How do I reach you brother?

I had a good talk with a brother who I will call "Valiant". Valiant is a lost soul who lives on the street in Saskatoon. He isn't lost because he doesn't know Jesus. In fact, he professes to know Him quite well and can quote scripture all day long. He even considers himself a warrior in God's army. But Valiant is so very lost. I believe he has had things happen in his life that caused him such pain that it overwhelmed him. He lives on the street, owning nothing but what he carries in his backpack.

His story is all too familiar and he and others like him are who I wrote about in
"Brothers Under The Bridge".

Valiant is a Vietnam vet. He was involved in mass murders and has personally known serial killers, plane hijackers, big drug dealers, etc. He saw his own son killed in a tractor accident.

At least these are the things he talks about. Very troubling memories. . . . .if they are real. They may not be, or at least they may not ALL be. They may be something his mind has invented because of the trauma in his life but it doesn't matter, they are the reality that he lives in.

God has given me a burden for Valiant but I am at a loss to know how to reach him. He is a great challenge to me but God's call to me is greater and I have to believe God knows what He is doing and will equip me to accomplish His will.

Recently Valiant came to the local farmers market and set up a table and started preaching. He didn't ask anyone's permission and his language is quite colorful. The market manager was quickly called and Valiant pulled out a knife to help make his case. I got there and took Valiant aside. Everyone gave us a lot of space (Valiant can be a little intimidating), and we had a good talk until the market was over.

I love Valiant like the brother he is and I ask you to pray for him and pray for me that I can be a channel for God to use to reach Valiant and the others like him.

Remember, we're all in this together. . .

Jim

The Truth Behind The "Duck Dynasty"

Watch "Duck Dynasty's Willie Robertson Speaks About His Faith at Harding University - November 28, 2012" on YouTube

If you love "Duck Dynasty", watch this link.

Tragedy on the farm

I haven't posted for a long time and so it is sad that I have to tell of a tragedy on the first post back.

I woke up this morning to find one of our dogs had strangled himself in his kennel during the night. "Buddy" was a Bichon/Shitzu cross and we had had him since he was born.

We lost his brother a few years ago when he got run over. We also lost his step-brother Spitfire who was a cat (he thought he was a dog) that Maggie (Buddy's mother) had raised as one of her own. We think that the coyotes probably got him as he just disappeared.

Amimals dying is just a part of life in the country but what makes this so hard to take is that he was in his kennel in the house. Supposedly safe and secure.

Buddy had trouble sleeping. Or maybe he just slept enough during the day that he didn't want to sleep all night. In any case he would wake up and start barking and wake up the other dogs who, sometimes, would also start barking. Of course that would wake up everyone else......

Buddy also had a funny sounding, high pitched, yipping kind of bark. He would sound so desperate and we got up many times to see what was the matter. But it was always because he was bored. He also became an escape artist. He chewed his way through 3 plastic kennels so we had to get him a steel kennel. We thought it was escape-proof. This morning he pushed at one of the top corners and somehow got it unhooked and pushed his head through. He couldn't get the rest of his body through and he couldn't pull his head back. The harder he pulled back, the tighter it pinched his neck. He raised quite a commotion but since we were so used to him yipping and barking for no reason in the night, I just yelled at him to shut up and go to sleep.

Joni got up first because she had to start baking for the farmers market tomorrow. She came back into the bedroom and told me Buddy had strangled himself and was dead. I rushed out and found him hanging there. The wires in the kennel were bent and twisted where he had desperately clawed at them to escape. We were both overwhelmed with guilt for ignoring his cries for help but he didn't sound any different than he did the hundreds of times before.

I think of the story of the boy who cried wolf so many times that when there really was a wolf nobody paid any attention to him. I also think about his rebellious nature. He hated being caged. It was for his own good but how do you explain that to a dog? He pushed the limits all the time. He would rather dig through the garbage and spread it all over the floor or rip open the bag of dogfood than to eat the food we set out for him. When we let the dogs come inside they know they are supposed to go straight to their kennels. Buddy however, always tried to see how much of the house he could get to before we forced him into his "bed".

He was very prideful and it was very hard on him when Ryan brought "Goose" home, who was a much larger dog. Buddy was deposed as "king of the yard" and it was a huge blow to his ego. His resentment of that caused him to become even more rebellious to any authority figures. He was my dog and everybody knew it including him. He was my buddy. I think I identified with him because of his rebellious attitude. I saw a lot of my own nature in him. I think of how much easier his life might have been if he had been more agreeable to authority and I think about myself and wonder if I am causing myself unnecessary problems. And I wonder if my attitude, like Buddy's, will eventually cause my death too.

God must look at me much like I look at Buddy, admiring the strength of will but seeing how it causes me problems and wanting more for me. I don't want to be submissive to the world but I do want, very much, to be submissive to God. I am much like Buddy, who didn't like to listen to authority and challenged almost every command he was given, but he would obey me. (As least he obeyed me more than anyone else). I think that I do obey God but I know that I could obey better and faster than I do. I'm not sure if it's rebellion or just thick-headedness that holds me back but I know that I can improve. Maybe the point to this is to learn that, unlike Buddy, I still have time to change my ways and become more pliable for God. Life isn't forever (at least not on this earth) so we need to cram as much living into this life as possible. We don't have the time to waste dragging our feet and being rebellious.

Good bye my little Buddy. Please forgive me for ignoring your cries for help. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. God help me to forgive myself. I love you and I won't forget you.

Rest in Peace

Last indoor market tomorrow!

Today we are getting ready for the market in Saskatoon tomorrow. Joni is busy baking bread and I still have to replace the water pump on our Mitsubishi Pajero. I've been nursing it along pouring water in every 100 miles or so but it has been getting steadily worse. Fortunately the new water pump came in so now I have to change it out. Water pumps aren't much fun to change but this one doesn't look too bad. Need to get it done though because we need to leave by 5:00am tomorrow morning because it's 2.5hrs to get to Saskatoon and then get set up by 8:00am opening time. Normal winter schedule!

Next week we will be outside at the market. Summer is starting!!! That means getting the awnings out and fire up the bus and get it ready for the season. (We use an old handi-van to haul the baking and produce to the markets)

We also need to get started on getting the farm ready for planting. Not today though because it is raining and sometimes snowing!!!!! Our farming amounts to planting as much vegetables as we think we can manage to look after. We have access to some really good markets which are crying for more produce but we can't begin to produce enough.

We are in GREAT NEED of people to partner with us. I wrote about this on "The Vision" we have for this farm. If you would like to be a part of what we would like to do, please call us. WE NEED YOU. Planting time is on us already. And I better get to work changing that water pump......

Should we obey the law?

Oh boy, I hesitate to wade into this one because I'm sure to step on some people's toes. I know that people have some strong beliefs on this issue and I want to apologise in advance for some of the thoughts I am going to bring out here. I am not trying to antagonise you but rather to make you think and after you've read this if you don't agree with me that's fine.


Lately I have heard a lot of talk about obeying the laws of the land. I've heard it preached from the pulpit, "Obey the law, God won't bless you if you don't follow the law." Some brothers and I were talking about this over coffee recently. They were expressing their view that we need to abide by the rules such as speed laws and such. They brought up the fact that we need to set an example for others. We often ride with non-Christian brothers. Will our testimony be ruined if we break the law in some way when we are out riding with them? Will other Christians who know us doubt our salvation if they see us riding over the posted limit? If we die in an accident, will we actually lose our salvation if we were speeding when we were killed? Are we out of the will of God if we knowingly break the law?


I understand these views and I am not suggesting that we should ignore the rules or take breaking them lightly. But I have to ask, what price will we pay to obey the rules? I know many people who tippie-toe through life, being careful to never break the law, always being honest on their taxes and having them in on time, never speeding and would never answer their cell phone while they were driving. All of this sounds fine but I have to wonder, how far will we go to abide by the law of the land?


Let's just remember who controls this land we live in.



Luke 4:5  And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
Luke 4:6  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

Luke 4:7  If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

Luke 4:8  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
I am concerned that we, as believers in Christ, are being too weak in our lives. We are acting like the sheep that we are and not like the eagles that we should be.


I believe that hard times are coming for the whole world and especially so for the body of Christ. If you are one of those who believes we should always obey the law, what will you do when they pass a law forbidding Christians from assembling together? What will you do when they pass a law forbidding you to wear a cross around your neck? What will you do when they start issuing $200.00 tickets for having a fish sign on your car? This is persecution and it is coming! Are you going to be ready or are you going to follow along like a sheep to the slaughter?


What will you do when the government requires you to get a computer chip implanted? They will tell you that this is to eliminate crime and they will tell you that it is the law to get it done. Will you do it? Because you want to obey the law?





Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Obeying the law, following the rules, is taught to us from the moment we are born. We are taught to accept without thinking. We are taught to conform. Conform to society. Conform to the status quo. Conform to the world. Remember who controls the world? What does the bible say?





Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
We are being "conditioned". Conditioning is a process where we are made more sheep-like every day. This has been going on all our lives. For generations. It is the way of the world. It is the way that the devil controls us so we can't cause him too many problems. Good law-abiding people. Controllable.


We need to renew our minds. We need to be transformed from the lowly controllable sheep that we are now to the majestic, powerful, free-soaring Eagles that God wants us to be.


Part of that mind-change is understanding that we have been set FREE. I am not saying that we should go around breaking as many laws as we can. But, if we break a law now and then, we should not condemn ourselves or our brothers because CONDEMNATION IS SIN.




John 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
People, both Christian and non-Christian, who are religiously following all the laws of the land and speaking out against those who don't are working for the side of darkness. They are puppets of the devil and they are trying to prevent your mind from being renewed.



Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
I know that this is a tough thing for many people. After all, we have been taught to obey the law all our lives. And remember that we will still have to pay any tickets that we may get, but we need to free ourselves from this mind-set of blindly following the rules. It's easy to follow along and not create waves. It would be easy for me to not speak out against this. But God never said that we would have it easy.

We need to be obedient to God. Obedience to the world's laws is OK but we need to be focusing on God first and obey Him first. I am concerned that the body of Christ cannot see the difference. We are going to find ourselves having to make a choice between them very soon and I wonder if we will be able to decide properly if we have never challenged the devil and his laws before. This will confound many.



Mat 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
God has promised to give us help but we can't change a lifetime of "conditioning" overnight. Renewing our minds takes time and time is getting short.



Isa 40:29  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Isa 40:30  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
Isa 40:31  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Let's learn to fly like EAGLES and let's start TODAY.

The Lone Wolf

I've posted quite a bit, on this blog, about my story and about the importance of Brotherhood. What I want to write about today is a little different. At first it may seem to be the opposite of brotherhood, but its not. This is another facet of brotherhood. This is about being complete in your own being. This is about being a 'Lone Wolf '.

I have spoken a lot about how important and desirable it is to be a part of a brotherhood. But a brotherhood is not like a colony of bees who are completely dependant on each other. If we cannot live and act on our own, if we can't stand on our own feet, we are not ready to be part of a brotherhood. Brothers are not several parts of a whole, they are complete individuals on their own. Only when they can stand independently, are they ready to be a part of a brotherhood.

Let's look at wolves. Some people will tell you that a lone wolf is not natural because wolves are a pack animal. These people are, what I like to call, wrong. They are partially right because wolves do hunt in packs. They are also partially right because wolves do interact on a very social level. But wolves do not form herds.

Many animals form herds for protection and for social reasons. Herds have one leader and the rest are followers. Leaders of herds are constantly being challenged for the leadership. If a challenger wins the leadership, the rest of the herd will abandon the first leader and will follow the new leader.

If you look around you, I'm sure you can see the same thing happening in human society. Indeed, we can see the same thing in our churches. The pastor will preach about something and most of the congregation will simply accept whatever is said as fact. One leader and most of the rest follow. I say most because some of the people in the congregation will be looking up different scriptures to make sure that what is being preached is in line with the rest of scripture. These few people do not blindly follow what someone else says. These few people are independent thinkers. They weigh what is said against their own beliefs and decide, in their own mind, whether to accept the teaching or not. These people are not easily swayed with emotion and will not be carried away with the latest fads of belief. Because they don't follow the herd, they are often shunned by the leader of the herd and by the herd itself. They are branded "not a team player" and sometimes called a "lone wolf".

Wolves are independent thinkers. Several wolves hunting in a pack operate like a co-operative. They will work together to accomplish a goal but they are still independent of each other. Wolves are quite often seen alone or out teaching their cubs how to hunt. We have wolves living about 4 miles west of our yard. It is rare to see more than one at a time.

Independent thinkers, like wolves, are what make up a Brotherhood. People who can and do think for themselves can band together for their mutual benefit, but they are still unique individuals. This is the big difference from a herd.

I wanted to get involved with a motorcycle club. I looked around for quite a while, trying to find a club or group to join. I didn't want to join a 1%er club and I didn't want to join a club that spent their time in the bar. I like to ride and if I was going to join a motorcycle club, I wanted to spend most of the time riding. I met some great guys who rode with the CMA (Christian Motorcycle Association) and I liked what they were doing and the fact that they liked to ride, but when I looked into it, I found out that they have 45 pages of rules to agree to. It seemed that they were trying to come up with a rule to apply to every possible situation. I thank God for them but it didn't seem like the right fit for me. I kept looking and I finally found the "Lone Wolves". The Lone Wolves are all independent free spirits like myself who just want to get together and ride. There are no dues, you don't have to ride a certain make or style of bike, and everyone is welcome. I knew instantly that this was the place for me.

I believe that God led me to the Lone Wolves, partly because I'm such a misfit that it's the only place I would fit, and partly because I get to rub shoulders with every type of biker out there. I can wear my patch proudly in any company. I can wear it to a Hells Angels meet or wear it to church. I am accepted as a brother biker no matter where I go. The patch says to the world that I don't fit in any conventional pigeon holes and bikers understand that.

I am an independent thinker and a loner but I am also part of a brotherhood.

I am proud to be a  "Lone Wolf "

Choices

This is another song by Bruce Springsteen called  'Jesus Was An Only Son'.
He stops the song in a couple of places to contemplate the choices that Jesus made at the end of His earthly life. Give it a listen.

                    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPrFlbitSro

Jesus didn't have to die on that cross. He didn't even have to be there. Jesus was just as much a man as you or I are. Most people center in on Jesus being God but right now I want you to think about His humanity. He didn't have to live the life He did, He chose to. If there are 1000 ways to die (like the TV show), He didn't have to die in the worst way there was to die in those days. He didn't have to die at all. He chose to.

Springsteen mentions that the weather would have been nice at that time of year and wonders if Jesus could have chosen to open a bar, get married, have some kids. And why not? He could have done anything that He wanted. Instead He chose to follow His Father's plan and let himself be tortured and killed. Choices.

I think about some of the choices I've made in my life and I wonder why God would care about me at all. and yet He does. Choices.

When I make a bad decision it's understandable because I have to make it with no knowledge of what the outcome will be. Jesus KNEW what was going to happen and He still went. Choices.

Our lives are the result of the choices we make along the way. We can never go back and change the bad ones and it's good we can't because making bad choices and falling down and having to get back up is how we grow. It's how we learn. I've made so many bad choices in my life that I should be a lot smarter than I am now! I must be a really slow learner. lol. But I did make one good choice, to accept Jesus and His choice to die. . . .for me!

The last verse of the song says:


          Well Jesus kissed his mother's hands
          Whispered, "Mother, still your tears,
          For remember the soul of the universe
          Willed a world and it appeared


Choices. It's what Life is all about.