Rick and Cheryl on Adventure

  PAYING THE PRICE “And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower [or house?]. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ . . . In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”   (Luke 14:27-30, 33) Similkameen River shining blue on this Spring morning

  STEP BY STEP “A person’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand their own way?”     Proverbs 20:24 It’s been a busy month since we arrived in Keremeos to find a thin layer of snow on the ground, proving that the Similkameen Valley does indeed experience winter. Throughout February we’ve had a couple balmy weeks with daytime highs 7 or 8 degrees and nighttime lows barely dipping below zero. I enjoyed some beautiful walks up the mountain or along the river that felt more like Saskatchewan spring. We’ve also had some days with daytime highs below freezing and nighttime lows down to -17 and are currently sitting with 4 inches of snow and a coating of ice on the paved part of our road. The winterized fifth  wheel trailer we are renting for 5 weeks isn’t too cozy warm during the cold snaps but otherwise suits our needs well. The cottage, on the other hand, has been toasty warm no matter the outside temperature from the moment insulation lined ...

  THE REAL SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIORS “He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked” (Psalm 146:7-9). We are currently staying at my dad's in Langham, SK This blog post departs from describing our ongoing adventure developing our land on Pincushion Trail and attempts to share with you our experience spending time with the amazing souls that comprise the global workers (formerly known as missionaries) of the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. These are Romans 12:1 people who daily offer their bodies as “living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God,” for whom “true and proper worship” means giving up wealth, convenience, status, health, and family in service to the least among us. In November, we spe...

  WATER IS THE LIFEBLOOD . . . For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. (Isaiah 44:3) We discovered a natural spring feeding a cattle trough high up on the mountain. Too bad we don't have one of those on our lot. Isaiah 44:3 is a verse I would like to claim both with regard to water on our dry land and the living water that God would pour on our offspring. From the moment we purchased this property, water has been on our minds. The problem of water has taxed and frustrated Rick’s thinking capacity and challenged Tim’s dream of growing grapes. So I thought I’d begin this blog with some perceptive thoughts and quotes about the absolute indispensability of water: “Thousands have lived without love, not one without water. – W.H. Auden 1 “We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one.” -  Jacques Yves Cousteau 1 “If there is magic on this planet, it is ...

  CHOOSING PATHS I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. (Proverbs 4:11) If you view a map of our 10-acre property, it’s more than a little confusing. There’s a paved parking lot at the base of a rough road which zigzags up the mountainside, carving our land into three separate parcels. The parking space and road easements are actually cut out of our private land, but we own the terrain surrounding them. We quickly learned that the road is gazetted and appears on Google maps, so anyone can use it. It serves as an access road for Telus vehicles as there is a telecommunications tower above us. The parking lot was built and paved because it is such a popular hiking trail that vehicles were lining the road and impeding passage. We counted a group of 14 hikers one day If you know where you’re going when you climb the trail, it eventually leads to an amazing geological formation called the Keremeos Columns. There’s a small provincial park up there as we...

FOUNDATIONS   He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure (Isaiah 33:6).   We were at the beginning of week #4 of our sojourn in the Similkameen, and it didn’t look like we’d accomplished much. Passersby glancing up at our lot from Pincushion Trail would have considered it vacant. BUT that’s because Rick had been laboring on the cottage foundation, and you usually can’t see foundations. Foundations underlay everything that you CAN see later, both with buildings and with lives.  I’ve been receiving an education in construction as I hold the ends of boards, read the bubble in the level, and watch cement scٰhlop out of the mixer. And wow – there are a multitude of finicky but necessary steps involved in laying a solid and dependable foundation. For those who haven’t been witness to the process, here’s a quick summary with illustrative photos:  1) Create a piece of fl...