The World According To Chris Brewer

Sorry I haven’t updated the blog over the past few days. I was getting my butt kicked by the slowest dial-up internet connection I had ever experienced while I was at my family’s house in Missouri. I am currently back in Newport News, VA (remember, there is no such thing as home anymore) and making frantic preparations to go to Iraq in a week.

Here is what happened over Days 6, 7 and 8 of the vacation:

Day 6 (Saturday)
Mom took me out to a small town called Seymour, near where they used to live. Jason went to high school there when the family first moved to Missouri and he apparently loved it. Small town about the size of Rainier, Oregon (of course, that’s my hometown) but much nicer, friendlier and an even better small-town feel about it. Of course, I took pictures. They even had a drive-in theater that still works. It was neat — it advertised showtimes for Wallace and Gromit. We passed a Dollar General store, which had horses and a buggy tied to a rail in front of it. MORE AMISH PEOPLE!!!! Missouri rocks hardcore with Amish folks.

Then we went to lunch at the Hungry Fisherman with Aunt Benita. THAT PLACE RULES. I LOVE THEIR GRILLED CATFISH. If you ever find yourself in Rogersville, MO, go to the Hungry Fisherman. If you are a Christian and you do not go there, you will come very close to losing your salvation. The place is that great.

After that we ran back into Springfield. It was then that I thanked God I didn’t live in Fordland, which was 20 miles out from Springfield and where my parents’ temporary compound was. Don’t know why, but I like Springfield a lot. We went to the bank, different other places and enjoyed ourselves until Mom had to come home and rest because she was getting walloped by a sinus infection.

That night I bought nice shoes for church and special events. I will probably need them when I go to Iraq as well, when we have video shoots with State Dept. officials and other high and mighty folks.

That’s about it for Saturday.

Day 7 (Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!!!!)
Not much in the early portion of the day. Watched an incredible Jaguars victory over the Steelers. Tommy Maddox sucks hardcore. I think he threw something in the vicinity of four interceptions, and every pass he threw was right to a Jaguar. I mean, none of them looked like the receivers had any chance to catch them. Of course, it was fitting that he threw a pass right to some Jaguar defender and he sauntered right into the endzone in overtime to win it and send Pittsburgh fans home very pissed off.

Later on in the day, we went to church at Crimson House. Holy cow, that church is awesome. They had only about 20-25 people there, and everyone there is just your normal average every day person like me and you. We got into some worship, which was really different from Lakeside Church in the fact that they worship to CDs, but it was neat because you could really feel the Holy Spirit there. After a few songs the pastor, John Pace, who is a really cool guy, spoke for a couple minutes about how Paul had an encounter with Christ that changed his life, and he had a story to tell…the story being a testimony that would touch others for Christ. He asked anyone who wanted prayer to come forward, and prayed for each person that God would bless them and they would have a similar story to tell of their experiences. It was absolutely brilliant.

Pastor John also prayed for me in front of the church, and I remember what he prayed…he prayed for peace, safety and for all fear of the future and the unknown to be removed because it was in God’s hands. It was one of the most powerful prayers that I have had about going to Iraq. I didn’t see her once during the prayer, but I knew my Aunt Benita was praying for me as well, and the Spirit was moving and I felt a tremendous peace about going.

After I sat back down, there were others still in front praying and that was about the same time that the Holy Spirit really let loose. It was awesome to see my Mom go pray for someone because God told her to, then her start speaking in tongues like a madman and the Spirit letting loose. I hadn’t seen that since I was 17. Other people were getting into the Spirit too, praising, praying…it was awesome. They played Michael W. Smith’s song “Healing Rain” and it was wonderful. I think I need to get that song off iTunes.

Pastor didn’t even get to preach. I guess that was good because the Spirit was moving so strong and healings were taking place, that he deferred to the Lord. I guess it’s kinda selfish, but I wanted to hear him speak…I was kinda excited about it. Oh well, I will get to hear him speak in June.

After church we all went to a Mexican restaurant and the food there was scrumtrilescent. I got to know some of the youth that were there a little better, and I found out that Evin, Shauna, Rachel and Hannah were pretty cool people. Rachel and Shauna decided to play this game called “Would You Rather” and they also involved me in it. They asked some pretty off the wall questions, like “Would you rather date your sister or date someone only to later find they were a transvestite?” What the heck kind of question is that. It was really fun to play though.

Sunday was the best day of the trip. I don’t know why but I already feel kinda drawn to the church there. Small church, kinda like Kelso but more people and more resources to work with. There is such potential for growth there that I actually got excited when I stepped into the church. I don’t know if it was God or not but I felt a really good warm feeling inside my soul all during church service that night. I want to move to Springfield. There, I said it. I want to move to Springfield as soon as possible.

Day 8 (Monday a.k.a. Driving Day)
I woke up at the butt crack of dawn, and got to say good-bye to Mom before she headed to work. Jason had school so I waited for him and said good-bye to him before he left as well. Then I drove, drove, drove, drove and drove some more. All in all, I made a 1,109-mile trip from Springfield, Missouri to Newport News, Virginia in 16 hours. I beat my uncle Johnny Parker’s record of 18 hours. Granted, he goes to Washington DC but I still am the man when it comes to driving long distances over short periods of time.

I left the Springfield area at 8:30 AM and came into Newport News around 3:20 AM this morning. I am officially worn out.

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I would now like to clarify a comment I made in a previous post. I had said that Springfield reminds me of how much Newport News and Hampton absolutely sucks. That is true. What I meant by that is the location, things to do, general ambience of the place. NOT the people. The people here are awesome and I wish I could take them with me when I move away.

So the area sucks sufficiently, but the people rock. That’s it.