Big Woods Road

And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.

(1 Samuel 23:14) NKJV

Big Woods Road runs along the Western edge of Jordan lake and connects Jack Bennett Road with US Highway 64. Back in 1999 it was somewhat off the beaten track and it was the kind of place where all you were likely to find were a few Good Old Boys parking their beat up pickup trucks by the side of the road so that they could cut through the woods and go fishing in the lake.

It looks the same now but the Good Old Boys and their beat up pickup trucks have been replaced by high-end luxury SUVs and behind the veneer of forest lies some of the most expensive residential development outside the Governors Club.

We found it in the early 1990s when we worked for our mentor Jim Massey at his Daylilly farm near Moncure, NC. We loved to ride out to his little farm because we got to cross Jordan lake 3 times on the trip, and we did a lot of exploring. That’s how we found Big Woods Road and the place which was to become our campsite for a period of about 6 months during the spring and summer of 1999.

To set the scene we had written the 2nd edition of our little book Matthew 2,000 and we were working as the Custodian at University Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill. The money wasn’t much but we were sure that it was the next step to take on our journey of self-discovery. How were we going to serve the Lord? We didn’t really know, but we thought that being close to the church was the simplest way to find out.

We were also in a loose association with the Judea Reform Congregation of Durham under the leadership of Rabbi John Freeman. He was a delightful fellow who burst with personality but who didn’t believe the Bible, despite the fact that his whole life was about teaching it.

The relationship that we were in was becoming a major problem. We had a child from our first marriage who was about 6 and a child with the lady who were involved with who was about 2. The lady was a fragile soul and was going through a mental breakdown. Her mother was the connection to Rabbi Freeman. As she descended into a psychosis she told me that we could still be involved so long as I destroyed all copies of Matthew 2,000 and never spoke of it again. Obviously that wasn’t an option for us and we resigned ourselves to the fact that we were going to be homeless for a while.

We owned a 1973 Chevrolet C-10 pickup truck with a wooden bed on it. It had a 350ci small block with a quadrajet carburetor. If you know anything about these kind of things that’s one of the best engines in the world for longevity, durability, adaptability and power. We took rally good care of the truck and it was almost a hot-rod compared to anything else we’ve ever owned.

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