Doug Van Pelt

Cornerstone Festival

So, I'm here at Cornerstone Festival. We broke the 19 hour trip from Austin into two days. We've arrived, set up our trailer, gone into town to pick up supplies, unloaded, hooked up water, and all that...and I'm lying down. Tired and exhausted. Seems my back has started bothering me for about five or six days now. We had a mishap earlier today that could've stranded us for at least a day -- our plug for the trailer brakes had come undone and was dragging behind us, unbenownsts to us...until a friendly guy at a gas pump told me it was dangling, after I asked him to watch me so I didn't knock into any of the pumps as I drove away from them. It dragged long enough to wear two of the seven pins/connections of the 7-way brake plug. It was Sunday and everything was pretty much closed. I was praying about it and hoping for a quick resolution, but preparing for a day-long overnight stay in Cuba, Missouri, awaiting some RV repair places to open for business and repair service. One place we found only worked on big rigs, but once I found out the name of the plug we needed replacing, I walked back into the garage and asked a different mechanic, and he said he could fix it. He even drove the company truck to another parts place to get a replacement plug. I am so thankful (and grateful to God) that we were able to fix that and keep on going. And while it was out (for who knows how long), we were without brakes in the hills of Missouri. It's an amazing thing that an accident didn't happen from that (the weight of the trailer pushing our vehicle). Anyway, to get back to my story, it's been a long day and I'm tired.

As I lay here, I decide to check if there's any wireless networks around and ... viola! There is! Lord willing, I'll post a blog each day I'm here.

Thank God for allowing us to grow spiritually with mishaps and unexpected problems; and praise God also for the little victories.