Dad crosses 30 miles of hurricane debris to daughter’s wedding
David Jones braved the remnants of Hurricane Helene to walk his daughter down the aisle. "It's what any father would do," he said.
David Jones, a 64-year-old business performance coach and two-time marathon runner, found himself in total darkness Friday night with only the flashlight from his cellphone guiding his way as he walked, crawled and climbed over remnants from Hurricane Helene -- fallen trees, towering piles of debris and large sections of washed-out highways -- in order to make it to his daughter's Saturday morning wedding.
Jones stated that what should have been a 2-hour drive from South Carolina to Johnson City, TN took 7-hours by car and 5.5 hours on foot; the second leg of his journey starting at 2am after a State Trooper stopped him to say that all the major and minor roads leading to Johnson City were completely impassable.
"You have to understand," Jones replied to the trooper as he laced up his sneakers, "my daughter’s getting married at 11:00 this morning, and I’m going to be there to walk her down the aisle.”
A perilous trek
Jones said he prayed a lot on his almost 30-mile trek that at one point became especially perilous when he found himself stuck knee-deep in mud as a fork-lift operator who couldn't see or hear him was clearing fallen trees nearby. Jones actually had to duck several times as the forklift swung close to his head. Fortunately, he finally managed to free himself, crawling out of the mud and losing one sneaker briefly, which he desperately dug around to retrieve.
"I knew I couldn't make it the rest of the way without shoes,"
A reflection of love and faith
Several miles from Johnson City, in the early hours of Saturday morning, a former colleague spotted Jones walking along the highway and gave him a ride to his home where there was no electricity, but they did have running water. Jones quickly took a cold shower, put on a borrowed suit, and made it to the church on time.
After walking his daughter Elizabeth Marquez down the aisle, he presented her and her new husband with the red reflective road stake that he carried to keep him from getting hit by cars throughout the night. He encouraged them to let it be a reminder to "be a good protector to one another and to always be a reflection of God" in each other's lives.
David Jones braved the remnants of Hurricane Helene to walk his daughter down the aisle. "It's what any father would do," he said.
David Jones, a 64-year-old business performance coach and two-time marathon runner, found himself in total darkness Friday night with only the flashlight from his cellphone guiding his way as he walked, crawled and climbed over remnants from Hurricane Helene -- fallen trees, towering piles of debris and large sections of washed-out highways -- in order to make it to his daughter's Saturday morning wedding.
Jones stated that what should have been a 2-hour drive from South Carolina to Johnson City, TN took 7-hours by car and 5.5 hours on foot; the second leg of his journey starting at 2am after a State Trooper stopped him to say that all the major and minor roads leading to Johnson City were completely impassable.
"You have to understand," Jones replied to the trooper as he laced up his sneakers, "my daughter’s getting married at 11:00 this morning, and I’m going to be there to walk her down the aisle.”
A perilous trek
Jones said he prayed a lot on his almost 30-mile trek that at one point became especially perilous when he found himself stuck knee-deep in mud as a fork-lift operator who couldn't see or hear him was clearing fallen trees nearby. Jones actually had to duck several times as the forklift swung close to his head. Fortunately, he finally managed to free himself, crawling out of the mud and losing one sneaker briefly, which he desperately dug around to retrieve.
"I knew I couldn't make it the rest of the way without shoes,"
A reflection of love and faith
Several miles from Johnson City, in the early hours of Saturday morning, a former colleague spotted Jones walking along the highway and gave him a ride to his home where there was no electricity, but they did have running water. Jones quickly took a cold shower, put on a borrowed suit, and made it to the church on time.
After walking his daughter Elizabeth Marquez down the aisle, he presented her and her new husband with the red reflective road stake that he carried to keep him from getting hit by cars throughout the night. He encouraged them to let it be a reminder to "be a good protector to one another and to always be a reflection of God" in each other's lives.
❤16
Testimony Tuesday
Good morning warriors! I planned to have a testimony for you today but I felt like the Lord wanted me share some encouragement this morning instead.
I came across this singing group through a video that showed up on my Instagram feed. I had to know who they were. I did some digging and found out they are known as The Acappella Company/Praise and Harmony singers. They can be found on YouTube and through their website praiseandharmony.tv (a subnoscription service)
This song just moved me. It was so powerful. I thought to myself, “This is what heaven will sound like when we worship God.” I imagine the angels will be singing as we are ushered into His presence, and saying, “Welcome home Christian!”
So, I am sharing it to testify that we are all on a journey, and we are passing through. No matter what challenges we face in our walk presently, we are not alone. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses both in history, in heaven and presently on earth.
We are on this journey together, on our way back to our Father, through The Way, who is Jesus Christ our Lord. He is with us, He is the Good Shepherd, He laid His life down for us, and His sheep. Take heart, He has overcome the world! Walk on traveler…walk on Christian!👇
Good morning warriors! I planned to have a testimony for you today but I felt like the Lord wanted me share some encouragement this morning instead.
I came across this singing group through a video that showed up on my Instagram feed. I had to know who they were. I did some digging and found out they are known as The Acappella Company/Praise and Harmony singers. They can be found on YouTube and through their website praiseandharmony.tv (a subnoscription service)
This song just moved me. It was so powerful. I thought to myself, “This is what heaven will sound like when we worship God.” I imagine the angels will be singing as we are ushered into His presence, and saying, “Welcome home Christian!”
So, I am sharing it to testify that we are all on a journey, and we are passing through. No matter what challenges we face in our walk presently, we are not alone. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses both in history, in heaven and presently on earth.
We are on this journey together, on our way back to our Father, through The Way, who is Jesus Christ our Lord. He is with us, He is the Good Shepherd, He laid His life down for us, and His sheep. Take heart, He has overcome the world! Walk on traveler…walk on Christian!👇
❤10
Forwarded from Critical RICE Theory 🧂💡🎣
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The Holy Spirit is your advocate
💯17
Testimony Tuesday
Well folks God seems to have His way of reminding of us that He has equipped us for spiritual battles. I have to admit I have been feeling a little defeated lately with some things in my personal life. Prayers for my children, my pet, myself seems to be falling on deaf ears. Although, I know God knows what I need or at least He sure hears me, but I can’t shake off this feeling that my prayers are not as effective and I feel like I’m pleading with God instead of wielding the sword He has already given me. Sometimes I wonder if I place my faith in faith, instead of God.
I confess I struggle sometimes with this. I call it flip, flop faith or double-minded faith instead of sure footed faith. One day you’re calling down fire, the next day you can’t find the water to quench the enemies fiery arrows. Sound familiar?
Have any of you felt like your prayers are just bouncing off the heavenly ceiling, wondering if God even heard you?
Praying over and over, begging God?
My prayers were sounding more like sob stories rather than declarations of His Word. I remembered a quote: “God responds to faith, not sob stories.”
Gulp. You’re right Lord. I need a tune up in my prayer life.
I was reminded by God this morning of the following noscripture:
' Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. '
James 1:2-8 ESV
I decided to do a reshare of a post from one our subscribers.
And, I am going to post a video I came across this morning of a testimony of a woman about her brother who survived Hurricane Helene. What amazed me about this testimony was how she prayed for her brother. She was BOLD!
I’ll post it below. Pay attention how she goes before the Lord on behalf of her brother.
It was the reminder I needed to hear, to war against the enemy with faith, perseverance and boldness, declaring His Word over my situation!
I hope you will be blessed by her testimony and the resharing of the following testimony.
Blessings my friends,
—Paula
@CallToBattle
Well folks God seems to have His way of reminding of us that He has equipped us for spiritual battles. I have to admit I have been feeling a little defeated lately with some things in my personal life. Prayers for my children, my pet, myself seems to be falling on deaf ears. Although, I know God knows what I need or at least He sure hears me, but I can’t shake off this feeling that my prayers are not as effective and I feel like I’m pleading with God instead of wielding the sword He has already given me. Sometimes I wonder if I place my faith in faith, instead of God.
I confess I struggle sometimes with this. I call it flip, flop faith or double-minded faith instead of sure footed faith. One day you’re calling down fire, the next day you can’t find the water to quench the enemies fiery arrows. Sound familiar?
Have any of you felt like your prayers are just bouncing off the heavenly ceiling, wondering if God even heard you?
Praying over and over, begging God?
My prayers were sounding more like sob stories rather than declarations of His Word. I remembered a quote: “God responds to faith, not sob stories.”
Gulp. You’re right Lord. I need a tune up in my prayer life.
I was reminded by God this morning of the following noscripture:
' Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. '
James 1:2-8 ESV
I decided to do a reshare of a post from one our subscribers.
And, I am going to post a video I came across this morning of a testimony of a woman about her brother who survived Hurricane Helene. What amazed me about this testimony was how she prayed for her brother. She was BOLD!
I’ll post it below. Pay attention how she goes before the Lord on behalf of her brother.
It was the reminder I needed to hear, to war against the enemy with faith, perseverance and boldness, declaring His Word over my situation!
I hope you will be blessed by her testimony and the resharing of the following testimony.
Blessings my friends,
—Paula
@CallToBattle
❤5🥰5
The Lord Our Healer
—Ru Moff
-1.
I've been prayerfully considering for a while now how to share this testimony. The reason I've hesitated, is because it's about an experience that I've not heard much about from others. Yet, it's my experience, so I will share it as it is, and I pray the Lord Jesus will impart understanding and insight to the reader.
Just over a year ago, we packed up almost 23 years of our lives, and moved across the country - from the far west to the far east in Canada.
When I say "packed," I mean, we downsized, sold items, gave many items away, and took what we could fit in our Ford F150 truck with a built up box in the back that my husband and son made. If it didn't fit in the box, it didn't come. We moved solely because we felt the Holy Spirit leading us to do so. We knew no one in Eastern Canada, (other than I apparently have a distant cousin in the east) had no jobs lined up, had no where to live, and about 2 months rent to our name. We put our home up for sale, thinking it would sell, and then we would travel. It didn't sell. Yet, we felt this leading stronger and stronger to move. Finally, we just obeyed: we left everything we knew, and went.
Apparently many Canadians decided to travel that summer, because there were times we could not find a hotel room (that allowed us to bring our dog), so those times we slept in the truck - basically sitting up in the seat, because there wasn't room to lie down - except for our dog who is an akita - we made sure he had room to lie down.😊
We drove for 10 days, taking in a few sights along the way. We arrived in the east, only to discover they there was a housing crisis, and it was near impossible to find a place to rent. We tried to reach out to churches to see if they knew of any place we could rent, but most were inaccessible - only having one service per week on Sunday's, and no way we could find to access someone we could talk with. We waited in one church parking lot because their write-up was so welcoming online, but no one would answer the door; and when someone new came they just went inside and we ended up leaving without being able to speak with anyone. We did meet one Pastor that was kind to us, but he didn't have any options that he knew of.
-2
This was an interesting time. On the outside it looked crazy and like what in the world did we do? In our hearts, we knew we had made the right decision, so we continued to follow that. God put compassion in the heart of an individual that we spoke to about their place for rent via an ad, thus we acquired a place for 6 months. This individual also sent my husband to a company that hired him on the spot.🙏 I felt led to make a profile on a house sitting site, and we were asked to house sit for just the time our rental was up. (All of these have their own miraculous stories attached to them, but let me get back to the topic of God's healing in my life).
I remember getting to the house sit that we would be at for 6 weeks. We didn't know where we were going after that. Our house in the West still hadn't sold, and we're carrying a mortgage and a rental with no way to pay both each month (another miracle that God provided for in unique ways). I remember sitting on the kitchen floor, and I just started sobbing. I felt like something in me just broke. As much as I knew God had led us to where we were, and continued to lead us step by step, walking in this kind of surrender and unknown was something I'd never done to this degree before. For some reason, the not knowing where we would live seemed the hardest thing for me. For me there was a certain comfort in knowing where I'd lay my head at night. Our home in the West sold just as we arrived at the house sit. Wonderful news.❤️ Yet, we still didn't have a home in the East. A crazy time ensued. Lots of looking at homes that weren't suitable, or that we would be overbid and miss out on.
Then God led us to a home that we found out afterward we had bid the same amount as another buyer, but the seller chose us.
—Ru Moff
-1.
I've been prayerfully considering for a while now how to share this testimony. The reason I've hesitated, is because it's about an experience that I've not heard much about from others. Yet, it's my experience, so I will share it as it is, and I pray the Lord Jesus will impart understanding and insight to the reader.
Just over a year ago, we packed up almost 23 years of our lives, and moved across the country - from the far west to the far east in Canada.
When I say "packed," I mean, we downsized, sold items, gave many items away, and took what we could fit in our Ford F150 truck with a built up box in the back that my husband and son made. If it didn't fit in the box, it didn't come. We moved solely because we felt the Holy Spirit leading us to do so. We knew no one in Eastern Canada, (other than I apparently have a distant cousin in the east) had no jobs lined up, had no where to live, and about 2 months rent to our name. We put our home up for sale, thinking it would sell, and then we would travel. It didn't sell. Yet, we felt this leading stronger and stronger to move. Finally, we just obeyed: we left everything we knew, and went.
Apparently many Canadians decided to travel that summer, because there were times we could not find a hotel room (that allowed us to bring our dog), so those times we slept in the truck - basically sitting up in the seat, because there wasn't room to lie down - except for our dog who is an akita - we made sure he had room to lie down.😊
We drove for 10 days, taking in a few sights along the way. We arrived in the east, only to discover they there was a housing crisis, and it was near impossible to find a place to rent. We tried to reach out to churches to see if they knew of any place we could rent, but most were inaccessible - only having one service per week on Sunday's, and no way we could find to access someone we could talk with. We waited in one church parking lot because their write-up was so welcoming online, but no one would answer the door; and when someone new came they just went inside and we ended up leaving without being able to speak with anyone. We did meet one Pastor that was kind to us, but he didn't have any options that he knew of.
-2
This was an interesting time. On the outside it looked crazy and like what in the world did we do? In our hearts, we knew we had made the right decision, so we continued to follow that. God put compassion in the heart of an individual that we spoke to about their place for rent via an ad, thus we acquired a place for 6 months. This individual also sent my husband to a company that hired him on the spot.🙏 I felt led to make a profile on a house sitting site, and we were asked to house sit for just the time our rental was up. (All of these have their own miraculous stories attached to them, but let me get back to the topic of God's healing in my life).
I remember getting to the house sit that we would be at for 6 weeks. We didn't know where we were going after that. Our house in the West still hadn't sold, and we're carrying a mortgage and a rental with no way to pay both each month (another miracle that God provided for in unique ways). I remember sitting on the kitchen floor, and I just started sobbing. I felt like something in me just broke. As much as I knew God had led us to where we were, and continued to lead us step by step, walking in this kind of surrender and unknown was something I'd never done to this degree before. For some reason, the not knowing where we would live seemed the hardest thing for me. For me there was a certain comfort in knowing where I'd lay my head at night. Our home in the West sold just as we arrived at the house sit. Wonderful news.❤️ Yet, we still didn't have a home in the East. A crazy time ensued. Lots of looking at homes that weren't suitable, or that we would be overbid and miss out on.
Then God led us to a home that we found out afterward we had bid the same amount as another buyer, but the seller chose us.
❤9