North
Dakota. What is there to say about North Dakota. Marc was reading in a book
called 1.000 Places to See in
the US, or something like that. Anyways, there was an article about a
couple who went there because it was their 50th state and they didn't want to
miss out on 50 states because they hadn't been to North Dakota. Anyways, they
mentioned it to someone at a restaurant or something, and they gave them a
certificate for making ND their 50th state. They even had a book for them to
sign for people who visited NS as their final state. Nobody wants to go there
because there isn't a lot to do there. Now, no offense meant at all, we met
several wonderful people in North Dakota, but there just wasn't very much to do
there. Despite its size, there was a calmness about it that made it quite
enjoyable. It’s a slower life that isn’t so wrapped up in everything else that
everyone else seems to be consumed by.
We left South Dakota on Wednesday, September 4th and made it to Fargo, North Dakota a few hours early for church. With no direction of where to go or where people were, we stuck close to the church. There was a park maybe a mile away that we went to chill at. When we walked up we saw these kids fighting. We were going to break them up, but we realized that it was playful. I still didn’t like it, but Marc said they were just being boys. As I was talking on the phone, Marc felt the need to go talk to these kids. Of course, they need Jesus as well, but I always feel weird talking to kids when their parents aren’t there. Anyways, I got off the phone and looked over and all of the kids were bent over in a circle around Marc. He was reading the Bible to them. Adorable. Also adorable was when these kids, who apparently hadn’t seen gauges before, started sticking their fingers in Marc’s ear holes. Gotta love kids. As I made my way over to them, I hear one kid saying something about, “Well we don’t believe that. Allah….” This kid named TJ was no more than 10 0r 11 years old, but he knew his religion and he knew it well. We talked to the group for about 25 minutes and went back and forth with this kid. There was another younger boy engaged in the conversation as well. Every time a name was mentioned that he recognized (Jesus, Moses, Adam, etc), he had to tell us everything he knew about them. It was pretty adorable. It was fairly difficult to talk to TJ. I had never spoken about religion to a Muslim before, let alone a child. How was I supposed to make it understandable for him and show him that Jesus is the only way? It was definitely challenging. After a little while of talking to the kids, three of which were Muslim but none quite as well versed or interested as TJ, 3 ladies came walking over. I thought for sure they were parents of at least one of the kids and were going to reprimand us for talking to their kids without them there. Turns out they just lived nearby but they stayed and talked to us, I think to make sure we weren’t creepers. Fair enough. They told us that the little boy who kept telling us all of the stories that he knew was a pastor’s kid at the church they go to. No wonder he knew so much! As we chatted, TJ asked us if we listened to rap and when we said yes, he said, “Can I come with you to your van?” Before we had the change to say no, one of the ladies did, which really made me feel like they thought we were creepers. Oh well, it’s always better safe than sorry. So we got going back to the ban where we had sandwiches and then headed out to church for the Wednesday night service.
Church was sweet. We met the pastor, Seth, and his wife Tanya, then a very nice woman named Lisa and her family. Pastor Seth taught on Samson and made some pretty awesome points. One, every time Samson acted, it was out of selfishness and self promotion and two, there are only two recorded times that he cried out to the Lord. This was the man who should have been leading Israel and was concerned mostly with himself, yet we see God’s grace so heavily in that he is mentioned, albeit briefly, in the hall of faith. How wonderful that he sees us the same way-with patience, grace, and loving kindness because we seek Him.
Soon after church, we head out to Walmart. As we stepped in, immediately we noticed-it wasn’t a coincidence that those 3 kids at the park were Muslim. We were in a heavy Islamic area-the whole time we were there, I counted 10 women in berkas. Wow. After we had walked around for a bit, one of the workers approached us to ask if we had any questions. He and Marc got to talking for a good little while and he said at first that he did believe in God, but eventually admitted that it was kind of his “own thing.” He believed in evolution and nature (whatever that means) and didn’t appreciate going to church because of this crazy pastor that he had. She gave him a bad taste for church and religion and since then he hasn’t gone to church. I would not want to be her on judgment day.
On Thursday morning, we put time aside to study Islam. We still had a few bucks on our Starbucks card, so we got our usual passion tea and sat there for a few hours, reading and watching DVDs on the subject. About halfway through the time we were there, Marc walked by this group of guys and says, “This might sound really weird, but are you guys a band?” Turns out they were, and guess where they were from? Riverside, California. No stinkin way! Marc talked with them for a while longer then sat down. One of them came over to us and told us about the positive message of their music, said he was a Christian, too, and said he would put us on the guest list so we could go to their show that night. Sweetness!
We finished our studies and headed out. We weren’t really sure where to go, so we went to the mall to walk around and see if there was anything interesting there. There wasn’t, so we went to Barnes & Noble so I could write my blog. They were having a local writer’s showcase, so Marc went from table to table talking to the authors, and then we were off to the show!
The show was in the basement of a shop and was a very interesting place. If I had a grungy haircut and a black shirt on, I would’ve fit in much better, but that’s ok. I noticed that the older that I get, the more I dislike being in places where I feel like I don’t belong, in subcultures that aren’t my own. When I became a Christian, all of the other “groups” or cultures that I was a part of, slowly faded out of my life. Music, tattoos, piercings, and all of the other things I was interested in became secondary to learning about God and in the time that I used to pursue other things, I was now using to grow in my walk, so I slowly pulled back from being a part of those other things. That isn’t to say you have to, it was just the way that my relationship went. So now to be thrown back into a culture that I was never truly part of anyways, was uncomfortable. I told Marc, “That’s what Robert is for, to come to these things with you.” I mean, let’s be real. I’m not angry enough to mosh, and I’m definitely too old, short and weak, so when that started, it felt like pure madness. But my discomfort faded and I enjoyed the show. After the group went on that we were there to see (No Bragging Rights) we stepped outside for some air. There was a guy standing a few steps in front of the top step. As we ascended from the basement, his aloneness practically yelled, “Marc, come talk to me!” So he did. He had just moved there not too long ago from Wisconsin and didn’t really know what was in town. As they talked about the show, he shared that what the singer said about suicide really resonated with him and he began to cry a little bit. They talked about faith and Marc shared the gospel with him. Then the final act went on stage and we were herded like cattle back inside. I say that, but there were really only about 30-40 people there and I’m sure at least 15 of them were members of other bands. After the show, we hung out for a bit but nothing was really happening so we bounced.
Friday was a bit more eventful. We walked around downtown to see what we could find. One of the places we went was a bead shop. Marc was talking to the girl behind the counter who was telling us that she used to have cancer but because her Grandma has a direct line to God (jokingly), she went back to the doctor and it was gone! How awesome!
From there, we kept walking. After a while, we turned back so we could move the van before our 90 minute limit expired. We passed by this guy who looked totally bummed out. Marc said hello in passing and he said hi back, but when we were just past him, he turned around and asked if he could use our phone. “I just bumped into my ex-wife and I need to call my sponsor. I’m afraid I might do something stupid,” Larry shared with us. He sat on the ground in the middle of the sidewalk while he called, but no answer. So we walked towards the van while Marc talked with him. He had just spent time in prison for what sounded like beating his now ex-wife. He didn’t really have a faith but because he was Sioux-Apache, he leaned toward the Native beliefs. They talked for a good 25 minutes and it went ok, but as soon as we drove away, he started walking back towards where his ex was. Sigh.
Next we decided to walk around the park that was at the end of the main street. There weren’t really very many people there, but one guy, Chris, was on his way out as we walked in. He believed in God and went to church, so when Marc asked if he would get to heaven and why, he replied with, “I’m not really sure. I hope so. I know it’s not by works. I know what you’re getting at.” So that was cool. It was good to hear that he was on the right track, but he did seem in a bit of a rush, so off he went. We continued through the park and stumbled upon a skate park! Sweet!!
There was one dude sitting on a concrete block off to the side, probably catching his breath because he didn’t look like he was done for the day. We got to talking with him, just “shooting the breeze,” as Marc would say. We did get to talk about the Lord with him-he said that he used to go to church but at a certain point, just stopped believing in God and, subsequently, going to church, mostly because he just needed more facts. I asked what kind of facts he wanted and I shared a bit of Bible science with him, but he wasn’t really sure what to ask about. We also got to share a bit with his buddy who was sitting next to him. He was from Anaheim and had been raised going to church but at some point stopped as well. It was truly an awesome conversation with the two of them.
While we were talking with them, Pastor Seth and his wife, Tanya, and their 3 kids showed up. Turns out they have a skate park ministry! They go there every Friday with pizzas, water bottles, and sodas to give to the kids. They aren’t pushy, they give out tracts with the drinks, and talk to the kids if opportunity allows, but they’re not out there yelling or forcing anything upon them. The way Seth explained it was that, “we’re doing what we’ve found to work-we’re just showing the kids love.” And it’s true! And awesome! The kids seem to respect them and appreciate their presence there.
Marc talked to a few more kids while we were there, and when the pizza and drinks were all gone, we packed up. The family invited us to dinner, so we headed off to SmashBurger with them for some great fellowship. They blessed us with dinner and we even got fro-yo afterwards! I love me some fro-yo. We gave them a tour of our van, and that was that. We headed to Walmart to bed down for the night. Or so we intended. It was MISERABLY hot that night. I swear if we had enough money at the time, we probably would have went and gotten a hotel room, it was that bad. At 11:00 at night, it was 81 degrees outside, with no breeze, so in the van it was WARM. And yet, here we are, we survived.
In the morning, we headed off to the church to help with things around the church. We cleaned and got the storage unit ready to convert into a gym, amongst other, smaller tasks. They fed us Subway for lunch which was refreshing and oh so delicious. Once we were done, we didn’t have anywhere to be until 5:30, so we headed back to the park where we talked to the kids the first day. Marc was having a jam session with Lisa’s son, Paul, who was a great guitar player. That took a good chunk of time, then we were off to the other park for another church outreach where they pass out chips, juice, and tracts to kids and families at the park. The goodies went pretty quickly, but Marc walked around with a guy from the church, giving out the most important goodie, the gospel. (I know, I’m cheesy.)
Sunday, of course, brings church. We hung out for a little while afterwards and talked to these two new girls, Andrea and Jenny. It was a great conversation, especially once we discovered that they were scientists! How refreshing to hear from people who study that they can think for themselves and see the discrepancies in too many scientific theories.
After church, we stopped at the store to get some groceries with a gift card we had been given (thank you mucho) and then went to get some gas on our way to our next destination. As we pulled in, this guy yelled out from across the parking lot that he liked our huge Jesus Saves sign. When Marc went in to pay for the gas, they got to talking, and talk they did. For a LONG time. At least an hour! These 2 guys were on a cross country trip rapping about Jesus, kind of. They believed that there were many missing chapters from the Bible and that when Jesus was on earth, He had a meeting with some people in India where they all agreed that as long as they had faith in something they could go to Heaven because they were sincere. After a while, I got out to see if he needed help, but he was doing great. Eventually, we had to get going so we could eat dinner before church, so we exchanged numbers and headed out.
On Sunday nights, Calvary Chapel Fargo doesn’t have a regular service-they pretty much pray, wait on the Lord, and give room for the gifts. Marc brought his guitar and did some music. It was a blessed night indeed. God moved through many of us and spoke to my heart, giving me confirmation on something I had been praying for direction on. What a good God!
On Monday morning while I was at the gym, the first guy from the skate park texted us and wanted to get together before we left. SWEET! Nobody ever texts us to meet up! So we made plans for the next afternoon. The rest of the day, we prepared to leave. I did laundry and we read a fair amount. I researched a little bit more of the “facts,” in case that was what he was going to ask about, and we chilled out. We did go for a walk in the evening to get out of the house and seek out an opportunity, if there was one to be had. We didn’t come across anyone, so we finished up our studies, and that was Monday!
We woke up on Tuesday and said goodbye to our awesome host family then headed to our meeting. We ate at a place called Drunken Noodle, which was so delicious! We also had a really great conversation. We talked a lot about God and a lot about life. He mentioned that he had had a pretty privileged childhood but now there were several “hiccups” in his life that he wasn’t really sure how to deal with. He began to wonder if what we were telling him was the answer. Please pray for him and his family, especially that he would come to know God, but also that he would have peace in his heart through the issues he’s been experiencing. We know that Jesus gives peace that surpasses understanding, but it’s a question of resting in him. One of the coolest parts about meeting up with him was to see the seed we planted. We know that the main part of our ministry has been seed planting, but we got to water this one as well and see it start to hopefully take root. We’re definitely hoping to get a call from him soon saying that he’s ready to go for it.
After lunch, we said our goodbyes to him and to Fargo and off we went on our way to Montana!
We left South Dakota on Wednesday, September 4th and made it to Fargo, North Dakota a few hours early for church. With no direction of where to go or where people were, we stuck close to the church. There was a park maybe a mile away that we went to chill at. When we walked up we saw these kids fighting. We were going to break them up, but we realized that it was playful. I still didn’t like it, but Marc said they were just being boys. As I was talking on the phone, Marc felt the need to go talk to these kids. Of course, they need Jesus as well, but I always feel weird talking to kids when their parents aren’t there. Anyways, I got off the phone and looked over and all of the kids were bent over in a circle around Marc. He was reading the Bible to them. Adorable. Also adorable was when these kids, who apparently hadn’t seen gauges before, started sticking their fingers in Marc’s ear holes. Gotta love kids. As I made my way over to them, I hear one kid saying something about, “Well we don’t believe that. Allah….” This kid named TJ was no more than 10 0r 11 years old, but he knew his religion and he knew it well. We talked to the group for about 25 minutes and went back and forth with this kid. There was another younger boy engaged in the conversation as well. Every time a name was mentioned that he recognized (Jesus, Moses, Adam, etc), he had to tell us everything he knew about them. It was pretty adorable. It was fairly difficult to talk to TJ. I had never spoken about religion to a Muslim before, let alone a child. How was I supposed to make it understandable for him and show him that Jesus is the only way? It was definitely challenging. After a little while of talking to the kids, three of which were Muslim but none quite as well versed or interested as TJ, 3 ladies came walking over. I thought for sure they were parents of at least one of the kids and were going to reprimand us for talking to their kids without them there. Turns out they just lived nearby but they stayed and talked to us, I think to make sure we weren’t creepers. Fair enough. They told us that the little boy who kept telling us all of the stories that he knew was a pastor’s kid at the church they go to. No wonder he knew so much! As we chatted, TJ asked us if we listened to rap and when we said yes, he said, “Can I come with you to your van?” Before we had the change to say no, one of the ladies did, which really made me feel like they thought we were creepers. Oh well, it’s always better safe than sorry. So we got going back to the ban where we had sandwiches and then headed out to church for the Wednesday night service.
Church was sweet. We met the pastor, Seth, and his wife Tanya, then a very nice woman named Lisa and her family. Pastor Seth taught on Samson and made some pretty awesome points. One, every time Samson acted, it was out of selfishness and self promotion and two, there are only two recorded times that he cried out to the Lord. This was the man who should have been leading Israel and was concerned mostly with himself, yet we see God’s grace so heavily in that he is mentioned, albeit briefly, in the hall of faith. How wonderful that he sees us the same way-with patience, grace, and loving kindness because we seek Him.
Soon after church, we head out to Walmart. As we stepped in, immediately we noticed-it wasn’t a coincidence that those 3 kids at the park were Muslim. We were in a heavy Islamic area-the whole time we were there, I counted 10 women in berkas. Wow. After we had walked around for a bit, one of the workers approached us to ask if we had any questions. He and Marc got to talking for a good little while and he said at first that he did believe in God, but eventually admitted that it was kind of his “own thing.” He believed in evolution and nature (whatever that means) and didn’t appreciate going to church because of this crazy pastor that he had. She gave him a bad taste for church and religion and since then he hasn’t gone to church. I would not want to be her on judgment day.
On Thursday morning, we put time aside to study Islam. We still had a few bucks on our Starbucks card, so we got our usual passion tea and sat there for a few hours, reading and watching DVDs on the subject. About halfway through the time we were there, Marc walked by this group of guys and says, “This might sound really weird, but are you guys a band?” Turns out they were, and guess where they were from? Riverside, California. No stinkin way! Marc talked with them for a while longer then sat down. One of them came over to us and told us about the positive message of their music, said he was a Christian, too, and said he would put us on the guest list so we could go to their show that night. Sweetness!
We finished our studies and headed out. We weren’t really sure where to go, so we went to the mall to walk around and see if there was anything interesting there. There wasn’t, so we went to Barnes & Noble so I could write my blog. They were having a local writer’s showcase, so Marc went from table to table talking to the authors, and then we were off to the show!
The show was in the basement of a shop and was a very interesting place. If I had a grungy haircut and a black shirt on, I would’ve fit in much better, but that’s ok. I noticed that the older that I get, the more I dislike being in places where I feel like I don’t belong, in subcultures that aren’t my own. When I became a Christian, all of the other “groups” or cultures that I was a part of, slowly faded out of my life. Music, tattoos, piercings, and all of the other things I was interested in became secondary to learning about God and in the time that I used to pursue other things, I was now using to grow in my walk, so I slowly pulled back from being a part of those other things. That isn’t to say you have to, it was just the way that my relationship went. So now to be thrown back into a culture that I was never truly part of anyways, was uncomfortable. I told Marc, “That’s what Robert is for, to come to these things with you.” I mean, let’s be real. I’m not angry enough to mosh, and I’m definitely too old, short and weak, so when that started, it felt like pure madness. But my discomfort faded and I enjoyed the show. After the group went on that we were there to see (No Bragging Rights) we stepped outside for some air. There was a guy standing a few steps in front of the top step. As we ascended from the basement, his aloneness practically yelled, “Marc, come talk to me!” So he did. He had just moved there not too long ago from Wisconsin and didn’t really know what was in town. As they talked about the show, he shared that what the singer said about suicide really resonated with him and he began to cry a little bit. They talked about faith and Marc shared the gospel with him. Then the final act went on stage and we were herded like cattle back inside. I say that, but there were really only about 30-40 people there and I’m sure at least 15 of them were members of other bands. After the show, we hung out for a bit but nothing was really happening so we bounced.
Friday was a bit more eventful. We walked around downtown to see what we could find. One of the places we went was a bead shop. Marc was talking to the girl behind the counter who was telling us that she used to have cancer but because her Grandma has a direct line to God (jokingly), she went back to the doctor and it was gone! How awesome!
From there, we kept walking. After a while, we turned back so we could move the van before our 90 minute limit expired. We passed by this guy who looked totally bummed out. Marc said hello in passing and he said hi back, but when we were just past him, he turned around and asked if he could use our phone. “I just bumped into my ex-wife and I need to call my sponsor. I’m afraid I might do something stupid,” Larry shared with us. He sat on the ground in the middle of the sidewalk while he called, but no answer. So we walked towards the van while Marc talked with him. He had just spent time in prison for what sounded like beating his now ex-wife. He didn’t really have a faith but because he was Sioux-Apache, he leaned toward the Native beliefs. They talked for a good 25 minutes and it went ok, but as soon as we drove away, he started walking back towards where his ex was. Sigh.
Next we decided to walk around the park that was at the end of the main street. There weren’t really very many people there, but one guy, Chris, was on his way out as we walked in. He believed in God and went to church, so when Marc asked if he would get to heaven and why, he replied with, “I’m not really sure. I hope so. I know it’s not by works. I know what you’re getting at.” So that was cool. It was good to hear that he was on the right track, but he did seem in a bit of a rush, so off he went. We continued through the park and stumbled upon a skate park! Sweet!!
There was one dude sitting on a concrete block off to the side, probably catching his breath because he didn’t look like he was done for the day. We got to talking with him, just “shooting the breeze,” as Marc would say. We did get to talk about the Lord with him-he said that he used to go to church but at a certain point, just stopped believing in God and, subsequently, going to church, mostly because he just needed more facts. I asked what kind of facts he wanted and I shared a bit of Bible science with him, but he wasn’t really sure what to ask about. We also got to share a bit with his buddy who was sitting next to him. He was from Anaheim and had been raised going to church but at some point stopped as well. It was truly an awesome conversation with the two of them.
While we were talking with them, Pastor Seth and his wife, Tanya, and their 3 kids showed up. Turns out they have a skate park ministry! They go there every Friday with pizzas, water bottles, and sodas to give to the kids. They aren’t pushy, they give out tracts with the drinks, and talk to the kids if opportunity allows, but they’re not out there yelling or forcing anything upon them. The way Seth explained it was that, “we’re doing what we’ve found to work-we’re just showing the kids love.” And it’s true! And awesome! The kids seem to respect them and appreciate their presence there.
Marc talked to a few more kids while we were there, and when the pizza and drinks were all gone, we packed up. The family invited us to dinner, so we headed off to SmashBurger with them for some great fellowship. They blessed us with dinner and we even got fro-yo afterwards! I love me some fro-yo. We gave them a tour of our van, and that was that. We headed to Walmart to bed down for the night. Or so we intended. It was MISERABLY hot that night. I swear if we had enough money at the time, we probably would have went and gotten a hotel room, it was that bad. At 11:00 at night, it was 81 degrees outside, with no breeze, so in the van it was WARM. And yet, here we are, we survived.
In the morning, we headed off to the church to help with things around the church. We cleaned and got the storage unit ready to convert into a gym, amongst other, smaller tasks. They fed us Subway for lunch which was refreshing and oh so delicious. Once we were done, we didn’t have anywhere to be until 5:30, so we headed back to the park where we talked to the kids the first day. Marc was having a jam session with Lisa’s son, Paul, who was a great guitar player. That took a good chunk of time, then we were off to the other park for another church outreach where they pass out chips, juice, and tracts to kids and families at the park. The goodies went pretty quickly, but Marc walked around with a guy from the church, giving out the most important goodie, the gospel. (I know, I’m cheesy.)
Sunday, of course, brings church. We hung out for a little while afterwards and talked to these two new girls, Andrea and Jenny. It was a great conversation, especially once we discovered that they were scientists! How refreshing to hear from people who study that they can think for themselves and see the discrepancies in too many scientific theories.
After church, we stopped at the store to get some groceries with a gift card we had been given (thank you mucho) and then went to get some gas on our way to our next destination. As we pulled in, this guy yelled out from across the parking lot that he liked our huge Jesus Saves sign. When Marc went in to pay for the gas, they got to talking, and talk they did. For a LONG time. At least an hour! These 2 guys were on a cross country trip rapping about Jesus, kind of. They believed that there were many missing chapters from the Bible and that when Jesus was on earth, He had a meeting with some people in India where they all agreed that as long as they had faith in something they could go to Heaven because they were sincere. After a while, I got out to see if he needed help, but he was doing great. Eventually, we had to get going so we could eat dinner before church, so we exchanged numbers and headed out.
On Sunday nights, Calvary Chapel Fargo doesn’t have a regular service-they pretty much pray, wait on the Lord, and give room for the gifts. Marc brought his guitar and did some music. It was a blessed night indeed. God moved through many of us and spoke to my heart, giving me confirmation on something I had been praying for direction on. What a good God!
On Monday morning while I was at the gym, the first guy from the skate park texted us and wanted to get together before we left. SWEET! Nobody ever texts us to meet up! So we made plans for the next afternoon. The rest of the day, we prepared to leave. I did laundry and we read a fair amount. I researched a little bit more of the “facts,” in case that was what he was going to ask about, and we chilled out. We did go for a walk in the evening to get out of the house and seek out an opportunity, if there was one to be had. We didn’t come across anyone, so we finished up our studies, and that was Monday!
We woke up on Tuesday and said goodbye to our awesome host family then headed to our meeting. We ate at a place called Drunken Noodle, which was so delicious! We also had a really great conversation. We talked a lot about God and a lot about life. He mentioned that he had had a pretty privileged childhood but now there were several “hiccups” in his life that he wasn’t really sure how to deal with. He began to wonder if what we were telling him was the answer. Please pray for him and his family, especially that he would come to know God, but also that he would have peace in his heart through the issues he’s been experiencing. We know that Jesus gives peace that surpasses understanding, but it’s a question of resting in him. One of the coolest parts about meeting up with him was to see the seed we planted. We know that the main part of our ministry has been seed planting, but we got to water this one as well and see it start to hopefully take root. We’re definitely hoping to get a call from him soon saying that he’s ready to go for it.
After lunch, we said our goodbyes to him and to Fargo and off we went on our way to Montana!
North Dakota!
the venue
the band
the skate park!
the awesome family we stayed with and 2 of their 3 awesome dogs!
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