While rehearsing this morning for tonight’s service in Sebring, FL, God sent a gift. We noticed a man come to the church front door. Since it was locked, he came to the back. He wanted to pray. I met him and we talked about the challenges he’s facing. As he opened up it was apparent that God was drawing Him to Himself. He confessed that he had never read a verse of the Bible before. For the next hour I shared the gospel through my CrossWord Picture Tool. As he read the scripture God opened his eyes. It wasn’t long before we were on our knees and he had trusted Christ joyfully.

He immediately wanted to know where to start reading, what the Old and New Testaments were, how to live right and when services were held. I connected him with Pastor Lester (whom he knew from playing softball) and he told Pastor how he had been saved from sin. Please pray for our new brother, Freddie, and his family.

One of our dear friends, whom we’ve known for years as Granny, is joining the choir again. For several years due to the care and loss of her husband she had to back off of many areas of involvement, but now she’s found her song again. Though her birthday cards had 80 on them, she’s not giving up. She makes gorgeous quilts, writes encouraging letters and loves to sing. Maybe your church choir could use another voice too!

After blowing a trailer tire Saturday near Lorida, FL I crawled under our rig to jack it up. I looked for rattlesnakes and scorpions (common in the area) and ant hills. Evidently I didn’t look well enough in the tall grass. Fire ants crawled up my shirt, in my hair, up my pant legs, over my arms and had a potluck. Ouch! Ow! Ooh! Welts of pain rose on my skin. I may be a preacher but I admit doing a jig to rid myself of those painful munchers.
I could not miss the point–little (often invisible) things can create big pains (a kidney stone, a pebble in your shoe, a sliver in your finger, sin in your heart) until removed.
Likewise, little things like a smile, a kind word, a pat on the back, or a small gift can create long-lasting joy. Fill your days with lots of positive, God-honoring little things and you’ll find that like a tree from a seed big things develop. Just look carefully before crawling under a crippled vehicle in tall grass!

Our good friends, Gary and Joyce Hoober and Jeff Smith are ministering with their former pastor, Dr. Schermerhorn, in Spring Lake, FL tomorrow. It was a thrill to connect and watch them all serving the Lord with joy. In an unusual set of circumstances, we look forward to doing it together possibly next week.

Update: God blessed Sunday with 105 coming to the AM service in Spring Lake!

We’re parked by the church office in Sebring. That’s not unusual. A Sheriff just knocked on our door (11:38PM). That’s unusual! I was asleep…totally. I had no idea what was going on! I get up and open our fifth wheel door and he shines a flashlight in my face and asks me if I’m all right. Then he wants to know if I’ve seen a suspect, a black male, who just came through this area. I step out. He checks my shoeprints and tells me to lock my door. He joins another Officer with dog shining lights combing woods. This is exciting. I am relieved we are not the problem and we don’t have to move our rig, especially with the first service tomorrow at 8:15 AM. Oh the joys of life on the road!
Update: It’s now 12:17 AM and flashlights are still shining all around our trailer. Though we don’t know whether we have a new neighbor tonight, two things we are sure of–God knows where we are and we are wide awake!

Dr. Ron Merrill, my father, became “absent from the body and present with the Lord” one year ago today. When our daughter, Miranda, viewed his breathless body before burial she said, “That’s not Grandpa!”

She was right!

Now one year into eternity, John Newton was correct, he’s “no less days to sing God’s praise” and I’m sure he must be singing.

What about you? Are you ready for eternity?

Around 10:30pm at The Flying J truck stop in St. Augustine, FL the propane attendant filled my tank. As I mentioned about how Christ fills us with His Spirit and how that helped dealing with my Dad’s death a year ago this week, he told me he lost his dad in September. He couldn’t leave while the gas was filling and I had wonderful chance to converse with him of Christ. As we departed I handed him a tract which he placed in his pocket.

Around 1AM this morning we entered a gas station to get some water. There I met a young man who was the lone store clerk. As I paid my bill I handed him a tract and witnessed to him about Jesus. As we pulled around the building to exit we found him outside the store sitting on the curb reading the tract. Then I prayed, “Lord, let Him see You tonight!”

People are open wherever you go. They need Christ. Just keep shooting the Gospel gun. It can hit the mark anytime, night or morning!

This is the “get-away vehicle” we use most (truck & fifth wheel). After awakening to frozen hoses and no water, we finally thawed out and pulled away from our SC home for our Winter Tour. 540 miles later we arrived at a familiar church near Orlando, FL early this AM safe and sound. Today we’ll make the rest of our journey and thank God that we can serve Him. Thanks for your prayers for our safety and impact on the souls of men.

Just before newlyweds Mattaniah and Allisha headed through the gauntlet of bird seed to the decorated “just married” car, a brief rain and a ray of sun produced this rainbow. On a day when M & A exchanged the beautiful vows they had written, promising their lives and futures to each other, our amazing God reminded us of his promise with this special gift…(while Chris, the best man, did what Best Men do).

While some celebrated the BCS Championship (including our Alabama church family), our schedule posted for the Winter of 2012 and our Winter newsletter. Please email us if you wish to receive our e-newsletter. We have tried to mail out hard copies to many people but the cost is becoming prohibitive. Thanks for checking.

The Merrills are moving on! That’s the theme of our winter update. 2012 Winter Mouthpiece

Mattaniah Merrill and Allisha Sperr will be married today at 12:30 PM at the beautiful Daniels Chapel on the Furman University Campus. Their pastor, Dr. Jason Ormiston will officiate. The fathers will each give a blessing. Randy has written and arranged several musical pieces which will be sung by a 22 voice choir and accompanied by a brass quintet, flute, piano and the huge Hartness pipe organ. May God be glorified, the couple united and the audience uplifted through the marriage of these two young Christian adults.

Today at Palmetto Baptist in Powdersville, SC, the New Year was rung in with a service and an Agape feast. I’ve never seen so many crockpots in one church. The soups were great, the fellowship superb and the Lord’s Supper followed. Due to our travels we seldom get the privilege of celebrating this sacred meal in remembrance of our Lord and it was tremendous!

We arrived in Ruckersville, VA Friday night tested the outlet then plugged into the church and smoke began to roll. The entire storage compartment was filled. After yanking the plug, I ripped the converter open and found a big black “capacitor” blown apart. This could have been disastrous but God allowed us to find it and deal with it. Hopefully Tuesday we will be able to replace the converter. In the meantime we’ll try to keep the battery charged while the truck idles (night temp in low 30′s) and run an extension cord around in our fifth wheel plugging in the necessary appliances. We now realize how addicted we are to electricity and how grateful we should be every time we flip a switch.

Two retired military Major Generals and one Navy Captain and Chaplain inspired and informed the delegates at the International Conference on World Evangelism about global events and biblical significance. It was powerful. Praise God for godly leaders like these who have and are making a difference for the cause of Christ and our country.