Friday afternoon, we had decided to go to Blue Creek on a church camp-out while Kristina went camping. We were asked to bring my guitar and sing some of our original numbers. We'd been there one other time and Blue Creek was great once you got there. There was a large tree limb that hung out over the creek and someone had tied a rope on the end of it so we could hold onto that rope and swing out over the creek and let go. What fun!. But, getting there was quite a bumpy and treacherous journey over dirt paths with huge ruts. It took some talent to drive in-between the ruts. It would have been better to have a 4-wheel drive.

We initially only wanted to stay the evening and return home, but we had brought the tents just in case. As it turned out, we sang joyfully into the night, blessing the cicadas and crickets and frogs back with our inspirations. Since we did not want to try and negotiate the treacherous dirt roads out of the camp at night, we hunkered down until morning. I arose early to tackle some of my prayer-time. I noticed some thunder in the distance and had felt a few drops of rain now and then.

We were planning to have breakfast with the only other family there but I began to feel a stirring in my spirit to get a move on. It looked like it could rain. Eva took the outer and inner tents down and packed them into the car. I checked with the Lord about whether we should go or stay for a while, and, despite my hunger for the breakfast they were going to fix, got a Go from the Holy Spirit. In addition, I felt inspired to move a little faster on the packing up process. We had a quick prayer together and we headed off through the light rain, hoping to get over those ruts before they became mud and impossible to maneuver.

While still on the most treacherous part of the now muddy road, the rain began to beat heavily on our car roof. Obviously, the road became very slippery and very difficult to maneuver. Eva, who was driving, was feeling greater and greater concern, wondering whether we would be able to make it to the paved road.

We came to a Y in the road. We knew that either road would get us out of the precarious situation, but which one would be best? Eva asked me to ask God. I found a coin, trusted in Him with all my heart, and asked Him which we were to go. By a prayerful coin flip, he had us go to the right.

Here, if it was possible, the road got worse. We were sliding more than we were going forward. One rut caused our tires to slip so badly, our rear was rapidly heading off the road to the left. I prayed aloud, "We need another angel shove." At that instant, Eva's foot was not on the accelerator, but we both felt a supernatural push which, not only stopped the rear from going all the way off the road, possibly getting totally stuck, but the shove gave us the momentum to get out of this last, deep rut. Though there was a little more rough riding to do, we were basically home free after that Godly shove.

Once we were out onto the main paved road, we could relax. Eva was concerned for Kristina's safety out there, camping with her brother and his wife. "What if a storm like this one came up?" she wondered. Even though it was a two and a half hour drive out to the campsite, Eva wondered if we should go. I was looking forward to listening to music with Eva at home or, otherwise, taking it easy. But we asked the Lord—and surprisingly, He said to get out to the campsite. Did we need to bring Kristina home? Yes. Did we need to go now (with no breakfast, no shower, no teeth brushing?). Yes.

Eva looked sorrowfully at me. "I need to tell you something," she said, in a voice that reminded me somehow of Jonah, trying to avoid Nineveh. "Kristina was really looking forward to this camping trip with her brother and I.." she stopped and sighed, "I just couldn't bring myself to ask God if she should go. I knew it would really be disappointing if the Lord said, No. So, though the Lord put it through my heart many times to ask Him, I never did. Victor, I couldn't sleep much last night, worrying about what I did by not checking with the Lord. Have I possibly jeopardized Kristina's safety by my refusal to check with Him? I think that is why He is asking us to get over there. I am really sorry I didn't check with God."

I comforted her, "It will be okay," I said.

We pulled into a convenience store parking lot. We were both hungry and grungy, not having had a shower since yesterday. Once Eva confessed what had been eating at her all this time, and apologized to the Lord for not checking with Him, we asked if we still needed to go to the campsite and bring Kristina home. Through a prayerful flip of the coin we got Yes. We asked God if we could go into Corydon and stop at her son's vacant house to shower and freshen up first as well as grab a quick bite to eat. Yes.

So after cleaning up and a nice breakfast, we drove the 2 ½ hours to the campsite and found, when we'd gotten there, that a distraught Kristina had been ravaged by chiggers in the previous night and was very anxious to go home. In addition, her son's boat sank in the lake while we were there and Eva chose to dive in to help him and his friends drag the canoe to shore. That night, Kristina, in her cozy bed in the RV, and medication on the bites, Mom and Dad by her side, praying for her, tears rolled down her cheeks in joy at the recognition that God loved her—and He even talked to Mom and Dad and had them drive all that way up there to bring her home.

Nature of God: We check with the Lord as often as we can think about it. Often, as with Eva, the Holy Spirit urges us to ask. Although one might think that casting lots (or flipping a coin) would make us less dependent on God and more dependent on "luck," that is not the case. Every time we prayerfully flip a coin, we are praying that we be totally dependent on God, not ourselves. When we do this, He frequently speaks to our souls, clarifying things that confirm a correct answer from the prayerful coin flip. We have found, incredibly, that we are more tuned to God's Voice in this world, than we were before we discovered (or should I say re-discovered) this prayerful flipping of the coin. It is a re-discovery because I first learned about it in God's Word.

Eva had plenty of remorse about not checking with the Lord about this camping trip. God repeatedly told her, through her heart, to please check with Him about this camping trip for Kristina. Though Kristina might have been disappointed in not going, should the Lord have said No, in retrospect, would she have preferred not to go if she had known that chiggers were going to attack her so viciously? Also, had Eva prayed and gotten God's permission to send Kristina, might there have been an extra shield of protection around Kristina, that night? Would they have camped in a slightly different area, avoiding the nest of chiggers that they may have set the tent up on? These are questions worthy of consideration. We HAVE seen supernatural help provided when we asked God and He said Yes through this method. Indeed, often with that reverent flip, almost coming as a package with it, comes God's grace and mercy (and sometimes a little divine help to get us out of the situation.) One tremendous benefit we receive from checking with God is a great peace in our hearts because we fully trust in His answers to us.

And, of course, we now knew the reason we got a No on going to the Messianic Temple that Saturday afternoon. God was going to have us on a rescue mission, bringing our itchy daughter home early from her camping trip.

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