Wednesday Report

We pulled out of the yard by 6:00 am and were on the road to Calgary. The trip was great and we got to Calgary by 12:30, time for a bit of lunch and then off to find where our meeting was to be. We got to our place on time and had a great meeting, it looks like the Lord has blessed us once again in a huge way and our host is completely on board and has given us such huge verbal support. He is a big fan of anyone that is willing to think big and go for it and he said this is absolutely huge. He spent time with Diane and I and shared much wisdom with us which was great. He has also written a book and gave us a copy and said that we need to read it and it will help us a lot. We blessed him with some crosses and off we were. Diane stopped in at curves and across the street was a Christian Life Assembly Church so I headed over and met the pastor and told him about the ranch and he said it sounds great, so he took all the information and said he would read it and get back to us. We arrived at our friends Charlie and Marion's about 5:30 had a great supper and then spent the evening talking about all of our kids and their kids and then Diane and I did a complete ranch presentation, video and all, they will pass on the info. to many others and tomorrow we will stop at the Calgary Dream Center and share about the ranch with them before we head for home. Our day was so blessed and God has provided more help for the ranch again. Please pray that tomorrow will be as blessed as today and that we would have a safe trip home. P.T.L.

Tuesday's trivia

It was Oct. 16 / 1995 and a good friend Barry wanted to meet for breakfast. As we were having our meal he said, "Harold, if you will host a mens Bible study I'll lead it." I was honoured he would ask me and said "why not? I'll check with Diane." So the next Friday this busy businessman from our community showed up early at our home, with his Bible in hand to see if anyone would show up for an early morning men's Bible study. We'd told a lot of men and I'd been up a couple of hours already preparing coffee, tea and toast, with Diane's help. I thought that maybe I'd make a pan of baked oatmeal figuring if no one was willing to try it, we had a lot of kids that would inhale it in short order.

Well, as I look back on that October 20, 1995, Friday morning in my log book and see that we had a great group of men show up that needed to meet with other men and hear, study and learn about the God that would take a wretch like each of us and make more godly men of us. That first morning Ryan, Cel, Darryl, Gary, Barry and Harold showed up. All the coffee was gone, some toast left but the baked oatmeal was gone every crumb of it.

Over the next few months things changed, we had to move out of the house and out to the shop where there was more room. It seemed a lot of guys would get up a bit earlier to hear God's word and to share about some of the struggles in their lives. It was great to see how as we prayed for each other, God would turn things around. We had to make a whole lot more baked oatmeal as it really caught on and everyone enjoyed it a lot. I've never been sorry for opening up our home that first Friday morning as we watched how God worked in our lives and built a strong faith and hope into each of us. We also had a lot of men show up that never went to a Bible study before, but were willing to step foot into a backyard garage with a bunch of men ready to head to work and take a bit of time to see what God could really do for them. They were seeing what He had done for so many others. As I look back I'm so thankful for men like Barry that are obedient to God and are willing to encourage and help others know the love and forgiveness of our Lord. I don't believe there was anyone that didn't learn from his teaching. Got a facebook message the other day from Mike, a great guy that used to attend that Bible study many years ago, he was glad to hear about the ranch and all that was happening and very encouraging, but he also needed the recipe for Baked oatmeal.

We had a great meeting with Pastor Harry at the Family Life Fellowship church today, he says he will get back to us to let us know what all they can do to help us. He has such a heart for this type of ministry and we felt he really was going to do all that he could. He took time to encourage us to keep going and he prayed for us and for the trip to Calgary tomorrow and our meetings there, that we would find favour. P.T.L.

Potluck at our house tonight along with a leadership meeting and the miracle of the day has to be that friends from the past are sending support to help us get the ranch up and going and what a blessing that is. I didn't make baked oatmeal for supper, but I sure am craving it right now.

Sometimes we have had people in our lives that wonder who would ever give you money to help with this stuff, and I'm reminded of Diane's late father that often wondered how can we afford to travel to do ministry, till one day we had our semi set up in our home town next to their home to do some practicing and outreach to our home community. He was home alone one afternoon and a man came to the door when Bill went to talk with him he asked about the semi sitting outside and if he knew who's it was. Bill said it belonged to his daughter and son- in-law and the guy gave Bill $100.00 for the ministry. Bill asked, "why are you doing this?" and the guy said that as he was driving by God told him to stop and give them the money. It's not always easy being in ministry but God is faithful and he always meets our needs.

Tuesday's trivia -- What tree did the garden of Eden duo eat from?

Last weeks answer -- Jethro taught Moses to be a shepherd.

SO TODAY WHY NOT GET FIRED UP AND GO FOR IT AND HELP US MAKE A DIFFERENCE BUILDING THE RANCH.

Mondays momentum

Spent some time with Pastor Mike at the Anglican Church today and what a great time it was. He blessed Diane and I over and over again. He told us his favorite saying is "if you don't know who you are, or who's you are, you are dead in the water."

He has a great picture on the wall of his office of the prodigal son and we had quite a time sharing about that story. He told us of a conversation that was had with someone from the middle east in the area that many of the Bible stories came from. The conversation was about the prodigal son and what they as

non Christians thought of what the Prodigal son did. They said that if any son would try to do what this son did or even if he were to try this he would have been stoned to death for his total disrespect toward his father. By asking for his share of the inheritance he was actually wishing his father dead. When asked about the older brother they said that he also would have been stoned to death because, no son older or younger should be so arrogant as to not come into a feast his father was having but rather made his father come out to convince him to forgive and come to the party. This would never have been tolerated. And when asked about the father they said that the father who is the head of the home, the family and is the spiritual leader of the home would never disgrace himself in front of his peers by ever looking down the road day after day looking for a son that did such a dispicable act. Never would he take off his robe or give his ring to such a son and worst of all he would never lower himself so low as to be seen running down the road to meet him. And yet that is what our Lord did for us, he came as a servant and gave it all for each and every one of us. With open arms he recieves us to himself no matter what we have been through.

Luke 15:20 "So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father say him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him."

Ephesions 2:4 & 5

"But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved."

Miracle of the day was the great visit we had with Pastor Mike and he mentioned that it would be great if young couples had a place to go for Marriage councilling.

SO WHY NOT GET FIRED UP AND GO FOR IT AND HELP US MAKE A DIFFERENCE BUILDING THE RANCH.

Sunday can't beat that day

Early on in our marriage, Diane and I had the privelege of following a race team around the country as we had members of our family driving in those races. It was fun, it was fast and it was exciting and our team even won a few races now and then. Watching as the drivers and their teams built their cars, and tuned them to perform at unimaginable speeds. Many of the drivers would prepare themselves so they would be in top condition for race day well in advance, as well as preparing their cars. A finely tuned car needs a finely tuned driver and a team to surround them to keep them on track if the victory is what they are aiming for.

Our lives are a lot like the above racer in that we are heading for the victory and as we keep our hearts finely tuned on the Word of God and keep ourselves full of the Holy Spirit, this race we call life can be a thrill to be in. I used to think that life was just, going to work, coming home, grabbing a beer or two then waiting for the weekend so we could fill ourselves with more beer, whiskey and plenty of dope. Somehow we used to believe this was supposed to be normal and the good life. Tonight at church, one by one, people came out onto the platform, with posters that said where their lives used to be and when they flipped the poster it showed where they are today. They're called paper testimonys.

We were asked if we wanted to carry a poster up in front of everyone, so Diane and I did up our posters. It's not easy to stand up and show the world what a piece of work we once were but then to turn our poster over and to show what God can and will do for each and everyone of us if we but give Him a chance.

Diane and I got a bit more paper work done this afternoon that needed to be done before we head to Calgary. We also got a call from our family Dr. this afternoon and from the November blood tests that showed problems with my liver and colesteral level. Now the new tests taken after our 15 day fast and prayer after Christmas, showed the tests that came back, all levels are absolutely normal, the doctor says it's amazing. No medication or treatments just solid fasting and prayer and God does the rest. Also the pounding in my chest is gone and for the first time in years I can breath out of my nose and I don't snore anymore. I have lost a wack of weight and Diane also lost some weight she's thankful to be rid of and we are on a new eating plan. Do we feel great or what? So we have found that if you really want to get rid of some health problems and feel great the master physician, and His book on life and health works just fine. The best part of all is you will draw even closer to Him then ever before as you spend time in His word and as you fast and pray.

Acts 13:2 & 3 "While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart

for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." So after they had fasted

and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off."

Saturday surprise

Control a button on my computer or on Diane's washer and dryer. My dictionary's description for control is; that which serves to check, restrain, or hinder, restraint. All of our plumbing and heating systems need controllers to operate. I guess just about anything you want to run the way the creator or the manufacturer designed a piece of equipment to operate at it's best needs to be controlled by the controls designed for that specific piece of equipment or tool. In the past I've tried to use other controllers for a unit that was not made for it and with a lot of adjustments and manipulation I could sort of get it to run but it always needed to be monitored regularly as it could easily malfunction. The system and controller were not a match.

History has shown us that we have two options in the survival of the human race and that is who is in control. One control uses faith and love as it's power source the other uses manipulation by whatever worldly means are readily at hand, fear being the greatest weapon of mass destruction known to mankind. I believe there is such a wealth of hope and purpose in each and every human being, yet fear is like water on a fire most of us are left barely smoldering and all the fire and life has been squelched by fear.

The Pharaoh found, no matter how hard he tried to control God's people he became more miserable and out of control and soon lost it all.

Saul who was called Paul found that attempting to control and destroy God's people and purpose was not too prosperous and he made a wise choice to not control but to be controlled by the one that gave hope beyond all other hope that he had ever known.

As we follow God's control of the ranch construction it's exciting to see how His plan is coming together, and His people are being used to build a place that will honor Him. As Diane and I continue to share the vision and purpose God has for the ranch He continues to provide all our needs. Next week Diane and I have meetings in Calgary and with local Pastors so please, as we travel and share, keep us in your prayers that we would hear from God as to who He wants as part of the ranch project. Also that The Holy Spirit would soften the hearts of those that will hear about the vision and purpose and so partner with us to accomplish His purpose.

Many of our youth today are living in fear with no skills or vision of hope for the future and by the grace of God we can help change that.

Acts : 13 : 47 "For this is what the Lord has commanded us: I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth."

Acts 13 : 52 "And the disciples were filled with Joy and the Holy Spirit."

Miracle of the day has to be, that we were phoned and a table next to a very well known missionary is available at mission fest in Edmonton next month and looks like we have it. We are excited that God has provided this opportunity to share the plan and vision with thousands of people. P.T.L.

We also had a great evening with most of our family over for supper as we enjoyed our friend and Ranch supporter, Joel Armstrong as he came visit with us all. It was great to hear how God is using him in Kelowna. We thank the Lord for Joel's safety as he drives back to Saskatoon and then he flies home from there.

Friday's Frenzy

Psalms 23 continued

Psalms 23 is a living chapter and often we over look it as just a nice read or to use a funeral but if you're like us we want to know and serve God in a true and sincere way and to love others as he calls us to love and care for others.

What ultimately matters is not money or physical comfort, but spiritual restoration. When our Shepherd provides physical blessings, the goal is spiritual refreshment and hope to go on. Being spiritually refreshed means to walk "in the paths of righteousness"(v.3). Notice that this is not something we can accomplish on our own. Like sheep, we are prone to go astray if left on our own. David recognizes, and we must recognize, that we need to be "guided" by the Shepherd, following Jesus if we are to walk the righteous path.

Now, before we unpack the transition verse--verse 4, we need to observe that, Psalm 23 begins with rest and comfort. Psalm 23 does not begin with activity. This is a reminder of how the Christian life is to be lived. We begin by resting in Christ and out of the restoration of our soul comes activity.

Many Christians, and many of our churches, have this backwards. Many Christians run around, busily doing ministry until they are too tired to continue. And only when they have no strength left do they stop and rest [burn out]. This misses the point that Christianity is primarily a relationship, not a religion. To have activity without a relationship misses the entire point.

Let me give you an illustration from our home. I like to cook and feed people and often fridays we invite our family and friends over for supper. I'll work like crazy to feed everyone that comes and never have time to talk and sit and visit with them sometimes till they are about to leave, but I did get them fed and watered.

But I missed the point of the dinner. The reason for the dinner was supposed to be our relationship. The meal was not supposed to be the point. A casserole would have been good enough.

This is the error many Christians make. We run around attending church meetings, executing programs, planning budgets, teaching the Bible and we forget the reason we are here in the first place.

We are here to enjoy our relationship with Jesus Christ. A sure sign that we have missed the point is when our activity in the church becomes a replacement for prayerful devotion to the One who called us here in the first place.

Jesus has called you first to worship, and secondly to work. We must never reverse this order. Psalm 23 is about being a follower of Jesus Christ and the blessings of being in a relationship with the Shepherd. And what is the primary blessing of the Shepherd? The primary blessing of the Shepherd is Himself.

You read about the green pastures and quiet waters and you might think they are the primary blessing of the Shepherd, but they're not. The green pastures and quiet waters eventually give way to "walk(ing) through the valley of the shadow of death"(v.4). The constant in this psalm is not the green pastures--they are temporary. The constant in this psalm is not the valley of the shadow of death--David says we eventually walk "through" it. The only constant in Psalm 23 is the presence of God, "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me."

The blessing of the Shepherd is not an elimination of our problems. The blessing of the Shepherd is not an elimination of our enemies. The blessing of our Shepherd is a table for two prepared in the presence of our enemies(v.5). And the table, of course, is symbolic of our fellowship with Him.

In the midst of trials, our source of joy is our fellowship with the Shepherd--He prepares a table for us, He anoints our head with oil, our cup overflows(v.5).

Whether we are looking at the shepherding imagery, or the imagery of table fellowship, the main theme of Psalm 23 is plain to see: David is describing the joy of being in a personal relationship with God--a relationship that has no end, "Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever"(v.6).

The 23rd Psalm portrays life as a pilgrimage--it is a pilgrimage with God, to God--and our final destination is "the house of the Lord". Our final destination is unhindered fellowship with Jesus Christ. And it is our final destination that should define everything we do in the meantime.

Whether we are talking about Bible studies, building projects, or children's programs--these things are not the point. And any church program or project that does not move us toward an improved relationship with Jesus Christ is a misguided project and misses the point.

It is time for us to examine the purposes that are behind the church projects we undertake. It is time for us to prioritize passion over programs. We want a quality ministry, yes, but not at the expense of a quality relationship.

When we reach our final destination, when we get to the house of the Lord, there will be no more programs, but what will remain is passion. When we get to heaven there will be no more religion or denominations, but what will remain is our relationship with our Shepherd.

Don't miss the point of Psalm 23. Our Shepherd, Jesus Christ, calls us, not to ritual, but to a relationship. It is in the relationship that He gets the glory due to Him and we get the joy we so desperately seek, give Him a chance. Amen.

Miracle of the day was a gift from a family to support the building of the ranch project. They like to get together and support a ministry every Christmas, and this year they chose the Ranch to be the ministry. What a great way to celebrate the birth of Jesus. God is good, all the time!

SO TODAY WHY NOT GET FIRED UP AND GO FOR IT AND HELP US MAKE A DIFFERANCE BUILDING THE RANCH.

Thursday the day of change

Psalm 23: A Psalm for the Living

One night back when our father was going through a tough time in his life he had me get a Bible and read this to verse to him. He then said don't you ever forget what you just read. Today years later I realize he knew more about this verse than I understood.

The 23rd psalm is the most beloved of the Psalms and is, perhaps, the most loved chapter in the entire Bible. It is a shame then, that we tend to only hear sermons on Psalm 23 at funerals. It is a shame because Psalm 23 is a psalm for the living--it is a psalm for you and I to apply every day of our life it's a psalm of recovery.

There is a danger, that when a biblical verse becomes particularly familiar to us, we begin to believe that we know all that there is to know about the text. When this happens we tend to overlook messages and applications that are quite obvious.

For instance, have you ever noticed how David changes the form of the psalm in verse 4? In the first three verses, David refers to God as "He": "The Lord is my Shepherd . . . He makes me lie down . . . He leads me . . . He restores my soul . . . He guides me." Then in verses 4 and 5, David refers to God as "You" or "Thou": "I fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me . . . Thou dost prepare a table before me . . . Thou hast anointed my head with oil". Then, finally, in verse 6, he switches back to the third person: "I will dwell in the house of the Lord", hang in there and lets see what it has to offer each of us.

The lesson that we can learn from this form change is that we should not talk for very long about God without talking to God. The first lesson that this psalm can teach us all is that our study of God's word should always lead us to prayer.

What shall we say about the first line? "The Lord is my shepherd." A phrase so familiar that we probably are missing the magnitude of those words. David is saying that the eternal God of the Universe is his personal shepherd. David could have rightly said, 'Hear O Israel, the Lord is our shepherd', but he does not say this, he says, "The Lord is my shepherd". There is a personal relationship here.

This is a reminder that Christianity is not as much a religion as it is a relationship. Being a Christian means having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus calls Himself, "the good shepherd" in John 10, verse 11. The nature of Psalm 23 then, becomes even more personal. The Christian reads Psalm 23 this way, " (Jesus) is my shepherd, I shall not want," that makes us followers of Jesus.

What exactly does that mean? "I shall not want." The meaning here is not that we won't desire or want anything, the meaning is that we won't be left wanting, we will be satisfied. We are being told that the Lord's sheep are not lacking anything.

But how is this true? We don't even have to leave Psalm 23 to see that the Lord's sheep do indeed lack things. When we are told about walking through the dark valley it is safe to assume that the valley lacks light, and I presume it lacks the green pasture and the quiet waters at least that's how it sounds.

In what sense then, can it be said that the Christian shall not lack anything? I like John Piper's answer to this question, "what David means is that God's sheep never lack anything that the Shepherd thinks is good for them."

What this means is that God is all we need. What this means is that Jesus is enough. Whether we are in the green pasture or the dark valley, the Shepherd remains at our side and that is what we need. If we have Jesus, we lack no good thing.

While it is true that Jesus is all we need, this is not to say that Jesus is all we get. David reminds us that it is our Good Shepherd who "makes (us) lie down in green pastures," and "leads (us) beside quiet waters"(v.2).

Phillip Keller, a pastor and author who for eight years was himself a shepherd, writes, "It is almost impossible for (sheep) to lie down unless (certain) requirements are met." Keller explains that before sheep will lie down they need to be free of 4 things. Because of their timidity, sheep "refuse to lie down unless they are free of all fear . . . Sheep will not lie down unless they are free from friction with other (sheep within the flock). If tormented by flies or parasites, sheep will not lie down . . . Lastly, sheep will not lie down as long as they feel in need of finding food"(Keller, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, 35).

There must be freedom from fear, friction, flies, and famine before sheep will lie down. Translate this into our context, and we can hear David saying that the Lord often removes obstacles in our life for the purpose of giving us rest--and rest of a certain kind.

I have a real problem believing that the Bible is only a prosperity gospel, but I do believe it is a real faith gospel, but this is not to say that it gives us a prosper-less gospel. The green pastures and the quiet waters represent a type of prosperity that the Shepherd gives to His sheep. And the reason we are given this prosperity is stated in verse 3, it "restores (our) soul" and financial prosperity will never restore ones soul.

Check tomorrows blog for our completion of Psalms 23

SO TODAY WHY NOT GET FIRED UP AND GO FOR IT AND HELP US MAKE A DIFFERENCE BUILDING THE RANCH!!!!