Sunday, September 18

8:00 am. The first Sunday worship service in the New Caney chapel.

Chaplain Don DeSimone welcomed us to the “Chapel at 242” and mentioned that he felt unified in the Spirit with the TFC staff who came to help them dedicate this chapel to the Lord. I am sure that we will be forever friends with him and his wife, Barbara.

David Parrish led the singing. We have certainly learned to appreciate the dedication of this man in the past few days. He challenged us to think about what we do today and why we do it.

Most of those in the chapel were TFC staff or local ministry supporters. We were pleased that one trucker and his daughter came to join us. They are to the left of Dwayne Johnson in this picture. I don’t think it was coincidence that he is from a terminal in Michigan where Dwayne goes to minister to drivers and terminal staff.

Dwayne reminded us that God remembers. God cleans us up when we follow him with good decisions and when we make a wrong choice, He helps us get back on the right road.

10:40 am – we attended morning worship at “The Church at 242.”

Pastor Depnis Parrish baptized two young people this morning.

We were blessed by the Jacksonville College Choir, Jacksonville, Texas.

Pastor Dennis closed with a short message – because of the baptisms and choir his time was short and he wanted to close on time.

He said if you remember only one thing today, remember this – I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.  Philippians 1:6

After worship at the church, Dwayne and Brenda brought us back to the chapel where we met Vicki and Tom Williamson (right). Shortly after they arrived, Dennis came to make sure everything was okay at the chapel. We introduced him to Tom and Vicki, who live about twenty minutes away from the chapel.

Dennis took this great picture of us. We learned to know them many years ago when he rededicated his life to Christ on the Bloomsbury, New Jersey chapel. He and Vicki were divorced at the time. It’s a rather long story, but the great news is they remarried and continue to faithfully serve the Lord. Hey Dennis, we think he would make a great volunteer chaplain at the New Caney Flying J.

Tom and Vicki wanted to treat us to a real Texas barbecue.

We loved the atmosphere of this place in Humble, Texas, and the delicious food.

Our unique table. You can see my brisket (oh yum), green beans, and cabbage.

The owner came by to talk to Tom (they are friends) and let him know about an upcoming event.

Vicki said that we must see the bathrooms – whether we needed to go there or not. 🙂 It’s been a long time since I used a water pump to wash my hands.

The wall

I looked for a few other photo ops when we got outside.

The restaurant closes at 3 pm on Sundays, and since we weren’t finished visiting, they invited us to their house.

I enjoyed seeing this unique plant in their yard.

Two hours later they took us back to the truck stop where we said goodbye – after Tom prayed for us – especially for our trip home.

We brought the TFC tractor back to the motel where it awaits us for the beginning of our trip home in the morning.

Oh, what a wonderful day!