Mondays momentum

What are you doing all this for, have you ever really thought about all the work and money it's going to take to build this place? And how much difference will it ever make anyway? You know that after you do all this for those people they will never thank you anyways, so why waste your time on them, it's just not worth it. Save your energy and your money, put it away for yourself and look after yourself. The world's a mess, it's the way things are, it's the sign of the times, you can't possibly make enough difference that it will matter. These are just a few of the negative comments we have received as we push ahead building the Ranch. But we are so thankful that we have received and continue to receive hundreds more positive and encouraging words from all of you that have been there and know the emptiness of a life without purpose or worse a self-seeking purpose. I read a quote once that said "A society grows great, when old men and women plant trees, whose shade they know they shall never sit under."

In a series of cartoons some years ago Linus, one of Charles Schultz’s "Peanuts" tribe, was taking heat from his sister Lucy and friends for his newly found "calling"—patting little birds on the head. The distressed birds would approach Linus, lower their feathered heads to be patted, sigh deeply, and walk away satisfied. It brought Linus no end of fulfillment—in spite of Lucy’s embarrassment and chagrin. Now I’ll grant you, bird patting is a little unusual as a calling.…At least we could agree that it is not one of the great spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12. Or is it? Let’s look again.

How about that niche called "showing mercy." Romans 12 mentions "encouraging" and a little later "contributing to the needs of others."…Who’s to say that a person’s niche in life couldn’t be giving pats on the head, offering a helping hand, or embracing another’s sorrow or joy with a deep hug.

In one of the cartoon scenes, Charlie Brown and Linus dialogue about all this head patting. Linus wants to know, "What’s wrong with patting birds on the head?" He repeats that he simply wants to know what’s wrong with it. It makes the birds feel better, it makes him feel happy all over, "So what’s wrong with it?"

Charlie stares thoughtfully, then declares rather frankly, "No one else does it! That’s it, No one else does it."

Some niches in life must struggle to exist, to say nothing of being appreciated, or even accepted.

Taken from…

Your Niche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charles Swindoll, Quest for Character, p. 142

We had a great day of meetings, we started with spending time sharing the ranch vision with Pastor Pohle at the Seventh-Day Adventist church. He not only was excited about the ranch but he definitely had some great ideas for us and he also believes this is a great community effort to build hope into the lives of our youth and community. He also said, that what we are doing is what the church has been trying to do in our communities for the past 150 years.

We also met with Pastor Bruce Dirk and his wife, Tracy, from Bonniville and they would like us to come to their community to share about the ranch.

They are hoping to make it more of a community outreach or information time, so as many as possible can learn about the ranch project.

Then an evening of spending time with a great couple that are also blessed to have a great family and feel God's call to build a ranch to help those in need, similar but different and we look forward to working with them as we "seek first the kingdom of God and is righteousness and all these thing will be added unto us". Matthew 6:33 Miracle after miracle is what we would call it. Thank you, Jesus!