends and family were very sweet to shower Jessica and baby Elizabeth with gifts and well-wishes.

October – Indiana

On October 4th, while having a birthday dinner for our daughter Hannah, our daughter Jessica went into labor! Jonathan McCormick preached that night so that Matt could be at the hospital. It was a long labor, and this was the first grandbaby for Matt and I and Ethan’s parents. Matt, Olivia, and I along with Ethan’s parents and sister all ended up camping out in the maternity waiting room, waiting for precious Elizabeth to be born. Finally she came at around 10am and the world has been a brighter place ever since!

I stayed with Jessica and Ethan for a couple of nights in Columbus while Matt and the kids and the rest of the team went to Cannelton, Indiana for the next tent revival.

The church in Cannelton had put a lot of effort into making sure the community knew a tent revival was coming to town. The weather was a bit chilly, unfortunately, but in spite of that, people came hungry for God and hearts were revived and lives were changed in Cannelton, Indiana.

We ended our tent revival season in Versailles, Indiana. This tent revival also marked some significant changes to our team. Two families from our tent revival team would be launching out on their own in 2025. We had been doing tent revivals with the McCormick family and the Fitzcharles family since the beginnning, in April of 2021. We knew that God was launching some new things for their families, and although change is hard, God’s way is the best way and we know that we will all still be fulfilling the Great Commission however He leads.

November – Indiana

Our travels slowed down in November, and I was hoping that we would find a house during this month. That did not happen. I found myself not-so-patiently waiting on God’s timing, and reminding myself that He knows what is best.

The tent revival team separated for the most part after our October Tent Revival and we all found ourselves enjoying holiday festivities, family get-to-gethers, and a slower ministry pace. We have a small property where we park our camper and it was our home base in between services for the next two months. We still traveled on the weekends, ministering at churches on Sunday mornings around Indiana.

December – Indiana

December was full of holiday festivities and wedding planning. Our daughter Olivia would be getting married on January 4th. If you asked me if I had underestimated wedding planning during Christmas time, I would have answered “yes, I underestimated the busyness that would occur in December,” Lol! It was a fun and crazy buzy season. We had a bridal shower for Olivia in December, it was a lovely girly day with friends and family.

It was nice to share some holiday time with family, both my side and Matt’s family are growing so much. On the Eckart side, 4 babies were born this year, it was a cuteness explosion! It was a blessing to eat and celebrate Christmas with everyone.

We spent our own family Christmas in the RV, something we hadn’t done since 2018. It was a new challenge as we now had some additions to the family and most of our children are adult-sized. I think we will always be able to say, “remember when we all crammed around that fold out table in the rv for a full Christmas meal?”. Good times.

Wow 2024! You were a year to remember!

Thank you for reading all about our adventures in 2024. I hope you are all enjoying your own adventures! God bless!

The tiny wad of paper hit my desk with the faintest thud. It had been thrown from about 10 feet away. I unwrapped it and read ” I LOVE YOU MATT”. My little 8 year-old heart stopped and all the feelings swept over me, feelings I didn’t understand, that felt too big for me. On less than 1/2″ square of paper, with 4 small words and no punctuation, the boy across the room let me know exactly how he felt, right in the middle of class. He skipped every protocol for elementary notes and went straight for the big words – I love you.

I said nothing. I told no one. I questioned if he meant to throw it to my desk. I probably avoided eye contact even more than usual. Especially from the cute, older boy that threw the note. This did not stop his love, or mine, and years later we started dating and then were married.

I have always been the cautious type, and this bold expression of love was the opposite of anything I would ever think of doing. And yet, I have always found myself intrigued by bold people. Words come slowly for me, and often, by the time I speak, I have been thinking about it for a while. Too often, I talk myself out of saying the things that should be said. I did not remain only intrigued by that bold 10 year old boy who threw the note, I fell in love with him. After 25 years of marriage, he still surprises me with his passion for life.

Love stories are one of my favorite things, and in our travels my husband and I often ask couples how they first met. It is a typical question, but the variety of stories are always enjoyable to me. Bold expressions of love are not limited to the romantic sort of love. Love involves giving your heart away, letting yourself be vulnerable, knowing that your love could be rejected, that things might not turn out how you hope. Love can be seen in the way my newborn granddaughter looks at her mommy; it can be seen in the way parents sacrificially live for their children, making sure their needs are met; it can be seen in grand gestures and quiet exhibits of self-control. Love is a powerful force, one that the Bible says is the “greatest”.

“Three things will last forever – faith, hope, and love – and the greatest of these is love.” 1 Cor. 13:13

This year, at a New Year’s Eve service, we were challenged to write down a word for 2025 if we felt like we had one. As we sang praise and worship songs, “I love You, Lord” struck my heart. I decided for me that I wanted to love God even more. I wrote down “Love” as my word for the year.

As I contemplated loving the Lord, I thought about extravagent expressions of love that I’ve read about in the Bible. Peter, who jumped out of the boat when He saw Jesus at the shore; Mary, who poured out her whole bottle of perfumed oil on Jesus, and washed his feet with her tears; John, who reclined on Jesus during the last supper; the countless martyrs willing to suffer humiliation, torture and die because of their love for their Savior; David, who wrote love songs to the Lord and danced without a care for who might be watching. This type of love can seem crazy, outlandish, or over-the-top, it disregards etiquette and is motivated by passion and gratitude. Oh, I want to be like that. I want to live like that.

I already love the Lord, but if I honestly evaluate my own heart, there is more of me to give. He is always drawing us closer. I find this amazing thing happening in my heart when I respond to that drawing – not only do I find that I feel better, and feel more love from and towards God, I feel more love towards everyone! God does this amazing work in His presence, He transforms my heart.

So I am determined this year to love God even more. This might just be my song for the year:

“Draw Me Close”

Draw me close to You
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I’m Your friend

You are my desire
No one else will do
‘Cause nothing else can take Your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace
Help me find the way, bring me back to You

You’re all I want
You’re all I’ve ever needed
You’re all I want
Help me know You are near

Thank you for reading along as I write about love. I pray that you all will “…know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Eph. 3:19

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:1-5;10-14

Wow, what a way to start a story! Doesn’t it make you want to read the whole thing?!?!

Jesus is the greatest gift to all humanity, His story is the greatest story!

Think of your favorite story, a book, or a movie. It might be a love story, adventure, drama, maybe a comedy, or sci-fi. Maybe your favorite story has elements of love, sacrifice, overcoming obstacles, a hero saving the day, perhaps there is a great moral dilemma to work through, a character that you can identify with, or an epic journey of discovery.

Good stories, the kind that grip our hearts and stay in our memories, usually contain these types of elements. In my opinion, authors create great stories (either knowingly or unknowingly) with elements from the Greatest Story. The Greatest Story is the Bible! And, it’s a true Story!

The greatest Author is God, this is His Story! He created you and me and every person on earth, past and present, with a longing for what this story contains. He created us with a longing for something bigger than ourselves.

A great C.S. Lewis quote says it this way: “The fact that our hearts yearn for something Earth can’t supply is proof that Heaven must be our home.”

I see this longing for more while traveling across America, ministering in churches and in the tent – people will need prayer for an emptiness that they cannot exactly explain, for dissatisfaction with life, for disappointment with themselves or with life in general. I am unable to fix this emptiness, or fill any void with my own words of wisdom. But God, in His infinite wisdom and love provides us with the answer to this dilemma of emptiness! I can ask Him to fill the void, to heal the heart, and He does, every time. I can’t exactly explain it, but when we ask God to heal hearts, He does.

You can look around you and see this common problem, of emptiness.  Sometimes we try to distract ourselves with busyness, fill our days with activities, but that doesn’t quite cut it.

God gives us the answer!

God not only wrote the Greatest Story, the Bible, He is also writing the story of your life, you were meant to find Him.

  In Acts 17:25-28 it reads “…He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being,…”             

Jeremiah 29:11-13 reads, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope…”            

God does have a plan for your life! Your life & my life fit within the scope of His Story!

So, the Bible is the Greatest Story ever, a true story. Here is a brief overview:

God, the Creator makes everything Gen. 1:1

He places Man and Woman within His Creation with the purpose of relationship with Him and to be caretakers of the rest of creation. God creates humanity with free will, His intention is for us to fellowship with Him, but love is not love if there is no choice.  So, He lets us choose.

Man and Woman choose to sin instead of living in perfect unity with God. (All of this can be found in the 1^st few chapters of the Bible)

Sin continues to bring separation and infect and destroy God’s creation and people. (You can see this history unfold all throughout the O.T.)

Just when it seemed like it couldn’t get any worse, the world was in a mess…

A new character, our Hero, enters the scene…

Jesus, the greatest gift to the world!!!

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

This part of the greatest story, the Bible, is why we celebrate Christmas!

This is the beginning of the climax of the greatest story on earth, “…when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons.” Galatians 4:4-5

Sin separated humanity from God, but God had a plan, a genius plan of redemption for us!

This portion of the Bible (Jesus’ birth through the resurrection) is the most exciting part, it’s what Christians base their lives off of, this is the Gospel, this is the Good News!

When the world was a disaster, God sent in the Hero!

But, in a mind-blowing plot-twist, He sent the Hero as a baby! Not a baby born to a king, or a person of power, but to an unwed mother in a small town, He wasn’t even born in a place for people, but in a place for animals.

What?!?!?!

This Hero was the gift given to all of humanity, to “whoever believes in Him…”

-When I was pregnant for my 1^st child, Jessica, I would listen to a Chris Rice CD often, it was very peaceful and I planned on listening to it when in labor because it helped me to relax.  One of the songs was a Christmas song, and it is still one of my favorite Christmas songs.  As a pregnant mom, this song always made me cry, thinking of the sacrifice, knowing that Jesus came to live and die sacrificially for all of us.

Welcome to our world song:

Tears are falling, hearts are breaking How we need to hear from God You’ve been promised, we’ve been waiting Welcome Holy Child, welcome Holy Child

Hope that you don’t mind our manger
How I wish we would have known
But long-awaited, Holy Stranger
Make yourself at home, please, make yourself at home

Bring your peace into our violence
Bid our hungry souls be filled
Word now breaking heaven’s silence
Welcome to our world, welcome to our world

Fragile finger sent to heal us
Tender brow prepared for thorn
Tiny heart whose blood will save us
Unto us is born, unto us is born

So wrap our injured flesh around you
Breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy
Perfect Son of God, perfect Son of God
Welcome to our world

What a gift God gave to us! Thank you God!

It was the only way to reconcile us to Him.  The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, and that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus came as a baby, He lived a sinlessly perfect life, and became for us, the spotless lamb that takes away the sin of the world.  He went to the cross, was despised and rejected, abused for you and for me.  He laid down His life on the cross to pay the debt of my sin and yours, His perfect life was the only acceptable sacrifice that could make us acceptable to God the Father.  Because of this, we can be called children of God. “For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ:” Galatians  3:26

Earth mimicked Heaven

              We are in the season of gift-giving.  I remember as a little girl the excitement that came at Christmas.  It came with such a buildup of anticipation – weeks of planning, decorating, shopping, eating, parties, school and church plays, special music, celebrations all throughout the month leading up to that exciting day! Christmas!  Like most American children, I had a long list of what I wanted for Christmas, and back in the 1980s we had these amazing things called “catalogs” – from Sears or JCPenney filled with everything you didn’t even realize you needed and wanted.  It was ok to have this list, my parents asked me to make it and give it to them, they wanted to know what I wanted. Sometimes they would get me presents not on my list, something bigger than I had asked for.

Christmas morning was purely magical for me, I would wake up as early as possible, and sneak out into the living room to get a glimpse of the tree all lit up while it was still dark outside.  And there were all the presents! All the anticipation, all the waiting for this moment! My sister and I would wake up our sleepy parents and open our presents together, we were overjoyed, excited, elated! What a great day!

I was blessed with really great parents, maybe you had a similar childhood, filled with Christmas joy and memories of wonderful gifts. For me, as a child, my parents mimicked what our Heavenly Father does – He gives extravagent gifts to His children. I understand that not everybody has that memory, not all parents are good.  But, we all have a Heavenly Father who gave the most extravagant gift, His Son. He is the best gift, the greatest gift!

Will you Receive Him?

What will you do with this gift?

John 1:10-11 “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him”

Will you receive Him?

Will you believe?

Belief is a common theme in Christmas movies, unfortunately it is often directed to belief in Santa Claus or belief in the spirit of Christmas.  It can be fun to pretend, to make-believe. Belief is powerful, and inspirational, childlike faith is something that Jesus recommended we have. 

But we can believe in something that is true, and so much better than any make-believe story. It matters what we believe in.

Luke 1:45 says “Blessed is she who believed,…” (Elizabeth about Mary)

John 6:47 Jesus said “…he who believes in Me has everlasting life.”

God gave this beautiful, wonderful gift – His Son, Jesus. So that we could have relationship with Him.  Jesus is our Savior.  That would be enough, more than enough to make Jesus the best gift ever. 

But, God doesn’t just want us to accept Jesus as our Savior and wait around for Heaven.  Jesus said that He came that we might have life and that we might have it in abundance! 

Receive that part of this Gift! Abundant Life!

When you believe in Jesus, accept Him as your Lord and Savior, your eternal life starts in that moment, your relationship with the King of the Universe starts in that moment.  He is calling us to close personal relationship with Him.  He promises that when we seek Him we will find Him.

God made a way for us to have relationship with Him, what a humbling thing to think of – that the Creator of the Universe wants to know me, and me to know Him.  He is God, and He is perfect, the more that I get to know Him, the more I realize that He is so good, and He is worthy of all of me, of everything I have to give, my full surrender and submission.  Thank you God for the perfect gift of Your Son, Thank You Jesus for making a way for me to know You!

What you decide to do with this gift determines how your story plays out. 

Thank you for reading along. I pray you have a wonderful Christmas and have received the beautiful gift of salvation through Jesus!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             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It has been five months since we were on this epic Alaskan road trip and the second half of our journey was so chaotic and crazy that I honestly didn’t know how to finish writing about it. Since we got back to the lower 48, life has been chaotic and crazy in general and I feel like I am just now able to catch my breath. So, I will now finish tellling you about our journey in the great north.

In part 1 of this blog series I told the story of our adventure north, through Canada to Alaska. We were traveling with a caravan of 2 fifthwheels, 1 Class A diesel motorhome, 1 bumper tow camper, and 1 box truck. There was one more family that would be joining us in Alaska, but they were delayed with a broken arm and last minute surgery before they could leave the country. I ended that post with our team arriving in Fairbanks, so that is where I will start now.

Fairbanks – Sightseeing, Tent Revival and Street Preaching! (Friday – Wednesday, June 14-19 )

Before we started the tent revival, we had a day to explore. We took our friends to Pioneer Park, a great, free attraction in Fairbanks. We walked through some shops and took the little train ride. It wasn’t long before we noticed that the days of driving and road troubles had caught up with us, we were all feeling tired. Some of us decided to go to The Cookie Jar Restaurant for some yummy cinnamon rolls and coffee before heading back to the campers for much needed rest.

While in Fairbanks, we partnered with South Fairbanks Assembly of God, setting up a revival tent in their yard as an outreach to their community. The pastor and his wife have been here for many years, their faithfulness and commitment to this community is a beautiful thing, I remember being surprised in 2019 when we arrived in Fairbanks. I imagined it as a vacation destination, a place where adventurers and explorers come to enjoy the rugged, remote wilderness. Surprisingly, in many ways, Fairbanks is similar to smaller cities in the lower 48. As a disclaimer, I will admit that I have only been in Alaska in the summer and it could easily be said that this place is very different than the much warmer lower 48 states!

We were able to minister to the church people that came into the tent, and we had a big variety of people who just wandered in, or listened as the walked by. It is difficult to describe the level of need in this place. We saw quite a bit of depression, drug addiction, and homelessness. It was good to be able to reach out to the neighborhood surrounding the church. We always hope for this, and it is a big part of why we do tent revivals – so the Gospel is heard by more people.

Matt felt compelled to do some street preaching while in Fairbanks. On the morning that we set out on this mission, we discovered that the toolbox on our truck had been broken into and over a thousand dollars worth of tools were stolen. The criminals were clever and used our bolt cutter to unattach our friends’ backup generator and take that as well. That was not the way we had envisioned starting, but we were determined to see people saved on the streets of Fairbanks. We did! Isaac sang, Jonathan played his box drum, Matt preached, and the rest of us prayed, many people heard the Gospel and a few random strangers came and received prayer.

The next day, Matt went out again with three of the guys, our son Caleb included. They saw many people respond to salvation!

While in Fairbanks, we made the short trip south to North Pole, Alaska. It was fun to recreate some photos from 5 years ago when we visited this place. You can’t tell in this picture, but my oldest, Jessica is pregnant with her first child and our first grandchild! I am quite impressed with Jessica making this journey as a pregnant lady, she’s awesome.

On the road again – almost. (Thursday, June 20)

We set out for our next tent location, Houston, Alaska, with hopes to stop along the way at Denali National Park. We did not make it out of Fairbanks when one of the fifth wheels broke down. Miraculously they missed their turn and ended up on a side street. It is never good to be broken down on the highway, especially in a camper – ask me how I know, nevermind, that’s another story for another day. Anyway, we spent the night at a small school parking lot after getting permission from the director. The guys put on their mechanic hats again and repaired the fifth wheel. My dad is Mr Fixit and he was truly a life-saver on this trip. They almost weren’t able to come, but I’m so thankful it was worked out.

On the road again – barely (Friday, June 21)

The next morning we set out again. Alaskan views just don’t dissappoint and it was exciting for the caravan to take off again through this wilderness land. Although we had lost some precious sightseeing times, we were determined to at least stop in Denali for a day. When we were about 35 minutes or so from the park, we stopped at a truck stop to gas up and plan our National Park trek. Another one of the families started having troubles with their rig. After looking it over for an hour or so (I have no mechanical details to give, the guys could tell me that they waved their magic wand over the engine and I would believe them, I prefer my blissful ignorance thank you) we decided to head over to Denali and park our rigs in the RV parking and catch the tour bus that goes through the park.

Denali

We missed the sled dog show, which was a major bummer, but again, we found ourselves determined to soak in whatever sights we could. So, we caught a tour bus for a ride through the park. We did not see any substantial wildlife, but it did give us that field trip/amusement park feeling that was fun and loud and reminded us why we all travel in our own vehicles, LOL. I mean, about 30 close friends and family on a bus is fun, but only for about two hours! The tour bus lady dropped us off at one of the sights and absolutely drove away as we were coming back to board, but that’s ok, we caught the next bus 15 minutes later.

To Houston!

We left Denali and drove slightly more than we wanted until we found a pull off that was level enough and large enough for our whole caravan to pull off for the night. Because of the late night sunlight, we were able to spot a moose not far from our campers.

RV Troubles and Tent Setup (Saturday, June 22)

The next day we set off for Houston, knowing that it would be a long day of driving, setting up our campers, and setting up our revival tent all in the same day. We were so close (less than 10 miles) to our destination when our friend’s motorhome decided it would not go any further, and the fifth wheel that had had trouble the day before also decided to act up. We ended up having the smallest size setup crew to date, and Houston Alaska has proven to be the hardest ground in all of America (or at least out of the 69 tents we have set up). We were thankful for the “midnight sun” in Alaska so that we could continue to setup. I think we finished around 2am, it was crazy. I am also thankful for our hardworking team!

Houston Tent (Sunday – Tuesday, June 23-26)

The Pastor and his family at Hilltop Assembly of God are a sweet, hardworking, adventurous family. They helped us setup the tent and we all met under the tent for a Sunday morning testimony service. Sunday night there was a community prayer service in the tent and it was so exciting to see the tent full of people from all around the region.

An Extended Stay…

At some point on Sunday, our friends’ RV was towed to the tent location. The diagnosis for their RV was grim. We finished the tent revival at this location, feeling the uncertainty of what they would do. Their options were slim, they could pile in some of the vehicles with us, and leave their RV behind – but it was their home and where would they live while they waited for it to be repaired? Or, they could stay with the RV in Alaska while the rest of us headed south. We could not stay with them as we had ministry scheduled in the lower 48 as soon as we got back. They ended up staying. I felt terrible leaving them behind. There was a kind, generous friend of the pastor who let them stay in a vacant apartment while they waited for the RV to be repaired. The initial report from the mechanic was that the repair should take about a week or so. 50 days later…our friends left Alaska to join us back in Indiana. They were frustrated to have to miss 4 tent revivals while they waited. However, while they were there, they preached in parks and on the streets and saw 54 people make the decision to follow Christ! Their RV is all fixed up now, and they met up with us in August in Indiana.

Some rushed sightseeing and lots of driving! (Wednesday, June26)

We left Houston, Alaska on my birthday and I knew it would be our only opportunity to drive down into the Kenai Penninsula before we left Alaska. So, we left our RVs in Anchorage and made the several hour sight-seeing trek down to Seward, Alaska. The Kenai is so beautiful, and even though it was a lot of driving for one day, I would do it again. As a bonus, we met up with some friends that used to live in Indiana but now call Seward their home. We all ate some delicious (but expensive!) halibut and walked around the docks to look at all the fishing boats. If we would have had more time, we would have revisited Whittier, Alaska, it is such an interesting town.

Some Shenanigans and more driving (Thursday, June 27)

Before we left civilization, some of the families had to stock up at Walmart. Our family had stocked up the day before, so we had an hour to kill – we went to Cabela’s, it was fun. Cabela’s is very RV friendly, with a separate RV parking area, and it is a nice big store to walk around in and check out all the stuffed animals and such.

The RV Caravan heads South through Canada (June 27-July 4)

Fairwell Alaska, hopefully next time we will have more time to explore! It had been a crazy time, and now our caravan (3 fifthwheels, 1 bumper tow, and 1 boxtruck) was heading south. We had to be in Whitehorse, Yukon by Sunday for a service and planned on being in Montana in about a week. The drive was beautiful and we had some brief moments to stop and take in the sights. Some highlights of the journey included exploring the beautiful Miles Canyon in Whitehorse, Yukon (where I was able to take maternity pics of my daughter); making our mark at the “sign forest” in Watson Lake, Yukon; seeing over 50 bear along the highway as well as moose, buffalo, foxes, and various other wild animals; and getting some retail therapy at Cross Iron Mall in Calgary, Alberta. Here are some photos of the trek back south:

We crossed the border on July 4th, and even though we enjoyed Canada’s beauty, I felt especially patriotic when the border patrol officer said “Welcome Home” as he let us back into America.

Thank you for reading along as I tell about our RV adventures. I hope you are all enjoying your own adventures, and if you decide to make the road trip to Alaska, I would recommend giving yourself two months for the journey if you can.

If you would like to find out more about our ministry, Kingdom Pursuit Ministries, you can go to our website, kpministry.org