Lash and Steel, travel issues, rework

Sunday we had an unusual evangelist at our church. John Bailey was his name and the name of his ministry was “Lash and Steel”. He holds the Guinness World Record in “Whip Cracking Speed & Accuracy” and is the Three-Time & Current, World Champion Quick Draw Knife Thrower. It was a pretty impressive show. The longest bullwhip he has is forty feet long. He used it to blow open a can of coke- from forty feet away. The shorter whips he used to cut a flower in pieces as his wife held it in her mouth.


He did a quick draw demonstration with a knife being thrown at a dropping Frisbee. He did an object lesson on tithing by cutting a mock dollar into pieces with a whip leaving only 10% of it in his wife’s hand when he was done. He threw knives all around his wife as she stood with a couple balloons – one on each shoulder – against the backboard designed for his demonstrations. He relates well to children and teens and had a great message to follow the demonstration with the whips and knives. We did our evening service in the gym building so the whole church could participate. The children got a repeat performance since he had done Children’s Church that morning. They certainly did not mind.

He picked me, the pastor and his brother to throw at a board where he had a picture of the devil draped across the board. We were given small axes to throw. They were a lot heavier than I thought they would be. I placed last and pastors’ brother placed first. At least I got on the target and the axes all stuck pretty well. We were supposed to hit the devil in his right eye. I have never been good at throwing anything – especially knives. It was fun but not something I want to pursue as a sport.

Maggie called yesterday and they have not made much progress north out of San Diego. They left yesterday morning at 3 a.m. and broke down only an hour from his parent’s house. After repairing the vehicle on the side of the road – by flashlight, in the cold, with Maggie needing to go potty really bad – they made it another ten minutes before they had another problem and had to call for help. By the time Maggie called me they were already back in Aaron’s parent’s house and Aaron’s dad was helping him with a more extensive repair.

Other than the full day delay and the extreme difficulty of finding places for Maggie to go potty it was not a terrible way for things to work out. Maggie marked the shoulder of the highway so they could find their way back if needed. I told Maggie it is almost always better to break down close to home or close to family. They could have been many hours away and had to have the repairs made in a much more expensive way. They are not sure at this point how they will continue, but Aaron in under orders to report so they will continue. Please pray for them.

Mama and I did not go get the lamb last night. I asked her to wait until Thursday when she is coming to Decatur for a doctor’s appointment. When she called to tell the seller our change of plans, the lady offered to meet Mama in Decatur because they had to make a trip to a local dairy and were coordinating it with a birthday party for one of her children. Mama is disappointed that she will not get to see the farm they raise the sheep on, but it will be very convenient for us to meet near my work.

Today we are forecast to have some very severe weather; strong thunderstorms, heavy winds and damaging hail. Lovely! I worked on strengthening the tarp I have sealing up one end of the shop and was pretty pleased with what I had gotten done. When I got back inside after that work Mama was talking with Victoria about how great it would be if we could park the cars in the shop overnight to avoid getting damaged by hail.

All that work will get undone and then redone tonight.