Summoned By Jesus

On October 15th I left Montana to head out on my 2,500 mi trip back to Florida. The picture that you see with this post occurred within a week of my leaving Montana.

I have seen many beautiful parts of our country and experienced many enjoyable things while traveling and visiting out west. I have felt the favor of the Lord with me during this time. I left Florida in late April and returned to Florida just a few weeks ago, a period of about 6 months in which I traveled about 15,000 miles. Not the least of the Lord’s favor upon my trip was the weather. In the 6 months of travel I never had a bad weather day. I had a few days of light rain and overcast weather, but never a bad weather day. Praise God. Some people have said that’s a minor miracle. I would agree. So the picture above is to simply put an asterisk on His gracious favor. I was worried about traveling during snow days as October approached. Some of the local residents told me I would certainly see snow before I left. And there was actually snow in the upper elevations so that when I left, there were some snow-capped mountains… but never any major snow events.

In my travels I began to have repeated nudgings & promptings about native Americans, including traveling along the Continental divide… where Sacagawea led the Lewis and Clark expedition through Lemhi pass; stopping at the Little Bighorn battlefield, where a tree was adorned with many, many tattered pieces of fabric, tied on by Native Americans as memorials; visiting Mount Rushmore and Chief Crazy Horse monuments; my sister Linda’s short-term mission trip to a native American reservation in South Dakota; visiting the ‘old west trail town’ in Cody Wyoming, where there was an authentic home of Curly, the only survivor of the battle at the Little Bighorn; meeting a native American along the way, named Edward Two Moons (who said he knew Yahweh); and arriving back in Florida where my good friend John was wearing a native American necklace… and his wife presented me with the book  “One Church, Many Tribes”.

When I started writing this post I stated that this was a message for all men. There are no ethnic groups among men. A man is a man. And I believe that the essence of the message the Lord has been unfolding to me has a significant bearing and meaning for Native Americans.

Additionally, along the way, the Lord confirmed things to me in a couple of ways. When I was visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Cleveland Tennessee, my brother-in-law, Frank, invited me to go to a men’s breakfast meeting. I did. Upon entering we sat down at the first available round table. About 35 men or so attended the event. A speaker’s podium was set up near the front. We began introducing ourselves and making small talk with the men at our table. I barely had met these men when the person seated immediately to my right looked at me and said “I hope you don’t mind, but I move in ‘the prophetic’ and I have a word for you. God said he is going to pay for your ministry.” I was surprised. A person I had never met, at a church function I had never attended, whom I had just met and with whom I had spoken very little, suddenly had a word about the pathway I was on.

Then, in Florida, while visiting my good friends Bob and Karen in Inverness Florida, I attended their church one Sunday morning. Bob introduced me to a number of people and especially to a man whom he said shared some spiritual commonality with how the Lord was leading me…about my strong message for men. His name is Bill <Males>. As I was leaving the morning service Bill looked at me, seemingly near tears, and said our meeting was ordered of God. He has since shared with me a number of his blog posts, things the Lord has been sharing with him for over 10 years. It is amazing how they align with the pathway God has had me on. He has been a great encouragement to me. (Here is one of his posts/teachings: https://gates-of-the-city.com/2011/02/05/why-god-created-us-male-and-female/ )