Campmeeting was different this year...There was no LD Moore or Ralph Cox! No open-air tabernacle, lawn-chairs or dormitories. There was no Jesus knocking on your hearts door funeral parlor hand-held fans! No outdoor bathrooms and shower houses.There was no rain blowing in under the tabernacle and having to move closer to the middle. There was no PA squawking or the MC asking, can youll sitting out there under the trees hear alright? I didnt even see nary a trailer or camper!! Can you believe that?! BUT! It was still the same as days long gone, in that I saw childhood friends from VA, Ala, Ky, Ark, Mo, Ks, NC, Ga, Tex, and from all over my state of Okla. There were still kids of all sizes waiting for their favorite flavor of snow cones. There was that long hamburger line with friends laughing and greeting each other, some still cutting in line as we slowly made our way to the front of the line to buy from the concession stand. The church kids even had a little fenced in playground and their own childrens church service. We were still blessed by the same great music as Jimmy Johns sax, Buddys steel, the harmonica, piano, and that beautiful orange Gretch guitar bellowed out beautiful harmonies. We still were blessed with a good youth service. And something I had NEVER seen in my 52 years of attending Bristow was a young 27 year old preacher from Douglas Ga. moved the crowd with his anointed preaching, all the while running up and down the isles, back and forth across the front of the church to the back....preaching to the young folks about crossing over, all the while from his wheelchair!!! It was a glorious prelude to the night service that was filled with joyous congregational singing about being lifted up, to the soul stirring message from Br Randy Webb reminding us that when We are In Over our Heads, there is STILL a God in his temple! I saw backsliders weeping their way back to the Lord, I prayed with a broken hearted grandmother who just buried her grandchild and a young mother of three who is in a desperate need of God to help them find answers to her husbands sickness so he can return to work. I saw a meth addict make her way to the alter, weep and cry out for help. I watched a dear 86 year old warrior of the gospel, a young teen age girl, preachers wives from various states, I stood beside and got a hug from a precious young man with Down Syndrome that has attended Bristow all his life and gives away hugs every year! I watched as saints and sinners, young and old, some spry others feeble, some raised in the house of God while others were saved off the streets, as they prayed...weeped...laughed... and cried around our alters. Yes it was a bit different. But the most significant likeness of our pasts Bristow camp-meetings was still there with the Holy Ghost anointing that filled, healed and encouraged our hearts along with the joy-filled reunions and gestures of heart felt greetings as we laughed and hugged and slapped each other on the backs at yet another year of Bristow Camp Meeting 2014! Hope to see you there tonight.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 18:13:15 +0000
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