3 parts: 

1) COME where? Back to your God 

2) ACT what? With love and justice

3) LIVE how? In confident dependence on your God

We MUST confidently depend on Him....we NEED Him. Which is why I think that we had the flat tire under the carport before we had gone 1 foot of our tour. Just a gentle reminder that we MUST rely on Him for the ENTIRE tour, because truly, all things were created by Him. ALL things.

I worked on the BLOG from 3:30 to 6:15am, and woke up Earline and got packed for our day's journey. It was light by the time we left, about 8:30, and Brother Ronnie Moore checked on us before we left and locked up the church behind us. Thanks, Brother Moore!

We headed out on County Road 3, and looked for a pancake place that I had seen when scouting the route a few weeks ago. Little did I realize that it is actually IN the De Leon Springs State Park, and this park and the town is named after Ponce de Leon, the famous explorer who was searching for the Fountain of Youth. And we FOUND it....and we stuck our hands in it.....do we look any younger?!

The restaurant turned out to be one of the more unique places we had ever eaten....this Sugarmill Pancake House is only an hour's drive [okay....a 2-day trike ride] from Orlando, and well worth to time to come and experience. Here's Jon whipping up some scrambled eggs:

Our companions Dave & Kate from Pittsburgh were down to Florida for Thanksgiving, and this was their 3rd time to eat here [we could tell that unlike us, they knew what they were doing!].

And Ellen was our wonderful waitress, and gave us information about how to bring a Deaf group here.....this would be fun!

Leaving the pancake house, we were able to trike along county roads for a while, and got to see some pretty scenery.

We met Chuck who was on lunch break, and he got a chance to try out our trikes.....looking good!

We did see [and smell....phew!] occasional road kill.....slow squirrels or coon mostly. And there wold sometimes be the vulture there cleaning up the mess. Although this picture's a little blurry, I caught one just as he was starting to fly off as we approached.

It was huge...maybe a 6 to 8 foot wingspan. Earline got scared, thinking it would attack US, and I said, no, only if we were dead would he show any interest! But I got to thinking, isn't that when we are the most "easy pickings" for Satan....when we lay around [physically or figuratively], not doing anything?

There are plenty of good, helpful, constructive things every person can be doing, that God will bless....it just depends on what your particular talents and gifts are. But if we sit around eating bon-bons and watching Jerry Springer [so to speak.....or WHATEVER your particular vice might be]....it makes it easier for Satan to nibble away at our spiritual lives, and eventually there is nothing left but a dry carcass.

Hmmm. [sorry if that was a little GRAPHIC for some folks!].

In other words, be alive! Use the gift of LIFE that God has given you. What can YOU do to help somebody else? YOU are special and unique, and can do some certain task or work that no one else could do quite like you. Read your Bible, and ask God, what would He have YOU do today?

Eventually we had to leave the quiet back roads and get on busy 17....lots of truck traffic, but at least we had a shoulder. Pray for us!

Eventually we made it to Crescent City, where one of the churches provided a motel room for us to stay. Thank you Dr. Shull, and First Baptist Crescent City....thank you for being obedient to Deuteronomy 10:19. May God bless you much!

So we stopped at the Lake View Motel and talked to Jean....this was one of the cleanest motels we ever stayed at. Earline said it was the first time she didn't even have to pull out her Lysol. Thanks, Jean, for the warm showers and the great internet connection.

And thank you Lord, once again, for providing and caring about even the TINIEST details of our lives.

TGG,

jon