In my last post called 10,000 miles for the truth, I shared how the Lord placed a burden upon our heart to travel in the United States and personally meet fellow believers in the One True God Community. If you are not familiar with Line of truth or the One True God Movement, I would highly recommend checking out that post and the video series that we produced called The Final Protest.

We have many friends, family and supporters that are inquiring how the first 4 weeks of our 24 week trip has gone. Well, the title of this article should be an indication of how things have gone and that God is trying to teach us a lesson as family. That lesson is patience. How God teaches us that lesson is through problems.

Now, before I publish a running list of some of the challenges that we have faced in the last 4 weeks I want you to share a verse about patience.

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:2-4

When we face various temptations, trials, challenges, etc. it is because God is trying to teach us patience. God allows us to face various difficult circumstances so that we can patiently endure in the same way as His Son did. This perfect patience will eventually be manifested in a group of people right before the end of time.

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Rev 14:12

This message is significant as it is the third one in a series of final warnings to be given to the world. This message is pointing to a group of people, the saints. The fact that patience is emphasized in these saints reveals that they are going to have to endure severe trials.

I can’t say that we have faced any severe trials. Maybe the Lord is leading us there in little steps. With that said, here is what has happened in the Last four weeks.

Timing Belt

The day before we left my brother casually mentioned that before he purchases a used vehicle he always checks with the owner to see if it has been replaced. The next day I found out from the previous owner that ours had not been changed and that it needed to be. I had that looming over us as we were about to depart the next day.

Freezing for no Reason

The first night in our travel trailer was in Tehachapi, Ca. It wasn’t extremely chilly outside but it was still cold enough because we woke up the next morning to find out that the heater was not working. It turns out that I just didn’t know how to turn it on. I figured that out a couple days later. It’s just the first in what will most likely turn out to be many learning experiences. Our second day of our trip, our daughter Hannah started to get sick and when she gets sick it eventually spreads to everyone else.

Wrong Loves

In the afternoon of our second day we were going to meet Lori’s Aunt in Arizona. Since we were traveling on interstate 40 she was going to meet us at the Loves travel station. She was only and hour or so away. It turns out we passed by the right one she was planning on meeting us at and continued almost an hour too far.  It was an honest mistake by my wife, a casual oversight but nevertheless it was kind of irritating. God is trying to us patience, especially with the ones that we are closest to. It didn’t take long before we realized that we are not used to spending so much time together.

Leaky Water heater

I forgot to mention that on our first night I woke up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. As my foot planted itself on the floor,  a puddle of water was waiting to be absorbed by my sock. The next morning I found the cause of the leak. It was a connector on the water heater. I am finding that travel trailers, especially used ones tend to be high maintenance.

Sickness, Wind & Snow

Our first weekend was in Prescott, Az. The weekend was great and we met some lovely people but our daughters were both sick at this point. We ended up leaving on Monday to our next appointment in Denver, Colorado. We made it to Flagstaff for lunch but it was a little windy on the way and the weather started to turn sour. I looked up the weather on my phone and there was an high wind advisory right along our path so we decided to stay in Flagstaff for a while and possibly the evening. It started snowing. Lori and I were going back and forth about whether we should leave and a couple other things. I started to get frustrated and finally I just blurted out, “we’re going”. So we left. Not very patient was it?

Our Precious Little Zombie

For the next two days, our youngest daughter, Haley was like a zombie. Her name is Haley Joy and it suits her very well because she is the little clown of our family. She is always so expressive and usually says the funniest things. These two days it was as if she wasnt a part of our family. It was really hard to see her sick like that. It makes me think of our heavenly Father watch with anguish as His Son suffered here on earth.

Stuck Like Chuck

We spent the next weekend in Denver and that was a blessing to be with friends and family. Back in January of 2017 we packed our stuff into storage in Newcastle, Wyoming. Well it is still there and we needed to drop some stuff off and pick some more stuff up. I was excited because I was able to get my desktop computer and my bike. The only problem was that there was a major snow storm coming through the area. We finally decided to try to beat the storm and make it there before we go stuck . We did make it to Wyoming and then over to Rapid City South Dakota in the brink of time but we got stuck for three days in a hotel.

All Gas-less and frozen

We didn’t take our trailer up there because it is usually very windy in Wyoming (it was) and I also did not want to pull a trailer in the snow. When we finally got back to Denver and to our trailer I discovered that the gas ran out in our trailer and all the pipes froze. We ended up having to stay with some good friends of ours that evening.

Wichita or Bust or Both

Our next stop was in Wichita and we arrived without any unforeseen disasters but at this point we are expecting anything to happen. In reality, we have been blessed to not have any significant problems but have been safe thus far. It seems like a lot of little problems over time to add up. It was on our way to Wichita that we listened to a testimony of a friend of ours from Australia. She was talking about her conversion and how she had a short fuse with her children, especially when Oprah was on. When she fully accepted Christ into her heart and her home, she had more patience and love for her children. It really spoke to me. Anyways, I had something prepared to share on Friday night when we arrived in Wichita. Since we arrived in enough time I decided to go on a bike ride. As I was riding my phone fell and shattered the screen. It was almost like the icing on the cake. Our Father revealed to me my need of more patience. I spoke that evening on the patience of the Saints. You can check out the video here.

Were there no blessings?

I purposely shared some of the more trying things that took place in our first 4 weeks on the road but that is a far cry from a complete picture. Sometimes in the midst of a trial we fail to look at the bigger picture and we fail to focus on anything else but the trial itself. But the trials themselves are the means by which we arrive at a better place and when we arrive there we look back and see that the trials were not unaccompanied. Often times in the midst of tribulations God is gives us evidence that He is there but most of the time we aren’t paying attention.

Yes, There Were Blessings!

You remember that first night without heat? Well I figured out how to turn the heater on. When our daughters got sick Lori and I were fighting it but we did not get sick! That is a miracle in itself and rarely happens. When in Prescott, a wonderful person volunteered to help me change my timing belt. When we needed new tires, a generous individual donated the funds for that purpose.  The time in Prescott when I got frustrated and left during the snowstorm, we traveled for 15 minutes and the sun came out! So did our moods. Haley is no longer a zombie. Our time stuck in the snowstorm was in a hotel with an indoor pool and slide. Our pipes froze in our trailer but nothing broke. I was able to replace my screen on my phone for $40.

The bad news about the patience of the saints in Rev 14:12 is that the fact that they have patience reveals that they will be tried. We know that they will be tried in a way that no other group of believers ever have been. The encouraging news is that they are not alone.

“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev 14:12

The faith of Jesus is not theirs but is Christ’s. In the midst of the most difficult trials ever to face God’s people Jesus Christ is in them giving them hope and comfort to face anything.