Changed by the Presence (A Road Trip Summary)

Six days ago I was a different person. True, I had the same name back then and the same general life…but, regardless of the outward expressions of life, I am different now than I was last week Wednesday when I started out on a 1,060 mile road trip with two friends.

Road trips are a wonderful way to spend time with your friends and family. There is just something special about hitting the open road with the best possible company. That being said, you do need to make sure that the car you are driving is big enough for everyone and all their luggage. One of my friends is looking for a new car for his next road trip and he told me that he found the best selection of cars in Newton Kansas on the Conklin Cars website. There are a lot of choices out there, so if you are in need of a new car, you might also want to take a look. If you’re looking for something a bit different then you don’t necessarily have to take a road trip in a car; something like a Las Vegas RV Rental would spice the journey up as you would have a comfortable vehicle in which to explore our vast American road networks. Road trip vacations are popular here in America, probably because people only tend to take road trips in the country they’re from. But did you know it was possible to rent a car abroad for a road trip? What a great way to see a new country! You can find out more information about car rentals over here. I know some people are put off by the different rules that countries have for driving, but most people get used to them very quickly so it’s definitely worth considering. I usually go on road trips with my partner or a friend and we ride on a motorcycle, the freedom and excitement you feel traveling on the bike is incomparable to anything else. I mean let’s not get me started on the speed and exhilaration! A bike is amazing, and by going to American Motorcycle Trading Company and other places you could get a classic motorcycle, with affordable payment plans, to begin your spectacular adventure! However, if you are planning on taking more people and especially kids on a road trip as we did on this particular trip, obviously a car is your best option for getting around safely.

So what happened on our road trip?

Well, the short answer is that we saw Jesus – and, like someone touched by fire, we changed.

The long answer is, well, a tad longer. Imagine that? =P

Last Wednesday three of us guys climbed into a car to head north to Stites, Idaho, to visit an old friend. The next morning we headed over the Lolo Pass to Lincoln, Montana, for a church conference with all the Vineyard churches in Montana (plus the Gillette, Wyoming, Vineyard church).

The speaker at the conference was Robby Dawkins, pastor of the Vineyard Aurora near Chicago, power evangelist and friend of Jesus. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Robby over the past five or six years through the Vineyard Missions conference as well as his trips to the Vineyard Boise. Like always, Robby had a ton of funny and insightful stories of following Jesus into the dark places of the world.

If you have never heard Robby, let me tell you that he is a great story teller! He kept all 50 of us on the edge of our seats for two and a half days simply by telling stories about the God’s Kingdom breaking into this present evil age. Only thing is that he didn’t just tell stories for the sake of telling stories – by no means! Each of his stories had a point and a lesson in them that taught us all more about the love, mercy and power of King Jesus.

In some ways the information that he shared wasn’t new or even different. It was simply a reminder and a kick in the pants to get out into the streets and start doing what Jesus did. I.e. instead of only praying for the sick and hurting, we need to go out and pray for folks in the stories, streets and restaurants of our communities. After all, most of Jesus’ ministry was outside the synagogues and temple area.

The other kick-in-the-pants point that Robby made was that we, as followers of Jesus, need to start walking in the authority Jesus gave us. Luke 10 and Matthew 28 tells us that we are go out with Jesus and heal the sick, cast out demons and basically destroy the works of the evil age. Yet, most of us, myself included, tend to offer up half-baked prayers asking for Jesus to come and heal folks instead of just commanding the sickness to leave… this is like a police officer (us) calling the Chief of Police (Jesus) and asking him to come and arrest the burglar (the sickness) we are watching commit a crime.

And, like I said, nothing really new…just forgotten… well, that, and as the Lord reminded me, the solution to abuses in the Faith is not to stop doing something (which most of us do) but to do them correctly. (I’m fairly sure by this point that my mother and aunt are yelling at the screen saying something along the lines of “I’ve told him that a thousand times if once!”)

After the conference, we headed south to Pocatello, Idaho, to visit Race and Randy Robinson who pastor the Christ’s Love Vineyard Church. And wow, talk about a powerful couple of the Lord! They are amazingly generous and hospitable!! Especially concerning that we’ve never met them before…I just called them up and asked if we could stop by while…umm…forgotten to mention how many of us there were… umm…yeah….

Sunday morning we attended their church and was blown away again by the presence of the Lord. It was amazing! Race is quite the Bible teacher and one who just listens to the Lord (he confirmed a lot of stuff the Lord told us in Lincoln without knowing what had happened there!). If anyone reading this post ever goes through Pocatello, I would highly recommend stopping in at their church – you won’t be disappointed!

After church, we headed back to Sweet – changed and different than when we started that Wednesday…. Now to process all that happened… =?

PS => To my friends in Montana, sorry I didn’t get a chance to stop by…out schedule was fairly tight this trip, but next time I’ll try to stop by (and, yes, there will be a next time as our Regional Overseer lives up there…)

3 thoughts on “Changed by the Presence (A Road Trip Summary)”

  1. Hallelujah!!!!! Those are the kind of trips I like!… and yes, I’m yelling now! When you are a friend of Jesus’ and walk by the Spirit it doesn’t always fit into someones theology book but Your theology starts to fit His Book!
    Life in Christ is always new!

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