POST BTI

Everytime I think about writing something about BTI, I promptly forget it and go into brain freeze! 

One thing I know for sure is that we're EXHAUSTED!!!!

I was telling Sis. Horne that you would think sitting in class all day long wouldn't be that big of a deal, but when you add church most nights and the ALL DAY LONG crying and shouting and praying....Whew!...it takes a physical and emotional toll on the body.  (but then that could just be me. :)

When we were coming home, Mike caught the BTI "coughing, sneezing, fever, can't get any rest" bug that went around, and is still coughing, sneezing and feverish. (I drank Apple Cider Vinegar in apple juice before, during and after BTI so I've avoided it so far.  Mike didn't start drinking it until after he got sick. )  At least he waited till after BTI to get sick.  Us old folks were mostly in our room and even in our beds by 9:30. Ha! 

We were planning on coming home Sat. night after Graduation, but stopped by Alaena's house before we left town.  While there I "hit the wall" and told Mike that I couldn't drive home that night. (We had both our vehicles in Cleveland.)  Mike was already getting sick, so we commandeered their regular bed :-)  (not the blow up one) and spent the night. 

The next morning, we were barely moving, but was able to get out of the house before the kids left for their church.  We drove home and crashed.  I was supposed to wash some clothes to wear to work the next week, but was too tired to climb the stairs. I fortunately have found some clean things to wear to work, although the blouse I'm wearing today doesn't smell exceptionally fresh; it smells like a hotel room in Cleveland. LOL!

So at this time I still have all our dirty clothes still in suitcases and mostly bare cupboards.  I did freeze a baked spagetti before BTI, so that took care of us one day.  I got a rotisserie chicken the next day and found a small roast in the freezer to put in crock pot yesterday.  I'm just too tired to go grocery shopping. 

Fortunately for me, church tonight is a rescheduled VLB night, so I don't have to teach Gleaners.  All I have to do is "get there" which I am planning to do.  We'll see how Mike is feeling when I get home.

On top of all this, I arrive home to find my office is scheduled for an SEC (securities exchange commission) audit one week from now.  Just grand!  Good thing I'm NOT scheduled for Family Camp this year...because I couldn't go even if I wanted to now! 

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RANDOM BTI MEMORIES THAT JUST FLITTED ACROSS MY BRAIN.....:-)

In our BTI fun box, Sis. Horne blessed me with a puppy coloring book, because..you know...I adore furry stinky animals ;-)   Later that week, I knew the Booth children were in their hotel room, so I handed Bro. Butch the coloring book and crayons for his kids. Gabbie came to me the next day and gave me a special page she had colored as a "thank you".  Guess which furry animal she had colored...you guessed it...the poodle!  I asked her if she had talked to Sis. Horne. Ha! Gabbie didn't know what I was talking about, so I explained the inadvertant joke they just played on me to her and her mom.  I told them that Sis. Horne would call it a "God thing". LOL!  Yes, I've kept the picture and have it at home.  I thought it was hilarious.  Sis. Horne couldn't have planned it better.

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I think Mike has some BTI pictures on his iPhone...mostly of our tour of Church Historical sites with Bro. Lofton, and probably some of the AL Banquet.

I loved graduation, but hated the hat! That thing kept sliding off or rotating on my head! It might as well been alive!! (so don't ask me to remember all of Bro. Horne's message. Mike assures me it was great! (because his hat stayed perfectly straight on his ol' pointy bullet head! LOL!)

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Before BTI, we were under heavy attack from "you know who" from every direction.  I was trying to throw myself into the hands and mercies of God and encourage everyone else to do so also.  At one point (hiding behind my seemingly small shield of Faith) I cried out to God, asking if "we are just targets for satan to constantly shoot at?!" (like in a carnival target game)   I felt the Spirit assure me we are "Children of God" and God is indeed our rock and refuge.  After that prayer, God moved in some situations that helped bolster that reassurance.

I prayed and prayed over situations at BTI, but on the very last class of "The Life of Christ" (or maybe the 2nd to last class...I forget)...Bro. O'Dell was reading this scripture from our lesson:

"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Php 2:9-11 KJV)

Bro. O'Dell stopped "peaching" :-) (him and Bro. Werkheiser could preach the phone book! Ha!) and said that he hoped he had a front row seat when satan had to bow and confess that Jesus Chris IS Lord."  Well, you know the class erupted in glory at that thought and Bro. Clarkson shared this scripture regarding satan:

They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? (Isa 14:16-17 KJV)

Hear that!  Believe that!  One day we'll get to see the host of hell forced to bow before the Lord...while the redeemed who have chosen to bow in this lifetime will be gloriously rushing to do so!!