Travels with John & Fred -- Part One
By Fred Pruitt
Trip Two -- Oct
- Nov 2005 (Our first trip together was in 2000, so we can't call this trip
one.)
John Bunting
and I set out on our first trip together in five years last October (2005)
and we've been going ever since. This is just a brief summary of where we've
been and who we've seen. I've taken hundreds of pictures and we'll post some
of them soon on the website.
We took off
first to Ohio. Stopping in Columbus first, seeing our old friend Bob
Crawford, then on to a town near Cleveland, Medina, where two different sets
of folks hosted us for a night and some great talks in the Lord.
From there we
had a wonderfully scenic ride through northern Pennsylvania and New York,
crossing into Canada at Buffalo, and then having lunch at Niagara Falls,
which neither of us had seen before. That's a LOT of water!
We spent about
10 days in gorgeous Ontario, hosted for a lot of the time by our new friend
of the past couple of years, Nancy Thompson and her husband Dan. She had
some meetings planned, but the Lord had other plans. Apparently He wanted
Dan & Nancy to be more acquainted with some of their local plumbers, because
the day of our arrival certain vital plumbing systems decided enough was
enough, and what was supposed to go out wouldn't go out anymore. So a truly
international crew showed up and proceeded to dig up their basement with
jackhammers and picks and shovels. I know it was pretty difficult (and
expensive) for Dan & Nancy but they kept their sense of humor and as in
everything, we saw the hand of the Lord in it. We were able also to visit
others in Ontario, the Hatchells in Woodstock, Derek & Iris Taylor in
Toronto, and managed to completely surprise some old friends who we hadn't
seen in nearly 20 years, our dear Richard and Helen Price. Many from the
past will remember that Richard led our singing at the Louisville meeting
for several years. Everywhere we went, of course, we were able to share as
the Lord gave us opportunity, and we felt like we met our first named goal
of our trips: to encourage the brethren.
We even managed
to stop in at WEC headquarters in Hamilton, ONT, where we were invited by
the director to have lunch with the missionary trainees and workers. After
having read about WEC for many years, it was a delight for me to have a
first-hand experience of it and to see their wonderful zeal for getting the
gospel out where Christ isn't named. We had a great chat with Henry, the
director, and then off we went.
After leaving
Ontario we headed all the way across New York into Massachusetts to finally
arrive in Sudbury Connecticut, visiting some of our longest-known friends,
Jack & Alice Corcoran. We spent time with their family as well as having the
opportunity to share Christ in us with a couple of meetings. This was the
time of the height of the fall foliage and we couldn't have been in the area
at a more beautiful time. Jack & Alice drove us across to the other side of
Connecticut (which didn't turn out to be that far) to meet with a wonderful
lady pastor and her friend, where we were able again to share the things the
Lord has given us. Our last day with them they drove us again to another
town, where we had a great house meeting with Lynn Rugh who invited some
friends in.
From there John
& I headed down and spent the night with my daughter's in-law in Brooklyn,
NY. Was that an education for me? I'd never been to New York City before
except a brief drive-through 20+ years ago, and boy what a place. We had a
great night with John & Isabel, who thankfully drove John & I to the freeway
early the next morning. We had gotten lost twice the night before trying to
find their house, and if Isabel hadn't driven us to the freeway, we two
country boys from Kentucky might still be there, like Charlie riding the MTA.
That took us to
our final destination, where we spent more than a week -- the Washington DC
area. We had a number of folks to see and to share with every day. Different
people every day. We saw our old friends Tony & Bette Ketcham in Bowie MD.
We spent one night sharing with some folks we had met from Africa. We got to
spend time with a truly deightful man, Roy Cook, who has been instrumental
in the Presidential/National Prayer Breakfasts for years and years, and we
even took in the sights one afternoon. We only got lost three times, but
only one of those was a real doozy. Still, even in getting lost (which we
are good at) we were always where we were supposed to be, and the Lord --
well, He's the God of the Lost as well as the God of those who know where
they are. Either way, we had no worries.
Finally, our
last day in early November, we met with our last scheduled person, and of
course nothing could have delighted us more to see Burt Rosenburg walking up
to the Starbucks where we were waiting for him. We had our maps spread out
on the table, trying to figure out the best way to get out of the DC area
without getting stuck in traffic, as well as the best route back to
Louisville. We were planning to drive straight through, since we were
anxious after three weeks to get back home. So we started looking at the
maps together, with Burt offering sage advice on which roads, highways, and
interstates to take. Everything seemed fine and on the up and up (it's Burt
we're dealing with here) until John asked Burt, "Is this the route you
always take?" Burts says, "Who me? No, I've NEVER driven it. I always fly!"
That's our Burt!
And with that
funny send-off, we began our trek. We were going great guns, too, thinking
we had escaped the rush-hour traffic, but it seems it had all gone ahead of
us and we caught up with every car in Washington DC all stopped together and
sitting still many miles up the road, waiting on us apparently. DC wasn't
going to let us go all that easily! Eventually the jam broke up and we were
on our way. Until -- the oil light in John's VW Passat began coming on. By
that time we were in the mountains of western Maryland, and it turned out we
had a serious oil problem with the car so our final night when we thought we
would be warm and toasty in our own beds, was spent riding a bumpy 100 mile
ride back into Virginia in the cab of a wrecker to the nearest open VW
dealer.
A minor setback
and a bit of $$$ later, we were on the road again. We changed our original
route and came back through the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, into the
mountains of West Virginia, and made it home that night to our anxiously
waiting wives, who immediately showed us all the dishes that needed washing
and the garbage that needed taking out which had piled up since we had left
weeks before. (No, I'm being facetious. It was the next morning I got shown
all that.)
Everywhere we
went we saw the evident working of the invisible God. In the lives of
everybody we met as well as in our own. John and I talked and talked and
talked in all those hours of driving, and one of the things we asked
ourselves is why do we do this? Our first answer to our own question, as I
said earlier, is that we are heartily committed as a calling to "encourage
the brethren." We see so many in so many places who thirst for the
fellowship that we find in our union with Christ, and hungrily lap up
hearing the truths of Christ in us, as us, as more and more He has become
their living reality. But we've also realized something else as we
questioned ourselves. In going out to visit our friends both old and new, we
realized we are "putting flesh on" the words we speak and share. We may
write it in letters or emails, and we may even send out books and tapes,
etc. All those things are wonderful and vital and absolutely necessary. But
we saw that there is nothing like being with people in person and living
Christ in the present moment in our normal human living and activities. We
didn't have that many formal meetings on that trip, and more time was spent
alone in living rooms with one or two people than anything else. And there
was Christ in the flesh, in the midst of us and flowing out of each of us.
John & I were
the most blessed of all, I think. Everybody was so gracious, and so heartily
lovers, we find ourselves privileged and blessed beyond measure to be able
to share and give in freedom and without charge what we have freely
received. Jesus said, "He that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of Living Water," and we have seen it, and testify to that truth.
Hallelujah!
PS -- Look to
our ChristAsUS website soon for pictures, and we're also hoping to put up a
streaming audio of some sessions we did on our third trip to Florida in
January. This is written from the middle of our current trip in Oklahoma
City.