Lonnie and Dianne Walker
On July 2nd, 2010 my precious wife and I will be married for 38 years. (I was married when I was only 2 yrs old,ha ha.) We live in Chattanooga, TN and have two better than great children. Both are super kids and both live in Georgia with their family. (They got tired of carring equipment in and out of churches every weekend.) Di and I have invested our lives in the music ministry. We both were raised in church and have never departed from it.
Previous Positions:
Youth Pastor, Powder Springs, GA under Pastor Carson Brown;
Minister of Music, San Antonio, TX under Pastor Ron Smith;
Superintendent, Conyers, GA under Pastor Ed Brumalow;
Church Pianist Conters, GA under Minister Joe Oliver
Director of Worpship, Holland, Michigan under Pastor Dr. Thomas Early
Associate Pastor, Holland, Michigan under Pastor Dr. Thomas Early
Dianne is known across the country as the “Queen of Food Preparation.” She has held several positions in the church including the President of the Ladies Ministry and Sunday School Teacher for seniors in nursing homes instead of class rooms. She has always been there to support our music ministry. Dianne has acquired the skills and talent necessary to “mix” sound. She has mixed sound on live video projects which was part of a weekly TV show in Georgia. She also wrote the title song for that program.
We want you to pray that God will use REDEEMED to spread the message of Christ’s love and that he will open more doors for our ministry.
Our goal is simple, we want to spread the word to the lost and encourage the saved to hold on just a bit longer.
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God even blesses when we are stupid!
Well this is not a long story, just a story of praise to God for again here is proof that He watches over us, even when we have no one to blame.
I had been on a business trip, a long hard week. This was one of those business trips where you sit in meetings for 8-10 hours a day. Then you go to dinner and continue to talk about everything you covered in that day’s meeting.
So, I survived!! It’s Friday night and I have arrived at the busiest airport in the world, the Atlanta airport. It is late, still there is a light rain falling. I thought the baggage handlers had gone on vacation, the park and ride driver was driving her first day, so getting to the lot where my car was felt like another hour. Finally we arrive at my car and there is a BMW parked way over the line and I could barely open my door. So I put my luggage in the trunk, and set my computer down until I could squeeze into the car. I got in started my car and started to back up, the car made a funny sound so I stopped and went forward, yep, you guessed it, I drove off and left my black computer bag sitting on the black wet asphalt, in the dark parking lot, of the busiest airport in the world.
When I got home and started to get my bags out of the car, I remembered why I was backing up. I went in the house in a panic. My wife was preparing food, she was catering a fiftieth wedding celebration the next day with one hundred and fifty guests was to attend. So she stopped and got on the phone, I got on my cell phone we started calling every number we could find at the Atlanta airport. Then we started calling people we knew and tried to get more numbers to call. It seemed like the worlds busiest airport shuts down Friday night and don’t re-open until Monday morning, So, we stayed up most of the night calling numbers over and over just hoping we could get someone to answer and help us.
About 5:30 Saturday morning we got the manager of the Park & Ride (David) to tell us that one of his drivers had turned in a black back around 7:30 the night before and they had locked it up and it could not be claimed until Monday AM. So I felt some better and laid down for a couple hours, until it was time to go help Di, get ready for the dinner she was preparing.
Sunday night we had a very unusual singing. Dianne felt impressed to share the story with the church and go ahead and give God the praise, IN ADVANCE, for the safe keeping of my computer bag. Well just as she stated on Sunday night, I went to Atlanta Lost & Found Monday AM, picked up my computer, and everything was still in side, even my wallet with about 12 cards I use for business trips.
You have came to late to try to tell me God don’t answer prayer!! I know He does and He cares about each of us. The Bible says where two or three are gathered together in His name touching and agreeing on any ONE thing, that He will be in the mist. And this has proven not only was He in the mist, He cared and answered our prayers.
By the way, the papers in the case were not even damp. The computer condition, well I’m using it now!!
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Well here’s my testimony about my ICU stay and how God’s timing again was perfect.
About 5 weeks before this I hurt my shoulder. I went to our doctor. He thought I had pinched a nerve and gave me the baseball medicine kit. So for 14 days I took these pills, and he gave me something for the pain. He said if this did not help, then we would have to do something else. During these 14 days I got an abscessed tooth, and you guessed it--the doctor gave me more pills! He said, “Take these anti-biotic pills 4 times a day for 7 days, then we will do a root canal.” And I did, so he did!
My shoulder was getting worse instead of better, so the first doctor gave me some “stronger” pills.
I was staying sick at my stomach all the time and thought that it was from the strong medications. I was getting weaker every day; again I thought that it was because I was sick because I was not eating much. I was concerned because I was gaining weight like Elvis.
On Wednesday May 14th I had to drive to Atlanta for a two day meeting. On the way down I had to pull the car over, I got so dizzy I couldn’t see. For about 30 minutes I sat on the side on the road with a wet paper towel on my face. Call me dumb, but again I thought it is the medicine.
Friday night May 16th we had a singing and I was so sick I could not drive the bus home.
On Saturday night May 17th around 3 a.m. I woke up and went to the restroom. I didn’t make it back to bed. I woke up my wife and told her I was extremely dizzy and felt very funny, as I hit the side of the bed. When I woke up she was slapping my in the face for waking her up! NO that’s not true--she was trying to get me to wake up. I had passed out.
She got me in a chair, and I asked her to give me a couple minutes before she took me to the hospital. While I was in the chair, I passed out again. When I came back to reality, she had 911 on the phone and was trying her best to hold me in the chair so I didn’t fall in the floor.
The ambulance came and rushed me to the hospital. After 3 million sticks with needles, 67,000 pokes, and jabs, they got the first blood sample back, and my hemoglobin was 6 point something (it should be around 14). So they knew I was losing blood. So here came the blood, one unit after another. I received 2 units in the ER. Then they sent me to ICU, where I got 4 more units. Sunday afternoon they did an emergency surgery where they stick a TV camera, a laser gun, 2 paratroopers, a large SUV, a partridge and a pear tree down my throat.
They found that I have a reaction to ALL aspirin products. Guess what all those pills had in them? So they burned small holes in my stomach. I had four “pumpers” and several smaller ones.
Late Monday evening they took me out of ICU and sent me to a room on the same floor because my condition was down-graded. They said I was stable. (That means they had hit the limit on my credit cards.)
Then late Tuesday evening I went home. Yep, Dianne forgot to bring me any clothes, so I got to wear the stylish and very breezy hospital gown through the hospital, through the parking lot and all the way home. Then she asked, “Do you want to stop at Wal-Mart now so I won’t have to come back after while?”
I will not be able to share with you how much I was against that idea!
Well when we left Wal-Mart,…
Now about God’s perfect timing--I travel about 4 to 5 weeks out of every 6. This could have happened in a motel somewhere or on the road the previous Wednesday when I was on my way to Atlanta. Or it could have happened on a plane halfway between airports. God allowed this to happen when I was at home, with my precious wife there with me. (Without her, who would have slapped me those few hundred times?)
God is GOOD, faithful and true. I feel better now than I have in several weeks. Di says my color is beginning to come back. I have to take, yep you guessed it, more pills (aspirin-free) for 12 weeks, and I now am in physical therapy for my shoulder. After the 12 weeks, we trust I will be back to my “abnormal” self.
I do want to thank everyone for all the calls, e-mails, cards and letters. Most of all, thank you for all the prayers. There are some special people I must say a special thanks to. The first call Dianne made was to 911, the second was to our dear friends, Bobby and Jeanie Wood. They called Raymond and Betty Moore and our Pastor Edmon Stallings. They all were at the hospital right after the ambulance arrived. Pastor, Bobby and Raymond stayed until church time. Raymond is our Minister of Music, and Bobby is the Sanctuary class teacher. Jeanie sent word to let her class go in with Bobby's class. So Jeanie and Betty stayed with Dianne all day. One of our sons dropped what he was doing and ran up from Atlanta. Our other son was on the phone every few minutes. WOW what a family! Several people came by to see me. I’m sorry they did not let everyone in.
How does the world make it without a good loving family? Family is not only our natural family but our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Also, I must say thanks to the guys in Redeemed. They found a way to get the equipment off the bus and get it to the two concerts we had scheduled. They did the concerts and were a blessing to many. (As much of a blessing as any group without a bass singer.) Then most of them came and spent all the time they could until the nurse ran them out of ICU.
Now that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it! Now I know how a car feels after an oil change. Does this mean I will be okay for the next 3 months or 3,000 miles??? ******************************
Email Bill
