The last time I stayed in a Washington State Hotel, in 2001, I was working as a lumberjack with a traveling road show- showing off some of the skills I learned in Sand Point Idaho... the underhand chop, the flaming ax throwing trick, tree climbing, and so on. Most of the other lumberjacks stayed in tents, but a couple of us had the forethought to find out where the Lumberjill cheerleading squad

would be staying, and get a hotel room there. At that point in time I was single, and so it was no big deal to hang out with cheerleaders. Plus, my old dog (now passed), Tupelo, kept barking and the other jacks kicked me out.

Besides, the whole point, for me, of following the Jills to their Washington state hotel was to witness to them the miracle of Jesus Christ's death on the cross for me and for them. Of course, they didn't want to hear about it, for the most part- some of them were too busy practicing the ax-dodging part of the flaming ax-throwing trick, some had headed of to the bar, and a few of them were just dead set on Buddhism. Brian Bartow, who that year set a world record for the 80 foot tree climb, talked to the Buddhists.

But I did find one girl to talk to about my Lord and Savior, a cute little cheerleader named Lynda Harvey. She was taking a correspondence course in world religions, and she was very interested to hear what I had to say. If I didn't say so, the Washington state hotel we were at was the Kettle Falls Best Value inn, a nice little place near Lake Roosevelt with a very clean hot tub.

The falls near our Kettle Falls, Washington State Hotel

I think what Lynda found most interesting about my witness was the fact that there is so much verifiable historicity to Jesus Christ- the non Christians who talked about him in their credible historical works. As we sat in the clean hot tub of that Washington state hotel, we went on and on, back and forth, about the claims and truths of Christ. It was an engaging conversation. I didn't exactly get her converted there on the spot, but there was very spiritual moment when she gazed deep into my eyes, and neither of us spoke, for a long time...

Oh, and when she cheered for me, I chopped that goldang tree down so fast...!

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Brian is the author of Powerful Body, Peaceful Mind: How to Heal Yourself with Foods, Herbs, and Acupressure.