Encouragement in Arkansas

(Little Rock, AR 13-17 May 2010) One of things we looked forward to on this journey of ours was the opportunity it would give us to look up old friends from the past that we had lost track of to see how God had worked in their lives over these past years. Little Rock AFB was one of those spots where God gave us many interesting experiences and we had some wonderful friends who supported us through some difficult times. We were excited to come back this way and check out some of those old memory people and places. Our old house on the base has been torn down and a brand new beautiful 2 story house is there. We took a picture anyway! This was the site of an incident that happened to Katie that we have never been able to come to an agreement on as to what actually happened. We drove past the first house we ever bought. It seemed a lot smaller than I remember! But the best part was finding some friends we had lost track of so many years ago. It has been so amazing to me in all the people we have reconnected with so far how quickly we settle back into our friendships. Dru and Jo Dodson were no exception. Ed and Dru were the youngest elders at Fellowship Bible Church of North Little Rock. Dru left a promising mechanical engineering practice to attend seminary following God's calling him to ministry. Dru helped start and is now pastor of Lake Valley Community Church in Hot Springs and they also own a little cafe/gift shop called Zoes (this is what Jo's grandchildren call her, it means LIFE in Greek). We met at the cafe and had a wonderful two and a half hours catching up and encouraging one another. Including an amazing "God" story of Dru nearly dying from a heart attack over a year ago if not for a whole sequence of our sovereign merciful God having the right people in the right places at the right time. We were also treated to a delicious lunch and dessert which Jo and her staff make right there themselves from scratch! (By the way, thanks Jo for the delicious lunch!!!) God has definitely had His hand on their lives and we were so thankful to reconnect with them. It surely won't be 24 years before we connect again!

After leaving there we drove up to Little Rock for our 2nd reunion of the day with some dear friends from Suffolk who are now stationed at Little Rock AFB, the Allerheiligens. Nate is a C-130 pilot and squadron commander doing a tour in the middle east right now and Susan is holding down the home-front and keeping track of their 6 kids. She's doing an amazing job and has some good help from their oldest, Ashley and James keeping the triplets and Marc in line. We met them at a playground on the base and spent over an hour talking and playing with the kids. Again, it was a great time of catching up and encouraging one another.

These times with friends has once again reminded us that we don't have to be in a church building to experience what the church (the body of Christ) is all about...relationships and caring for one another every day, not just on Sundays!