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Proverbs 3:5-6 New King James Version (NKJV)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall [a]direct your paths.

It was a difficult decision but in the spring of 2013 I moved away from my home in Georgia. I have decided to put the actual reason I went. While living in Georgia in November 2012, but hunting on my property in Alabama, everything changed one morning. I awoke in my log cabin there to the Holy Spirit telling me if I did not move there within six months I would die. I know some will say they don’t believe that He would say that. That’s fine but if you ever do hear from Him like this I advise you to respond rightly. So, in April I left everything and everybody and went to Sprott, Alabama where I immediately started a 40 day fast. Moving to a rural area (understatement) in Alabama from the Atlanta area was quite a shock. My dad had passed away 7 years earlier in 2005 and left me his place there. As I went I had an unclear vision of opening up the place for small group retreats. I put everything I had in to building www.patriahouse.org. My preconceived ideas inspired me. Are our preconceived ideas ever accurate? I had talked with my friends, Todd and Lily Colgate, who were enthusiastic to use my place for their ministry called International City of Refuge (ICOR). Part of their vision for ICOR was to have a place to take small groups for prayer counseling and inner healing, a safe secluded environment for weekend retreats with the aesthetics for their purposes. It all seemed to fall in to place; they wanted a retreat destination and I had the place. ICOR did bring groups down a couple of times before Lily’s illness was discovered. She thought she had picked up a parasite while ministering in Africa but it proved to be Stomach cancer. Everyone prayed for her healing but, sadly, her illness progressed quickly and she passed away a few months later in June 2014. I posted a video her girls made of one of their visits here in honor of her. She was such a warrior for the Kingdom and a great loss for us all and especially for Todd and their kids. Todd and I have become super close friends since that time. We encourage and support one another. Recently, Todd told me Lily was Latino. I never knew that before but I’m not surprised given the way this all developed.

Taking this sort of hit right from the start can make you question everything. But Lily would have confronted me and challenged me to continue the course so I did. In the fullness of time Arturo appeared. Arturo is a man in the ministry in Birmingham. His background was a high position in a Drug Cartel down in Mexico. He had spent time in prison for his mistakes. The Long story short is God got a hold of Arturo like he did Saul of Tarsus and turned him in to a very effective minister of the Gospel. He showed up on my property one day saying, “Dis is da place…Dis is da place!” We never did communicate very well but we both knew what we had in common, the voice of the Holy Spirit. So he was here at PatriaHouse off an on all of 2014 bringing men’s groups and, along with his wife, bringing women’s groups as well. They did prayer walks all through my property. They stacked up stones in certain places like the children of Israel did as they took the Kingdom. I was beginning to ponder revelation I had received over the years about the Latino people and began to think they may be the reason I was called there. I took Arturo hunting one afternoon and he got his first deer! Tradition for hunters is you get blood smeared on your face when you get your first deer so I smeared blood on Arturo’s face. He was telling people, “that Bill is LOCO!” LOL… He fed some in his congregation with his deer. That experience added a more personal touch for this outdoors-man. Anyway, I believe Arturo’s primary focus was inner healing which obviously I had prayed would be happening here. I came by to visit him for a few minutes one time he brought a group for the weekend and the Holy Spirit smoked me all afternoon. That was a sweet confirmation for me. While pondering this sudden connection with the Latino people, I dug up my old dream journal from years ago and was amazed at what I found. In a dream from 15 years ago I was an observer in a church meeting. A prophetic minister I know was calling for this Latino boy to come up on stage to minister. He was not answering the call until what appeared to be his grandfather and the prophetic minister together walking the boy up. There was more to the dream and more to the interpretation I’m about to give but for the purposes of this message I will shorten them. The dream interpreter is pretty accomplished and this was their take on that portion of the dream, “This is a calling dream…God has called you to ministry with Latino people.” I remember back then thinking, “he sure missed that one!” But 15 years later he was proven right. In fact, the confirmations became plentiful as time passed. I had recently (just before I moved) saved a unconscious Latino infant with the infant Heimlich maneuver. The family brought me several gifts that humbled me. I still have the dime the baby was choking on. A Latino lady came up to me at the grocery store one day and just gave me a large Thanksgiving serving plate. I didn’t know what to think of that until the day I gave it to Arturo and his family. Finally, I got a Labrador retriever puppy after moving to Alabama. I needed a companion. Boone, which means blessing, came home with me a couple of months after I moved there. As I looked back in about 2015, when I began to understand what was happening, I realized Boone’s birthday was on 5-5-2013. Not only is five the number of grace but 5-5 is Cinco De Mayo, a holiday celebrated by the Latino people from Mexico.

Let me go back to Lily for a moment. She and I had been a part of John Paul Jackson’s (the prophetic minister I know) school of ministry over 15 years ago. He taught on dreams and visions extensively and he became our spiritual father. I wrote another blog in tribute to him if you’re interested. There is no way to share what all we learned from him. He was probably the most dynamic individual I ever knew. Like Lily, John Paul went home to be with the Lord in March 2015. He was Lily’s spiritual dad as well so they are now reunited and rooting us on from Home. Today his other spiritual sons and daughters continue his legacy, even this one who was not answering the call for a while.

So, in 2012 I was told to move to Alabama within six months. I went and spent everything I had creating a small group retreat center when I had no idea what I was doing. I wonder if Noah knew what he was doing building the ark? It had never even rained before! This story is summed up in Hebrews 11:7 (NKJV) “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with Godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. “Being divinely warned, moved with Godly fear.” Did I not do that? While speaking of God’s chosen fast Isaiah 58:7 (NKJV) says, “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that YOU BRING TO YOUR HOUSE THE POOR WHO ARE CAST OUT; when you see the naked, that you cover him. And not hide yourself from your own flesh?” Did I not do that? In fact, I rented the whole place to them starting in 2016 for only $650 a month when I moved back to Georgia. The Latino people were not well received in that community at first as I brought them to my house. Early on I was concerned for them, honestly. But I believe they are beginning to fit in down there now. 7 is the number of completion. Both of the verses I just shared are verse seven. This year, 2019, I sold PatriaHouse to Arturo and his Latino church for their ministry in the Kingdom. I am financing it for them for 7 years at 0% interest. 2019 is 7 years after God first spoke to me and it will be their place in 7 more years. Starting with the year my dad was promoted to heaven, that’s 21 years. Arturo had said “dis is da place” and that was proven true.

I had named my log cabin the Jackson Cabin because my great, great grandfather Jackson Stewart had build it in 1865 after the civil war. He was pastor of the church of God in Sprott, Alabama at that time and he planted churches on Indian reservations. I couldn’t help but notice some similarities between those Indians Jackson was called to and the Latino people I was called to. In  fact, I believe in the end, the ministry started by Jackson was restored and continues through me. One of Arturo’s leaders, Michael Moore’ now has what was my Jackson Cabin. I wrote a blog about the cabin if you care to read about its history. Michael means, “like unto God.” His name Moore is pronounced “more” and I see that as a sign. More of God in Sprott, Alabama. Amen? Finally, a few days after we signed the contract I was drinking coffee one morning and heard, “Buenos Dias.” I was startled at first but quickly was comforted by those words. A word of confirmation the bird dog had succeeded and had found his “pray”.

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