Chili, Candy, and Christ

Sunday evening services were a little different yesterday as we enjoyed a worship time followed by food and festivities. We are grateful for Chief Young and our local firefighters (who better to judge hot things?) coming to judge our chili contest. Congrats to Vanessa ONeal for second place and Jennifer Ruth Jones Howard achieving grand champion chili status!

Thanks also to Shirley Scott for sharing your photos with me. 

See the whole photo archive here: 
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Dtf0sVapOSlA1Cqi2

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” - Numbers 6:24-26

See the whole photo archive here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Dtf0sVapOSlA1Cqi2

Sunrise Sunflowers

The Wiles family has a deep love for the Page family. We were blessed to catch them shining bright in a field of sunflowers. I like this annual tradition! To see the entire high resolution photos in my Google folder, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/FmOuxlz1mR9sMpD43

"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." - Luke 12:27

To see the entire high resolution photos in my Google folder, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/FmOuxlz1mR9sMpD43

Wiles New Address

While we enjoyed our two weeks at Ragland Bottom Campground, we are now located at a little more permanent dwelling in Bear Cove, southeast of Sparta.  We are still keeping our PO Box in Sparta for mailing, but our living address is:
257 Swift Rd
Sparta, TN 38583

Here's a list of steps to drive from the church building to our address:

• Head south on N Main St toward E Rhea St (south) - for 456 ft
• Turn left onto Bockman Way (east) - for 0.3 mi
• Turn right onto Gaines St (southeast) - for 0.7 mi
• Gaines St turns slightly right and becomes Country Club Rd (east) - for 1.5 mi
• Turn right on Swift Rd. (east) - for 827 ft
• Turn left (north) into Christopher & Ashley's driveway where the motorhome is located.  Congratulations, you're here!

It may not show up in Google maps, so here is the best information I can give you.
View it's information on a map here: https://goo.gl/maps/nLYYQrGPS8r

Here it is again: 

Here's a link to the directions from the Central Church of Christ.
https://goo.gl/maps/x4zQVhjprr62

Here's the map of directions itself.



Here's a list of steps to drive from the church building to our address:

• Head south on N Main St toward E Rhea St (south) - for 456 ft
• Turn left onto Bockman Way (east) - for 0.3 mi
• Turn right onto Gaines St (southeast) - for 0.7 mi
• Gaines St turns slightly right and becomes Country Club Rd (east) - for 1.5 mi
• Turn right on Swift Rd. (east) - for 827 ft
• Turn left (north) into Christopher & Ashley's driveway where the motorhome is located.  Congratulations, you're here!

150th and More!

Here's celebrating 150 years of faith at Central Church of Christ. Unless the Lord comes again, I'm looking forward to 150 more! With over three hundred people to meet and encourage, I barely made time to break out the big camera. Here's a couple of encouraging photos from the day. Soon we'll had more from the other photographers on site.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/i7ETPQMcy7RQvCAh2

I definitely appreciate, even more now, the professors that I enjoyed at Lipscomb University. Dr. Phillip Glenn Camp was a blessing to be with yesterday. I'm glad he, Amy, and the kids joined us. Friends, God has been good to us and He deserves our thanks!

"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." - Colossians 3:15

Many Perspectives in California

Good morning Max & Donna, 

We hope Irma isn't dumping too much rain your direction.  If it is a little cloudy and gloomy your way, then it might brighten your day to see a few faces from California!  We uploaded 105 photos across 4 days to a single Album.  The basic descriptions are below.

Click here to see all 105 photos:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Awx15IyvTdtOY4t82

Set #1 - Crab hunting at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve in CA.

http://www.pointlobos.org/

​

Set #2 - Tallest and Oldest Trees in the World at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park - Coastal Redwood Trees are tall!

https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=546

​

Set #3 - Playing around at The Wharf of Santa Cruz 

http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/government/city-departments/parks-recreation/facilities/santa-cruz-wharf

​

Set #4 - Swimming at the Beach BoardWalk of Santa Cruz 

https://beachboardwalk.com/

​

Set #5 - Playing with the Frank Collier family at the Children's Museum in Sacramento

https://sackids.org/

​

Set #6 - Lots of Fun shooting God's beautiful Creation in Yosemite National Park! We also found the Biggest trees in Tuolumne Grove Giant Sequoia's, cousins to the Coastal Redwoods at Henry Cowell SP. 

http://www.yosemitehikes.com/tioga-road/tuolumne-grove/tuolumne-grove.htm

​

"Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy." - Psalm 96:11-12

Nevada Update

Vacation update. Friends, we're doing well and on the way to California. Nevada is gorgeous and it is so big! We've seen snow on several Peaks as we've traveled along Interstate 80. The kids are still getting along great and we're riding well in the motorhome. We've traveled enough mountains now that I'm not near as scared of overheating this 1994 Fleetwood Bounder we purchased. God has blessed us, and we're loving our trip as a family together. Thank you for your prayers and your encouragement. So far we are only five days into our 3 week trip, and from what I've seen so far, I recommend this type of trip to anyone!  We hope to show you more of God's Beauty and Wiles family fun over the next couple of weeks!

Quick Updates Plus Photos

It's 1:46am Eastern time, so I'm sapped and heading to bed soon.  Before I hit the hay, I did want to let my friends and family see the kids through my eyes in the last couple of days.  I've taken many photos from my cell phone, and just a few from the big camera.  We are getting a family photo in every new state we come to, and we'll share that later.  These photos were taken in two places that were off the beaten path, and there has been extra adventures with each one.  For right now, you need to know that we loved visiting Monument Rock about 30 miles outside of Oakley, KS.  It is seriously out in the middle of no where, down a long and dusty gravel road.   Then there's the Devil's Backbone, just north of Denver, CO that was in the Rockies foothills.  Both were wonderful to us.  I haven't taken any photos in Wyoming, although it has been the most majestic part of the trip yet.  I am in awe of what God has created and displayed before my eyes.  I also feel so small and humble in comparison.  Tomorrow, we descend from the Rockies through Salt Lake City, then across the desert, then up more mountains.  Big driving days are exciting in the motorhome, right?  Rawlins, Wyoming was good to us tonight as we stay in an RV park to rest up for tomorrow's big drive.  Lord willing, we'll make it to Bible Camp Thursday night or Friday morning!

Tomorrow's plan

Captain's log: Star Date: 082717 at 11:41pm CST.

Check out our vacation photos here: https://goo.gl/photos/UUEjkKe9jByv5iFP6

Everyone's asleep and I'm fading fast.  Driving through Kansas City, MO staring at a gorgeous red sunset was a highlight today. So was frozen yogurt toppings at Yogurtini, fountain finding near Kansas City, worship at Twin City CofC, and watching the boys balance on the front bumper to squeegie the front motorhome window.  We knocked out 562 miles today of our approximately 2,000 mile trek to Daybreak Camp in Felton, CA.  The goal tomorrow is to travel at least 421 miles to the mile high city of Denver, CO. Anything past that is just gravy. After that we slow down a little bit to sight see in God's beautiful creation. God has blessed us so far with a calm trip and kids who are getting along well. You'll start seeing more photos tomorrow!

Onward we go!

Godly men at Twin City Church of Christ

Day two of our trip. We were blessed as we honor God and be encouraged by people at the Twin City Church of Christ in Festus, MO, just south of St Louis. This beautiful group of people made us smile and feel right at home on our trip. We hope to get to visit again one day! Pictured here are brothers in Christ, Patrick Adams, and Michael Walden, two men that I love deeply from Spring Mill Bible Camp.  Now we continue our trip West. California here we come!

Thanks for a good nights sleep!

With the exception of having a little girl kicking me in the back, last night was a pretty good night asleep. Thanks to the Mount Vernon Walmart for letting so many vehicles use their parking lot overnight! Now let's hit the road!