Dogs

I'm sitting at the computer waiting for the words to flow out of my fingertips. Boy, sometimes my fingertips are dumb. So now, lets see, hmhhh. . .

Well, ok, I did have something exciting happen to me, and to many others, this week. Our new doctor has two dogs. The noisiest barkers I've ever had to deal with. It seems they can see me coming from miles away and they stir themselves into a fury, every time. The staff at the Lifestyle Center are aggravated and the lifestyle guests are sometimes afraid, and the docs family is frustrated. Finally, Dianne, our cook decided to buy three "Stop Bark" contraptions. I really didn't expect much of them. You know, made in China and probably don't work. But wow, they work wonderfully. The dogs are totally quiet. I can even go in their yard and antagonize them and they won't let out even a peep. Makes me feel like going over there and teasing them. Maybe I should bark at them. The gadgets are bark induced frequency machines. Shouldn't they feel what we've had to feel all these months? Or should I just forgive. Or is it ok not to forgive dogs?

Bill, my farm manager, is scheduled to leave the hospital today. We don't know too much yet. The docs can't figure out what the problem is. I believe Bill has an appointment at the University Hospital next week. The big experts will take a shot at it. Keep praying.

Let God be God

I'm home. I left the board meeting at Oak Haven at 7:30 PM on Sunday night. The board was almost over, and I wanted to get past Chicago before morning. Oh Chicago! What a traffic mess that is. In any case, I did get two hundred miles behind me that night and that left me only 1,000 to go. I got home at 7:30 PM, last night. The trip was good. I listened to three Audio Books--tho' nothing to write home about.

The Polish couple had given me a CD of Chopin's music. I listened to it several times. Very good.

The board was not an easy one. Three years in a row, not easy. The leaders of Oak Haven are the best in many respects. I don't know anyone who would succeed better on the business side of things. But there are always relational struggles. We can't know for certain where the blame lies, but we've asked Steven Graviner to sit with the leadership circle of Oak Haven and give them some counseling/coaching. I'm very sure he will be able to help them tremendously.

All is not well at EVI. My farm manager, Bill, is hospitalized. The left ventricle of his heart quit working, or works less. It may be serious, or not be serious. We await the results of the tests they will do tomorrow. The doctors call it heart failure. It seems a little overstated, I hope. Please pray with us for Bill Bosko.

I look forward to going to ASI with Jason. He arrives next Monday. We'll take off from the airport toward Orlando immediately. It's going to be a grueling trip, but we should manage some quality time, don't you think? Unless, of course, one or the other will be sleeping all the time.

Do you know that God lives outside of space and time? Space and time were created to accommodate His creation. Therefore, as Creator, He automatically is outside of His creation. Wouldn't it be interesting to get a glimpse of the dimension God lives in? I bet it would blow us away. No space, no time, no material. God needs no things. Things were created to support us. God lives during every era of time simultaneously. That is why Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I Am." Only God can say, I Am, at all times. That is why He knows the end from the beginning. Why would we ever want to tell God how to solve our problems, when He is living during the time that the solution is or will be applied. He knows, absolutely what is best. So, let us let God be God.

So says the Preacher to his Tribe.

Current Happenings

I am at Oak Haven, in a beautiful guest room. It is about 100 degrees F. and promises to be a sweltering weekend. The place, Oak Haven, is looking fantastic.

I drove 1,000 miles yesterday and that was, to me, leisure. I listened to two audio books, got to bed by 9:30 and didn't get up till 6:00 this morning. I preach tomorrow early meeting on the Declaration of Independence.

Nothing is too new in my life: Our farm manager, Bill Bosko, has been having trouble with his health lately, and it didn't look like he would recover easily, according to the doctors. It turns out he has pneumonia. I noticed last week that some of his symptoms were similar to what I have experienced twice already when I had pneumonia.

I sent my wife $10,000 by wire. She hasn't got it yet. It got routed thru' Zanzibar, of all places, and hasn't made its way to her bank, as yet. She is not feeling good either. Overworked, I bet. Angie, Christina, Jason . . . are all under the weather. Well, not onto death. I've got to get everyone on XPC's.

We are buying a new booth for EVI from someone in Florida and I have had to struggle finding pictures to send to him. The Lord worked some wonderful miracles to drop those pics in my lap. I never would have guessed. Anyway, the booth is coming together, even as I have to consult Leasa in Ukraine. Technology is amazing these days.

Finally, we are trying to submit our Master Plan for the new construction of EVI. The deadline is Monday and we don't have all the pieces together. Laural, our Master Plan spear header, may swing it by Monday. The great fear is that we submit it with the hefty fee, (something like $1,500) just to find out we don't have all our ducks in a row. We would lose our fee. We may have to postpone for one month.

I've had a Polish couple in my house, with their son, Michael, for two weeks. It's been a blast. I enjoyed them immensely. Grazyna, Mrs. Kuczek, is a physician. She's done many lifestyle sessions in Poland, but not on their own institutional property. She is thoroughly inspired by what goes on at EVI, and hopes we/I can help her/them get started on their property in Poland. My heart is with them. I don't know if I can do anything, but I am certainly willing to try. Oh, if I were rich. I know she would be great to invest in. There is no doubt they would succeed.

Never Lets me Down

Another blistering hot Sunday in Colorado. To cool a little, I took my Polish friends to the top of the Rockies. (12,000 feet.) They were amazed at the sight, and at one point, the highest, we needed to run back to the van because it was too cold.

I talked to Uncle John last week. They just returned from London, visiting Michie and their grandchildren. Sounds to me like they are delighted with those kids. (Can't imagine why.) Michelle is happy and England swings. Well, it did for a day or two, anyway.

For those of you who know him, Michael Burkhart, Sarah's brother has been coming to church at EVI for the last couple of Sabbaths. I never would have known who he was if he hadn't told me. Looks good, very muscular, works with his dad in Estes Park, tree trimming. There is a very good aura surrounding him. If He continues to to come to our church I'll want to get close to him if I can. Hard to believe, but the kid is 29 years old, and Sarah married in March.

I preached yesterday. (What else is new.) I am so busy that I can only prepare sermons on the fly. This last one I thought was a dud. However, I did pray more over it. (I don't like dud sermons.) And I reviewed it twice more than I usually do. It was so well appreciated that one lady ordered twenty copies to give to others. Go figure! Actually, there is no mystery to this thing. God can bless whatever He chooses to bless. Prayer is the key, and hard work is the only way I know to cooperate with my prayers. God is so good. He never lets me down, never.

So says the Preacher to his Tribe.

Bed Bugs

Where did they come from?

We started a new session, yesterday. Approximately eighteen people are here for treatments. All are Adventist. (A rare thing.) Sometime during the day, one couple laid down to take a nap. In a few minutes, the man felt like he was being invaded by ants all around his neck. When he looked down he saw his pillow was invaded with bugs. (Approx. 40) What in the world? So the cooks in the Annex asked if they could move this couple to my house. Of course, they can. My house is always full anyhow.

I have another couple with a 10 year old from Poland with me.

I went to see what the bugs might be. Yep! I knew what they were. Bed bugs! Yuk.

Today, we called an exterminator and he went over the room. John Roeske and I burned the new mattress and box spring. (Drastic, no?) We hope that takes care of that. Some lifestyle guest must have brought them in. We've had many folks from the islands lately. Who knows?

All is well besides. The weather is hot, 90 degrees. Everyone is of good courage.

Sometimes I just sit and think. I reason things through to the best of my abilities. This morning I was thinking: We all would prefer to be saved then to be lost, right? We would all prefer to succeed than fail, surely. We all work toward happiness and not misery. We all want a lover rather than to be alone, at least I would. (And, mine isn't around to do much loving.) And, we all realize that these great blessings don't just happen by chance.

There are laws to govern the success we make of these things. If there wasn't, there wouldn't be so many books written on these subjects. You want to know how to make money? Somebody's figured it out and wrote a book about it. (Ten thousand books about it.) You want romance, health, success. Go to the library. The point is, there are laws that govern every aspect of life.

Now, who knows "how to" better than God? Where would we find the best advice on all those subjects? So it boils down to this, search the Bible on any topic and do it. It's just that simple. People find it irksome to have to obey God. That is so-o-o insane. We want to succeed, but we don't want to do what it takes to succeed, or to be happy, or to be healthy, or to be lovers. Insanity!!!

So says the Preacher to his Tribe

Oblivious

It's been a beautiful day in Lake Woebegone, uh, I mean Loveland, Colorado, sunny and warm with a cool breeze. The Sabbath will soon be here, praise the Lord. I talked with my wife this morning. All is as well as can be expected. Somebody was suppose to make windows for her and they didn't. She drove to Mafinga to pick them up, approximately four hours, and the guy hadn't done anything. You can imagine how frustrating that must be. She surely will become the most patient woman around if she can take this nonsense sweetly.

The Baumans from Walla Walla will be going to join her on September 1. We are all praying this new family works out. If they do, my wife should be able to spend more time in America. Meeting her standard, however, may not be that easy. We'll see.

A new Faith Ventures magazine should be going to the press this week. And, that's the news.

Sometimes I think. (We ought to give ourselves to thinking, sometimes.) Proverbs 10:19 says, "In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin." We don't know how bad it really is. We are sinful, i.e. full of sin. Can a clean thing come of the unclean? Can perfection come out of imperfection? Can the pure come from the corrupt? It's impossible! If we fully realized our real state of being, we would be apologizing all the time, or we'd keep our yaps shut. (I had to apologize to someone who was oblivious that I had said something wrong, this morning.) How careful we would be; how humble; how merciful when others would say something untoward.

Though all of that is true, Jesus makes up for the shortfall with His own perfection. Otherwise, we are all toast. It blows me away. People go on as if God doesn't exist, while He sustains, protects, blesses, and makes up for our deficiencies. He doesn't just make up for the Christian's deficiencies, He makes up for everyone's sin. Otherwise, all would be fried. In oblivion they go, living like they are the center of the universe. Indulging as many lusts as they can without destroying themselves too quickly. Lord, how do we get through to our own heads, much less theirs? If only we could see.

So says the Preacher to his Tribe.

Disappointed

Drizzly day. I just finished preaching a sermon on freedom, giving a beautiful picture of how God offers salvation. I expect the two families from Czech Republic today. I'll have to go out and buy food. I ate at this family's house some years ago. The meal consisted of European breads, very substantial, dark and crusty with various pates and tomatoes. I don't know if I can duplicate that cuisine, but I'll do my best.

I got word from my lover that she will not be coming from Africa to ASI this year. She has too much work to do. She has a family coming from Walla Walla, WA., and she has no house ready for them. So duty calls.

Surprisingly, I feel disappointed. The reason its a surprise is that I understand duty and its demands. The voice of duty is the voice of God, right? I am not disappointed intellectually, it's a heart thing. We were planning a vacation in August. Every now and again I think to just go away for a few days, but I never do it. Where would I go? And who would I go with? No one. So I stay and work.

We've got more than twenty people coming for the Lifestyle Session starting on Sunday. We'll have our noses to the grindstone. Especially seeing that Leasa will be gone for most of the month. On the 21st of July, I need to go to the Oak Haven Convention. Then Jason comes in and we go to the ASI Convention together. That will be fun.

That's today's news.

July 4th

It's Monday morning and all is well . . . I think. I got a text message from my wife saying the paper work is done for the Bauman family. They now can make their way to Mago, Tanzania. I need to call them this morning with the good news. I sure hope they still want to go.

My wife is starting to fudge, as she always does at this time of year. She was suppose to come home from July 21 to Sept 6, and as usual the work starts to look overwhelming and she calls to see how I'll take to the idea of her not coming, or her coming just for ASI. It's a disappointment to me, but I happen to understand the call of duty above other calls. So, if that is duty calling, so be it.

Yesterday was Sunday. I like Sundays, usually, because I can get some things done that I haven't much time for during the week. Yesterday, I managed to prepare a sermon. That is always such a blessing. This week I have to preach twice, and I have little time to get it all together.

I got caught up on all my e-mails, put out the campus mail because my Secretary is on vacation, and got ready for a picnic we planned for the campus. That was fun. Well, it might have been fun. A huge storm came up and chased us home. So much rain fell that HWY 27 was flooded in many places. Half a dozen driveways were washed out onto the road. Our Annex (Lifestyle Center) was flooded with about an inch of water on the bottom floor, and the store floor was filled with mud. Being the 4th of July, we were suppose to go watch the fireworks at Loveland lake, but I just went to bed instead. I don't know if anyone went to watch.

Today is a day off for my staff because July 4th fell on a Sunday. I'm going to go finish cleaning up at the Annex.

Till next time.

Life is Adventure

I took a flying trip to the General Conference, in Atlanta, this weel. OCI decided to have a board meeting while everyone but yours truly was there. I never would have gone otherwise. Lots of people in a big party mode. I arrived late afternoon Tuesday and left late morning on Thursday. On Wednesday I sat through four meetings--the OCI board, the Search Committee, a Country Haven board, and a meeting to address minor issues between two brothers. (I get invited to these stressful events because I am the board chairman and because I do it, it gives other people an excuse not to have to.)

All the meetings went well. The Search Committee holds my interest more than the others. I have no desire to be president of OCI although a few people wish I would change my mind. I'm interested because the dynamics are intriguing and my future is somewhat intertwined with the outcome. I'll let you know when it is all over. There are many people who could do the job, but few of them are free to do it. The way I see it, the Lord will have to free the individual He wants in that position, or we will need to choose the ones that are currently available namely the present VP. When the person is found and agrees to be president, then he must have a hand in choosing his own vice-president.

All is well. I hope you are following my children's blogs. Jason's is an extreme adventure in practical missionary work. Angie's is extreme adventure in child rearing. Something akin to a domestic rodeo, and Julie's is extreme adventure in the realm of gifts falling from heaven.

Let us never get bent out of shape because someone's done us a bad turn or things don't turn out as we wish they did. We fight not against flesh and blood or against God. What others do to us, God chose to allow, and He allows nothing but that which is for our good or the good of His cause. Be free, be happy, "nothing shall by any means hurt you." Luke 10:19.

So says the Preacher to his Tribe.