I am writing this blog from the comfort of my own office, nearly two weeks after finishing my nationwide tour. I found out that there was little time for anything else but traveling, resting, and speaking. But the memories of those days are still clear and I will try to express them here as well as I can.
LANSING, MICHIGAN
I first met Phil Bareham in 2004 on my first tour for the P.C. He is the M.C. here in Lansing, and we have become good friends throughout these years. It doesn’t take you long to realize he has spent a lifetime in politics, he knows how to handle people well. He is a good servant of the Lord and a great host. The room filled slowly but eventually did fill to capacity as I moved through the presentation. For the most part, the people here were gracious and receptive, including one older gentleman who was glad that God called him out of the DeMolay organization as a young man.
CLEVELAND, OHIO
Phil took me to the Lansing airport, and I picked up a rental car to drive to Cleveland. The car they gave me was a 2007 Corolla, the same car my daughter just bought about a month ago. With the help of my new gps, and a 30 minute nap about halfway there, I finally made it to Cleveland. As I drove up to the Holiday Inn, I noticed a restaurant called Somers Cafe. I thought, “I think I’ll eat there this evening, that looks like a good place.” Yeah, right.
Richard Baum, the M.C. in Cleveland is a very gracious and wonderful man, and very supportive of Prophecy Club speakers. He knows my interest in computers, and especially the Linux operating system, so he always has an interesting update for me in that realm. He followed me to drop the rental car off, and asked me if I would like to join him and some friends for dinner at Somers Cafe. I told him that I planned on going there anyway, and looked forward to it. yeah right.
After a quick nap, I walked over to the restaurant. There was Richard, and seated at the table was a couple that had come to hear me this evening. We exchanged cordialities, and I asked the man what he did for a living. He said he worked for the Ohio Department of Transportation, plowing roadways in the wintertime. When I asked him what he did during the summer time, he hesitated and said he picked up animal carcasses. My mind went immediately to an episode of Dirty Jobs (http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/dirtyjobs/about/about.html) where the host rode along with somebody picking up road kill. My eyes lit up and I mentioned this to the man sitting at dinner with me. As I said this, his head dropped slightly, his eyes fixed on mine, and he said “That was me.” WOW. I finally get to meet someone famous and have dinner with them! We laughed awhile at this exchange, and then it came time to order.
I found out that I was in a Mediterranian restaurant. Along with seeing meatloaf and chicken fried steak on the menu, I found things I had never heard of before. Richard ordered a combo plate of Mediterranean delicacies, and I thought, “Why not”. yeah, right. I said, “Make that two”. Famous last words. 10 minutes later I am staring at a plate of flat bread, like tortillas, and a plate with two kinds of lightly colored GOO! I tried my best, as I watched Richard “wolf” his food down, and tell me that it was good for my blood. I have a 41 year record of never walking away from a full plate of food, until now.
The meeting that night went well, and I was just a bit hungry.
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
Finally, more time to rest as I landed in Indianapolis just before noon…and rest I did. And, food options were much better here. For those who don’t know, when a person speaks for the Prophecy club, they are given $25.00 a day in cash to spend on meals. This money is given to the speaker the night before at each meeting. This sounds like alot, but in reality, hotel food and airport food is expensive. So I would try to limit myself to just snacking or a quick sandwich somewhere at an airport, then use the remainder of the money for a good meal just before the meeting. I went downstairs to the hotel restaurant, but they would not be open until 6:00 p.m. This would not give me enough time before the meeting. Fortunately, the hotel I was staying at was right across from the airport. I literally stepped out of the hotel, walked across the street, and walked into the airport! They had my favorite place to eath there, The Food Court.
Small crowd at the meeting, one man that came was a former mason. We had a good Q & A time at the end. Although one person did say that he had heard from somebody who heard from somebody that there was this guy that was at the site of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis and he thought he heard bombs going off. He wanted to know what I thought about that. I said, that in my opinion, a bridge collapsing would sound like bombs going off.
SOUTH BEND, INDIANA
A traveling nightmare. South Bend is only about 2-3 hours driving time away from Indianapolis. But I left Indianapolis airport at 7:20 in the morning and got to South Bend at 3:00 in the afternoon, after a 6 hour layover, 1 cancelled flight in Chicago, and 1 stand-by flight at 1:30 that afternoon. I still can’t believe I got all my luggage!
The meeting here was small, but a lot of interest. Mike Terry was the M.C., another good man that God has put in my path. Mike and I always have a good time of fellowship together.
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
By this time I am no longer looking forward to the next meeting, I am looking forward to going home. My wife misses me, my children miss me (in their own way of course) and my church misses me. I miss them. I am tired and a little confused. Days no longer have names such as “Wednesday” or “the 17th”, they have names like “Harrisburg” or “Detroit”.
After my usual nap, I walked over to a Wendy’s restaurant to get a bite to eat. As soon as I walk in the door, I see two guys who recognize me. After about 5 minutes I start to recognize them, and sat down with them and ate my chili and hamburger.
Again, not many attended the meeting here, but most of the ones who did, I recognized from years past. Some of them have prayed for me and my family over the years and it was good to hug their neck and fellowship again.
John Nace was the M.C. here. It was he who was going to drive me to Baltimore the next day. He asked about my plans for the next day. I was hoping he would bring this up, and as it turns out, the Lord was in it. I asked him if he wouldn’t mind taking me to D.C., there was some things that I wanted to see there concerning my presentation. He was delighted with the idea.
LAUREL, MARYLAND
John picked me up at about 8:00 that morning and took me out to breakfast in Hershey, PA. The restaurant was just a few blocks from the Hershey chocolate factory and you could smell that wonderful smell in the air. Just a few blocks away was the masonic lodge in Hershey. It was interesting to note its numerical designation.
I will probably write more in a later blog about my discoveries in D.C. but I am convinced now more than ever that I am right on my theories concerning the secret of Freemasonry.
I always look forward to the Baltimore meeting. It is well attended and usually a lot of energy in the room. During this meeting a young man presented himself to me, excited about what I was saying, and shared with me a thought, that so far, has made all the sense in the world. Again, I will post this in a later blog.
DENVER, COLORADO
This is it. The last day. With the flying time, delays, time change, etc. Bentley Johnson and I have just enough time to get to the hotel, rest a few minutes, and head to the meeting. Again, no large crowd here. Just about 20 or so very attentive people. All in all, this trip was not about making me famous. I realize the kind of message that God has given me is not popular. I could tell, however, that those who were truly hungry and thirsty for spiritual things, and knew the Bible, praised God for what they had heard. Now I have even more information, and more confirmation of what is going on. What do I do with this information? God will direct my paths, because He is the one who has directed my study. I will trust him.
