Recent Events with Great Mission Churches Hamilton Baptist Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee (Pastor Virgil Smith) Bible Baptist Church, Warner Robins, Georgia Wilton Baptist Church, Wilton, New York (Pastor Steve Harness) Georgia Baptist Fellowship, Corinth Baptist Church, Loganville, Georgia (Pastor Don Richards) Hamilton Baptist Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee (return) Independent Baptist Friends Meeting, Temple Baptist Church, Powell, Tennessee (Pastor Clarence Sexton) Lighthouse Baptist Church, Binghamton, New York (Pastor Don Hughes) Bible Baptist Church, Warner Robins, Georgia (return) Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, Ringgold, Georgia (Pastor David Flood) Pembina Valley Baptist Church, Winkler, Manitoba, Canada (Pastor Mike Sullivant) Faith Baptist Church, Bath, South Carolina (Pastor Michael Brendel) Lakewood Baptist Church, Harrison, Tennessee (Pastor David Bragg /Pastor Ronnie Gilbert) Faith Baptist Church, Decatur, Alabama (Pastor Jeremy Nason) Emmanuel Baptist Church, Newnan, Georgia (Pastor Terry Arp) If you would like to schedule James Ray for your church, you may contact him at: worldjray4@Yahoo.com or by phone at 423-802-5198 (cell) or BIMI 423-344-5050, Ext. 2103. E D I TO R I A L JAMES RAY, Editor Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book? Psalm 56:8 The Trail of Tears L ife is a trail of tears. It may seem to many people in the world that they are alone and that no one sees their tears. That is not entirely true, es- pecially for believers. God keeps your tears in His bottle and records them in His book. It seems to many that no one cares and that no one thinks of them—that they are alone in the world unknown, unloved and friendless. How wrong they are. How comforting are the words of Psalm 139:17, 18. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand... God is thinking about you all the time— more thoughts than there are grains of sand upon the shores of the world. This coincides with the great message of John 3:16—For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. What a message for every missionary and every Christian! This message most of the billions on earth do not know and have not heard. There is no greater illustration of this than the Cherokee Trail of Tears. If possible, order the DVD. It is an astounding story told and illustrated by onsite photogra- phy (43 minutes). The journey, one of the saddest stories of American history, was the scene of a group of depressed souls making their way over unfamiliar and foreboding terrain. Each painful step was taking them away from the only life they had ever known— and from the only place they had ever called home. As they journeyed into the setting western sun, they were leaving be- hind the graves of fathers and mothers and ancestors. Each turn of the wagon wheels seemed to tell them that they were making a journey into the unknown. It was goodbye forever to all that ever seemed precious. Although politicians threw the whole Cherokee Nation to the wind, God had not forsaken them. Godly missionaries stayed by their side through the darkness. It seems that whenever darkness is at its deepest, God has His servants present, standing in the shadows with hope in their hands. NATIONS • 3