These Are The Days of Elijah

I remember Elijah defeating the Prophets of Baal. Talking God into raining down fire that consumed his sacrifice, despite it being covered in water. A lot of water at that. God used him. In ways that most men will never experience. Shortly after, "the world", came after Elijah and he ran. He ran into the desert and decided he was done. He told God he was ready to die, to give up. God wasn't done with him - despite the fact Elijah stood facing the most barren place on earth. God provided everything he needed. Elijah survived the impossible and met God at the other end.

Liz and I had to leave Brazil because of Visa issues. We have a small apartment down there with everything we own still in it. Our calling is there, our jobs are there, our purpose is there. Since 2009 and a combined 6 months spent in Brazil 67 people have committed their lives to Christ. I guess if my goal was to stop that I would cause problems too. There is no doubt - the Prince of this World has been chasing us. When we left we were assured that we would be back in a couple of weeks. We packed for a couple of weeks.

We showed up at the consulate in Atlanta to get our visas.  I remember being slightly aggravated, to say the least. I told God that if we didn't get our visas, I was through with ministry. Pretty thick. We pulled out of the consulate with no visas. I was done - with it all. We were on our way back to my parents house where we were staying at the time. Liz felt strange, and in a strange way so did I. We stopped at CVS and asked the manager if we could get the key to the bathroom, but purchase the pregnancy test first. He laughed and gave us the key. Two minutes later, we were soon to be parents. Finding that kind of stuff out will change your thoughts on a lot of things. I started looking for a job the next morning.

A few weeks later I found a job in Charleston as an Account Executive for Worldwide Express. Honestly, it was one of those jobs you dream of getting in college. It had everything you could ask for in a job. About 2 weeks into my new job Liz was scheduled to get her second check up and to hear the baby's heart beat. I got off work and waited to hear how things were going. I picked up the phone to sobbing - all I remember were the words, "no heart beat".

The job was going great. I took a day off to be with Liz in the hospital while she had the procedure done. I just sat in the chair in the waiting room and played "Angry Birds" on my cell phone. We left and I returned to work the next morning down in Charleston. I began to think it strange that- despite me giving up - God was providing for us in amazing ways. I mean it just didn't make any sense that me telling God "I quit" led to a good job.

I was driving down the road on the way back from Awendaw, SC. I went out there to see if I could strum up any business out that way. On the way back I told God that I knew this isn't what He wanted me to do. I asked Him to send me an email and let me know what to do. Kinda like a fleece thing I guess. Two minutes later I got an email on my phone. The Brazilian Consulate sent us an email telling us that our visas were at the consulate and come get them. Seemed pretty clear to me. I quit my job the next morning. The cool part about it was my boss told me if I ever needed a job- I had one with them. That made me feel a little better about things anyway.

We arrived at the Consulate in Atlanta to find out that they did not mean to send out that email to us. Apparently, there was a singing group called "The Bennetts" who were waiting on their visas as well. Theirs came in, ours didn't- the email went to the wrong "Bennetts". Needless to say we fired our lawyer in Brazil and got a new one. This one has his ducks in a row, and a couple of friends in high places. We get a play by play about every other day now. Our Visas have been approved at the Ministry of Labor in Brasilia and we are just waiting on them to be in Atlanta at the Consulate for real. The lawyer said it shouldn't take more than 45 days.

Liz and I are currently staying in Norway, SC where she is filling in at a local Christian School and I am selling classic cars- or trying to at least. A family we used to go to church with at St. George opened their house to us while they are living in Lexington. To be honest this is a dream home, but a blessing while we wait to return to our little apartment in Belem to finish out the work God has called us to in Brazil.

Elijah traveled across the dessert for 40 days on the strength God's provision provided him (that's impossible in human terms by the way). Liz and I are living on the strength God's provision has given us- we can't wait to see God working in mighty ways when we get back to Belem - soon ;)

If you get a chance, check out Josh Kerr's Channel on YouTube. God has certainly gifted him to lead others in praising HIM!

Josh Kerr's YouTube Channel 

Gap Creek Baptist Church

I have to tell you... the Lord works in strange and mysterious ways. I won't lie, one of the first things I wanted to do when I got back into the States was hang my hammock up in the mountains. There is a spot at Lake Jocassee that is just incredibly beautiful. I was bound for those two trees in the mountains. An owl woke me up after falling asleep about 7:30pm. I guess when your alone you tend to go to sleep a lot earlier. When I opened my eyes I could not believe the sight. Millions upon millions of fireflies are dancing all around me in a light show only the Great I Am could create. The sight was just phenomenal. Well after sleeping about 3 hours I was no longer tired. I pulled out my phone to see if I had any reception... apparently I hadn't hiked enough earlier in the day, because I was at full bars. I called my buddy Paul to see what he was up to. Just hanging out.... some how in the conversation though he was on his way to come and get me. I hiked back to Hwy. 178, waited a few minutes and saw one of my best friends ever for the first time in 5 months. I just kicked back the next day and waited for Paul to get off of work. By the time he got home Liz and I were on our way with him to church.

It is always an incredible thing when God has a plan for you that He decides to surprise you with. We had the honor of eating with Pastor Harry and his wife for Wednesday Night supper. He asked what we did and had a pretty cool story to tell :) To my surprise, Pastor Harry looked over at me and told me that he hoped I was ready to preach the Wednesday Night Service at the church. Being that I have the most incredible wife ever, I was well prepared - hiking shoes and all! Now, I am not saying that God doesn't go to all churches, because I am sure He does. But I have heard that the mountains of South Carolina are God's Country, and I have to admit I believe it a little more now. You could tell by the spirit in the church that God wipes his feet off on the welcome mat quite frequently. The church just recently - in the past few years - built an incredibly beautiful sanctuary and place of worship. As a matter of fact the church still had another 325,000 dollars left to go on the building. God paid it off in one check! Yep, all of it - I imagine God needed to thin out His cattle population in the hills.....

Gap Creek Baptist Church.... my prayers go out to your ministry. May God continue to bless you so that His Glory, Purpose and Will can be displayed through your obedience and sacrifice to Him. I have no doubt that God has great things planned for the body of believers in your congregation. Afterall, "¹⁴ “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father."
-Matthew 5:14-16 (NLT) 

By the way, if you are ever up in the mountains of SC and need a good church to go to, check out Gap Creek Baptist Church! www.gapcreekbaptist.com

Doing....

You know it is really interesting to me. I have people all of the time coming up to me, asking if I have read this new book or that. Rarely, my answer is yes. Radical by David Platt, before that was A Call To Die by David Nasser, prior to that A Purpose Driven Life came out by Rick Warren, and way before that was  The Word of God. People can get and read books easier and easier every year: Kindle, Nook, iPad, Internet. Shoot, you can get a book read to you for that matter on: mP3 formats, CD's, and podCasts. People write these books with, hopefully, an inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Certainly that was the case for the Bible. They write these books to point out things that are honestly missing from our day to day lives. The question popped into my head.... when are we going to quit anticipating the release of the new, next book and start DOING? When are the words on the pages of these books going to become reality? Radical talks about 5 topics we should base our lives on. A Call to Die challenges us to die to self and live for Christ. The Bible is our "trail guide" for life - and true life at that. When will begin to live our lives in a way that is evident of our sacrifices, that is evident of our time, that is evident of our heart, life, and treasure? When will we DO? When will we GO? When will we LIVE?

Got a little good news and a little bad news.......

Do you remember the "Pray" post? Well, we weren't 100 percent sure what all was going to happen so we just need some prayer to get us through the situation.

Liz and I went to the Federal Police the other day to get the extension on her visa. When we arrived the man behind the counter said, "No." Honestly, it through us off a good bit.... no one ever expected that she would not get an extension. After all, I got mine with no problem at all. It was crazy! Our translator, Doug, spent some time with the guy to get some information. After it was all said and done the man basically told Liz that she had three options. We went with option three since it meant we would be able to continue our ministry in Brazil with less hindrance in the future. Option three also meant that we had 8 days to get out of the country. So with little delay, we bought a ticket to Fort Lauderdale and landed early morning Tuesday.

The trip to the States was insane to say the least. Let's just go ahead and say we will never fly Suriname Air again. Before we left Belem the people at the counter for Suriname tried to tell us we had to get a Visa for their country. Once they figured out we wouldn't fall for that one, they tried to charge us for our luggage. 600 dollars, US, to be exact. As soon as I asked for the luggage back they changed their minds and decided to only charge us 200 bucks, which also included a "tax" we had to pay. Personally, I believe they pocketed the money.... We left Belem and arrived in Suriname where they decided to "beef up" their scare tactics. They called Liz and I over the intercom on the plane and told us to identify ourselves. We did, and were escorted to the jet hanger at the back of the airport. There, they told us that we were illegal in their country and would have to pay and fine and get a visa. I told them that I didn't want to be in their country and that they could just kick me out.... as a matter of fact, I had a ticket to fly out in about an hour. The lady left and came back a few minutes later. When she returned she told us that we didn't pay for our luggage to get to America and that we would have to pay if we wanted our luggage. I told her that was fine because the airline regulations required them to hold insurance on my luggage and that if it didn't get scanned in at Fort Lauderdale their Airline would be responsible. She let us pass.... We left Suriname and flew into Trinidad. There, we were met with a really nice Taxi driver and he showed us around the island while we were waiting on our 7 hour layover. After our event in Suriname we needed a little "vacation!" We finally arrived in Florida and drove 9 hours back to the Carolinas!

We are not sure why God has us back for this time. We know that Satan is working hard to "interrupt" the ministry God is doing through us in Brazil. But we also know God is in Control! We will be here until our permanent visas come through in Atlanta. Our lawyer in Brasilia told us that it could be as soon as next week before they are done processing the visa and we would be flying back to our new home in Brazil. But it could also be as late as the end of July as well. No matter how long it takes, we will be serving the Lord wherever he has us! Liz and I are filling up the calendar with Churches to share all of the awesome things the Lord has been doing and is still doing in Brazil. If your church is interested, we are willing to come and share anytime we are available. Let us know and we look forward to seeing you soon! You can contact us at amazonimpact@gmail.com or 843-696-2386 (Logan's Cell). God Bless!