Pictures of Yesterday's Jaunt

Clouds along Hwy 40



Hwy 40 Formations


Captured at 75 MPH


Gallup,NM

The Artist Red Boy

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

Divine Appointments in Santa Fe

It has been a day...one that was asked for and one that far exceeded our wildest expectations...First we got up late and our New Mexico girl went for a jaunt around the town while Renee and I had an enlightening conversation with the front desk manager, Jeremy. He told us about his life, his trek to and from Santa Fe, the loss of his five-year-old son, and his near-death experience that led him to the study of holistic medicine and healing. When we told him about our project, he said that if we were looking for God around here, "Good Luck." Funny how that was the same response we got from Lou in Los Alamos. He said that we would get all kinds of answers around here, but he believes that no matter what you call him, there is one God who created all of us and that is who we all have faith in ultimately. He goes to a non-denominational church here and also is a holistic medicine and healing practitioner. He told Renee that she has the gift of foresight and that I have the gift of empathy. He gave us directions to the Buddist temple, the Zen center, and told us who he would recommend we avoid from his own experience in this community. We got ready and when Laura got back, we loaded up the camera and went downstairs, heading to lunch and then the square. On our way to the car, I saw a biker couple who were walking along the parking lot. I felt really drawn to them and said, "Hey, we need to get them." I ran over to them and introduced myself and asked if they would mind being filmed for our documentary. Bob and Tammy agreed. I brought them over to meet Renee and Laura, and then Laura suggested we go inside to get away from all the outside noise. We went over by the trees in the lobby and began to film them...Bob was a little amused by our topic and said we really picked somebody since he didn't beleive in God or any of that. He said we should start with his wife Tammy. We did and she had a story to tell. She is not down with organized religion, because she hates that it is so focused on getting people's money. She quoted the Bible and Biblical principles a lot and was so wonderful to talk to. Then we went to Bob and he told us why he doesn't believe there is a God. He used the famous non-existent Bible verse, God helps those who help themselves." He said that he had never read the Bible, but he believes that it is a fiction men made up and is for people who are weak. He talked about his four marriages, raising his kids on his own, and about his new wife Tammy. When Laura asked him what made him such a good man, he said that his father taught him to be that way. He really was a good man with a big heart and you could see it in his eyes. They were an amazing couple who made some really valid points about why it is hard to believe what men say God is. We then headed to lunch at Gloria's (I highly recommend this to all REAL Mexican food lovers). We did a bit of processing our day thus far and then made our way to the Georgia O'Keffee Museum. Then we wandered down to the square and struck up a conversation with a group of people who live their day lives right there, people who come from all over, Oakland, Fresno, Idaho, Arizona, Santa Fe and who scrounge for food and beer, play the guitar, and do community. I asked them if they wanted to talk to us on film for our documentary; they seemed game and asked the topic. DZ asked if we had any food because he was hungry. I gave them some money and then promised them some mixed nuts out in the car (thanks, mom). They seemed excited about both. When I told them the topic, one of the guys (Randy) said that he had just read a book in Bakersfield last month called Searching for God in America. I told him since he had been thinking about the topic recently then he should probably talk. I sat down beside him and we started the interview. He had a lot to say. He talked about his dog named Tovah, Hebrew for "Good", who he had lost in November. He had been in a really bad wreck and had lost her then. She had been with him for two years and seven months. He said that religion had been forced on him and he had pushed it away, but that his turning point came when he went to prison and realized that he was released much sooner than what he expected and that nothing bad happeed to him while he was there, so he knew someone was looking out for him. He said that he prays everyday and that he knows that Jesus is his savior and that he died on the cross for our sins. We talked a while longer and then I started to the car to get the promised nuts...on my way I passed by a Native American man who asked me if I was going to the Rainbow Gathering. He apparently had overheard our interview with Randy, and so I sat down and talked to him. He was very upset by how the white man had messed with the original Hebrew of the Bible. He was mad at how we had Americanized the names of the original text. He started calling out the correct Hebrew names for the disciples and some of the prophets and Yahweh. He told me stories that wove Biblical truth with Native American Folklore about where the water came from here in this region and about how in the Bible it talks about faith that can move a mountain. He said that happened with some Indians here, that they had such strong faith together that they moved a mountain and made it fly across the country and that it stayed where it landed, but that the feces of the moutain was left where it had been before. Renee said later that was oil. He also said that the European white man was cursed by God the Creator because he had been so wicked to the Indians. He said the curse was that they have very few sunny days and that it is mostly cold and rainy. His name is Boy Coyote and he is 62 years old. He is from Idaho and traveled from state-to-state collecting different colored sand to do his sand painting. He said he had not painted for 20 years. He said he had been on a constant drunk since November, but that he was now eight days sober. I asked him how that was working out and he said that he liked being sober because he saw a lot clearer, but that reality didn't look very good. I encouraged him to stay sober so he could paint more clearly. Laura got the promised nuts and water to our new friends and we took off in the rain. When we got back to the hotel, I told Jeremy that we would love to talk with him some more and then on the way up the elevator, I ran into someone originally from Canada who knew one of our professors from seminary. She said she had definitely found God. She is staying right next door to us. We all parted when we got to the room to process the day in our own way. We just watched the last three days of footage and are very excited about what we have so far!!! Not bad for beginners. Those of you out there praying for our journey, please pray that we can capture what we are witnessing...we really want to be able to share this with all of you...we are now working on putting some footage on You Tube and pictures are on Laura's computer, ready to be uploaded...sweet dreams...

Rooftop sunrise...

I had a really wonderful experience this morning...our hostel had big windows that looked out on an adjoining building's roof...I kept eyeing the roof last night and the big person-sized hole in the screen. I woke up about 5:45 this morning and just couldn't deny the urge any longer...I crawled through that hole with pillow, journal, Bible, pen, and Spurgeon and sat down for a light show feeling like a spoiled audience of one. I decided before I came on the trip that I was going to read the Bible straight through. I have read the whole Bible more than once, but I have never done it from beginning to end. As I read Genesis 1 and 2, the sun came climbing over the mountain and I saw evidence of what I was reading right before my eyes. The sun that was created on the fourth day was the same sun I saw rising before me on June 7, 2006. I felt like God was answering our question Himself. What a response! I encourage you to go hunting for a light show of your very own. Sweet dreams!

Albuquerque, NM

YEEHAW!!! We are across state lines and just had some slammin' mexican food and are outside of a cyber cafe using the free wireless connection. We saw cows being milked by machines at a dairy lot today...about 2,500 of them, some in the process of giving birth...Laura had never been up close and personal with a cow...now she has...Renee had never been to New Mexico...now she has...we got our first interview today with a man from Germany who is biking (bicycle) Route 66 from Chicago to LA. We met him in Vega and he was on day twenty-five making a dream come true, too...Well, he agreed to a short interview and we found out about his journey and that he had not found much God in America but was looking for him since he was a member of a Methodist church in Germany. Now we are headed to the hostel and hope to have a few more divine interventions and groovy conversations...I look forward to my own "never had but now I have" moments...sweet dreams

We are in Plain...view...

Hi all,
We arrived safely at our first destination last night about 9:50. We are in my hometown, Plainview, TX. Mom had a wonderful meal waiting for us and we ate and then crashed for a great night of rejuvenation. Had a little breakfast...Laura has been waiting on the slow pokes to get ready so that we can go out and get some footage about my growing up in the dirtland...then we're headed across state lines to hit the desert country...love and light to all