Time flies by

9/28/11 Wednesday
Wow, time flies by so quickly. As is often the case I was unaware of how long it has been since I posted on the blog. Got a comment from the fake Ricardo asking for me to update the blog so he/she could know how we are doing. I deleted it. Really don’t have time for those who are deceptive. Was just reading in Ezra about those who came to the Israelites who were rebuilding the temple saying “Let us help you, for we worship the same God you do”. They were liars and when their help was refused they proceeded to write the king of Babylon and get him to stop the rebuilding efforts. The more things change the more they stay the same.


This is the back of the shirt that was printed up for the Kairos. It is signed front and back by the men from the prison we ministered to.

We have been busy for sure. The Kairos walk for the Smith prison unit was two weeks ago. As always Kairos is a time of powerful moves of the Lord, with many lives touched and miracles happening every day. Last Saturday I went back up there for the follow up day, where we begin to train them on how to support each other in that prison environment, and to integrate them into the existing church at the prison. With that comes revelations of ongoing problems and issues. I had two in my group who expressed their dismay at not being accepted in a prayer group on their cell block. At lunch I sat at a table with another inmate, who has been in prison 21 years. He shared an issue he had regarding someone who went through the Kairos walk but was still actively engaged in homosexual activity. Come to find out it was the same person I had talked with earlier. It’s a sticky situation, where I was being asked for advice from both individuals separately. The answer in both cases is to love and forgive. We can hate the sin, but must love the sinner. In the end we all stand before the living God, who knows all things, even the deepest thoughts of our hearts. It is He who is the judge, not us. And it is God whom we must answer too, not man. In prison there are many uncomfortable situations and seldom easy answers. I can’t talk about lots of it but thought I’d give you just a small glimpse.

What else??? Oh, lots of things so I’ll fill in the best I can. Also teaching a class at the prison on Mondays, called “Quest for authentic manhood” that is biblically based. After the class I stopped at McDonalds for a bite to eat. There was a bible study going on that I was invited to join, so I did. It was interesting to say the least as one of the leaders definitely doesn’t fit into the normal “church” box. In fact several of them had been kicked out of churches and experienced many things in church that our Lord would definitely not approve of. Fact is that lately I have been running into a lot of people who have had problems in and with traditional churches. This type of things seems to be on the rise for sure. There have always been problems in churches. As a pastor friend of mine said “Church is great, except there are people there”.

People are human and thus suffer from the ailments that plague all mankind. Jealousy, envy, lust, ambition, greed, and all the other issues we must overcome, are the common downfalls of our civilization. The thing is though, these are also the same problems Jesus died to set us free from. Jesus’ final prayer, just before He was crucified, is found in John chapter seventeen. In it He said "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word ; 21 that they may all be one ; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

Our unity is to be the sign, the way, that the world will know that the Father sent Jesus to the world. What a shame it is that so many are so worried about their own personal desires, and are so not worried about what God or the world thinks, that they cause all this discord in the churches. They seem to have no fear of God, to be totally unaware of their selfishness and lack of true faith, and in fact often are proud of and flaunt their “religiosity” and hold high positions in the church. They are so self deceived that they are unaware of the judgment that faces us all and are confident they will be found pleasing to God.

We got this cute letter a few days ago. Someone went through a lot of effort to carefully print, cut, and paste our address on the envelope. When I picked it up I had to wonder what it was. Sure looks like some kind of ransom note or something. Opening it up we find a nasty note about our dogs and a story of the writer running off the road into our stone decorative wall to avoid hitting one of them. We looked, there are no tracks in the soft soil nor any evidence of anyone running off the road or hitting the stone wall. Whoever wrote it knows my name, post office box, and knows we are working to build a farm as revealed in their letter when she said we would lose everything we worked so hard for. A bitter person for sure, another example of that spirit that seems to be so prevalent in this area. And, like so many, a person that hides behind anonymity, a coward that speaks in hiding. It is so sad. We made sure to pray for them too, adding them to our list of people we hold up in prayer.


We bought a pump to boost the water pressure at the house and on the farm. Not sure how well it will work but got a good deal on it. Bought a pressure tank to go with it and I have gone online a few times to study up on this stuff. We will see how it works. I dug up where the pipe comes in from the well that is a half mile away. It is right were an old water well used to be so I took the rusted metal cover off and ran a string with a rock tied on it down the hole. I figured it would be a deep hole so worked to untangle at least a hundred feet of string for this task. It went down six feet and that’s it. This well is forty of fifty years old and had run dry long ago so was closed up. I wonder now about the possibility of clearing the old hole out and perhaps going deeper to find water that’s close to the house.

We sold the big red diesel truck Sunday and the trailer today. Didn’t get as much as I wanted for it but we need the money to get a new pickup that is more reliable. I am thinking of running up to Ohio where we can go to an auction and buy a truck for a decent price. It would be great to visit up there again. Sure want to see the dad of my old friend, Bernie, who died last year. And of course there are others it would be nice to see again. Some of them are friends from a different life, a life I no longer care to live, but friends just the same. I think I am well able to resist the temptations presented there but will be careful just the same.

Watermelons are doing well. Coyotes come in regularly and steal some, dragging them out into the field, where they eat them. Later we will be able to build fences and keep them out but meantime will just have to absorb the loss. With weather getting cooler we have hopes tomatoes will start producing. The Israeli cantaloupes have finally gotten established. I learned that letting weeds grow around them protected them from the rabbits. Why I don’t know but it worked. Noticed some cantaloupe growing in weeds unmolested while cantaloupe I had planted nearby was steadily being eaten so figured I’d give it a try.

So things are moving here at the farm. We look forward to seeing what God has in store for us.