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| This is NOT a video. You need to get to the bottom of this blog post to see the video of Graham! |
Sometimes Tim is fully focused, excited, animated and hungry for more information about something. And sometimes he switches off. And when I mean off, I mean OFF, - shut down! This is not due to anything other than Tim having crept into his 'nothing place'. This is usually accompanied by a glazed look and a complete lack of awareness of anything else going on around him. There's nothing wrong, it's just a 'man thing'.
Now for example, the last few mornings, I have woken up to find him engrossed in a handbook manual....Harvey's manual. In this manual, Tim finds all the secret inmost workings of his newly found friend, Harvey. His Swiss Army Knife has been launched into action, fastening screws that were loose, checking window latches and other deep mysteries that I know nothing about. He has located an area in Harvey that has drawn him in with such interest he has come alive at the thought of correcting any problems with it. This area is...'The Black Water'. Am I worried? Slightly.
The grey water tank holds waste water from the shower and washing up so I will leave you to only imagine what the black water tank holds! He has chuckled at the expression in the manual of "pyramiding" and "clogging" and come up with a way to improve the service the black water tank provides. This will be no work for the Swiss Army Knife....this is a job for Marigolds!
Today however, Tim paid a visit to his 'nothing place'. We had been invited to go to a large church in Tennessee. We had been so encouraged and moved by last week's visit to one in Maggie Valley, and our journey out to 'The Cove'. We were really looking forward to today!
The church was big. The car park was full. The choir was great. They had a small but varied orchestra. The Pastor got up to preach on the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace.
As he came to the end, he invited anyone who didn't know for sure they wee going to Heaven to raise their hand. No one did.....that was fine.
However the pastor wanted to take it a little further, after all there were at least two visitors from England sitting there in his congregation.
He re-phrased his question... 'Who knows for sure they will be going to Heaven?'
Now, this was fine for me as I was listening. Tim......well, he'd gone to his 'nothing place', so didn't put his hand up. Uhh oh!
As soon as the service was over we made our way out, and were met by the pastor who hurriedly came to speak to us.
He shook our hands and then spoke directly to Tim....' Do you know for sure you are going to Heaven?'
Tim was shocked....the last 10 minutes has been blank for him and so he was surprised he was being asked.
'Yes' was his reply.
The pastor was relieved and went on to speak to others.
As we went even closer to the door, another guy who had clocked Tim's lack of response then came directly up to Tim, and asked him 'Do you know for sure you are going to Heaven?'
Tim very politely answered 'Yes! One hundred percent.'
It reminded of the time my dear mum, Kath Hulks had gone to a Salvation Army place one Sunday. I think her dad was preaching there.
At the end, they were all asked to bow their heads. The question went out for all those that would yield to Jesus that night to raise a hand. Mum's head stayed bowed. The guy that was leading then said 'We still have one more, that hasn't yielded, please pray for that one!' Mum was praying hard for that one person ....there was silence.
She opened her eyes slightly and found that she was the only one without her hand up!
One thing is for sure, these folk are passionate in wanting people to know Jesus.
We are too, so we have that in common. I will in future raise Tim's hand for him if I need to, or nudge him to wake him up.
To recouperate from the morning and to get a good WiFi signal, we decided to pop into McDonald's. We met Graham there.....
He really couldn't get the hang of Tim's name!! Hope you can see this video.
God Bless America!
