Dreaming Of A Different Season

The Gift Of Frienship

Last Sunday being the last service at the Osoyoos Christian Centre for my family and I, was a difficult one. However, the good Lord had us surrounded by friends and family. What made it even more incredible was that an old cowboy friend of mine showed up. Now this here gent is not normally accustomed to being in Church, but came to support Judi and I. Greg will never know what an awesome thing it was for him to do that for me.

I know his father in law is in need of our prayers regarding open heart surgery, so we will keep Pat in mind. Thank God for friends, especily those who you can ride the river with!

MERRY CHRISTMAS From our outfit to yours!

In The Old Days

There was a time not so long ago where you wouldn't be sued for wishing someone a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. But that was long ago. The following the politically correct way to greet someone (just in case you were a wonder'n)

Best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, but with respect for the religious persuasion of others who choose to practice their own religion as well as those who choose not to practice a religion at all; Additionally, a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted calendar year 2006, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions have helped make our society great, without regard to the race, creed, color, religious, or sexual preferences of their wishes.

Disclaimer: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and no responsibility for any unintended emotional stress these greetings may bring to those not caught up in the holiday spirit.

God works in mysterious ways...

We have been praying for the ability to build an old fashioned board and batton clad church. In search of aged barn board I inquired of John Nett permission to tear down an old tool shed on one of the properties he is developing. To my surprise not only did he give me that old tool shed he gave us permission to tear down, remove or move an entire old homestead. Judi and I counted at least five out buildings plus the old ranch house. We were like kids at Christmas. Hey we are kids - God's kids and it is Christmas! Over the next few months we will be dismanteling the buildings we can't move. The rest will be moved in sections to our ranch property. Step one - Check!

We will keep you posted. God just never stops surprising me.

Cowboy Evangelism by Stephen Taylor, 2007

Most Christians, I suppose, if asked what comes to mind when you speak of evangelism and Colorado Springs, CO, would think of the broad-based radio ministry there called Focus on the Family, James Dobson’s religious-political organization. When I think of evangelism taking place in Colorado Springs, I think of a ranch and little known cowboy who practices what we call life-style evangelism.Drive out to the Garden of the Gods and take a couple of lefts and you’ll end up at the Flying-W Ranch.

Most of the open land there has been gobbled up by sub-divisions now, so the ranchers at the Flying W have taken to selling their beef in plate-size portions instead of on the hoof. They have a simple, barn-like structure filled with long picnic tables in a room that will seat about a 1000. During the summer the place fills up quickly. People go through the lines and get their Bar-B-Que, beans and potatoes on tin plates. There’s baked chicken if you want it instead, but they’ll laugh at you. Chickens and cowboys don’t jive, ‘cause you can’t rope a chicken. After everyone has eaten the Flying-W Wranglers come on stage, five men who play and sing western songs. The one on the bass is Scotty Vaughan, a six foot, two, pure cowboy who does most of the talking and tells the jokes between the songs.

Scotty told one about his grandfather who as a teen wanted to drive a stagecoach. He was turned down over and over and finally a grizzly old coach driver took him on. He was told to be the look-out and not to talk. He sat there and looked and looked and finally he saw riders off in the distance behind them. There’s a couple riders behind us, he told the driver. How far away? Said the driver. Maybe a couple miles, said Scotty’s granddad. See, that shows you’re nothing but a green-horn, said the driver. Out here, we tell distance by saying how big the person is. Well they’re this big, said the boy, holding his fingers about an inch apart. Forget em said the driver.The young man kept looking, and he then told the driver. They’re closer. How close. Well now they’re this big, spreading his fingers on one hand as far apart as they would go. Just leave em alone, but watch em, he was told.

Watch them he did and finally he said. They’re closer. And? Well, how they’re this big he said using to hand to indicate about 12 inches. Keep watching. It wasn’t long an he said, Now they’re this big, ( 36 inches) and this time the driver said, get your rifle out and shoot them.He picked up his rifle and took aim, but there weren’t any shots fired. The driver shouted at him, I said shoot them. The young man took aim again, but still did not shoot. What’s wrong with you, the driver asked. Shoot them. I can’t, said his granddad, I’ve know em since they was this (fingers apart) big, he said.After the laughter dies down, Scotty goes on with his story. I like that story a lot, he says, cause it’s a lot about me, in a way. See, I was a late-bloomer, he says to all those people every night. I didn’t become a follower of Jesus until I was in my mid-thirties. There were a lot of bad things in my life that I couldn’t get rid of on my own, cause I’d gotten so used to them. They started out as little things, but they kept getting bigger and bigger. I tried to change my ways, but I couldn’t on my own.It took turning my life over to Jesus and following him, and that’s true for anyone. I couldn’t do it on my own, and neither can you.

Then he introduces a song he wrote, called Circuit Riding Preacher.Night after night in the midst of music and laughter, Scotty Vaughan tells his own story of needing Jesus and the transformation Jesus brought to him. That’s evangelism, that’s Focusing on the Lord and letting our own story name the name of the Savior before others

Cattleman's Prayer

Now O Lord please lend thine ear,
The prayer of the Cattleman to hear;
No doubt many prayers to thee seem strange,
But won't you bless this cattle range?
Bless the round-up year by year
And don't forget the growing steer;
Water the land with brooks and rills
For my cattle that roam a thousand hills.
Now, O Lord, won't you be good
And give our livestock plenty of food;
And to avert a winter's woe
Give Italian skies and little snow.
Prairie fires won't you please stop,
Let thunder roll and water drop,
It frightens me to see the smoke,
Unless it's stopped, I'll go dead broke.
As you, O Lord, our herds behold--
Which represents a sack of gold--
I think at least five cents per pound
Should be the price of beef year round.
One more thing and then I'm through,
Instead of one calf, give my cows two.
I may pray different than some others,
but thenI've had my say, and now amen.

Author--unknown, circa 1890