We took the opportunity to sit down and answer a few questions from some of our Facebook followers regarding our life choices in becoming, and living the "Fulltime RVer Lifestyle".  We really enjoyed doing this segment, and look forward to doing it again.  We did experience some wind noise during our recording, and a couple of break, but it still went well.  Take a look, and send us any questions that you may have. #FulltimeRVLiving

Click here to check out the entire discussion

What an awesome privilege we had to meet Steve and Jackie Clark, as well as their son Steven, as we served as Camp Host at Lucerne Campground in Manila, Utah.  We not only became friends, but we now consider ourselves extended family.  Like myself, Steve grew up in Maryland; he married Jackie (from New York).  Along with their son Steven, they serve as Campground Managers for four campgrounds in the Manila, Utah area.  Join us "Under The Awning" as we spent a few minutes chatting will our newfound friends.

(Click here to check out the entire interview)

We are glad to be a part of what God is doing with Good News Daily Ministries ... #BIBLICALTEXTING

​As our time back at our “sticks and bricks” house is winding down, I’m reminded of how important it is for us to “deal with” issues in our lives, "up front".  Even in our pursuit to follow the Call of God on our lives, the “issue” of dealing with our “sticks and bricks” was always present, and at some point, we knew we would have to go back to address it.  

Early retirement, selling our house, and most of our possessions; going from 5000 square feet, to 400 square feet, is not the answer for most people, but each of us have had things in our lives, where we would have been “better able to serve”, if we had addressed those issues up front.  We now find ourselves, back at "the house”, getting rid of “excess”.  Some of the things that we are uncovering have been “buried” for many years, and now we are temporarily away from our assignment, to deal with “stuff”.

Is God calling you to do something special for Him; do yourself a favor, and deal with the “stuff" up front.  Get rid of the things that no longer add any value to your life, or serve no purpose in your pursuit of God; your future depends on it.  

My Piece of Advice:

Take the time now, to deal with the things that you have “hidden” in your garage; if you don’t do it now, you will certainly have to “take a detour” from your journey, to address them.  Many of us choose to just “close the garage door”, and pretend like the “stuff” is not there.  It may not be a “skeleton in your garage”, but it is still “stuff” (relationships, unresolved conflicts, bad memories, excess weight, etc).  Many people park on their driveway, only because their garage is full of “stuff”; altering its intended use.  It makes me reevaluate my priorities; I “protect" my “stuff” in the garage, and park my vehicles on the driveway … Hmmm.  

Evaluate your “garage”, and “Deal With It”.

It wouldn’t be a good feeling, to hear the voice of God calling you, but you have to ask God to wait a while, because you need to “go back” and deal with “some things”.

Most of you know, that Adriene and I are RVers.  In the “World of RVers”, traveling with excess weight is a major issue, and an ongoing challenge.  As a result, you will find that many people will “purge” their rig (their RV) on an annual basis, and then incorporate the “1 in - 1 out” strategy.  It looks like this: If something “new" comes in the rig, something “old" goes out; you don’t keep both.  This strategy serves two purposes; it affords you the opportunity to evaluate what you are carrying around, and it also forces you to heavily evaluate, what you are bringing on board (if it does not serve a specific purpose, it does not come on board).

More often than not, if you are called to “take on” an assignment from God, there is likely also something that you will have to “get rid of” as well.

That’s all for now; see you back on the road, real soon … 

#WhatsInYourGarage  #DealingWithTheStuff

​Knock Knock; Who’s There; It’s Verna …

It was a Saturday afternoon, we were in the rig relaxing; I was watching TV, and Adriene was on the phone with a friend.  That is when I heard a light knocking at the door.  Our main door was open at the time, but the screen door was still shut.  She says, "Hi, are you Robert; I said yes I am, she said I have been looking at your flag everyday, and I finally went online to look you up; I wanted to come over.  My Bible is falling apart, and I thought that you might have some tape so that I could tape it back together.”

That is when I went outside; I told her that I not only would help her to repair her Bible, but we would also bless her with a new one.  I opened our storage bay where we keep our bin of donated Bibles that we give away along our journey.  I told her to take a look, and see if she saw a Bible that she liked; it was then that I went back in the coach to get Adriene.  She was still on the phone, but  I asked her to call the friend back, and come outside with me; I introduced her to our guest.  I didn’t know her name at the time, but she recognized Adriene right away.  She had been on our website, and she also had seen Adriene the night before at one of our campfire gatherings.  By then, she had found a King James Bible, that she was looking for; I left Adriene outside to spend time with Verna, while I went inside with Verna’s “tattered” Bible to tape it up a bit.

​Sunsets are a daily reminder that time goes on, but tomorrow is not promised, no matter what you choose to do with your day.  Sunsets give me the opportunity to reflect upon what I have accomplished on any given day.  Did I waste it on frivolous things, thoughts, or actions, or did I do something productive that will assist me in accomplishing my goals, dreams, ambitions, or destiny.

Sunsets can be absolutely beautiful, but their beauty is a constant reminder, that an end is coming.  If you are reading this today, God has blessed you with life; sometimes we take our life and liberties for granted, expecting that we have another opportunity in the morning.  But as you see the sun setting in a persons life, you can only wonder how they feel about how they spent their day.

Seconds turn into minutes, minutes turn into hours, hours turn into days, days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, and months turn into years.  As the years roll by, how are we preparing for our sunset.  Are we waiting for tomorrow to do what God has called us to do today.  Are we waiting for “Oneday”, when all of the stars align, and everything is in place.  

As I look at a calendar, I see Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but I don’t see “Oneday”.  “Oneday” will never come.

I’ve been told that the most valuable property on earth, are graveyards, because graveyards are full of dreams, goals, and visions for great accomplishments, but the resident was waiting for “Oneday” to pursue them; but “Sunset” came first.

The Word of God (Psalms 118:24) tells us that “This is the day, that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it”.  This reminds me of the importance of “today”, rejoicing in today, but preparing for our impending “Sunsets”.

​If you find yourself on Highway 60, anywhere close to Miami, Arizona, do yourself a favor, and go by "Joe’s Ribs".  A family friend of ours “Joe Miller” owns the restaurant, so we decided to stop by for a visit since we were passing through that part of the country.    We were certainly not disappointed; Adriene ordered the “Rib Platter”, and I ordered the “Brisket Platter”; yes, our fingers were in each others plates very quickly.  I’ll use the KFC slogan on this one; those BBQ platters were “Finger Lickin’ Good"

We decided to stay in Miami, AZ for the day, and evening, so we ended up going back to the restaurant a second time to spend a little more time with Joe, and his beautiful family that works along side of him.  While there the second time, a customer came in; he goes by the name “Ponch”.  As Ponch was waiting for his order, he moved to another area of the restaurant so that he could watch the sports channel on the TV; it was then, that I struck up a conversation with him.  Our conversation started as we talked about the military; as we were were both veterans, but it quickly turned to me sharing some "Good News" with him.  Ponch’s order came, but he continued to listen and talk.  A seed had been planted, and had begun to fester in him.

When Ponch finished, and paid for his meal, he headed outside to his truck; there were windows on the front of the restaurant, so I could see him.  He then came back in the restaurant to get me, and asked me to come outside with him; he wanted to show me a bumper sticker that he had on his truck; It said “Jesus Is Enough”.  I commended him on the sticker, and asked him “Jesus is enough for what?”.  That is when Ponch lit up a cigarette and shared with me about how he used to be an “Altar  Boy” as a child, and was baptized.  He also shared about how his mom would invite the Priest over for dinner.  I then asked him about his personal relationship with Christ, and that is where his story ended.  I shared with him the importance of having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and the difference between “religion”, and “relationship”; Ponch threw down his cigarette;  that is when I shared the plan of salvation with Ponch, and he prayed with me, and accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior of his life.

We were out on the sidewalk in front of “Joe’s Ribs”; we had to move out of the way as I hugged Ponch, and welcomed him to the family of God.  There were more customers coming in, so we moved to the side.  Ponch thanked me for our time together, and introducing him to Jesus.  I gave him one of our ministry cards; he jumped in His truck, and off he went.

I thank God for preparing a way for my encounter with Ponch, and preparing his heart to receive His Word.  Welcome to the family Ponch.

And There We Built An Altar … (Miami, Arizona)

As we take off, heading out on another trip, I am always thinking of the journey of Jesus during His earthly ministry; everywhere He went, he changed the lives of the people that He encountered.  As we travel, that is also our desire; we want to impact lives everywhere we go.  As we identify the needs of the people, we yield ourselves, and our ministry to meeting those needs as best we can, and trust the Lord to make the difference.

I took off of work on Friday, so that we could get an early start on our trip out West.  Our plan was to go to visit Adriene’s sister in Arizona, on our way to the desert land in Quartzsite.  We have been there before, but we know that that congregation of people is part of our assignment, so we will continue to make that trek every year until the Lord says different.  The desert population of Quartzsite, Arizona, swells from a few thousand people, to an estimated million-plus people during this time of the year.  It is the largest (campground) in the country during this time, and a great opportunity for us to share the Good News of our Risen King.

The first leg of our westward journey took us from San Antonio, Texas (our home-base), to Ft Stockton, Texas.  On travel days, we usually get an early start after sunrise, and stay on the road until about an hour or two before sunset.  If we can avoid it, we prefer not to do any nighttime driving.  We pulled into a familiar rest stop in Ft Stockton to spend our first evening.  Honestly, I think I may have missed a ministry opportunity.  We are always trying to be sensitive to the leading of the Lord in where we stop, or spend the night.  A couple of hours prior to our stopping for the evening, I had pulled over to a rest area for a quick stretch and “potty break”; while there, I saw a couple outside walking their dog; we noticed each other and exchanged waves (they too were traveling in a motorhome; we parked behind them).  Adriene told me that the guy looked like he wanted to get my attention as I was heading to the restroom.  When I came back, they were about to pull off, but I rushed outside and went to speak with him at the drivers window.  I introduced myself, and as I usually do, I also introduced he and his wife to our mission on the road.  I gave them a couple of our ministry cards, and found out that they too were planning to stop for the evening at a campground in Ft Stockton, Texas.  The campground that they were going to, was one that we are familiar with; we had stayed there last year.  After our short encounter, they pulled off and headed back on the road;  we ended up seeing them a couple more times on the road.  

As we passed the campground that they were stopping at, I wondered if we had missed an opportunity to minister to their needs, but we continued on the road and ended up spending the night at a Ft Stockton rest stop.  Our goal is to never allow our planned schedule, to get in the way of yielding to the leading of the Lord.  Often, when we are stopping for just the night, we will stay in rest stops, or an occasional Walmart parking lot, because it is “free camping”, and we are leaving early the following morning.  We are fully contained, so hookups to electricity and water are not required.

Before pulling off from the rest stop the following morning, I noticed a guy riding down the shoulder of the highway on his bicycle.  The ironic thing that I thought about as he continued his journey, is that I’m sure that he considered himself “self-contained” as well.  I’m sure that he had everything that he “needed” with him.  After looking closer, I realized that he even had his companion with him; his dog was riding in a milk cart attached to the back of his bike.  Seeing this reminded me of the importance of exercising our faith; taking what we “have” with us, and believing God will provide for our every “need” when the need arises.  We have to always remind ourselves that, just because our rig is “self contained”, we still have to trust God to provide for our needs.

We know that our calling to “campground ministry” is not normal; it’s not “church as usual”.  We are always excited to see others that are serving the Lord, outside of the box of “normalcy”.  This trucking company is taking a bold stance for Christ.  As we were heading down the road, I thought that it was just another fellow believer proclaiming their faith, but in short order, we passed a truck weight station, and we saw two more trucks lined up with the same proclamation of Jesus in John 14:6 (“I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father, but by me”).  We realized that each of these trucks had a different email address on the back of them; on the side of the trailer, it says JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, big and bold.  I’m sure that the impact that this trucking company is having in the trucking community, and on the highways of America, is immeasurable.  I asked myself, the journey and ministry of Jesus was not normal, why should ours be?  I’m confident in knowing that this trucking company is not blending in with the crowd, it is standing out among all others.

We woke up that morning, and found that two other coaches had pulled in overnight.  One thing for sure about spending the night in a rest stop is that, you never know who your neighbors will be in the morning, but I get excited to see fellow RVer’s, because I know that they represent the community that God has called us to.  We consider every RVer as a potential member of our “Church Without Walls”, and as a result, I find myself already connected as we serve as Pastors to this mobile community.  We have a common bond, and we use that bond as the catalyst to help us in leading our community to Jesus

It was a new day, and we were heading back out on highway 10, heading West.  After our morning routine in the rig, and checking out our rest stop surroundings, I prepared the tow vehicle, and the motorhome for take-off.  Every travel day starts off with a time of prayer and thanksgiving before we take our places in the “cockpit”.  Once I got the GPS started, and Adriene prepared the “navigators area”, we were ready to head for the on-ramp for another day of travel.  In our planning, we anticipated doing between 300 and 400 miles per day heading to Arizona, but as I previously mentioned, we just never know.  Our travels today took us from Ft Stockton, Texas, through New Mexico, and into Wilcox, Arizona.  As sunset was looming, Adriene pulls out one of her navigator tools; the Next Exit Book, and starts looking for our next resting place.  The Next Exit Book is just that, it tells you what you will find at each exit along a particular stretch of highway.  It has become a key tool in our arsenal of “travel tools”.  We also have the Next Exit App on our cellphones, but Adriene prefers the feel of flipping the pages of the book, and making notes in it along the way; it is alway good to have a “Plan B” when we come across areas of the country when we see the proverbial  “no service” on our cell phones.

We pulled in to another rest area for the evening; we got settled in and it wasn’t too long before we were starting up the generator to get some dinner going, and searching for the perfect movie.  One of our ministry partners blessed us with a “Roku Stick”, which provides us Netflix, Hulu, and Pure Flix.  As long as we had cellular service, coupled with unlimited data, we were set for a movie night at a rest stop in the plains of Arizona.  We had a nice evening; even with the “low roar” on vehicles passing on the highway, we still rested quite nicely.

The following morning, we had our sites set for “Crystal’s House”.  We set the GPS to lead us to Phoenix Destiny RV Resort in Goodyear, Arizona.  Crystal is Adriene’s sister, and also one of our ministry partners.  As we travel, we look forward to visiting those that have aligned with our vision, and helping us in fulfilling it.  Check-In time at the campground was 3 o’clock, but we arrived at about 2 o’clock.  The main office was closed, it was a Sunday, but the security guy got us all checked-in ready to head to our site.  We were only planning to stay at this campground for one day, but we reserved this campground for a couple of reasons; one was that it was a nice campground, that was close to Crystal.  Secondly, we wanted to be at a campground for a night, before heading out to the desert that next day.  We wanted to dump our waste tanks, and fill up our water supply as well.  I also wanted to get a layer of road dirt off of the rig and tow vehicle, before heading back out again.

We went over and spent much of the day at Crystal’s house.  Actually, Crystal was heading to California the next day, so I suggested that Adriene spend the night with her that night, while I head back to the campground and crash in the “Bachelor Pad” for the evening.  She didn’t argue one bit about that suggestion :-)  Before, leaving for California, Crystal blessed us and the ministry alike.  She not only blessed us in our immediate needs, but also provided Bibles and food to share with our community in the desert (food for the the soul, and the body); she was quite the blessing …

I went back in the morning to pickup my co-pilot; Crystal had already left for the airport heading to California; we loaded up her “blessings” into the car, locked the house up, stopped by Walmart for a few things, and headed back to the campground.  Check-out time for the campground was at 11 o’clock, so we had a couple of hours left to finish our preparations for heading to the desert.  We had a “short” day of travel (only 150 miles), to our location in the Quartzsite desert.  While outside finishing up, my neighbor came out of his fifth wheel trailer to meet me.  I was in the middle of dumping the tanks, so rather than shaking hands, I gave him an “elbow bump”.  His name was Paul, and he was a Retired Army Airborne Ranger; I found out that he and his wife were Christians, and their son was a Pastor that was starting a church in his home in the area.  After spending a little time “jousting” each other, as retired Army and Air Force people tend to do, his wife came out and I had the opportunity to meet her as well.  I shared our mission for campground ministry with them and they were very excited to hear about our assignment.  I gave them a couple of our cards and they pledged to pray for us and our travels.  They were heading out, so I finished up outside, while Adriene finished up inside.  It was finally time for us to leave, so we pulled out, got the car hooked up, and started on our way to Quartzsite.

Come to find out, while I was outside finishing up, Adriene was inside in “creation-mode”.  Adriene has been adamant about us eating healthier, and I am onboard all the way.  If you are not careful, it is easy to get accustomed to “eating as the locals” everywhere you go, but we all know how that story will end (unhealthy living).  She has been making us some fruit smoothies on a regular basis in the morning, and I am loving it.  She made us a smoothie with blackberries, bananas, grapes, and whatever else; all I know is that it was really good.  It didn’t hurt that it was also “good for us”.  I’m always looking forward to her next “Magic Bullet” creation.

Well, it just so happened, that this day (Monday), was my official second day on leave, but it also was the first day of the “Government Shutdown” that took place.  I wasn’t too concerned about the shutdown, because in my mind, I was in “leave-mode”.  We knew that the shutdown was looming before we left on Friday, so I had made preparations at work before leaving on Thursday.

While we were at Walmart that morning, I gave my supervisor a call to touch base about the shutdown, and to see how he wanted to handle the signing of documents putting all of us “Government Employees” on furlough status.  He agreed to send me the documents via email, and I agreed to sign the documents electronically, and return them to him.  Yes, I signed my furlough papers, while sitting in the desert in “ministry mode”.  My supervisor confirmed that he had received my documents, and that was that.  The shutdown only lasted one day, but come to find out, the government shutdown saved me a day of leave because you can’t be on leave while you are furloughed … All I have to say about the Government Shutdown is “Thanks”.

When we arrived at our planned “boondocking” location,  I pulled over to go in the office to pay our “camping fee” and register to stay in the area.  At the time, I didn’t realize why there was no line, until I got closer and someone yelled out of their vehicle “just drive on in and find your spot, there is a government shutdown and no-one is in the office”.  I didn’t think about it ahead of time, but the area that we were headed to, is managed by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) … government employees.  We headed down the winding desert road, until we came up on our “community in the desert”.  Our rig is made by Monaco, the community that we “campout” with in the desert are other Monaco coach owners.  We initially connected online at the iRV2.com Monaco Forum, and established the iRV2 Monaco meeting area.  When we pulled up, I walked into the area to see what the parking situation was; well, the main circle was already full, so people started parking on multiple bands behind the main circle.  We ended up four rows back, but it still wasn’t too far away from the main circle, and still in the midst of fellow “Monacoers”.

As previously mentioned, we were in the land of “boondocking”, which means there are no hookups at all (no electric, no water, no sewer, and no cable); everyone has to be self-sustaining.  Effective boondocking takes a lot of practice, but we are learning more each time we experience it.  From our “campsite”, if you find yourself in a pinch, you can move from your campsite, drive and a mile down the road, dump your tanks and fill up with more water.  That is what you are paying for when you stay in this area ($40 for a 2 week stay - do the math, that is about $3 per day) - no brainer on that decision for us.

After getting settled into our spot, I didn’t waste any time, I was heading out to see who I could see, and meet whomever I could meet.  There were some people that I recognized from last year, but there were many other new faces to meet as well.  The community was very welcoming, and I immediately found myself in “Campground Pastor” role.  A couple of people came, thanking me for the Bibles that we gave out last year.  One lady came and led me to her coach so that she could let her husband know that we were there.  His mother wasn’t doing very well, and he was in need of prayer. 

Just because people are out “camping”, doesn’t mean that they are not dealing with real needs in their lives.  During our time in the desert of Quartzsite, we were dealing with the need for salvation, issues of serious health problems, divorce, family separation, alcoholism, and homosexuality, among other needs.  We don’t take likely the role that God has put us in while ministering to our “congregation” in the desert.  We had the opportunity to build upon existing relationships, as well as foster new ones.  We were “camped out” with people from all over the country, as well as Mexico.

The beauty of camping out with other “Monacoers” is that we are all there to help one another.  Everyone, has their area of expertise, and everyone was willing to share their specialty with the group.  Motorhomes are very complicated pieces of machinery, and having others with similar models, and similar problem areas, is nothing but a positive.  I am not necessarily mechanically inclined, but I had people over at our rig helping me resolve some of our “motorhome issues” as well.  We didn’t really have mechanical expertise to share with the congregation, but we brought “spiritual covering and guidance” to the group.

We even had a few guys come over to help me with our tow vehicle, it decided to overheat during our time in the desert.  Just to give you an example of the generosity of the group; after our tow vehicle overheated, we determined that I would need a new thermostat installed, well, one of the men in the group let me drive his truck into town to the automotive store to get my needed parts.  The store didn’t have my specific thermostat in stock, but ordered it for me, with the expected arrival of the following day.  I placed the order and came on back.  The next morning, I called to see if my part had come in; it had.  I went out of our rig and walked around our camp for a few minutes to see if anyone was out and about; there were a few guys out talking so I went over to them to see if anyone could take me to town to pickup the parts.  While talking to them, another guy walks up and says “Aren’t you the one that is fixing your tow vehicle?, I said yes, he told me that I could take his truck and do what I needed to do, they were going to do some sightseeing with another couple for the day, and wouldn’t need the truck”.  I am confident to this day, that I don’t know his name, and he doesn’t know mine, but one day after meeting him, he let me take his truck to town; now that is “community”.

Church takes on a different definition for us when we are traveling.  It is indeed, “Church Without Walls”; there are no pews, there is no choir, there is no praise team, there are no flashing lights; just a group of people, with needs in their lives, that need to be met; whether they be spiritual, or tangible.  Introducing people to Jesus, the problem solver.  I think this best resembles what Christ did during His earthly ministry, He came upon a need, and addressed it, either publicly, or privately.  Lives were changed, and people left different than they were before they encountered Him.

We also went to visit the “Big Tent” a couple of times.  Anything that you need to enhance your RVing experience, can be found in, or around the Big Tent; it is the major draw for some people to visit Quartzsite each year; not to mention the typical 70-80 degree weather.  We came across a booth for those that were planning to travel to Alaska, well Adriene and the booth attendant decided to break out in the “Alaska State Song” together; they drew applause after that one.  We only purchased a couple of things at the tent, and on our second visit, we toured some new motorhomes and visited some of the surrounding vendors.  The “Big Tent” is a must-go if you are in Quartzsite this time of the year, but it was certainly not our priority.

Remember the food that Crystal blessed us with for the community, well, the day of the group potluck, Adriene went out and found some other ladies that were willing to help her cook the meats, so that we could share it with the congregation that afternoon. The “potluck” is to the RVing community, what the “fellowship dinner” is to the local church.  It is a great time to meet new people, and “enter” into each others world.  During the potluck, and the evening campfires are times when many needs are identified, so we don’t miss them too often.  I’m told that there were 50-55 rigs in our group, that equates to 100 or more people joining us this year.  I’m known as Pastor Robert in our congregation, and I don’t take that lightly.  Adriene and I, and the partners of Altar to Altar Ministries are becoming the Church Without Walls in the Quartzsite desert; I’m excited about what God has in-store for the future.

We stayed in Quartzsite for about a week, before we decided to continue our travels further west.  We hadn’t told them yet, but we decided to continue west into California, so that we could go and spend a little time with Adriene’s niece that had delivered her 2nd child, just about 2 weeks prior.  That is also where Crystal flew to, so this would be a surprise to her as well, and we would be able to give her a report on how she blessed our “desert congregation”.

“And There, We Built An Altar …”