Saturday surprise

I wonder if any one can guess the miracle of the day, well there are three of them today. First

of all as Diane was making calls to Nova Scotia, she talked to a youth pastor who is going to see if

we are able to share about the Ranch in their church. That would be a great opportunity for us while

we are in Nova Scotia. So please pray for favour.

We are also contacting

a Christian Radio Station in the area we will be in to see if we can do an interview while we are there.

We have

sent him all the information and now we pray and hope it all works out. Also we may have a

place to store the donations from the ranch because we have had another pool table donated

today, so that means we now have 2 pool tables and one shuffleboard table and maybe a place to

put it all. We were able to get the motorcycles put away for the winter and then we sat and

watched our Riders practice for next weeks win against Calgary. Then we went to the Multi Plex and

watched the grandchildren have fun with the other children from the church. Kendra also made a few changes

to the blog heading because we really believe that we need to put God first in every thing. Well

those are the miracles of the day and Diane and I hope you all have a great evening, hope you are all

able to make it to church in the morning.

Friday's Frenzy

, Team -- a number of persons associated together in work or activity, a group on one side. That's what the dictionary tells us about the word" team" and I know that if this ranch team were not a great example of a team working together all of this would be impossible to accomplish. I have had two people talk to me today and they have told me how they are so amazed at the progress the ranch is making and the definite need for this place. So we need to place every decision before God and move ahead in his direction, provision and timing. Because as in our own lives every decision we make will have a consequence, every action we take will have a reaction, and even the smallest choice we make can have an impact even a world away. Today we were asked to speak at a Christmas function about what has happened in our lives from Drinkers and Dopers to Evangelist and missionaries. It's an odd situation when you leave the old lifestyle and your friends from the past can't figure you. Only those who have also chosen to give God a chance and embraced his forgiveness and new life for themselves know the peace and freedom that comes from embracing Jesus and his forgiveness for your past. Then there is the new life that you move into, and when you come from the type of background Diane and I lived in, I can see why it would be so hard for non believers to choose the church as their new way of life. We just don't fit in too easily. So if we do it for any other reason other than Jesus - a guy that was rejected by every church in town, and what He did for us on that cross, the amount of love He had for each and every one of us including those church people that were so uncomfortable with Him that they had Him nailed to an old rugged cross, called Him every name imaginable, made up the worst lies about him so they could feel better about themselves, beat Him, spat on Him and all He wanted was to tell them about how much The God of the universe, our God, our Creator our future and the only HOPE for any one of us. After sharing to themselves about the freedom they had found in their lives, and while sitting in a restaurant were several locals heard them Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper said in the movie Easy Rider, after they were beaten with clubs and bats while they were sleeping that night in a park, " man you got to be careful who you let hear that you have found freedom" even though they had found a false freedom and it led to death, many don't want to know that you have found freedom. Wheather we accept it or not we are either a slave to the devil and his lies, or we can follow Jesus who loves and cares for us so much, no matter what we've done or will do, if we just ask He will forgive us of whatever. Give God a chance, go to that old rugged cross and leave it all right there at the foot of the cross. Now get up and move around to the other side of the cross where the light is and the HOPE and the real FREEDOM and you will never have to go back. hmm Choices eh?? Read the story about a guy that made this choice in Luke 23:32 - 43 may help your choose.

Thursday the day of change

Our good friends Larry and Peg are going through some tough times as they have chosen to wait on God's leading in their lives. They have lost almost everything they ever had and yet they feel God saying to them, wait. They have outstanding bills they owe and hope to someday pay them all back but how and when they just don't know. Many of us don't understand or even want to understand what they are going through, and often we have judged them harshly. But in it all, they, as a couple have this incredible peace and no matter what any of us say to them it just doesn't fizz on them or effect their choice to wait on God. Larry has been such a help out at the ranch, with the work that has needed to be done out there. Me, with many hernia operations and one knee repair and now another knee acting up. Larry has never hesitated to do what I have been unable to do. He has defiantly been my Aaron and I have been grateful for that. Larry knows that I am in no position to help him much financially, but that's not where he feels the help will come from. He really believes that God will be his provider as he waits on Him. Larry and Peg for the last couple of months not only helped many people around here but friends of theirs away from Lloyd also. Their friend suddenly passed away and they are with the family so please lift the two of them in prayer at this time. Diane and I have found that the remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you have a healthy fear of God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you will fear everything else that may come your way. The miracle of the day had to come from a good friend of ours who sat with an

elderly woman in the hospital as she was on her death bed. In those last moments she was still

able to continue a conversation with him and he asked her, "do you see Jesus?" and without

hesitation she replied, "He's there waiting for me." and within minutes she took a deep breath

and was gone to be with the Lord.

Jesus has so much for each of us so give Him a chance.

Wednesday Report

Good evening to every one that may be tuning in this evening, and a very good morning to all you early risers I hope everyone is feeling well. I do remember the days when my dad had to let the tubes on the radio warm up before it would actually start to give us something to listen to. Often we would huddle around the radio wrapped in blankets to keep warm and wait for that big brown box to magically start to talk to us. This time of the year my dad was busy making sure he had enough feed for the animals and our family out on the farm. Our families would be getting together to make sausage and do the butchering, fresh fried chickens and fresh vegetables, to be sure we all would not starve over the long cold winter. It seemed in those days survival was all about your life skills and your responsibilities as part of a family and as part of a community and even more so out in the country. On the ranch our mission is to equip people with the skills necessary to succeed in the work place, to cultivate in them a character that contributes to the community and to nurture in them a heart that seeks to honor God in all areas of life, that they may live purposeful and satisfying lives as productive members of the work force, their community and their church. A miracle in the days on the farm was when we would get up in the morning and the old oil space heater in the middle of the living room would still be going. Well the miracle today is that the last load with the rest of our new shop from Bexsons showed up yesterday so all the steel is there. Now we wait for God to provide the foundation to get that building up and closed in because the second miracle today is that we had a shuffle board table donated but we have nowhere to put it. So if you have some room and enjoy shuffle board you can use it until we have room at the ranch for it. P.T.L. I guess we shouldn't be surprised because Phil. 4:19 says it would happen, that we would get the shuffle board table. Give the one next to you a big hug right now and tell them how special they are, go on do it.

Terrific Tuesday

Spent the day in Saskatoon today with Blaine and Joey as we were going to a plumbing and heating trade show that was about all the new plumbing and heating system types and accessories. We got into the city by 11:00 and picked up James for lunch and as we were having lunch a good friend of ours from Kindersley sat down beside us. It was great to see Ruth and share a bit with her as to some of what's been happening in our lives. We were able to stop at my favorite store value village and I found a good work shirt and Blaine found a pair of kids skates. The boys had a couple of other stops and I brought crosses along and wrapped a bunch of crosses as I waited. It seems we can never make enough crosses to keep up with the demand. We do praise the Lord for that part of our ministry, it just gives us such an opportunity to share with so many and making them is a great ministry of it's own P.T.L. We got to look around Kelsey school while waiting for James and reminisced about the teachers that we all had. It's such a great school for learning a trade. We got to the trade show on time and WOW was there a lot to see. All the new products were amazing and I ran into a lot of old acquaintances that I hadn't seen in a long time, it was great to see them all and of course to share about the ranch. I met a guy from Viscount and after sharing with him a bit he told me he was originally from BC and gave me the name of a teacher that developed a great program to keep students in school and finish their grade 12. Guess what it involved? - getting those students involved in trades and life skills. So I think God's got us on the right track.

I believe God opens doors for each of us every day, to make an impact on the lives of others in the world that we live in. The kind of impact we leave has got to be of God, and how we are allowing Him to impact our lives. Like Blaine says, " if we always focus on what is negative and only see the negative in everthing around us then that will be the image and impact we will have on others that we meet with daily." I'm starting to think maybe we should carry a tape recorder with us to hear the words that are coming out of our mouths, how are they supposed to encourage anyone? Or maybe a mirror to see the kind of face we carry around with us, man, many of us would never have to buy a mask we'd scare everyone away just the way we are. We all face battles every day, so as we seek God's direction for our day remember that in Luke 6:37 & 38 it says, "never criticize or condemn or it will come back to you. Go easy on others; then they will do the same for you. For if you give, you will get! Your gift will return to you in full and over flowing measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. What ever measure you use to give large or small will be used to measure what is given back to you. Be there for others and remember leave no one behind. Blessings to all.

Sunday, Sunday can't beat that day

We had to be at the church a bit early today as we were setting up the ranch display and setting out all the info and t-shirts. We are also going to have an opportunity to share at the service to give an update as to where everything is at with the ranch. As we shared and brought everyone up to date, I mentioned that we still need the concrete in place soon if we plan to get the building up this winter. Pastor Ross Plews gave an excellent message today about our attitudes and the example we are being to the world around us. I remember a saying of Mother Theresa's " it's not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters." I believe this is true of every part of our life. After church the kids came over for lunch and Elisa asked for potato eggs and salsa so we pulled out the frying pans and had a feast. It's the greatest blessing in the world to watch the grandkids enjoying a great meal and lots of laughs. This meal will be a staple meal for the ranch and many will be blessed. Great thing about being a Stephan is we not only enjoy food and eating, we really love to feed others. After the service this morning someone approached us and we may be on the verge of getting concrete for the buildings. P.T.L. for our prayer warriors. There are so many of you praying for all this to come together no wonder we are seeing daily miracles. Many of you don't know, so we wanted to mention that if you write out 6 Bible verses with 10 or more words, memorize them, write them out and then recite them to one of our team we will give you a cross necklace for free. We also have a few other ways you can earn a cross so when you see us please ask us about that. Have a great week and be an encourager and not a discourager wherever you go.

Super Saturday

Up bright and early for a Saturday, as I have to meet with a guy that has some lumber to send out to the ranch. Well, when God's plan is to use His people to build a project that will honor Him as we focus on building His kingdom nothing is ever too big to accomplish that purpose.  I used the key I was given to get into the yard where the lumber was inside an old warehouse.  I arrived a bit early and the truck and driver had not yet arrived.  So I walked around the yard and spent the time waiting, by doing my morning get together with the Boss.  I just needed to make sure I was on track with my list of jobs for the day, and that my thinking was in line with His.   Because, when I don't things just don't go as well.    It was only about 20 min. and the truck pulled into the yard.  Larry and Jen were right behind him to help load.  When the driver was finished loading the truck, (reason being he  couldn't get any more on the truck) so he had to be finished.  Wayne, our driver had the load secured properly, so we headed down the highway for the 30 min. ride to the ranch. Yesterday was all rain and today was also supposed to be rain, but instead today was bright and warm and a perfect day.  I wasn't exactly sure where we would put the lumber, but when we got to the ranch we were able to drive onto the ranch land and over to where the barn is to be built and we were able to unload without any problems at all.  P.T.L.  The miracles of the day are the incredible load of lumber donated to the ranch, we were so blessed to have no rain, safe and good travel, and by time we got back to town it started to rain and really never stopped thereafter.  What a day to sit with family and watch Saskatchewan play a most perfect and exciting football game.  We are so thankful for all the Lord has done and continues to do each day.  He is so faithful!   All I can think of to say is: "our Father who is in Heaven hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,  give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.   Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever.  AMEN

Friday's Frenzy

Yesterday we got word that our new ranch shop was arriving earlier than expected.  Two semi loads of steel will arrive, one on Monday and the next on Tuesday and that we needed a zoom boom and it needed to be delivered to the ranch all 10,000 lbs of it by Monday.  So this morning I headed  out after much prayer and direction to find it all.  By noon God delivered the zoom boom and the truck and trailer to deliver it all to the ranch bright and early Monday morning P.T.L. I had a meeting with our Engineering folks and as they reviewed the entire Ranch plan and the engineering involved to cover not only the buildings but the property and services also Jim gave me the run down that the cost for all this stage of engineering would cost approx. 30,000.00 dollars so as I thanked Jim and headed back to the house we now have another prayer need as we see God's hand move on this situation. WOW is it possible and how much is God willing to do to build this ranch. Have a great and blessed weekend.

Merging Trails

Thank you so much for taking the time to follow the ranch trail as Diane and I have attempted to go back with you all to where it all began.  How we can all look back and see that God was and is working in our lives,  I don't mean just us but all of you,  to take a look at the way things are or the way things could have been and how God is or will or could work in your lives.  We appreciate every one of you and I can only explain it by telling you that when I stopped in at Emco plumbing supplies today with sushi as a treat for every one and to say thank you for all they have done for the ranch.  Shelly came up to me and gave me the biggest warmest hug you can imagine and she said that she can't start her day till she checks the blog, or the emails we recieved this morning from a special young lady and a young man that encouraged us as they shared of the hope that God was bringing into their lives as they read the blogs each day. We can all be apart of God's plan as we follow His words Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  The trail has come to the point that we can join the daily blog now and continue to watch God's blessing on the daily path that He leads us on.  So here we go as we merge over to the daily blog trail. We hope to  hear from you.  God bless you and your families.  If you would like to make a tax deductable donation to the Ranch, we are still under the umbrella of our church, please make your cheque payable to"Lloydminster Gospel Fellowship" and on the bottom of your cheque write Re: Ranch project.  If you wish to donate equipment, we need estimate on the worth of whatever you wish to donate, and than you will recieve a tax reciept for your gift in kind. Thank you so much. 

Thursday the day of change

Years ago when we were living in Kindersley yet, a good friend Lloyd was leading a adult Sunday school class one Sunday morning and I'll with never forget these basic guide lines he shared with our group.  -One-    Put God first  

                                          -Two-    Acknowledge Jesus as King and Lord

                                          -Three- Let God use you

                                          -Four-   Be yourself in Christ

               

         -Holy living is simply living out who you are in Christ-. 

Living all those years, who we were in alcohol, who we were in drugs, who we were in the lust and pleasures of the world no wonder so many people will live their entire lives with out ever realizing the real purpose for their lives.  They never seek the purpose designer, the manufacturer,the creator.  We have found that in our lives pain is inevitable, but misery is optional. Psalm 32:3-5

 Miracle of the day and of all time has to be that I am a great sinner and Jesus is a great Savior.   Today, right now give God a chance, What can be the worst that can happen??? 

Passing it on to he next

At Crossman Ministries we continue to create and make many hand- made crosses each year that we use to share the message of the cross to people everywhere.  Diane and I have seen that if we commit ourselves to God's purpose for our lives, He will bless our lives with much fruit, as we have seen through our children and the many lives that God has blessed when we do what we are called to do.  Diane and I are committed to serving God and building this ranch to honor and bring glory to our Lord and Savior and we only ask that you seek God's direction in helping us with this project.  

                                                      

- Proposed Development-

-Ranch/Camp Purpose- 

To develop purpose and life skills in the lives of men and women by  working side by side in all area's of life skills and safety development in a safe and positive atmosphere.

-RTM ready to move home construction site-

Seeking to find and develop strengths, and skills in all ares of construction

-Green house-

Seeking to find and develop strengths, and skills in all areas of horticulture

-Restaurant, gift shop and arts center-

Seeking to find and develop stregths, and skills in all areas of food peparation, and food management

Seeking to find and develop strengths, and skills in all areas of music, crafts and art

-Horses-

Allowing the use of horse in encouraging personal development, respect and responsibility

-Program Schedule will include-

Year round program for trade development 

Summer weekly youth camps

Year round group activities

-Ranch attendance-

75% will be men and women seeking to improve their opportunities in the work force of today and tomorrow in areas of life skills and trades

25% will be women and men with a troubled back ground with no less than one full year of recovery at a known and recognized recovery center or program and are serious about life skills, trade and being a productive asset to society.

-Focus- 

Will be to help each one to find their purpose in a society desperate for skilled men and women to lead the next generation in a direction of hope and God given purpose

 

 

Wednesday Report

Well our lap top is back in operation thanks to Kendra and her spirit filled hands.  Today we got to do a major presentation to some wonderful folks and hopefully they will be able to help us on a project at the ranch.  Also Brittany spent time going over the web site with us as she is working hard on the new face of the web site and will have it up and running very soon.  The new look is coming to a computer near you soon, I hope.  Many miracles today!  God is doing a mighty work in the hearts of many people and business'.   We were able to set a date with a trucker who is donating his truck and fork lift to deliver, this Saturday, a semi load of lumber to the ranch that was also donated. P.T.L.  The blue prints for the lodge and guest house are complete and look very good and are ready for pricing.  

This morning Diane and I did a lot of spiritual battling and prayer time as we had a lot to do today and we needed no trouble.  Thankfully we found out as the day went along we had a lot of you praying with us.  Our friends like Gail, Sharon and Moose who are to be feared by you know who, were all on high prayer alert for us today, Diane and I are so blessed by the covering of all your prayers.  We will never forget the words of the old  hymn "take it to the Lord in prayer" Amen, Amen and Amen.  May the peace of God that passes all understanding be with you all.

How big is God

This is so big, bigger than any thing we've ever had to build and it excites every cell of our bodies.  Especially because we believe that God has told me to send this letter to everyone that we have ever known, and some of you may not give a hoot about what we are doing or why, but we just want to thank you for reading this and to let you know that we are praying for all of you.  Or, if you would just say a little prayer for us and if you feel you would like to be a part of this project that will make a difference in the lives of many people, we would be so honored to hear from you.  We have a great team of men and women as our board of directors and our church has taken us under their umbrella until our lawyers have finalized our non profit status.  Donations to the ranch project will be issued tax receipts  if needed.  The first phase of this project will include two buildings, a guest/lodge house and also a construction shop, complete with a kitchen and food services building.  Also we need a lot of construction materials to complete all the buildings and infrastucture, water and sewer, natural gas and electricity. We are no longer in need of major construction equipment such as back hoes, track hoes and cats,  as they are ready to be delivered to the ranch as soon as needed P.T.L.  We do need scrapers to dig a dug out and a lagoon, plus a zoom boom and bobcat for building construction.  We are also in need of an elevation transit and packing equipment.  If you are at all interested and in some way big or small can help us to accomplish this project, we would be excited to hear from you and fill you in on more of the details.

Tuesday

We need lots of prayer today and in the days ahead. It seems the more we share about the ranch the more we seem to be under attack. We are excited as to how God will help us work through these hurtles as he gives us the strength to persevere through this time. We have some important meetings coming up in the next few days so we need to follow God closely as we go. My laptop piled up and so I'm down working with old faithful, P.T.L. we have it, and am hoping our laptop will be up and running soon. Also our stress level seems to have peaked with the many decisions needing to be made each day and jobs that need to be done. Miracle of the day has to be that we picked up the ranch van and the repairs were nowhere as serious as we first thought P.T. L.

Thanks for all the prayer for us and support in so many ways! We are so thankful for each one of you and especially for the Lord who loves us so much and cares about every detail of our lives. We look forward to seeing how He is going to answer all the prayer needs and can't wait to share the praise report to follow.

God bless you all and have a great sleep!

Harold and Diane

Build and they will come

We have always thought it would be great to have a place, maybe even a ranch where we could build ready to move homes to teach men and women all parts of construction and maybe a little cook house where we could teach them how to cook healthy food and feed each other. Also to have some horses to ride along the river valley. And maybe a house or a lodge big enough so that we could all sit and support each other as we pray and share the problems that we are dealing with, and help each other as we also share and encourage each other with the victories in our lives. I've heard it said that you need to be careful what you pray for because you might get it. Then one day last spring, Diane had me pick up some frozen meat from a rancher that goes to our church. I was coming home from looking at a job in Nielburg and stopped in as it was on my way. The lady asked me in for a cup of tea and as we talked, I always seem to get on the tropic of a youth ranch, after listening to my story, Glenda asked if I was serious about the ranch. I told her I sure was and she replied, "if you will build that ranch, I'll give you the land". It took me a bit to take in what Glenda had just said to me, but today Diane and I are again being used as a part of God's plan and purpose for our lives and many others. Today we have the clear title to approximately 80 acres of land along the Battle River Valley. It is a beautiful piece of land just waiting to be used as the ranch camp. As I spent time asking God "how am we going to do all this as I am over 50 years old and I don't have the energy that I used to have, or the money it's going to take to build this to what it needs to be. God helped me to believe and to have the faith that if I would carry the vision and share it to every one I know, show them the picture God gave me of the ranch, that He would bring every one and avery thing needed to build this ranch so it would do what it is meant to do. Our plan for the ranch is to build ready to move homes and to train men and women on all ares of house construction. We have journeymen trades people willing to help in all the construction and hope to be able to provide the first year apprenticeship and safety certificates to each trainee.

Monday

Early today the girls headed into Edmonton to drop off crosses at a few stores that we supply with crosses. Ben and I spent time today working in the shop on crosses and trying to get our stock back up as we haven't had the time to work on them as much as we should lately. Ryan was able to get most of our plans for the house completed and hopes to have them completed soon. We spent some time going over the roof system and a few other items on the plans.

Miracles on the road

He said, " we'll see what we can do" as he walked away talking to his employee. The next thing we knew, his men had installed five really good tires and when we went to pay the owner, he said," no charge. " He than said,"it's the least I can do to help you keep this outfit on the road, and to keep you doing what your doing." Then there is a friend of our in Watrous that, even though he didn't have a lot, filled our tanks with diesel. The miracles and blessing went on and on and totally built our faith in a God who is interested in many coming to know Him.

Please don't think we believe we are any more special than anyone else. We are who we are because of what Jesus has done in our lives. We are far from perfect and will never be as long as we are on this earth. God is still working in us and always will be, changing us to be more like him. It says in the bible that our righteousness is as filthy rags, it is only because Jesus is in us and His righteousness is in us that we are changed at all.

Diane and I have had so many opportunities to serve God with our lives. We are blessed to be parents of a great family that just gets bigger and better all the time. Diane and I are part of a dedicated and great team at our church called Celebrate Recovery that works with and helps men, women and families with problems of addictions. We spent many years directing a youth summer camp with our family. I have taken training to be a Community Service Chaplain and have served as chaplain for the Gideons and the Christian Motorcyclist Association. I am now serving as a deacon on our church board. Over the past 25 years, we have been blessed to be able to help many people enter and complete a trade that would allow them to better care for their families. I was privileged to speak at a drug and alcohol detox center for five years. That totally opened our eyes to how badly men and women need God's love and the care of people who would help them find their God given gifts and to be able to put those gifts to use to make a better world for all of us to live in. It's really not that hard if we would only give God a chance.

Sunday, Sunday can't beat that day

Diane and I had a bit of a rest this weekend and a great meal at Mano's in Saskatoon the place I went to get Diane supper several times while she was in the hospital for over 3 months waiting to deliver our last baby. We also had an oppertunity to share about the ranch with several couples and then head to Kindersley.

Home again from Jacquie and Terry's this morning and we made it in time this morning to meet the family at church. As Diane and I travel we always tune into News Talk Radio to get our news fix. This morning they talked about schools and the out of control school drop out rate, also about the enormous amount of money paid out to administrations. Yet as far as the students go we are loosing the battle to keep them in school just to get them through to grade twelve, and heaven forbid they may even find out that they have a purpose, and have been gifted in some way that they could get a job that they enjoy and could support a family, buy a home and be an asset to society and their communities. The radio program also talked about about a school in Westfalin Germany the area where my brother lives and the school there has raised the level of students that graduate and become productive and have purpose to 98%. WOW how do they do that, we are thinking as we drive down the highway. At one point Diane tried to ask me a question and I was a bit short, I did not want to miss hearing how this school did this. Well wouldn't you know the secret to their success was to give the students an opportunity to learn life skills and a trades but then also to pay them. The students would go to school for so many days and then spend the other days at their job placement learning a trade. Can you believe that here in our communities we would rather bring workers in from other countries to work and just let our youth rot. We have become so absorbed with profit, profit, power, power image, image control, control that no one is looking for a solution to our situation heaven forbid it may cost us some of our power money. Well if we don't start to direct and help our next generation to move our society ahead we will all be the losers and it's not too late. The ranch is all about training the next generation to build us into a strong society with strong families and communities. Blessings to you all from Diane and Harold please pray for us this week.