Fri, Mar 31st - 11:00PM

Being Alone

Aloneness

            I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.  (Psa 102:7)

     There is a time when the Lord’s disciple must be alone.  I don’t mean that merely in a physical or geographic sense.  There’s a place in the southern part of the state that I used to visit, mostly in the summertime, but also at different times of the year.  It’s called Picketwire Canyon, and it is named for the small river that flows through it, the Pergatoire (French for Purgatory) River.  The old ranchers couldn’t quite get the French pronunciation right, so the name got a little twisted to “Picketwire,” a much more appropriate name in Western ranching country.  Picketwire Canyon is a little known place in Colorado, a state known to attract people to its natural beauty.  Make no mistake, though, Picketwire is a beautiful place in its own right.  It possesses a beauty somewhat different than the great mountains just a few miles to the west of it, but it has an awesome beauty, nonetheless.  An old Spanish mission church stands crumbled fairly in the center of her, complete with little headstones marking the graves of its faithful parishioners.  The remnants of one homestead, its cistern, adobe house with log beams, and partially submerged storage cellars now inhabited by rattlesnakes, scorpions and other such creatures still testify to a pioneer way quite foreign to modern America and her easy, self-indulgent lifestyle.  The local folk still go there to hunt wild turkeys, and a few shorts-wearing tourists from Denver and elsewhere march down her canyon walls and on the path next to the river to view the “pre-historic” dinosaur prints at the southwest end of the canyon. 

If there is one word to describe Picketwire Canyon, it’s “lonely.”  Yes, Picketwire is a lonely place, though I cannot say exactly why.  I’ve been on top of very high mountains and out in far more remote areas than this little canyon, but have only felt the loneliness I feel at Picketwire, there at Picketwire.  Now there’s the stretch of road between Blue Mesa Reservoir (by Gunnison) and Lake City that’s pretty lonely too.  But it’s different.  That’s a vast, awesome, majestic loneliness, especially on a moon-lit night.  But Pickewire is my “wilderness of Judea,” right here in my own back yard of colorful, new-age, “everybody wants to be in” Colorado.  When I go down there for a brief visit, and a brief visit is all I can really handle, sometimes overnight, I think I feel like maybe a certain Baptist, named John, or a prophet of old named Elijah, or even as the Lord Himself must have felt as He wandered in the wilderness for forty days and nights.  Though I would not put myself in league with these and other prominent figures of the Bible, I wonder if the loneliness I feel when I’m there, and often here in Colorado Springs is not that same gnawing emptiness they often felt in their wilderness experiences.  Surely they had the presence of the very Spirit of the living God to comfort them and to reassure them of their place in His loving plans for them.  So do I, though, perhaps I haven’t come to the full realization of that presence as acutely as many of them.  It does seem to say that Elijah got pretty dejected out there in that wilderness between Judea and Mount Horeb.  Jesus, Himself in His human, fleshly state felt a very intense loneliness just before and during His passion.

I don’t know exactly what attracts me to Picketwire, except its loneliness.  I suppose that sounds morbid, but that is the fascination I have for that terrible place.  I used to like war movies and read books about heroics in war, even though I’m naturally a coward.  I guess it’s the same kind of thing with my attraction to Picketwire.  There’s a calling deep inside of me to loneliness and being alone that I can’t explain. 

The other day as I was approaching our church building for Sunday service, I came to a sudden realization.  I’ve found this beautiful group of loving, godly folks that seem to accept me just as I am, different, in many ways as I seem to be from them.  I hold to a theology that is nearly opposite theirs, and my back round is very different than their Wesleyan holiness traditions.  But I can’t seem to shake that romantic feeling I have for them and the attraction I have to their simplicity of worship and devotion.  Well, the realization was that I couldn’t have had this beautiful fellowship with these people until about a year ago when I found them.  Since my release from prison seven years ago, I’ve gone from church to church, smaller and larger, house-church, Mennonite fellowships in different parts of the state, Evangelical “contemporary” type churches, and you-name it.  Most rejected me or I left them for one reason or another.  One church here in the Springs even had the police escort me out of the building.  It’s truly been a lonely path amongst supposedly “Christian” brethren. 

            Now, at last I’ve found a group of believers I accept and who accept and love me, fervently and without hesitation.  Why?  How did this come about in my lonely, often miserable life?  The why of the realization is what really came to me Sunday morning.  Yes, part of it is that the Lord can’t or doesn’t or won’t give His children His very best blessings until they are able to truly appreciate them.  And God knows that I appreciate these folks immensely, no matter their faults and faulty (in my view) theology.  I cherish them as a man cherishes his own flesh.  But there is more to it.  In order for me to be a useful, functioning member of Christ’s body, in order for me to have a truly meaningful fellowship with others of His disciples, I needed to experience the aloneness that I’ve gone through in these past years.  I had to learn (and am still learning) to value the companionship of the “Friend who sticks closer than a brother,” Jesus.  He can be known in a group and often is so known.  But until He is known when one is alone, not just geographically alone as in the wilderness of Picketwire, or in a solitary prison cell, but that apartness and loneliness  experienced amongst others who may even profess the same creeds as one does, He is not fully known.  Being misunderstood, rejected, not listened to, not really even wanted is something that our precious Saviour had to undergo and to endure in His earthly life. Truly, a disciple is not above His Master.  As caring and understanding as other Christians can be, only He really cares and understands me.   We so often want others to understand us, but they really can’t, not like He does, anyway.

            I’m still alone and often very lonely, even in the midst of my loving friends, and even though I have their committed friendship.  I crave all the companionship I can get from them and from others.  But I’m learning to value aloneness as I never have before.  Being alone with God is really what makes me as Him, and makes me love Him.  Yes, there is a place for loving Him in the brethren, and a certain strengthening that comes to me through my brothers and sisters in Christ.  But in the beginning it was just Him and me alone.  In the end it will be so, and in the meantime, Christ is in me, the hope of glory.  My religion is not derived from other humans, though it is often built up with their help.  It comes from God and God alone.  Only He has brought me this far in my journey, and He alone can take me through the lonely, desolate places I must yet go through to the very end.  I thank Him for the aloneness He has given me these many years, though I haven’t understood or appreciated it until very recently.  It is that aloneness that causes others to see Jesus in me and me to see Jesus in them.  For this I am glad.

 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.  (Mark 6:31)

Thu, Mar 30th - 12:56AM

Mission America

The True Gospel, the Whole Gospel, The Truly Good News

And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.  Mark 1:15

    The world is filled with cripples, moral, spiritual, physical and otherwise.  The Gospel message is good news to the cripple, if he will receive it.  The stronger and purer the dose of Gospel medicine one is able to take in, the greater its healing power and effect.  Conversely, when the message is diluted in any number of ways, when key elements are left out deliberately or in ignorance, little real and lasting change occurs in the hearer.  What did the prophet of old say, "They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying 'peace, peace' when there is no peace."  Jer. 8:11  Our generation is reaping the fruit of a deficient gospel that has been disseminated for the past several decades in our land.  I suppose it could be given many labels, such as, the "Feel Good About Myself, Jesus Loves Me Just As I Am, and Doesn't Care if I Stay That Way" gospel.  Many, if not most of the contemporary churches seem to have set their sights on growth in numbers and, out of expediency to this end have employed everything imaginable in attracting warm, and relatively affluent bodies to their membership.  Everything from "fast food" type sermons and services, complete with contemporary movie segments to relate "spiritual" points, to activities such as Christian Jazzercise, humanistic counseling, flyfishing and a host of other carnal gimmicks to attract carnal people to carnal religious programs in their church building endeavors.  The list is nearly endless as we all know from personal observation.  Almost anything goes in attracting the masses to this "straight gate and narrow way," that Jesus said few would find.

    A plethora of half-truths are peddled in these religious circuses, such as faith, without repentance that leads to a truly holy life; and the cross as a symbol of what Jesus did for us apart from the necessity for true discipleship by taking it up daily and dying to one's sin and self.   It's truly no wonder that casualties abound outside the church structures, and false professors often establish themselves within. What can a lonely and lone believer do to affect good in such a climate of deception and spiritual compromise?  What have authentic disciples throughout the church age done in the face of rejection, misunderstanding, superstition, apostasy and persecution?  First of all they submitted themselves to a faithful God and stood their ground.  Some were tortured and killed, others driven from their homes and communities and hounded literally to death.  But they gave witness to the truth no matter what others thought or said about them, no matter what the personal cost to them, so that the light of Christ would shine brightly in them.  Times are really not much different now, qualitatively than in those previous periods of church history.  The Lord Himself predicted a falling away in the last days and that a powerful force of evil deception would come upon the world, and that even the very elect would be deceived (if possible).  See Matt. 24:24 and entire chapter.

    Those who discern the time in which we now live are beset with all manner of pressure within their own souls as well as from without.  The easy way is to pacify those who desire a half-gospel, a me-centered message which is really not "good news" at all.  But the Lord gives no alternative to His dear saints but to earnestly contend for the true faith, to advance the kingdom while on this earth and to pull men out of the fires of perdition that is soon to come.  "...and having done all, to stand."  Eph. 6:13  Let the complacent and self-satisfied remain so.  But let him who hears the call to battle take up his armament and pluck up his spirit, for "The night commeth when no man can work."

Say not ye, There are yet four months, and [then] cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. (Jn. 4:35)

Onward Christian soldiers!  Marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus, going on before.

Christ the royal Master, Leads against the foe;

Forward into battle, See, His banners go! 

Take heart, dear friend, and fear not, for you are not alone! "...knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." (1Pe 5:9)  There are souls waiting to see a living witness of Christ in you and to hear the word of the cross more accurately from your lips. 

The eternal God [is thy] refuge, and underneath [are] the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy [them].Deu 33:27)

Mon, Mar 27th - 12:17AM

Report on Mission to Homeless Shelter

Who Will go to America?

They left their homes in America

To cross the ocean white and blue

They carried their cross not caring the loss

So other souls could hear the truth.

 

But the light's grown dim in America

And sin will be our nation's doom.

We need more preaching in America

For Jesus Christ is coming soon.

 

chorus:

Who will go to America?

Land of the red, white and blue.

Who will go to America?

Tell me brother, why not you?

 

Our Saviour sends His children forth

To go to every land.

To the islands of the uttermost,

To find forgotten man.

 

But the most forgotten mission field

Is within our country's shores.

So who will go to America?

She needs Jesus Christ the Lord.

author unknown

 

Our meeting was a blessing on Saturday night, the first, I hope of many more in the coming days.  Two men residing at the shelter attended along with a group from our church and Bible School.  I was privileged to preach the message on Matt. 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  Please pray for John, a Bible school graduate and for Michael.  Both are wounded men in need of grace.  Ninenty eight or so other residents didn't see fit to attend.  Let's pray that the walls between us and them will fall down in the coming days of our ministry there! 

God has a revival for America, and it may begin in the lowest places and hopefully reach the top.  "You're either a missionary or a mission field" is a quaint little saying I once heard.  It's so true.  Those truly liberated by the light of God's truth have a mission to those who do not truly know Him.  We are gleaners at the Salvation Army Shelter and anywhere else we can find souls ready for the kingdom.  Let us ask ourselves this question, "Am I a missionary or a mission field, and if a missionary, what is my mission?"  Who will go to America, and pay the cost to reap a harvest here?

Fri, Mar 24th - 9:06AM

Call for Prayer

Mission to Salvation Army Shelter

Arrangements for a regular ministry at the Salvation Army shelter were very easily made yesterday with their coordinator at the shelter, no hassles, no competition with other groups.  It was almost too easy.  That song sung by the young people of our Bible college at the camp meeting a few weeks ago, "Who Will Go To America?" came to me afterwards as I returned to the job I was working.  It seemed to be a gentle confirmation of a calling to minister to an almost forgotton people right here in Colorado Springs, this enclave of Evangelical mission and church activity.  Lord, I've waited so long for this opportunity, for the preparation you have done in me to strip me of all that is self, so that I might present a pure and simple Gospel witness of Thy saving power and grace. 

I'm trembling like a young man about to go on a date with a beautiful girl he's met, not knowing quite what to say and what to expect in response.  O God, I've made so many  mistakes in past ministry efforts, had so many failings in this troublesome journey.  Only You can qualify a man to labor in the harvest of human souls for Thy Kingdom.  Would You send a weak man to tell others of your strength?  Or a poor man to boast of your riches?  Or a sinful man to proclaim Thy holiness?  So many are lost here in our great country, not even knowing the precarious condition of their immortal souls.  Help Lord!  Help them to see their need.  Help me tomorrow evening at 7pm to speak the message of repentance and faith in God in Jesus Christ with power and conviction !  Gracious God, open hearts and minds to true grace and reconciliation to Thee.  Add souls to Thy kingdom!  Amen.

Sun, Mar 19th - 11:20AM

Reaching out to the Lost

Good People in Hell – Bad People in Heaven

When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked [man] shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.  (Eze 3:18)

          Dennis is a man who thinks he is a Christian.  One day Dennis was walking by the apartment building at which I was working and stopped to inquire if we needed any help painting.  It just so happened that we did need painting help just about that time.  A few days later I hired Dennis to help me paint a three story window framework in the front entrance of the building.  He was very competent and thorough in his work and, by his help we were able to complete the job to the satisfaction of the property manager.

          When men work together, the condition of their souls becomes apparent to one another.  One day at a break, Dennis, inquired about being baptized.  This was the first indication in our brief relationship that he had any interest in spiritual things, and was quite a surprise to me.  In the few days we had worked together he had chronicled the significant parts of his 54 year existence without any testimony to salvation in it.  Moreover, the focus of his life, while not particularly evil, was obviously worldly and self-oriented.  In contrast, being about the same age, my life’s experiences had been fraught with instability, insecurity and marked with the blemish of rebellion and many of its sinful manifestations.  This had been the case long after my conversion to Christ over thirty years ago.  Yet, I had a testimony to God’s saving grace, which this man clearly did not.  Why he had asked about getting baptized was a puzzle, the answer to which was not revealed to me until somewhat later in our time together.  But as the days progressed and we worked and interacted together on a couple of other jobs, it became apparent that Dennis was deluded about his relationship to his Maker and the condition of his soul.  His cursing and the general vein of his speech revealed a deep cynicism and self-reliance that was being shaken by his nearly homeless state.

          I was able to understand and identify with Dennis largely because of the similarity of our experiences in the counter-culture that we had both been a part of in the sixties and seventies of the last century.  The difference was that I had been rescued from the deception of that generation and he, apparently had not.  The words that proceeded out of his mouth gave no indication of a similar deliverance from the destruction of sin so characteristic of that period.  Even though, my life had not immediately cleaned up from its pattern of drugs, fornication and double-mindedness, a definite change had begun on the night of my conversion, the course of which has never been the same.  It was plain to see, however that this man’s life was no different, inwardly, nor outwardly, to any significant extent, than it had been for him through those hippy, rock-n-roll years.  And yet Dennis, while not reaching out to God, nor searching for His kingdom, was somehow seeking approval and acceptance from me to be recognized as a brother in Christ, though it was blatant that this was not the case.

          What a challenge for me!  There was little that I could point out in his life that could be condemned.  He wasn’t taking drugs, drinking, stealing, lying, living with a woman out of wedlock or any of the things that mark the lifestyle commonly associated with sinners.  Even though it was obvious to me that his troubled life was completely devoid of faith, which fact he was blind to, he was convinced that he was heaven-bound.  My zealous brand of Christianity was perhaps in his mind,  just a variation of something he, himself possessed, though in a much more subdued fashion.  I tried to share with him how God had and was presently enabling me to thrive spiritually as well as temporally because my trust was in Him, and not in myself.  But our conversations proved to be a tragic miscommunication and a futile attempt on my part to help him see that which he was not able to see.  We recently parted ways rather abruptly, as the Lord seemed to move us in separate directions in the course of our lives.

          What was the significance of that brief encounter with Dennis?  I must say that, if nothing else it intensified in my mind the sense of weightiness of the matter of salvation for all men, including myself.  In our brief time together I was able to see a number of truths concerning God’s dealing with people as clearly enumerated in the Holy Scriptures.  How sad that those on their way to perdition are, for the most part completely deceived about their own spiritual condition in this all-important matter.  “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord...”  How urgent is the need in this hour to give witness of the truth of the Gospel, both through our lives, as well as by our speech in proclaiming the need for repentance to all!  But, above all, I've been left with an ever-deepening sense of gratitude and unworthiness for being chosen for and granted eternal life by the loving and merciful God I now serve.  May He extend His favor to Dennis and to all, who like him need forgiveness and salvation!

Sun, Mar 12th - 11:43AM

My Healing

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.  (Heb 12:6)

I’ve been scourged this week-end, and I thank you for it Lord!  You know best what discipline I need, what correction, rebuke, chastisement is good for me.  The pain is somehow necessary in order for the healing to take place.  Each time I experience it I get a little better, a little more like Christ.  O God of mercy, I thank you for this mercy!  Though it smarts, it is meant for my good. 

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou [art] my praise.  (Jer 17:14)

     O Lord, I want more than anything to be healed and to be whole, in every way more like Jesus.  I see now the beauty of wholeness, and the value of your means of making one whole in Christ.  God is holy. His beauty lies in His moral perfection, and those who approach Him, who want to have fellowship with Him must likewise be holy.   I want to see that beauty in all its fullness.  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."  The way of the cross is painful indeed, but its results are beneficial far beyond the degree of suffering necessary in order to receive them.  The cross is His means for me to attain a holiness that is foreign to me.  Now I see the value of taking it up daily, embracing it and carrying it, both secretly and before the world. 

     How marvelous are Thy works, O Lord, and how tender are Thy thoughts toward me!  That you would go to the lengths you have in laying the punishment for my sin upon your Son, is beyond my comprehension.  Now my cross is a constant reminder of the pain that you inflicted upon Him for my benefit.  Thank you, Lord for this pain, both mine and His.  They both have meaning.  His blood shed has availed for me in a way that has eternal results, blessings I have only begun to appreciate.  My sin is purged.  I am justified and can no longer be held guilty for it.  How amazing!  This present pain is only temporary, and is a blessing in that it helps me always be aware of the value of what His pain has done for me.  The world and the worldly-minded cannot see this, except in a very faint and remote way.  But to me, it has become a living truth, a hope, a comfort and reason for going on, and light to take me all the way to His very presence at the end of my course.  I am being healed and made whole.   I don’t have to go about as a cripple any more.  Praise the living God! 

     Precious Lord, thank you for loving me so!  Thank you for being my saviour!  O God, I love thee!  Hold me close, lest I fall away and lose sight of thee. 

Sat, Mar 11th - 4:14AM

Cry for Help

The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.  Pro 14:10

      What disappointment!  What frustration!  What lonely anguish of spirit I have felt when my desires and expectations are not fulfilled and met!  But it is this disappointment and frustration that causes me to look deeper into my soul under the glaring light of the word of God.  Why do you withhold from me the good things that I desire?  Is it not to show me, when at last I am willing to see beyond the pain of my lack of fulfillment that there is something much better to be had?  Lord God, thank you for showing me this after so long an ordeal in this life of sorrow and suffering!  Now, precious, Lord, grant me the grace to desire what you desire for me; to want the deeper, higher, better things that cannot be obtained with the currency of this present world!  Enable me to put away my idols and cause me to long for thee, and thee alone!  I’m caught, Lord, between the magnetism of this world, the strong pull of my selfish flesh, and the call of my heavenly destiny.  Help, Lord!  Don’t leave me in this middle ground, this terrible state betwixt and between.  Carry me up, up and away to the place of safety and rest into thy presence, by thy strong, loving arms! 

     Holy God!  I worship thee!

Thu, Mar 9th - 6:50AM

Mid-Week Prayer

Sun, Mar 5th - 9:41AM

Who We Are

Pilgrims and Strangers

These all died in faith...and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  Heb. 11:13

Pilgrims and strangers and foreigners are we,

In a world not friendly, nor in  sympathy,

with  Christ and His kingdom to advance on the earth,

O'er the dying creation that longs for new birth.

Though many are called to travel this way,

few there be that stumble not, nor stray,

from its upward direction and difficult course,

so narrow and straightening, and filled with remorse.

Pitfalls and snares, and sloughs of every kind,

are waiting to capture the simple of mind.

Enticements to sin, various and sundried,

allurements away from this pathway do lead.

But a rest for the people of God doth remain,

whose efforts have failed their foes to restrain.

Exhausted, He bids them there to enter in,

to turn from their doubting, their unbelief and their sin.

 

Precious seeds for the kingdom they go forth to sow,

shedding teardrops of sorrow, which they only know.

But coming again and reaping with joy,

the fruits of abiding which none can destroy.

This is the secret of the life He imparts,

to those who are broken and crushed in their hearts.

Letting Him live His life in them anew;

in faith lies the power to will and to do.

 

Joy is for those who will suffer with Him,

taking the cup that is filled to the brim,

of shame and reproach and rejection of men.

Their glory awaits His appearing again.

So lift up your eyes, you pilgrims of earth,

chosen partakers of the heavenly birth.

"Possess ye your souls" with patience and trust;

the reward of the inheritance is awaiting the just!

O Lord, bless all the pilgrims wherever they are today!  We so need thy strength and tender care.  Gracious God show us thy faithfulness this day!  Amen.

Wed, Mar 1st - 11:05PM

Week-end in Texas, Continued

I guess I printed my rough draft, accidentally.  How blessed it was to spend a part of last week-end with precious, God-loving saints from many parts of the country and Mexico!  The services and events that took place probably have little or no appeal to most not connected with the Holiness Movement, but my experience there was wonderful.  Two hundred or so Christians fellowshiped together for about ten days, the last of which I was a part of.  My sense of mission and purpose was renewed, acquaintances were made and stengthened and love was shared.  What will heaven actually be like in our experience?  No conflicts forever.  Nomisunderstandings, confusion, ill feelings, doubt, no pain, sorrow  or tears.  Wow!  That's what I tasted this past week-end.

The City of the King

There's a tree on the banks of the River of Life,

with leaves for the healing of the nations.

It's set in the midst of the city of God,

that's built on sure foundations.

 

We can go to that heavenly city,

traveling there above,

taking our family and friends with us,

all of the ones we love.

 

The gate, though is narrow, the way it is straight,

that leads to this glorious land:

and few there be that find that way.

Few at its gates will stand.

 

The Desire of the Nations resides in that place,

the Prince and the Giver of Peace.

He summons His court and calls to His own,

and makes all the striving to cease.

 

Who is this Prince, and who is this King,

that reigns from this city above?

And what has He done but shed His own blood,

to purchase His subjects with love?

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and be] their God.And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.  Rev. 21:1-4

Wed, Mar 1st - 12:00AM

A Week-end in Texas

South Texas Holiness Camp - McAllen, TX    February 2006

A busy week here painting, texturing, running around like a de-capitated chicken.  But I got  the new parsonage painted and was free to fly to Texas for the last couple of days of camp meeting.  What a heavenly blessing, indeed to fellowship with some 200 joy-filled saints of every age from many parts!

As I ascend into the heavens, up, up to 34,000 ft. above the circle of the earth, my thoughts and prayers rise even higher and faster. 

For thy mercy [is] great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.

Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: [let] thy glory [be] above all the earth.

Arrived Saturday evening,  The service had concluded and some were praying at the front. Derald (my pastor) introduced me  to several people, and I had know others from  our church  or other places.  The consistent and tender love of these "holiness" folks is truly amazing. 

Sunday morning:  Prayer meeting at 7am;  breakfast at 8.  Service begins as 9:30  am.