AHQ Gospel Echoes Tour Update #2
12/19/02Written by Konrad
Monday morning found us all getting up quite early (we had a really, really big day ahead of us). I think. Or, I'd like to imagine. Actually, I can't remember anymore. There was some awfully big talk the night before about getting up at 6:00 and leaving at 7:00 or something like that. Turns out we didn't leave until somewheres about 11:00. Where were we going? Well, we had an off day and none of us had been to the Space Needle in Seattle.
Mike and Jana graciously offered their Suburban again and we graciously accepted (again)! As we were arriving in Seattle, the rain began to dissipate and soon the sun cast its warm and welcome glow upon the city. Upon exiting the vehicle, however, we soon discovered that the glow wasn't quite as warm as we'd hoped. The wind was blowing hard and it was cold, but hey, it was the middle of December in Seattle and it was not raining, and for that we were thankful.
While walking toward the Needle we watched a rather noisy news helicopter land on its helipad on a building far, far above us. Once we'd paid our due, we entered the building, had our picture taken by force (by the way, we forgot to check and see what it looked like and whether we wanted to spend however much they thought it was worth) and entered the elevator. Due to high winds that day, the elevator was only traveling half the speed of normal (8 or 10 mph), causing us to have to listen to the elevator op babble on twice as long as normal. We opted not to eat in the restaurant in the "eye" of the needle, but instead went right to the observation deck.
Inside the Needle on the Observation Deck.
Outside on the Observation Deck in the gale force sub-zero winds.
That thing is high! The wind blows hard up there! I nonchalantly sauntered over to the edge and peered down. Man, that was scary! That is waaaaaaaaay up there! The helicopter that was far, far above us mere minutes before, was now far, far below!
The views up there were pretty good though, and once we'd made it all the way around the outside we went back inside and learned tons of amazing facts about a lot of different things displayed on the walls. Now if we could only remember any of them. Oh ya, did you know that the center of gravity of the Space Needle is a) it doesn't really matter b) in the eye of the needle c) five feet above ground level d) Three fourths of the way up the tower?
Once we'd looked around and around it and had a bunch of pictures taken and endured another ride on the elevator with the verbose elevator op, we went over to the Seattle Center and had lunch (some of us Chinese, one of us Mexican).
David tries to unbolt the Space Needle!
After a short presentation by an extremely competent presenter person (complete with color fold-out diagrams) of the options for our next activity, it was decided that we should go down to the water front and ride the historic trolleys. Great idea.
Waiting at the station.
In the trolley.
After riding to Pike Street, we walked some more along the waterfront and saw the original Starbucks (or one close to it. That last elevator [oh, excuse me, I forgot to mention that they were CERTIFIED elevator ops] op mentioned something about it being somewhere around there), passed Microsoft offices, and found our way back to our vehicle.
Kon visits with Ivar the seagull feeder down on the waterfront.
It wasn't far out of Seattle that it started raining again and we realized that it hadn't rained the whole time we were there. Very blessed indeed. All in all it was a pretty good day and one rather enjoyed by all.
Even at the top of the Space Needle we can't escape Brent's cell phone!
We walked back to our rig in the dark. We had to walk a long ways, but it was fun.
Well, since I didn't get to write about a day when we had a prison service, I'll write a little about that we just had tonight (Thursday). This was a fairly maximum security facility where they don't have much turnover. Most of the guys are there for a very long time. One of the things I really look forward to is talking and sharing with the guys afterward. It's refreshing to hear and see God's work in their lives. I think it's something that those of us that have never been incarcerated tend to take for granted. For some reason it seems that are more genuine guys in a prison service than a church service. I don't know, maybe they just express it better or something.
Anyway, Steve was one of the inmates that prayed with us and the chaplain before the service began. I really appreciated his heart-felt prayer and genuine desire to see God move in the service. In talking with him afterward I could really tell that he loved the Lord and had totally given his life to Him and was actively witnessing to those around him. This man was changed! He's in for life with no possibility of parole, yet you'd never guess that by his attitude, expression, or anything else he said. The joy of the Lord was his strength! God is still at work and changing peoples' lives! Steve was in for murder and thought he was going to get the death penalty. But God had other plans; He led him to Himself through the investigating officer. Yes, the investigating officer was a Christian and he used the opportunity of the investigation to witness for the Lord and bring the man to Christ! Our goal in going into the prisons is to represent the Lord to the best of our abilities and encourage the inmates that are saved and challenge the ones that aren't. A lot of the time I feel like I'm the one who been most encouraged! Tonight was yet another example.
