Road Trip Update as of August 28th, 2014

The Furious Five started out on Monday morning with a plan to make an impact on others without realizing the impact this trip would have on us. Monday night, we stayed near Cleveland OH and stayed with Jeff Davidson and his wife, Amber and their amazing family. They showed us tremendous hospitality and allowed us to use their garage to attempt to repair a broken fork seal on one of the bikes. Our bike mechanic Sixx worked hard most of the night to make it road worthy and we started out Tuesday morning with high hopes of reaching Iowa by Thursday.

We hit the road after a great morning worship time and drove on to our destination for the night when the fork seal started showing signs of trouble again. We stopped in Chicago and formulated a plan to fix the fork seal for good. 

On Wednesday morning, we split up (like any good Scooby Do gang would) so that we could most quickly and efficiently repair the faulty seal. As we waited for Gerry to meet up at the agreed upon rendezvous, Tommy began to be concerned and so Rob and I began tracing any possible route Gerry might have taken. With God's help (and no idea where he might have gone), we came upon his bike, lodged under a tractor trailer. Gerry had already been taken by ambulance to the hospital and we were given very little hope for him.

But we serve an amazing, miracle-working God!! And God has been doing miracles left and right!! 

Yesterday began with a very clear goal to get on the road heading West. Today the goals are very different. Today we just want our good friend and pastor back on his feet. Please stop and say a prayer for him before you read on.

Gerry is doing better than we could have imagined this morning. Actually, he is in pretty good shape, but he is definitely not out of the woods yet. They hope to take him out of sedation today so they can work at getting him on his feet again. He is recovering well. Seeing the scene afterwards, I would have assumed his condition to be much worse than a few sores and bruises. Please pray that he wakes up well and heals completely and quickly!

The accident happened near an industrial park in Peotone, IL on Wednesday morning around 9:45am by my estimates. The bike ended up under the tailgate of a tractor trailer rig and got wedged in. We didn't actually see the accident, so the police will have to reconstruct it. I won't try to determine the cause here.

For now, we are all very glad we have not lost him and we are praying furiously that he will make a full recovery. After that, I believe he will return back to his mission with greater focus and clarity than ever. 

Today, the Furious Five are still five and we are still furious. Now we wait to see what God will call us to next! Look out Devil! :)

jeremiah