River of Life

Well, the time in Houston was really quite an adventure. I think it was the first time that my dad was the senior pastor of a church. At that time, we were affiliated with an organization called FGEA - Full Gospel Evangelistic Association. It's not a religion, just an association of full gospel churches. Anyway, Dad became the pastor of a church called Satsuma Chapel.

When we first moved there, we lived in the parsonage, which was a well used mobile home. I'm not sure how long it had been since someone had lived there, but we didn't have bed frames at first, but we had three mattresses. Mom and Dad slept on one mattress, and i slept on the other two. The reason for that was to keep me higher off of the floor and further away from the rats and roaches.

DISCLAIMER: I HAVE VERY GOOD AND VERY CLEAN PARENTS. THIS WAS A TEMPORARY SITUATION. CPS DID NOT NEED TO BE CALLED.

Anyway, this was just us following God, and sometimes you have to trust God in less than favorable conditions.

Soon, we had the mobile home exterminated, and our conditions improved.

Also, soon after we came to Satsuma Chapel, the decision was made that we should change names and locations and build a new church building. The new place was on French Road, and it was called River of Life Full Gospel Church.

AND we got to live in a double wide for the parsonage. =)

That place was a great adventure! We were always working really hard with church work days and stuff. One time, i was inside the church building with some man in the church; i think he was playing the piano, when we saw my dad outside the front door. I think he was probably yelling - because he had opened a gas can to put gas in a lawn mower or something and gas squirted strait up into his eyeball. Now if you've never sprayed gas in your eyeball (and i haven't either), you should know that it hurts a LOT. Also, you should know that if it does ever happen to you, you should not open your eye.

And that's just what Daddy did. He didn't open his eyes; he started yelling and headed toward the front door of the church waving his arms around.

So me and the piano guy ran outside to find out what was wrong, and he had squirted gas in his eye. Crazy stuff! The doctor said that if he had opened his eyes, he might've been blinded. I don't know why that is; it's just what i remember.

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We also (by we i probably mean my mom and dad, but i was there too, so i say "we") experienced a lot of adverse spiritual activity. Dad said that one time he woke up at night, and the room was all cold and eery, and he looked, and there was a demon at the foot of the bed, and he said it looked like a transformer toy. You remember... "Transformers - more than meets the eye!"

I don't know what it was doing there, but Daddy told it to go, and it did. But then he realized it might be heading for my room, and it had. I don't remember how he knew that, but then he told it to go again, i think, and it was gone.

That was kind of an anticlimactic story. Sorry about that. I'm just typing as i remember.

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When we lived in the double wide, we had a dog named Little Bit and a cat named Tigger 2. Tigger 2 was named after Tigger the first who we had when we lived in New Mexico.

Little Bit was a girl, and she had puppies. I named them all. There was Blacky and Bear, but i don't remember the other names. Blacky got sick though while he was still a little baby, and Dad had to "ease his suffering." I was pretty upset about that, but i understand now. I think we gave away the rest of the puppies.

To my remembrance Tigger2 didn't have any puppies or kittens either, but since he was a boy, it's really hard to say.

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Well, anyway, God did a lot through "us" at River of Life. The church grew from just a few people to about 300 if i remember right. I was in the 2nd grade when, one day, when Daddy walked into the church on Sunday morning, he said he felt like a complete stranger. That was the beginning of God telling him to move on. And so that's what we did.

After much prayer, Mom and Dad decided that God had spoken. I don't know how the decision came about, but the decision was made that we would move to Fairview, Michigan, where Dad grew up. There was a church there that needed our help.

So arrangements were made for the church, and we packed up our things. We got a u-haul and a trailer to tow the car where Tigger2 would ride. And one day, i said goodbye to my best friend, Lisa, at Rainbow Farm, and then we were off.

I cried a lot that day. I hadn't moved before - not since i had been in school. and it was very sad to be leaving my friends like that.

But we were off to a new adventure. And Daddy said it SNOWED in Michigan! cool!