To The Call (7-7-07) and Back Again

Matt and I are back at home again after putting just over 1500 miles on our new volvo. That was quite a test drive, but the car performed wonderfully with only a little water leaking out of our radiator. We had an amazing time and enjoyed traveling accross country with little Joel. He was a little more squirmy this trip, but still an angel and handled it very well.

Joel discovered his thumb on this trip and it kept him company most of the way.

Family Pic after stopping for gas near Valdosta, GA. We realized that we stopped at that exact same gas station on our honeymoon and remembered there was a great Bible Sale outlet a block away.... so we went.... and I found my new bible I had been looking for!

As many of you know, we left for Nashville on Friday the 6th and drove straight through, arriving in town about 7:30 pm. We checked into our very nice hotel room (which we felt blessed to have with so many people reserving rooms...this was the closest we could get) and caught the evening sunset over Nashville from our balcony.

The road that heads off toward the top left of the picture, is the route that we took for the repentance walk on Saturday.

We had a perfect view of the Nashville Parthenon in Centennial Park from our Balcony. This was the starting point for the Repentance Walk.

We met up with our dear friend Stephany for dinner at a nearby mexican restaurant and then headed home to get a good nights sleep to prepare for the next day's events. We woke up at 5am ....snoozed until 5:30... and then dressed and headed down accross the street for the march. People were coming from everywhere and there was an excitment in the air that was almost tangible.

We met at the band shell next to the Parthenon where Lou Engle led us through personal repentance in preparation for the Repentance Walk. It was humbling to see that many believers kneeling together before God.

We were walking in silent prayer to reverse the curse and denounce the bondage of the sexual revolution. As we humbled ourselves in mass repentance we were standing in the gap for our nation to shift its course from perversion to purity.

As we started the walk, I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought there were a lot of people in front of the band shell, but I couldn't even see the ones that were in the surrounding park. They were anticipating 10,000 people to show up, but over 20,000 were there that morning. We all started moving in one accord in one direction, silently banding together for one purpose.

It was almost eerie seeing that many people and hearing nothing except for their feet crunching through the leaves on all sides of us.

When we finally emerged through the trees, there was a sea of people funelling into the streets.

It is difficult to capture in a picture, but the line of people stretches as far back as you can see behind us. That's me in the foreground with the hat. There were times on the march that I would just be overcome with weeping for the sins of this generation. It was a very sober time.

The crowd stretched as far as we could see in front of us as well.

Joel slept through the entire walk. He wasn't aware that he was in the middle of history being made.

At least we have a picture to prove he was there :)

LP Field, aka Titan Stadium, taken as we walked over the bridge.

This was taken right inside the gate to LP Field. We were worried that they weren't going to allow strollers into the stadium and that morning we had decided to take it and trust in God. When we pulled up to the gate, a very large man looked us over and said "you can't bring that in here". Matt asked him, in a very calm voice, what he wanted us to do with it and all of a sudden the man looked behind him and waved us through. We were praising God because we needed that stroller to shade Joel from the sun throughout the day. So, here we are tired and sweaty, but happy we made it inside!

Because we had the stroller, we couldn't sit in the stands, so we took up residence on a picnic table on the opposite end from the stage. We could hear everything and watched on the overhead screen.

Joel and I are about as white as white people can get, so these hats were phase one defense against the sun. We stayed slathered in sunblock all day and didn't even have a hint of sunburn.

This was how full the stadium was even before we started at 10am. It was amazing to be there live, taking part with so many believers. We entered the stadium to music and many worshiping God.

Matt and Joel found a little bit of shade from the relentless sun.

From where we were seated, our best view was the big screen. Here you can see Nigel Big Pond standing for the First Nation Indians. There was a segment where leaders from different people groups either asked for or accepted forgiveness on behalf of America. Senator Brownback stood as a US Senator and asked the Native American's for forgiveness for the broken promises America is guilty of. Asian American's and Latin American's were asked for forgiveness for the treatment they have received, as well as the African American community. There was even a former abortion doctor who asked forgiveness for the murders she took part in. It was a huge thing for these men and women to be standing in the gap, asking forgiveness for the wrongs this country is guilty of.

This is how we saw Lou, leading the masses in prayers of repentance. I found a few more pictures posted on the Call's myspace which are a whole lot clearer. You can view them at http://picasaweb.google.com/emailjar/TheCall

This is one of the life tape stickers they passed out to everyone in the stadium.

We all stood in silent prayer for the ending of abortion, the unborn babies and for the mothers who are thinking about aborting their little ones or have done so in the past. There is healing possible!!! We stood for about 10 minutes then we recited the prayer below.

We were also given life bracelets with a simple prayer on the package which Lou wrote to replace the prayer taken out of schools. It states:

"Jesus, I plead your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation; God end abortion and send revival to America."

The goal is to have thousands of people agree to wear the bracelets and say this prayer each time they look at it. We will saturate heaven with our prayers for the ending of abortion and one day we will see our prayers answered on earth.

In the afternoon, the sun came out full force and many were affected by the heat and were passing out. Reminders to "Drink Water" were constantly flashed over the big screen. Matt and I went looking for a cool place to re-cooperate and to let Joel rest and we found this room. It was the only air conditioned room in the stadium and held the escalators for the upper levels. Many people were just laying on the floors, worn out from heat exhaustion.

Matt and I look like we've been through the rotissouri (sp?) and this is only about 3 in the afternoon. It was SOO HOT! Baby Joel handled it the best of all of us, probably because we tried our hardest to keep him out of the sun and cool. Matt is totally sunburned which is unusual for him...he usually turns brown almost immediately. But that is what you get when you forget your hat and decline sunblock. ;) I was almost to the point of heat exhaustion that I wanted to leave, but we decided that our main intercession that day was sticking it out even in the heat. I am glad that we stayed because the heat broke about 7pm with a little cloud cover and then things got really good.

One of the main goals for the Call was to "release a sound" for this generation. 40 years ago, a generation was molded by the sound of the Beatles and the music of the Summer of Love and was turned from God. We wanted to shift this generation back to God with a Rightious Roar. Over 300 Shofar blowers gathered and along with the shouts of 100,000 people and the jingle of car keys, our sound erupted out of Titan Stadium. It was a sound that I will not forget!

Joel was watching the big screen behind Matt's head. That kid is a trooper!! Nothing freaked him out, not even the noise from the crowd! We are blessed to have such an easy going son.

Although a bunch of people left when the day grew really HOT, there was still quite a few who endured until the end. 10am to 10pm was a long day, but it was worth pulling through. Ray Hughes began talking about the "Sons of Thunder", a group of young musicians who were going to be a part of this new "SOUND" and instrumental in bringing many people into the kindgom. I believe that Matt is one of those Sons of Thunder and he felt blessed when Ray Hughes prayed over those in attendance who felt this was their calling.

This is Joel, right before we left to meet our shuttle back to the hotel. It wasn't until the last hour that he began to get a little fussy. But with the time being turned back an hour for central time, his poor little body was tired and ready for bed. We all slept very sound that night!!!

The next day, while I took a shower, Matt took pictures of Joel on our bed.

Then we re-packed the car and headed for Huntsville, AL to visit Matt's Uncle Mark and Aunt Alice. We stopped to see them during our honeymoon 2 years ago and now we wanted to introduce them to Joel. We had a wonderful visit.

Mark and Matt both jammed out on their guitars! It was a lot of fun and we hope to see them again soon.

Then Monday we hit the road again to visit my brother in Dothan, AL. It was good to see him and his new house....and also really good to break up that remaining 10 hour trip home.

It was a memorable trip and I feel so blessed that we were able to make it. Something big has shifted on a spiritual level after 7-7-07 and I am glad to have been a part of it. Thank you to everyone who helped with gas money, giving us a car or praying for the safety of our trip. We truly are blessed to have friends and supporters such as you! You were right there with us!