There's Got to be a Monday After

Ok, I am shamelessly stealing and morphing a lyric from an old song (There's Got to be A Morning After...) some of you may remember it. It was an amazing weekend for us! Friday started with the Commencement of the Cadets and the Silver Star Banquet. It was followed by the evening program called Live 07 which focused on the youth of our territory. It featured Bible Bowl and a performance for the Lord from each of the ten divisions.

My Saturday started at 4:50 when the alarm went off to tell me it was time to get up and get ready for a WOW day. Lt. Colonel Diane O'Brien traveled with me. Diane and I arrived at the Anaheim Grove at 6:00 to find that Majors Ivy and Ralph Hood, Major Pam Strickland, Majors Rose-Marie and Victor Leslie and the rest of our set up team were already there. (The flower crew had been there since 4:45.)

Major Ivy had called a friend who donated the flowers. WE will post pictures later, but imagine thousands of white roses and white orchids...talk about the WOW effect!

Time flew by as we sorted out all of our jobs, oriented all of the groups of women that were helping with the different tasks (Hallelujah Bouncers, Hallelujah Lassies, women dressed as historical characters, volunteer photographers - Jim and Peg Thompson, our director Barry Frost, our fabulous Josh Cowing, Richard Brown and Martin Hunt from the program department, Doug Williams from SC, our translators,
the crew from the Anaheim Grove, our main cast members, Commissioner Pat Swyers, Lt. Colonel Diane O'Brien (Catherine), and Major Dawn Rocheleau...all arrived on tine and ready to roll.

There was a moment or two when I thought I was going to be "undone" but God's Grace prevailed and we got started on time.

At 10:30 we had the entry of the leaders where we hoped the toes of our delegates would tap and their hands would clap. (That was the only time I really got to say hi to some of our wonderful Women of Wisdom. The leaders were introduced and we went to the next phase of the program.

Pictures of Catherine Booth, the "mother" of our army were on screen. The last two were of Lt. Colonel Diane O'Brien "morphed" to look like Catherine. The last picture dissolved into a video of Catherine coming alive and greeting the women. (WOW) Then Catherine came alive on stage in the person of Diane O'Brien. She spoke to us and explained how life was in London in the early day. "The water was so foul that it was thought safer to drink gin...broken hopeless women handed down gin to their children...could anything stop the cycle? The good news of God's Salvation was preached to them and they believed...

She went on to explain that with new spiritual eyes they saw how dirty their hand were and wanted to change. The Home League was begun to teach them how to clean up and how to be mothers, wives and women who made a difference in their community.

That is still happening today. God is still changing the lives of women today! That is what we celebrated at WOW. Stay tuned for more on what happened at WOW!