Galluping through New Mexico...

What a day...another action-packed time watching God show up in amazing ways...We were on our way out of the hotel in Santa Fe when we met up with Biker Bob again. He asked if we spent yesterday looking for God, and we told him we had and that we found him down with the Plaza Rats. He recommended the oldest church in America right outside of Taos. He said that it has been there for years and that there is a hole in the floor that people pull dirt out of and rub it on them and it is supposed to have healing powers. He said that although people have been taking dirt out of the hole for years, there is never any dirt missing. He said he thinks the dirt just gets swept back by the priests every night. I asked him if he had ever seen a miracle and he said no, he doesn't believe in anything supernatural. He said that if he ever saw one, then he would believe. Then he went into the explanation of how he had a hard time believing that a God would let bad things happen to good people. He talked about losing a lot of really good people in harsh manners and it didn't seem right to him. He talked a lot about death. He told us he had a purple Harley that was being repaired, but they are on his wife Tammy's bike. I asked him if I could get a picture with him, and he was more than happy to oblige. Off he rode and we ventured on to IHOP where we met Emilie the waitress who hunted down some grits for us and made them for the first time herself. Then we went to Wal-Mart to stock up on essentials and as Laura said to re-stock our homeless ministry pantry.
Then we went to see Laura's high school. It is amazing to watch someone share her life and let us in on the stuff that most will never know. It is so awesome the gift of communication and storytelling. How rich life is...Then we left Santa Fe and watched God show off His splendor on Hwy. 40. I kept rolling down the window to capture pictures as we whizzed by...even stopped to get some footage for the documentary. Laura captured Renee and I doing a little car dancin' to Tina Turner. We decided we would stop in Gallup, NM and see what we could find there. We got some cool shots of downtown and found a place to stay. We have a coupon book, but the people in this town seem to have their own ideas about rate setting, so after we hit about three different hotels, we landed on the one we are in tonight. It is well-worn but a shelter none-the-less. Before we left for dinner and a exibition down on the square, we prayed and ended up really moved with gratefulness for what we had experienced this day as well as the past four days. We went to Lot-a-Burger for a Green Chile Cheese Burger (Laura had been craving one for about three days) and then we made our way downtown. We specifically stayed in Gallup instead of moving on to Flagstaff because Renee got this flyer about nightly Native American dancing in the square. As we set up the camera to film the exhibition, I struck up a conversation with natives of Gallup and after the Chamber of Commerce representative emphatically apologized for the dance troop not showing up this evening, we got Sadie and her grandduaghter Dallas on film. As we were leaving, we strolled along the vendor path and found some great jewelry and met an amazing artist named Red Boy, a 23 year old Navajo from fifteen miles north of Gallup who had quit his job two months ago to do his art/jewelry full-time. Now just today we all said that we wanted to get an artist on tape. I walked by him and commented on his pieces. He instantly engaged, and as he talked about his work, I got drawn in by his passion and ownership of his art. As I listened to him, my heart started welling up and the tears started flowing. I looked over and Renee and Laura were watching me. After he talked for awhile, I asked him if we could get all that on film, he was taken aback, but agreed and was excited to share his passion. he had just made two pieces yesterday that were inspired by the rain. He said that rain was rare there, so he felt they were blessed, and so he made these two pieces to honor the rain. He talked of honoring his father and also honoring The Creator. He talked so eloquently about the Creator, you could tell he knew Him in an intimate way and that his work flowed out of that relationship. He said he wanted to make a difference with his art and help inspire people his age, his people, to do more than drugs and alcohol. He ended up offering me one of the rain pieces and Laura a good deal on the other; we got great prices on them, crazy prices on them and exchanged contact info with him. We got permission to put his My Space info out there because that is the only way to get him right now. What a blessing he was to us. We were all thankful to The Creator for the divine moment. We headed back here and have been editing film and pictures to get out there to all of you...we are glad you are on the journey with us..can't wait to show you more...sweet dreams