Anyone who knows me knows that i don’t often stop, if at all. I am constantly writing, moving around, or especially talking. However, most recently i have not been able to go,go, go like i normally do. A herniated disk in my back has cause some serious pain all the way down my left leg as it pinches my sciatic nerve.
I am not able to drive, sit, stand, walk or worse of all sit and play my drums. So, “what can i do?” was my cry to The Lord.
While praying the wind was blowing oh so gently. I looked at the flag pole in front of our building and i saw The Salvation Army flag flowing in the breeze and it was straightened out enough for the words blood and fire to be read like a flashing neon sign. The American flag above it was not moving, it laid limp.
Then there was a shift in the wind.
I thought of how Billy Gram said that, ‘there is a mystery to God. Like the wind, you can’t see the wind, you can see the effects of the wind but you can not see the wind.”
Here is the song “Minds Eye” by DCTalk which has the sample of Billy Graham’s sermon
Then the wind picked up a little more and the American flag above the S.A. flag started to unfurl. Both flags were then effected and blew out straight. I closed my eyes and listened as the flags flapped, popped and cracked in response to the wind. I took a deep breath and felt the wind on my face and i continued in prayer;
“Father, i am completely relying on You. Fill me to the point of overflowing…”. The words from an old Keith Green song (Rushing Wind) flowed through my mind, heart and soul and i prayer those words,
“Rushing wind blow through this temple (my life) blowing out the dust within. Come and breathe your breath upon me, I’ve been born again.
Holy Spirit i surrender, take me where You want to go. Plant me by your living waters. Plant me deep so i can grow.
Jesus, your the one who set my Spirit free; use me Lord, glorify your Holy name through me.
Separate me from this world Lord, sanctify my life for you. Daily change me to Your image. Help me bear good fruit.
Everyday Your drawing closer. Trial come to test my faith, but when all is said and done Lord, you know it worth the wait.
Rushing wind blow through this temple, blowing out the dust within; come and breath your breath upon me for i’ve been born again.”
While outside i wasn’t able to stand long, i couldn’t sit long, i couldn’t walk through the neighborhood and go door to door but it dawned on me what i could do was kneel in prayer. I could stand. I could move around a little bit but in one spot. I could just be still. Then this whole new call from God came to me…
BE A LIVING STATUE
Immediately the Bible passage from 1 Peter 2:3-5 came to my mind;
The Living Stone and a Chosen People
Living Stone
1 peter 2:3,4,5
Jot down a prayer on a slip of paper.
Want to thank God for something? Want to just ask God something?
Drop that slip into the prayer box
~NO MONEY PLEASE~
Please pray for me in my efforts to fulfill this new ministry the Lord has laid on my heart. To me this human statue performance is just another mode of transportation to get the gospel of Jesus Christ out there.
This will be something extra, i still work at The Salvation Army of Saint Augustine, Florida during the week.
That is also my church. Visit our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/The-Salvation-Army-of-Saint-Augustine-204243596357064/timeline/
And if you’re ever in beautiful Saint Augustine, Florida maybe i will see you on the streets (St. George Street somewhere to be exact) and please visit me at Church
1425 Old Dixie Highway Saint Augustine, FL 32084
M-F 8am-4:30pm
Wednesday Nights 6:30pm Men & Women’s Ministry
Thursday Nights 6:30pm Bible Study
Sundays
10am Bible Study Sunday School
11am Worship/holiness Service
6pm Salvation Service
We also offer opportunities for “Community Care” visits, projects and more
call me at 904-824-6956 Ext. 4407
I will be posting in the comment section updates on how it goes and other things Christ brings to my mind and heart regarding this.
I was formerly a drummer now i am just an Instrument, sometimes just a statue or nonverbal monument for God.
Thank you, go with God.
tombeetlebailey 
Living stone notes
At one point as my small New Testament, Psalms and Salvation Army Song Book was laying on the chair as i stood looking down at it. The wind picked up and turned the pages, stopped, turned a few more, flipped back and forth a bit, stopped for a few seconds, turned some more and stopped again and again. Each time it stopped i would read what i could before the wind flipped it again. I can not write all the great portions and verses that came my way as i did that but one thing that stuck out in my mind was when the wind had blown the pages all the way to the back, where the words to our Salvation Army Song book are.
Here is the song that i started to read before the wind would blow toward the west and flip the pages back into The New Testament and then to the Psalms and the back to the East again revealing the words to this song yet again:
Older SASB #928
Special occasions
Harvest
Tunes: Take time to be holy, 571; Go, bury thy sorrow, 559
Meter: 11.11.11.11.
1.
Seeds now we are sowing, and fruit they must bear,
For blessing or cursing, for joy or despair;
Though we may forget them, the things of the past
Will work out God’s sentence upon us at last.
2.
Seeds now we are sowing, each day that we live,
That must to our future its character give;
When God sends his reapers, our gladness or woe
Will spring from the nature of seeds we now sow.
3.
O sinner, remember you’re sowing such seed,
By wishing and thinking, by word and by deed,
As will in the future bear evil or good,
Make tares or ripe wheat for the garner of God.
Authors: Richard Slater (1854-1939)
My computer is freezing up on me so i am going to publish this and continue on in another comment but so many things race thru my mind, so many Bible verses about some planting and others water but God making that seed grow and in Mt. 13 Jesus telling a parable and not even explaining it until His own disciples ask for an explanation. and
James 1:19-21 MSG
19 Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear.
20 God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger.
21 So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.
The quote by St. Francis of Assisi applies well here, “Do all you can to preach The Gospel and if necessary use words”
We live in a deaf community here in Saint Augustine, FL. The School for the deaf and blind where singer Ray Charles went is not far from our main down town. Think of what the Living Stone (Human Statue) ministry will say to them.
As my computer freezes up here in HOT SUNNY FLORIDA i get frustrated in typing but then again the same thing is happening with my body, my sciatic nerve damage cripples me but may the body of Christ NEVER be crippled, paralyzed or stagnant.
Keep praying for me. Please post comments and let me know if You try this in your area.
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Awesome, Tom! Go for all God has shown you!
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Weather permitting, i plan on starting this THIS weekend. I will be downtown Saint Augustine. There is a Kid’s festival Saturday at St. Francis Field 11-3pm some where in that time frame i am going to do the “Living Stone” ministry near the parking garage and St. Francis field. Please pray for me. Thanks (Saturday October 24th will be the start. I will post results)
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First day actually doing it:
Saturday 10/24/15
5 people wrote prayers – praise and petitions to The Lord and put them in the prayer box.
Many others read the sign out loud and gave a thoughtful “…hmmm.” I think perhaps for those who believe that may have been some type of prayer.
The prayers written ranged from thanking God for their health to asking for His help with their health ( i was praying a similar prayer).
I did not get any pictures but several other people took their pictures with me and said they were putting it on Facebook. They were strangers so i may never see those pic.s
What i heard the most was, “He’s not real!”, “Mommy is that a real man?” “I saw him move positions!!!” “No he didn’t.” “Can i touch him?” “He’s a real man he is just a statue.”
One little boy came up and gentle squeezed my arm, then reached up and touched my neck. He responded with, “He’s plastic!!!”
Once when the wind blew my hat off someone picked it up and placed it back on my head, that was cool.
As i stood there i prayed and listened. The sign was clear (posted above in blog). My shirt read, “The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. ” James 5:16b. I heard people reading it out loud.
Sure it took some huts to get out there and stand still, very challenging but i feel like God said so much as i stood silent.
Thank you all for your prayers!
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Without a doubt, I NEVER know what you will come up with next. God certainly moves in mysterious ways in your life. You get a lemon and you make lemonade, lemon tarts, lemon cake, lemon bars, and lemon pie! God really blesses you, Tom, with an imagination and with get-up-and-go, when you aren’t able to get up and go. I only wish I had been there to see you, but want you to know how much in prayer I hold you up daily.
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Some people call it crazy, as my mom you call it creative LOL Thank you so much for your encouragement, always!
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A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death
Romans 8:2
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UPDATE: Saturday 11/07/15 i did it again, this time i was just outside the pirate gathering.
This time only one brave soul wrote a prayer and placed it in the prayer box The Praise was, “For God’s grace and mercy”. The Petition was, “Salvation for my family”
The sign seems to work just fine and my shirt that has James 5:16 …”The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.” may divert some people but make it very clear what i am doing.
I do think i will get a morph head mask (not a whole morph suit). This will not only look better but may take care of a few problems i encountered this time:
One little girl wanted to see if i was real so she came up and poked me in the eye. The White mask i wear kept from showing my smile and laughing as her mom said, “OH NO DON’T POKE HIS EYE!” ~no harm done. I just tilted my head side ways and raised my shoulders as if to say, “oh well, whatca gonna do?”
With my eyes closed more than open this time I heard all kinds of things. The cutest thing as a lil’ boy and his father, it went like this:
Boy: “Daddy, what is that man doing?”
Dad: “He’s a statue.”
Boy: ” But what is he doing?!”
Dad: “Oh, he is praying.”
Boy: “Why?!”
Dad: “You know how we pray at night before we go to bed?”
Boy: “Yeah!”
Dad: “Same thing!”
Boy: “OH!”
I know and trust that The Holy Spirit said so much while i stood silent for 1 1/2 hour in prayer.
However, another lil’ problem or difficulty i seemed to have this time was that a bee flew in the eye whole of my mask. I moved up and slightly lifted the mask to get it out, no problems but then it flew in again from the side. THAT was my signal to stop and i leaned forward and took the mask off completely and had to break character.
Much to my relief it was time to stop because my good friend, Chip Noel, and my wife, Rhonda, were there to pick me back up but much to their horror the bee came after them.
The morphing mask will not only work better but i think will solve some of those problems.
I want to stay away from mime make up, i think some mimes have giving miming a bad wrap and people avoid mimes altogether now and i am a statue (living stone) not a mime.
Side note, i think some Christians have given Christ a bad wrap too and people tend to avoid anyone they think may be like Christians they have encountered in the past so this Human Statue gives me an opportunity to be a monument for God in a very unobtrusive way.
Thank you for your prayers as i continue this ministry. If you or anyone you know does it i’d love to hear from them.
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I absolutely love the stories. I picture each one in my head. It’s great that you do something that people of all kinds, all ages can enjoy, ponder, engage, etc. I would love to see a pic of you as the statue
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LOL, thanks. i am working on getting some one to take it, i hate selfies. LOL Some one i know got a video of it with their phone but have not posted it on FB but i’ll keep you posted.
Also, the 1st time i did it two different groups of people had me pose with them for pic.s and they said they were putting it straight on FB but they were strangers (no idea who they were) so it’s out there some where.
I am focusing on doing it rather than pushing it too much. Totally in God’s hands, just doing my part. Your words take the self doubt and criticism in my own mind AWAY, thank you so much. I’ll letting the Holy Spirit plant this seed deep in my heart.
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If you are growing in Christ, ya may want to get that growth looked at. Go to:
I hope this will be an encouragement to be living proof of God’s love. Sometimes God’s people need to be SEEN and not heard.
ENOUGH SAID.
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Amazing read,thanks for the inspiration!
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Thanks for giving it a read !
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Literally years have past since i wrote this & did it. I am now no longer able to do it because my condition (Polynuropothy) has gotten worse but Spiritually i keep growing.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16 NIV
http://bible.com/111/2co.4.16.NIV
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