Post by messengermicah on Apr 11, 2009 12:09:28 GMT -5
Monday March 23, 2009: After six weeks of being without our trailer we finally were able to pick back up our trailer. God was so faithful to us in the six weeks we were without it as He always provided a place for us to stay.
HINDERED
Not having the trailer for so long was somewhat of a hindrance to our preaching as we were limited more as to where we could go and we did not want to get too far away from where our trailer was being repaired in South Georgia. If we got too far away and our trailer was repaired we would have to travel back to South Georgia and then back to where we were.
MORE DELAYS
This day I had to work on minor repairs unrelated to the repairs we just had completed.
Around 3:00 PM we left the South Georgia area and headed for the Auburn area.
FREE SPEECH PERMITS AND BAD WEATHER
Tuesday March 24, 2009: I walked into the office where I was to obtain a permit to preach at Auburn University and was told the person in charge would not be back until around 12:45 PM. We came back after 1:00 PM and were told by the woman in charge the area was already taken up most of the week by Greek societies and it was supposed to rain.
I have dealt with this woman before and knew she did not look forward to us coming. I guess she expected me to say something to the effect of “Oh, I am sorry to bother you. I will try again next year.”
After asking some questions she reluctantly told me the only days the area was available was on Thursday (March 26) and Thursday and Friday (April 2 and 3). We were then told we had to go fill out the permit on line, print the permit out and bring it back. Yes, anything to make “free speech” more difficult and discourage anyone from their first amendment rights.
We went to a local library, filled out the appropriate form and printed it out for the following day.
Wednesday March 25, 2009-Sister Elizabeth and I drove early over to Auburn University to hand in our paperwork to reserve the free speech area. When we arrived we were told the woman in charge would not be back until after lunch.
I then asked for the woman’s supervisor. I had met him last year and he had always been a very pleasant, honest and helpful person. Soon her supervisor came out and greeted me and we went into his office.
ALTERNATE PLANS
He told me he could offer me an alternate area for the following week on Monday through Wednesday (March 30-April 1). He then showed me the area. It looked like an ok area but probably not quite as good as the other area. I decided to reserve the area anyway as a back up. I was planning to head to nearby Columbus State University after leaving Auburn to reserve the area on that campus for several days.
The woman’s supervisor told me they had just been discussing using the area as an alternate area after my visit the previous day. I had asked the woman in charge several questions and think I made her nervous. I knew a group of preachers who had been on this campus the previous month and they seemed to have given them special treatment. I think it surprised her and made her nervous I was privy to this information.
I noticed a book on this man’s desk entitled The First Amendment on Campus. When I commented on the book the man told me I could borrow it and read it. I accepted his offer and found much helpful information in it. I believe my visit, talking to the woman in charge and the book’s information had everything to do with them creating this alternate free speech area.
We left Auburn and made the almost one hour drive over to Columbus State University across the Georgia line. When we cross the Georgia line we are on Eastern Time. By the time we arrived at CSU it was around 2:00 PM.
I reserved the area for the following week on Monday through Friday (March 30-April 1) which was the same days I reserved the alternate area at Auburn. I was supposed to preach at Auburn the following day (Thursday March 26) and Friday was a very slow day on the CSU campus so I was not interested in that day.
Thankfully now I had two different schools, I could preach at the first three days of the following week.
That evening I preached in the local church where we were staying from Matthew 6:10 on “Advancing the Kingdom of God” for over one hour.
Thursday March 26, 2009-Auburn University-Auburn, Alabama: It was supposed to rain all day today. It was raining all morning and was still overcast by 10:00 AM. As it neared 11:00 AM I noticed it had stopped raining even though it was still overcast.
VERY SLOW DAY
Sister Elizabeth and I headed for the campus and I began preaching around noon. It seemed unusually slow as few students were walking around. I preached for about 30 minutes and no one stopped and only one person even made any comments.
I took a restroom break around 12:30 PM and came back out. A godly man from a local church who does open air preaching was on campus and standing around listening to me. Another man from his church along with his son came out to support the preaching and witness the first time I preached on this campus (February 2007).
Since no one was around and no one was stopping this man began to talk to me and ask me questions about my personal walk with the Lord. He told me many people in the area ask him questions about the preachers who come around and preach but he does not really know any of us on a personal basis so it is hard for him to comment.
MEETING ANOTHER PREACHER
We were having a good conversation and he told me another open air preacher was on the campus named Brother Shawn H. I had talked to him before over the phone but had never met him in person.
Brother Shawn had no permit and was only here for a few days. Since I had been unsuccessful in getting anything going, I offered him a chance to preach on my permit.
FRUITFUL CONVERSATIONS
He began preaching and I ran into several students who remembered me from previous visits and had been very supportive of the preaching. They introduced me to other friends of theirs and we had some very good Biblically centered discussions. I walked with them to their classes while Brother Shawn continued preaching.
When I returned some time later Brother Shawn gathered a group of listeners of around 10-15. I continued talking to the godly man from the local church.
Brother Shawn preached and answered questions from around 1:40 PM to 3:40 PM. My permit expired around 3:00 PM but since the group of listeners was small and civil no one bothered to enforce the permit.
Sister Elizabeth and I had dinner and fellowship with Brother Shawn after leaving the campus. He had another appointment around 6:00 PM.
Friday March 27, 2009: Since I was given no permit at Auburn University today and CSU was such a slow day I spent the day locked in with the Lord in prayer and Bible reading.