“And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.” (Matthew 4:19-20)
I have a good friend from high school that purchased 15 acres in Tensas National Wildlife Refuge a few years ago. Trent knew me from my days of lawlessness, living in willful sin in high school and years after that. He still lives in Delhi where I work and we have always stayed in touch but for years we have never spent time together. He invited me many times to come to his camp on Judd Lake and hunt, fish, or just relax. After a year of talking about it I finally made a weekend deer hunt in late December 2016. We connected and really got to talk about where our lives had taken us. Trent was aware of my supernatural transformation from death to life (1 John 3:14) in Christ many years ago and attended my ordination service in West Monroe a couple of years ago. During our December weekend, at night around the outdoor fire pit he would ask questions about my life as a Christian and commented many times that I truly was not the same person I once was(2 Cor. 5:17). I always knew Trent would make something of himself as he always had a great work ethic and level head even in High School. He was always a good person (Isaiah 64:6) but I was not sure about his spiritual wellbeing.
After the December trip we planned another hunt before the season ended and I knew it would be before my scheduled Honduras mission trip 1-25 thru 1-31. We decided to go back 1-20 thru 1-22. I told Trent that I would prepare to minister at his camp Sunday morning 1-22 before leaving for home since he would not be attending his regular Sunday morning service. I was saying this in fun but when I told him he lit up with a big smile and told me he would invite a friend of his that needed encouragement and truth in his life. I met Trent, Whitfield (Trent’s son), and Heath after work Friday for the ride to the boat landing. Saturday we had a great day hunting and visiting. Heath is a construction engineer on a recently installed pipeline that ended in Natchez, Ms. He hired a contractor from Utah to monitor the line for a time so he was in town. Sat evening, while I hunted, Trent and Heath boated out and picked Justin up to spend the night.
Sat evening Whitfield began to mention how excited he was that we planned to have church on the camp porch Sunday morning and that he wanted to get things set up for the sermon. The camp was quiet Sat night after we retired for the evening and I got a bit of insight on Trent’s spiritual journey as I could hear him reading to Whitfield from the book of Acts while they lay in the bed. I was very excited and pleased to know he was taking responsibility to teach his son (Prov. 22:6) Biblical truths. Sunday morning came and I was prepared to share from my notes on “The Kingdom of God” that I was studying to deliver to the Honduran people later that week. I shared my testimony (Rev 12:11) and faith walk along with truths about Yeshua’s kingdom on earth (Matt 6) to four people on the deck of a camp deep in the woods of Madison parish. With no church program, choir, speakers, microphones, smoke, lights, etc…..guess what, Holy Spirit showed up and truth (John 17:17) penetrated the hearts of men. Trent was moved to tears and Justin was astonished to have an opportunity to see a part of Louisiana he’s not seen and have church in the woods. Not at all what he expected. Heath was very attentive and I could tell he was soaking it in.
Please pray for these men’s heart to come in alignment with Yahweh’s truth.
I have a good friend from high school that purchased 15 acres in Tensas National Wildlife Refuge a few years ago. Trent knew me from my days of lawlessness, living in willful sin in high school and years after that. He still lives in Delhi where I work and we have always stayed in touch but for years we have never spent time together. He invited me many times to come to his camp on Judd Lake and hunt, fish, or just relax. After a year of talking about it I finally made a weekend deer hunt in late December 2016. We connected and really got to talk about where our lives had taken us. Trent was aware of my supernatural transformation from death to life (1 John 3:14) in Christ many years ago and attended my ordination service in West Monroe a couple of years ago. During our December weekend, at night around the outdoor fire pit he would ask questions about my life as a Christian and commented many times that I truly was not the same person I once was(2 Cor. 5:17). I always knew Trent would make something of himself as he always had a great work ethic and level head even in High School. He was always a good person (Isaiah 64:6) but I was not sure about his spiritual wellbeing.
After the December trip we planned another hunt before the season ended and I knew it would be before my scheduled Honduras mission trip 1-25 thru 1-31. We decided to go back 1-20 thru 1-22. I told Trent that I would prepare to minister at his camp Sunday morning 1-22 before leaving for home since he would not be attending his regular Sunday morning service. I was saying this in fun but when I told him he lit up with a big smile and told me he would invite a friend of his that needed encouragement and truth in his life. I met Trent, Whitfield (Trent’s son), and Heath after work Friday for the ride to the boat landing. Saturday we had a great day hunting and visiting. Heath is a construction engineer on a recently installed pipeline that ended in Natchez, Ms. He hired a contractor from Utah to monitor the line for a time so he was in town. Sat evening, while I hunted, Trent and Heath boated out and picked Justin up to spend the night.
Sat evening Whitfield began to mention how excited he was that we planned to have church on the camp porch Sunday morning and that he wanted to get things set up for the sermon. The camp was quiet Sat night after we retired for the evening and I got a bit of insight on Trent’s spiritual journey as I could hear him reading to Whitfield from the book of Acts while they lay in the bed. I was very excited and pleased to know he was taking responsibility to teach his son (Prov. 22:6) Biblical truths. Sunday morning came and I was prepared to share from my notes on “The Kingdom of God” that I was studying to deliver to the Honduran people later that week. I shared my testimony (Rev 12:11) and faith walk along with truths about Yeshua’s kingdom on earth (Matt 6) to four people on the deck of a camp deep in the woods of Madison parish. With no church program, choir, speakers, microphones, smoke, lights, etc…..guess what, Holy Spirit showed up and truth (John 17:17) penetrated the hearts of men. Trent was moved to tears and Justin was astonished to have an opportunity to see a part of Louisiana he’s not seen and have church in the woods. Not at all what he expected. Heath was very attentive and I could tell he was soaking it in.
Please pray for these men’s heart to come in alignment with Yahweh’s truth.
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