Reflections of Eternity

As I looked through my kitchen window while making tea the other morning, I saw the most glorious sunrise.  Mist was lying low along the conture of the snow covered fields, snow clad trees were backlit by the orange glow of the rising sun and steam rose from the sun kissed creek.  I was overcome with the sheer beauty of God's perfect creation.

I have often looked at the world around me and pondered 1 Corinthians 13:12 "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face; now I know in part; but then I shall know even as also I am known."  Gazing out my window, I thought of the scene before me, imagining I was looking through a glass darkly.  How glorious would that view be in Heaven, when I was "face to face"?  If I am only seeing a shadow now, what will my eyes behold when I finally see clearly?

It's easy for people to imagine the wonders of Heaven, even with our imperfect understanding.  We may not be able to fully grasp its glory, but we know it will be magnificent, glorious beyond our wildest dreams.....most perfect.  It is this Heaven that people speak of when they say things like "They're in a better place".  It is this Heaven that comforts people when they look at the brokenness of this world and long for the perfection of the next.  It is easy to imagine the glory of perfection - to know that the beauty of this world is but a poor reflection of a glorious eternity.

But what about the other side of the looking glass?  Have you ever pondered the ugliness of this world?  The sin, the hate, the death, the agony?  What if, just as Heaven will be more glorious than anything we could possibly imagine, Hell is more horrific than our human minds can possibly comprehend?  What if the anguish, the sorrow, the excruciating torment we see all around us was but a dim reflection of what is to be?

I stood in my kitchen gazing across the beautiful landscape with tears in my eyes.  How very foolish I have been.  I have been quick to talk about the wonders of Heaven, but never mention the unspeakable nightmare of Hell.  I have held my tongue when I should have spoken.   Have I, by not speaking, consigned some to a Hell worse than anything I could possibly imagine?  Is the evil of this world but a dim reflection of the next, reserved for those who have refused to bend their knee?  God forbid that I hold my tongue!  If I am but seeing through a glass, darkly, I cannot comprehend what will be that reality, but I know, with everything in my being, that I wouldn't see one lost to that eternal, vile darkness.

My tongue has been loosed.  I will speak His truth.  I now understand that Heaven will be Glory, beyond my imagination.  And Hell is a darkness I can't begin to fathom.

Returning to the God of our fathers....

As a little girl, I learned about Jesus at my parents' knee.  I listened as they talked of spiritual things and sang as they lifted hymns up to heaven.  I prayed simple, childlike prayers and believed with a simple, childlike faith.  I went to church and Sunday school, said grace before dinner and prayed before bed.  I was a Christian......or at least I was to the best of my knowledge.

I grew up and grew away......I would have adamantly acknowledged Christ as my Savior....believing in Him with everything in me, however, the choices in my life did not reflect that belief.  I lived for myself, with an occasional nod to my Creator.  I wanted to be both a "Christian" and like everyone else in the world.  I worshiped the God of my fathers.....but I hadn't made Him my own.

As with all prodigals, I was brought low by my choices.  When the scales finally fell from my eyes, I fell to my knees and sought God....truly sought Him for the first time.  Rather than relying on my fathers' faith, I began to earnestly seek the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

And I have never quit seeking Him.

Through the years I have walked and I have stumbled, crawled and walked again.  God has gently brought me along, refining and remaking me.  And as He has continued to mold and shape me I have begun to question....never God, but every ritual and contrivance of man.  Why do we sit in pews, pass out grape juice and crackers and have "communion" once a month?  Why does every church I've ever been to follow the same script.... Announcements, Prayer, Praise & Prayer, Worship (3 songs), Prayer, Sermon (1/2 hour), Communion (if its the first Sunday of the month) Hymn (1st and last verse), and then Prayer?  Why do we sit in the same seats, chat with the same people and get involved with the same programs?    Why do we look like every other church in every other town in every other state?  And why are we just as lost and hopeless as the world around us?  The answer?  Man.

Man has created rituals and systems and programs with which to measure holiness.  However, rather than holiness they create emptiness - which brings me back to the question......why?  Why do we "worship" the way that we worship?  Why do we follow conventional form and function rather than search the scriptures to find how the first "church" followed Christ?

We're returning to the God of our fathers.....therein lies the reason we follow the rituals and contrivances of man.  Instead of seeking to follow the Christ of the Bible we are following the forms and conventions of the Roman Catholic Church, from which the Protestant Church was born.

The first church was a church of simple faith.  They gathered in homes, had everything in common and their numbers grew daily.  They broke bread together, ministered to each others needs, worshiped, shared news and were filled with the Holy Spirit.  They became the body of Christ, bound by chords of brotherly love.

That simple faith was slowly and completely replaced with the pageantry and ritual that is the Catholic Church.  Simplicity gave way to the worship of saints, a human priest once again became a go-between between man and God, and the sufficiency of Christ was replaced with penance and purgatory.  And thus the world was thrust into an age of darkness.

The Protestant Church was the rebellious child of the Catholic Church.  They wanted throw off the conventions of their Mother church, but never completely shed the deeply ingrained rituals associated  with their faith.  And the older the Protestant church becomes, the more they become like their parent.

Our quest for holiness should lead us to the simple faith of the Bible not to the rituals of man.  We should seek to return to the simple faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob not the pageantry of man-made religion.  We should ask why....and then we should search the scripture for the truth.

We have to return to the God of our true fathers.....not the God of our church fathers.  "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."  Matthew 6:33

Charity Gone Wrong

The Real World Consequences of the Misapplication of "Compassion"

San Francisco.  Seattle.  Denver.  Cities littered with drug needles, human waste, used condoms and the detritus associated with the hopelessness of third-world countries.   And yet this is the United States of America.  Or was.......

Over the years, as our country has been increasingly influenced by progressive elite idealists, we have been forced into a kind of Situational Justice.  Right and wrong, good and bad, has been replaced by a  politically driven narrative that preaches "charity" and "compassion", but in fact leaves a post-apocalyptic waste land in its wake.

When I was a child, my family lived on Vashon Island, an island in Puget Sound - about a 15 minute Ferry boat ride from Seattle.  My father had been born and raised on Vashon and my mom hailed from West Seattle, moving to Vashon when she was in high school.  Our family had (and still has) deep roots in the area.  When I was 8, we moved to the outback of Idaho, but spent every family vacation in Seattle or on Vashon.  I remember being so excited when we descended Snoqualamie Pass knowing we were almost there!  Back then North Bend seemed way out in the country and Issaquah far removed from Seattle.  By the time we were on Mercer Island, I was mesmerized, and crossing Lake Washington over the Floating Bridge (through the tunnels) was fantastic.  As we'd get closer to downtown, I could smell the salt water and I never failed to breath deep of its heady fragrance.  As we drove, I marveled at one of the things I loved most about the city....it's amazing beauty.  I loved the ivy-covered walls and the manicured parks.  The thick underbrush and myriad shades of green were truly worthy of the name "The Emerald City".  It's beauty was unparalleled.

That was then.  Now, my beautiful city has succumbed to the misapplication of compassion and the consistent use of situational justice.

Progressive Socialists love to tell you that they are all about the "little man".  They tout "compassion" and "charity" and "equality" as their core values, however, the implementation of their vision produces nothing resembling their "Utopia".  Unless of course, their utopia includes rampant disease, pervasive drug use and violent, mentally deranged human masses.  Which apparently it does, because that is what we have achieved.

We keep hearing the buzzword "homelessness".  We also keep hearing about the homeless crisis and about how these poor people have no where to turn - they have been driven to the streets by an oppressive society ruled by White Male Nationalists.  They commit crimes, but they have no choice - society made them do it.  Money must be spent.  Charity must be given.  Compassion must prevail.  And justice must be dispensed based upon individual situations.

It turns out, we don't have a "homeless" problem.  We have a drug problem.  And we have a drug problem, because we have encouraged it through our misapplied "charity".  And once we have them hooked on drugs, we must have "compassion" and the only way to show them "compassion" is through "situational" justice.

We have encouraged our country's drug problem by not holding people responsible for their own actions.  We have chosen to support generation after generation of people unwilling to take care of themselves or their own, destroying their self-worth and killing their souls.  We have given to them without expecting them to contribute to their own lives.  And in the process, we have destroyed a nation.  We have given "charity" to the detriment of generations.

Work is good for the soul.  By not requiring people to work, we have contributed to a population that feels hopeless and useless.  And as a result, our people have increasingly turned to drugs to dull their pain.  And to make ourselves feel better, we give them more....more money, more drugs, more chances.  We call it "compassion" but in reality we are kin to the great destroyer.  We are killing people with "kindness".  We are not "compassionate" when we give people "safe" places to shoot-up. We are not "compassionate" when we give money to someone sleeping on the street so they can get another hit.  We are not being "charitable" when we allow situational justice to be the law of the land.  We are killing ourselves.....we are killing our families....we are killing our nation.

I read once that "charity is a finely-tuned instrument, and many there are who wound both themselves and others for want of skill in using it".  I couldn't agree more!  We have wounded both ourselves and our children with the wrongful use of charity.  We have done by far more harm than good.

Charity, compassion and justice, when used correctly, are the beautiful hallmarks of a Christian nation.  When they have been twisted, however, they become ugly, hateful tools of destruction.  We have a responsibility to use these tools wisely or they will be the very instruments of our demise.  And it would appear that our path is clear......

Socialism.....the Greatest Pinterest Fail of All Time

japanese-pancakes-266949

We've all seen them....the amazing pictures of perfection that populate the pages of Pinterest.  Photo after photo of picture-perfect living rooms, outdoor adventures and drool-worthy culinary creations.  Pinterest serves to inspire our senses....but in reality, more often than not, it does little more than set us up for complete and total failure, followed by abject self-loathing.  Our living rooms never look quite as perfect (people actually live in our homes), our adventures are rarely as exotic or romantic (we have limited budgets and children in tow) and our culinary endeavors are more likely to mimic those of our mother's than the French chef that inspired the chocolate raspberry macaron with vanilla bourbon glaze.  And yet, in spite of knowing these truths, we still haunt the pages of Pinterest, looking for inspiration, beauty and a new, better way of living our lives.

I, too, wade through the pages of Pinterest, looking for small-space storage solutions and tea-table inspiration.  I search for recipes and tiny-home layouts and permaculture tips.  I am inspired and encouraged and, more often than not, humored by the outrageously perfect scenes promoted in the name of "simple" living, knowing that simplicity has very little to do with perfection.  And, I take great delight in wandering through page after page of "Pinterest Fails" - the aptly named before and after pictures, taken by real people attempting to re-create the perfection depicted in the Pinterest photos, only to fail miserably, and have enough good humor to post their failures for the world to enjoy.

Not too long ago, I stumbled across a recipe entitled "Scottish Pancakes".  These pancakes looked AMAZING!  They were thick and perfect - light, golden and impossibly fluffy.  I was instantly intrigued.  I'd never seen anything like these cakes of perfection and I immediately clicked on the link, knowing I HAD to attempt this recipe.  I read through the recipe, one and then twice, somewhat confused.  The recipe itself looked like a fairly standard pancake recipe - flour, baking powder, milk egg, etc., nothing out of the ordinary, but the pictures were extraordinary.  I couldn't quite reconcile the photo's with the recipe.  The crumb and consistency were more consistent and dense than a standard pancake.  The shape was tall and perfect, which to me indicated the use of a mold.  The texture looked spongy......so many things didn't make sense!  The ingredients and method should have produced a regular pancake....but those photo's....those were anything but "regular" pancakes!

And so, I read the reviews.  Page after page, person after person, gave these "Scottish Pancakes" 5 star reviews.  "These look amazing", "Sheer Perfection", and on and on and on.  How could this be, I wondered?  I read the recipe again, even more confused than before.  Back to the reviews, only this time, I noticed something.....none of the reviewers had actually made these pancakes.  They were giving the recipe 5 star reviews based on the photo alone!  Every last reviewer had reviewed the photos and not the recipe....imagine that.....giving a recipe review based on a photo and NOT based on the flavor, texture and accuracy of the recipe itself?!

Months later, I happened upon another "Scottish Pancake" recipe that looked the part - golden brown, fresh from the griddle, drizzled with syrup - a typical pancake as we know it - and underneath the photo, another photo of the remarkably different "Scottish Pancakes" that had originally caught my eye.  The recipe went on to acknowledge the original photo was most certainly not that of a Scottish Pancake, but a Japanese Souffle Pancake....a very different beast indeed, one rich with beaten egg whites, butter and vanilla and, lo and behold, baked in a ring mold!  Had any of the reviewers of that original recipe tried to make the mile-high, light and fluffy "Scottish Pancakes", they would have failed every time.....those pancakes could not have been made with that recipe.  Period.

As of late, the news has been full of liberals, both old and young, those anchored in the political system and those just finding their footing, exhorting the beauty and progressive nature of a "New Socialism".  They paint a picture of perfect social harmony, with no extravagant wealth and no abject poverty, where harmony is achieved by proper government oversight.  They sell a world of safety and tolerance and inclusiveness.  Their picture is that of perfection - the reclamation of Paradise Lost.  And the reviews come in fast and furious...."Amazing", "Everything we've ever needed", "Our Brave, New, Tolerant World".  However, the recipe is flawed, and not one of the "reviewers" has actually tried it!  There isn't one person on the American political stage that has actually lived under a socialist government!  Not one!!!  And yet, their reviews of such a government system are glowing - all 5 stars!  Their perspectives are flawed, to say the least.  They've lived lives blessed by the privilege of a free-market economy, all  the while espousing it's evil.  They are reviewing a recipe they've never tried.

The Socialism being sold is just a repackaged version of every form of socialism ever tried.  No matter what picture you post with the recipe, the recipe doesn't work.  There is no world in which redistributing wealth (from those who work, to those who do not) has ever produced social harmony.  Ever.  The recipe does not produce the desired result.  Nor will it ever!  It can't.  The ingredients are wrong.  If you use those ingredients, in any order, with any method, they will produce Cuba and Venezuela and East Germany.  Every. Single. Time.

In reality, liberals are using the picture of a principled, free-market economy (what our formerly Christian nation looked like) and saying that is what Socialism looks like.  It doesn't.  It can't.  Socialism can't and won't produce a thriving, free, sustainable culture and economy.  Socialism doesn't encourage tolerance or safety or financial stability.  It can't sustain justice, equality or freedom.  Socialism is nothing more than a failed social experiment.

Socialism truly is the greatest Pinterest fail of all time.

The Traditions Continue....

It has been three years since the last Highland Hunt!  Three years!!!!  A new home, a new business, a new group of people - and finally, Sir Knight and I mustered the gumption to host another Highland Hunt!  

Actually, our Highland Hunt was the second shoot we hosted this year.  Our first shoot was our church's Men's Retreat shoot.  And since we got the tent out of storage and gathered tables and chair, we thought we should take the opportunity to have friends and family over and host the Highland Hunt in the true Highlands!!  Although we didn't dress up as we usually do, we did cook up a feast and had an incredible afternoon of fun, fellowship and firearms!!  

And now we pick up where we left off!!

Getting ready for the men's retreat

Clays and shot stacked high

A thing of beauty!

Master Hand Grenade, Miss Serenity and Sir Knight, ready to roll

The dessert and drinks table

A few of the shotguns (and Dragon Snack in the background)

The calm before the store (it had been raining and we hadn't put the chairs up around the fire-pit yet)

Some of the vehicles

They even let us girls shoot!!!

Sir Knight and Master Hand Grenade at the Highland Hunt

Miss Serenity killing clays!

Master Hand Grenade

Master Calvin blasting clays (with Sir Knight manning the clay thrower)

Serenity and Calvin shooting together (we ran two clay throwers)

Hand Grenade, Calvin and Sir Knight at the pistol range

My boys!!

Shall we Reacquainted Ourselves??

I'm so very sorry for my silence over the last few months.  I have been hoping and waiting for a "new normal", but I've learned that, for now, there is to be no "new normal".  Our lives have taken such a drastic turn of direction that I seem to be constantly running to catch up.  This is not a bad thing.....just not what I was expecting!!  My "new normal" is that there is no "normal".  Please bear with me as I adjust and re-adjust and adjust again.  This is a great adventure!!

A few pictures to catch us up!!  As some of you know, we now live in "open range" country.  This is both a blessing and a curse.  A blessing because it means we live way out!!!!  A curse because we are constantly running over cow pies - my least favorite sound ever - and we have to fence to keep these destructive critters out!  We spend our summers opening and closing cattle gates every time we leave our house!  I'm telling you, that gets OLD!!!

My parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this summer!!!  50 years!!!  Our family is not one to have huge parties - we're rather quiet folk - so we just had a simple gathering in the back yard with our closest of close.

A backyard celebration

The ever-present gramophone

All set up for tea and cake

Almost ready

The one unique thing we did to celebrate their anniversary was have a cake made to look like a stack of stones.  Why stone you ask?  Because we wanted to remember and be reminded.  So many, many times in the Old Testament, God directed His children to stack piles of stones so they would remember what He had done for them.  He instructed them to tell their children and their children's children what He had done.  He instructed them to stack stones as a memorial to His providence and care for His children.  And we stacked stones with my parents.  The stack of stones in their cake represents the mighty work that God has done in my parents lives - the trials that He has brought them through and blessings He has poured out upon them.  As we visited and laughed and drank tea, my parents told us of His mighty works.  They remembered His goodness.  They told their children and their grandchildren and we remembered.

Sir Knight and Master Hand Grenade

Our joyous, intimate celebration

Sir Knight cutting the Stacked Stones cake

Master Calvin churning ice cream

We haven't been the only busy ones this summer - Miss Serenity has been spending her days fighting wildfires!  She spent many, many hours on the fire line, along with unending hours digging hand lines around potential fire sites.  She worked hard and had the honor of being assigned to a specialized task force that was stationed for initial attacks on fire within a 3 hour radius of her location.  She was on the dozer crew and worked 15 hour days for 21 days in a row!  Such an experience!!

The girls and I recently took a 10 hour road trip and saw some incredibly beautiful country!  On the way home, we stopped at a wooden suspension bridge over a particularly amazing river.  What views!!!  And the bridge itself is a work of art!  It was a much needed pit-stop!!!!

Princess Dragon Snack walking across the bridge.  It swings as you walk!!

Incredible engineering

The water is so clear!!

And this is what we picked up on our road trip!  Now the butcher shop office will be nice and warm!!!  After freezing our toes off last winter, this will be a life-saver!!!

The butcher shop is doing well.  It has been steady, but not busy, through the summer and now we've begun our busy season.  Over the weekend we picked up 14 pigs and 4 steers at the county fair, along with 2 steers, a lamb, 3 pigs, 3 elk and a few other things already hanging in the cooler!  We have a full house!!!

I hope this summer has been a blessing for all of you.  Until next time......

Of Gardens and Life....

Last summer I did very little gardening - just picking from my mother's bountiful harvest when she had extra.  We were so busy remodeling our shop and trying to build a business that we barely had time to sleep, let alone garden.  For the first part of the summer I felt guilty that I wasn't helping in the garden, however, I finally realized that there is a season for everything under the sun and that was a season for building, not for gardening.

This year is different.  We are no longer building a business, but running one and although my days are still full to overflowing, I have the ability to carve out a few hours to dedicate to the garden.  And oh, the joy I feel running my fingers through the soil and breathing in the heady scent of freshly turned earth.

Long before the snow gave way to grass, I began pouring through catalogs and planning my summer garden.  I bought heirloom seeds and started them inside so they would have a good start before hardening them off for the garden beds.  With more rain than sun, my poor little plants have grown a bit yellow and a few have curled their leaves in protest, but most of them have soldiered on and hold the promise of life.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been working the soil, pulling the weeds and building beds, trusting our work will bring sweet rewards.  Today, Sir Knight tilled the big garden (or what he could reach of it with the tractor) and we planted a few more rows.  Potatoes, carrots and lettuce were sown, leaving room for more bush beans and peppers and cabbage.

Freshly tilled

As I was preparing the garden to be tilled, I dug up even more strawberry plants.  We have been giving them away as fast as we can dig them and I'm sure the freshly dug plants will be no different!! It is so much fun to share in our bounty of plants!

More strawberry plants to give away!

Our morning spent in the garden was remarkably timely.  Almost as soon as the tractor was stabled in the equipment shed rain drops began to fall.  We hustled inside and I began an afternoon of cooking and baking.  Miss Serenity leaves tomorrow after church for a 5 month stint as a wildland firefighter and I wanted to send her off with some of her favorite goodies from home.   Oat rolls and Filled Oatmeal cookies are two of Serenity's favorites and they are both full of energy to keep her going through fire school.  While the rolls raised and the cookies baked, I made a big pot of Leek and Potato soup - perfect for a rainy spring day - and even more perfect with fresh-from-the-oven oat dinner rolls!  It was so satisfying to watch the rain water the freshly planted garden while the scent of leeks, potatoes and bread permeated the air.

Potatoes and Leeks ready to go into a soup

Sautéing leeks

Fresh Oat dinner rolls

Filled Oatmeal cookies (AKA Survival Cookies)

Rolls and Cookies packaged and ready for Serenity to take to fire training

Miss Serenity

And today was a red-letter day in another respect.  Maid Elizabeth closed on the sale of her old home - finally!!  Elizabeth was originally supposed to close on her house on May 3rd - one day before her birthday.  Our entire family traveled to her home to move her (including my parents and our pastor).  When we arrived, we learned that the house sale had not closed.  Maid Elizabeth had already quit her job and packed her home, and now, everything was up in the air.  We went ahead and moved her in spite of the complications, and she has spent the last month praying and hoping and praying some more.  After a number of upgrades to her old home, the loan finally went through and her home was sold.  We are rejoicing!!!!  Now, while still in her 20's, Maid Elizabeth owns her home free and clear.  Only God can do that!!!

After a year of upheaval, our entire family are settled here, in the Highlands.  We are together.  We are home.  We are ready to see what God has for us next.  And we are grateful.