Axe-man at the Siege

For me, life has been like siege warfare. I know it is my imagination, but in my imagination, I find myself looking at the ramparts of a stone castle. The castle has a name and it is Cancer.

In siege warfare, there just isn't a lot to write home about. If I wrote it would go, "Hi Mom, another day watching the wall. I touched up the edges on my arrows...again. I keep looking for the enemy commander to make a mistake and present himself for a shot. So far, no chance."

There is a boring but taxing weariness of this warfare. I try to keep alert. I must not get discouraged. But I don't do siege warfare well. My personality is better suited to battle line formations. Those that know me say they think I am an "axe-man". They may be right. I like it when the command is given. The lines close and a short violent battle ensues. Yep, that is my preference, but it doesn't matter. The Commander has decreed that I would participate in this siege, and that's that.

There is some progress, or so they say. The sappers are working numerous tunnels towards the stone walls. It is a slow work, digging digging digging. They say we are making 20 yards a day. Once they get under the wall, they will dig out a chamber, re-enforce it with timber. Then they will fill it with brush. At the right time, the brush will be lit a fire and the whole chamber consumed with flames. The supporting timbers will burn and weaken and the area above will collapse. The castle wall will fall, or so the plan goes. Until then, I try to stay healthy and keep my weapons clean and sharp.

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Jannie is about 1/3 of the way through her chemo treatments. She lost her hair with the first battery of chemo. I think it is beginning to grow back now. Her new chemo treatments leave her tired, but not much else for side effects.

We have to go to Kelowna, two hours away, every couple of weeks for treatments. In between, other treatments are done locally.

We are still engaged in our work, and see progress. We are grateful. May God be glorified through this trial He has been pleased to visit us with. We rest in Him.

Re-Learning History

I have been reading a book called, 1812, War With America, by Jon Latimer. It is a good scholarly investigation into a war that is conspicuously ignored in American history. To the victors of a war, go the rights to spin the history the way they want it. The American revolution against Britain certainly had it "righteous" spin by historians. But the war of 1812, that one is hard to justify. At its core were values of bitterness against Britain, an unvarnished lust for Canada, and pride.

America provoked the war as a land grab. In its pride, it thought it would be a "promenade to Montreal." The Good Book says that "pride goes before a fall," and it certainly proved true in this case. Instead of an easy walk to Montreal, the war provoked the Indian Wars in the then known Western territories. America had bitten off more than it could chew. For the first year of the war, it basically spelled the loss of a lot of land by America. Detroit and Michilimackinac were in Canadian control. The successful response to aggression by America even found the White House, the seat of American government, in flames.

Andrew Jackson survived the war and used it to successfully propel him into a successful political career. He claimed to have killed the mighty Shawnee Chief, Tecumseh. There never was any proof of the claim, but it made good fuel for his bid to the presidency. The First Nations peoples like the Shawnee and the Creeks were vanquished in the war. The land of Ohio, Kentucky and Missouri were open for expansion for the myth of Manifest Destiny.

The story has naval battles for control of the Great Lakes. The British doctrine for naval battle was volume of fire. They liked a lot of guns, (cannons), and were skilled in rapid firing. The Americans believed that only hits count. Like their love of the accurate flintlock rifle, so they employed naval guns that could out-reach the British guns. They didn't shoot as fast as the British, but they soon dominated the Great Lakes being able to blast anyone out of the way at distance.

Maybe I am beginning to understand how Canadians view their neighbors south of the long undefended border. It isn't exactly like the view from the American side.

"The only really decisive and lasting result of the War of 1812 was the complete British victory in Canada that secured Canadian independence. It would reverberate through history to 1914 and again to 1939, when, in Britain's darkest hours of need, Canada stood proudly by its side." (p.408)

Day by Day

Words to the hymn, Day by Day,

by Carolina Sandell Berg:

Day by day and with each passing moment,

Strength I find to meet my trial here;

Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,

I've no reason for worry or for fear.

He whose heart is kind beyond all measure

Gives unto each day what He deems best;

Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,

Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Ev'ry day the Lord Himself is near me

With a special mercy for each hour;

All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,

He whose name is Counselor and Power.

The protection of His child and treasure

Is a charge that on Himself He laid;

"As your days, your strength shall be in measure,"

This the pledge to me He has made.

Help me then in ev'ry tribulation,

So to trust Your promises, O Lord;

That I lose not faith's sweet consolation,

Offered me within Your holy Word.

Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,

E'er to take, as from a father's hand,

One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,

Till I reach the promised land.

Welfare Mentality

Our society doesn't think highly of lazy moochers. Oh, people may not say it out loud, free speech being suppressed by "political correctness"; but they think it. I am not talking about people who can't work do to real physical or mental handicaps. I am thinking about the physically fit and mentally capable men and women who are just lazy. They are always on the take, and never give. They expect some one to provide for them as though it were a fundamental human right. On top of it, in keeping with the "right" to be egocentric, they don't say "thank you" either.

As offensive as those people are, I wonder how the rest of us would do if we were tested? I know people that work and pay their taxes, but are they any better than the lazy moochers? God says, in Romans 1:21, "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to Him." When I think about it, it seems really quite incredible that we are given the gift of life. Our heart beats and we take our next breath because God gives it to us. It is God who gives us intellectual abilities, talents, our gender, and do we take it for granted? God gives us food. It might have been oatmeal, that's all we get, all day, every day. But no, God gives us a huge variety of foods with different colors, textures, and flavors. It isn't a "right" to receive the countless benefits we receive daily. If God were playing by the rules of "rightness", our personal rebellions against Him each day would demand judgement, and that wouldn't be fun.

Romans 1:21 point out that thankfulness ought to be the obvious mark of all mankind. Lazy people with a welfare mentality are offensive to those people that work and pay taxes; but God finds the socially acceptable people, those who work, offensive when they do not honor Him, the giver of all life and abilities. Imagine taking for granted your next breath, and not being thankful?!

Taking the idea one step further, imagine being a child of God, one who professes to love God, and then living without thankfulness? Philippians 4:4-7, Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

"Oh Lord, help me to live in thankfulness, and please forgive me when I forget."

A Pleasant Read

We are out in a rural area, with mountains to the north, south, and west. The only way we could have TV signals is if we signed up with the local satellite TV service. We had that in the house in Salmon Arm. We were disgusted with the poor programming. Like, every month, they programmed a week of The Green Mile. It wasn't just one channel either, try six. So, when we moved to the new house, we both agreed that satellite TV wasn't going to get our support, and we do without it.

Instead of turning on the "tube" for a relaxing break, we pick up a book. We have a little library of perhaps 500 books. (I know, it is too small, but I am working at building it up.) About 350 books are related to knowing God and Christian living. The others are about architecture, art, gardening, history, hunting, archery, and First Nations studies.

I recently picked up a book on Ebay, about the life of a hero of mine from my childhood. It was about Daniel Boone. The books I read about him in the school libraries painted the romantic adventurer in the lush forests of Kentucky. This new book, 430 pages, was written by John M. Faragher. His historical work stripped away the romantic and revealed the rheumatism, lice, starvation, and gore which was common at the edge of the frontier.

I chose this book as a pleasant read, but it has turned out to vex my soul. I read about naked aggression from my hero, who pursued taking lands which were occupied by Shawnee People. It wasn't that the land was vacant and so Daniel and thousands of other white people simply occupied it. He was met and clearly informed by the Shawnee where their land was and to stay off of it. Heedless of the warning, the land grab was on, and blood flowed on both sides.

When I look at it from the Shawnee view point, I think their response with war against the invaders is reasonable. The Shawnee were a private "keep to themselves" people. They didn't meddle with the neighboring tribes, which in the end contributed to their defeat. If they had joined the Iroquois Confederacy and the British, they would have had enough power to not only save their homes and lands, but the history of the USA would have developed quite differently; but they didn't.

I try to understand the mindset of the white pioneers at the frontier. It was a very different time. A time when "them that had the weapons, made the rules." It was like, "might made right." I don't agree with the utter contempt that the pioneers had for the Indians. Maybe it was the idea of Manifest Destiny which excused the treaty breaking, murder, and conquering of the Shawnee lands.

I sit and read about a tragedy. A tragedy for the Shawnee People. It was a tragedy in Daniel Boone's life, too. His brother and two of his son's perished in the land grab wars. I thought it would be a pleasant read, but it isn't. What makes it worse is that it is a true story.

Rev.21

I was fixing breakfast, before going hunting. My back was sore, and I was moving slowly, warming up to the day. A day with daylight still two hours away.

While I was sipping my warmed over coffee from yesterday, I was thinking again about dikaiosune. I was wondering about God...just imagine a God who would be willing to impute His righteousness to us. We, slaves to sin, and loving it; trapped in our desire to do the opposite of good. Like a news report I read yesterday from the UK, on the BBC news service online; of two old guys that committed a theft. They admitted the crime to police when caught. When asked why they would do it, one said he got a thrill from breaking the law. Well, each of us has that nature at birth, the desire to find the limits, and then break them.

So, it is to us, rebels from birth that God extends His perfect love and goodness. The angels, just imagine the mind bending that the angels must experience as they watch in wonder as this drama of reconciliation goes on to completion. Which brings me to Revelation 21:5, "Behold, I am making all things new!" Do you think Jesus says those words in a conversational voice? Or, perhaps, with eyes flashing and a glimmer of a smile He bellows out so all of Creation can hear, "I am making all things new!"

The earth, so scarred by weather, earthquake, and war, will be made new. The old, with all the signs of sin and death will be no more. An earth, so beautiful, that I cannot imagine it, will be restored to its original design.

Well, time to warm up the truck. Even if I don't bag a moose, I have a feast I chew on for a while.

Dikaiosune (Greek)

I have been travelling lately. Meetings here and there. So, not much to report except that I've been thinking, thinking about Ephesians 4:24. "...and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. The Greek word for righteousness in this text is dikaiosune. This is what the lexicon says about this word:

from dikaios, righteous, and dike, justice or righteousness. It is the essence of to dikaion, that which is just, or dikaios, of him who is just or righteous. Righteousness fulfills the claims of dike, which in the case of a Believer is a fulfillment of God's claims. Dikaiosune, righteousness is thus conformity with the claims of a higher authority and stands as the opposite anomia, lawlessness. In both the O.T. and N.T., righteousness is the state commanded by God and standing the test of His judgment. It is conformity to all that He commands or appoints. Since God Himself is the standard for the Believer, the righteousness of God means the righteousness which belongs to God or God-like righteousness (Matt. 6:33, James 1:20). The righteousness of God is the right which God has upon man. In order for man to recognize and fully submit to the right of God up his life, he must receive God who offers Himself or His righteousness to man as a gift (Rom.5:17). The recognition and acceptance of the claims of the law upon his life. Man in his natural, fallen condition tends rather to accept his own set of standards, creating his own righteousness (Rom.10:3). Such behavior, however, is not really righteousness (Rom.10:5) and does not satisfy God. God's righteousness is imputed and imparted as a gift to man but can not be earned. It results in God's act of justification of man by his faith through Christ. Man only needs to accept the claims of God upon his life and repent of his sin, receiving Christ as his Savior by faith, thus becoming a child of God. The result is the realization of God's claims upon him by the miraculous regenerating action of the Holy Spirit, (Eph.4:24).

So, if are really a child of God, and His righteousness really is present in us, then it makes perfect sense what follows in the next verse, put away lying and speak truth to every man. Lying, stealing, anger, malice, greed, fear, cowardice, etc., are incompatible with dike and dikaiosune.

Well, that is what I have been dwelling on, whether driving between meetings, or working around the house and shop.

I went hunting this morning. I drove about 12 miles back into the mountains to the south of my house. I picked an interesting area which had a convergence of three ravines, and no road access. "Ah, that looks like a nice place for moose to hide," I told myself. I started my decent without a sound. I was wearing moccasins, which helped me be very quiet. Slowly, I blended in with the landscape, moving slowly, and ever deeper into the wild.

I found deer tracks, and moose sign, too. The moose sign looked rather recent, which was good. I marveled at the beauty of the changing colors of leaves. The birch and the thimble berry plants were turning yellow.

After an hour, I had gone about as far as I wanted. I didn't want to follow the same route back, so I checked the sun, and picked a heading that would take me back to the truck faster. I crossed a large cut-block, and expected to be in sight of the truck. Instead, there were more trees, and steep ravine which I didn't remember seeing before. I didn't want to push my skills with cross county navigation, especially since my present attempts were not working out, so I back tracked. I came to a low tree which I remembered crawling under. I felt a little relief, especially since I had left my hunting pack, with the compass and matches back with the truck.

But when I came to the overturned roots of a fallen tree, I thought, "That was on my right, when I came here, so I should put it on the left to leave." But that didn't look right either.

I criss-crossed the area, always coming back to the fallen tree and root pile. With each trip, I was changing my memory of the area. Now, it all looked right and wrong at the same time.

I looked around, a bird was signing, but it didn't know the concern I was having at that moment. I was at least twelve miles from a paved road, with mountains to interfere with my sighting. I had to admit there was a chance I would be staying over night if I couldn't get this sorted out.

I decided to gain ground so I could see above the cedar and fir trees. Maybe I could see a road or my truck. I chose to follow a old dirt road bed that was left over from when the area was logged 20 years ago. I figured that I could remember that easy enough once I got my bearings. As I got higher, I caught a glimpse of a pickup truck passing by. If I were closer, I would have hitched a ride and found my truck with help, but that wasn't going to happen. The truck vanished from sight and was gone, without ever knowing I was there. I kept walking.

I walked another 200 yards and I was getting closer to the dirt logging road. I came around a tree and what did my wondering eyes see? My red truck was parked just up ahead. Then it all made sense. The old road I was on was the original path I took down into the hunting area. The lay of the land forced me to travel in a circle over a mile area. The circle trek was gradual enough to feel like it was more or less a straight travel, but it wasn't.

Daniel Boone, and American pioneer back in the 1730's, during the time of flintlock gun ignition, was asked if he had ever been lost. He said, "I was bewildered for three days once, but I wasn't lost." Well, I was bewildered, and it was feeling on the scary side of "lost". I was very pleased to hear the truck engine fire up once again. I had had enough adventure for the day. I went home and grilled a hamburger on the BBQ grill.

Isaiah 8:19b-20

Should not a people seek unto their God...To the law and to the testimony:

if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Home on the range...

I am bushed. I was in the bush, which is how I came to be bushed. The bush is my back yard. The pine beetles have killed some pine trees and with a strong wind, the dead standing trees fell into, guess??? Yep, two trees fell into two more dead pine trees. I had a dangerous problem. The trees were leaning over a trail. That was dangerous enough to demand a response, but "leaners" are dangerous problems. When cutting the othe dead standing trees, a "leaner" can shift, and fall onto the cutter below...which would be me. Not good.

So, I put on my safety equipment, like eye protection, gloves, and my orange Husquavarna hard hat, grabbed the chain saw and went to the tree problem. I back cut a notch half way through the standing tree, and then began cutting the other side. When I saw the saw cut begin to widen, I jumped back to watch the whole thing fall over. Nothing happened.
I quietly sneaked up to the tree, glancing up to make sure the leaner had not shifted, and began to cut again. The cut widened some more, so I jumped back. Nothing. The tree stopped tipping, even though less than one inch of wood was supporting the leaner. They say the third time is the charm, and whoever "they" are, they were right. The third cut removed enough wood and the whole mess fell over...into another dead standing pine tree! I was not amused!!

I started to repeat the process with the new leaner problem and then stopped. "Hey, I better see where this mess is going to fall," I said to myself. I looked down range, and guess what? Yep, another dead standing tree, just waiting to catch the next tree and make another leaner problem. "Oh yeah...I don't think so," I told myself.

I went to the dead standing tree five yards away and deeply cut it. Then I went back to the leaner trees and did my cut, jump away, cut, jump away, and finally success. The mess fell over into the standing tree, which then snapped off and fell over, too. The problems with the leaners was finally over. Then came the work of bucking up the wood from five trees, and hauling away the branches. I still have a couple of hours of work to do in bucking up the trees, but such is life. Firewood is a twice warming fuel. It warms you up as you cut and split it, and it warms as it burns. I am grateful to have a wood burning stove in the work shop area. Now I have plenty of wood to heat that area in the winter, too.

Tracks

The forest fire evacuation alert is finally recinded. The road security, helicopters, and water bombers have moved on to some other needy area. Thank the Lord for safety for the fire fighters that served here. As far as we know, no one was injured, even though one water bomber crashed into the lake.

We went to the little lake nearby this morning. Jennifer made plaster casts of animal footprints. We have prints from coyote, deer and bear.
I searched the shoreline for arrow heads, but didn't find any. I did find volcanic rocks, which surprised me a little. We are at least 15km from Mt.Ida, the location of an ancient volcano. I guess a volcano can spew rocks a long way if it wants to.

Jannie is feeling pretty well. She is enjoying the grandkids, and sewing something for Emily now.

Today is the opening season for hunting moose and deer. I won't be going out today, but maybe tomorrow afternoon/evening. The days are seasonable cool now.

The Trip Up The Mountain

I have a dear friend in Holland who is a gentle soul. In reading about the possiblity of taking the grandkids on a hunting trip, he wisely reminded me to let them be kids, and don't take them hunting. Too bad, I didn't read his wise words until Monday.

Jennifer is visiting with the family. On Saturday, she wondered if we could find some animal footprints to show the kids. I said we could take a drive up the mountain and look, and I would bring a rifle along, too.

We found moose tracks, deer tracks, and bear scat. We paused at cut-blocks to glass the surrounding hills up and down. Higher and higher we went. Then, there was that curious shape, dark and rounded some 300 meters away. We stopped and looked at it. The kids had the binoculars and before they could figure out which end to look through, I saw it move.
“Bear!”, I said. I ramped up my emotions a little to work up some excitement among the kids.

We got out of the truck, and continued to look at the bear. It was exciting for them to actually see a bear in the wild. I reached into the truck and picked up the .45/70 and thought, “oh well, what will it hurt to try to get closer?”

The thermal wind drafts were carrying scent up hill, and the chance of getting within gun shot seemed slim. But, I started up the mountain. I lost sight of the bear, but kept on climbing. I took a couple of sit down breaks to try to manage my heart and breathing. Now and then, I would see the bear. It seemed to be walking away, going up hill, but more like in a feeding pattern, not really trying to escape.

I kept climbing. When I got to about what I thought was about 200 meters, the bear popped up and looked down the hill at me. Maybe it was looking at the truck further below, but I knew I couldn’t climb anymore with it looking at me. I aimed the rifle and watched the cross-hairs dance and wobble all over the place. My heart was pounding too much to shoot without a rest, so I laid down and put the rifle on a tree stump. With the rest, the gun laid out just as quiet as a bench rest at the range.

Well, shall we say that the kids got a bit more than a look at bear foot prints. Soon we were headed home with a yummy bear in the back of the truck.

I wondered how the 6 1/2 year old would react to the skinning and butchering operations. She stood there watching and asked, "Can I have a claw and a tooth?" (I guess she wasn't offended by the butchering at all.)

So, in the end, the kids did see some deer and moose tracks. They also got to see a bear in the wild, and enjoy BBQ bear ribs for supper.

"My friend, I didn't read your note earlier, but the grand kids don't seem to need therapy, from their trip up the mountain."

Finally, rain.

Rain...blessed rain, has been falling today. It has helped to suppress the forest fire. The fire is reported to be 50% contained now. The area closest to us is old and probably well beyond risk, but we haven't heard the evacuation alert lifted yet.

We still hear the helicopters flying overhead. Jannie commented on how one chopper sounded different. I told her it was because it had four blades, instead of two. She stared at me as if she didn't believe me. I explained the difference between a Bell 204 and a Hughes 500T. I think she finally believed me.

We have company arriving today. Our daughter, Jennifer and her family, Joe (husband), Emily, Nathaniel, and Elijah are coming. I gave notice to the security guard down the road to please allow them to proceed past the road block.

I have to shift gears now and find out how to be a grandpa. I have't had much practice with playing with 5 and 7 year old kids. I know! I'll take them hunting. :)

Sunday

Glad to report that I had no hospital visits early this morning.

Jannie has been doing rather well after the chemo therapy. She has had minimal discomfort, not the usual serious nausea sometimes reported with chemo. Her appetite is down, feels a little "flushed" at times, and doesn't sleep quite as well as normal, but considering the usual reports, these are minor indeed.

The evacuation alert is still in effect. The fire is now listed at 1,600 hectares. Another fire is reported to the southwest of Salmon Arm, so with the combined smoke from two fires, the air quality is not good. We stay inside a lot, with an air filtering machine running. It isn't bad inside, but outside, visibility is probably less than a mile.

Second Hand Smoking

In the last two days, the winds have been minimal. It has given the fire fighters a chance to take the offensive. Several huge Caterpillar tractors have cut a fire break, and fire fighters have done controlled burns ahead of the advancing fire. They have enveloped the fire and tried to give it no place to grow.
If the winds stay down, I think it will work. But when dealing with Nature, one is best to remain humble. It ain't out until it is out.
No sign for rain in the next week forecast. We are still on Evacuation Alert, which means we need to be staying close to home, and ready to pack up and leave with a ten minute warning. It is like being on home arrest with out cable TV.

Tomorrow, Friday, Jannie begins chemo therapy. This will occur once every three weeks, for the next six months. So, it begins.

We were blessed with a reading of Psalm 84 recently. :)

Forest Fire Report

The voice on the telephone said, "Hey Howard, if you are praying that the fire will go AWAY from your house, please stop. It is getting dangerously close to my friend!"

I told her that I had not been praying that specifically, but I would start to be more specific. What we need, (coming from an armchair forest fire fighter...) is a gentle wind from the N/E.
It would drive the fire back onto already burnt land. Oh yes, and a good rain might be a good idea.

We are still on evacuation alert. The fire is burning about a mile from our house to the west. The pick up truck is partially loaded, with the other stuff staged at the garage door. We could be out in ten minutes if we had to.

"Lord, please send the fire back on itself. Keep the fire fighters safe, and protect homes and animals, and if you please,...send rain. Thank you." Amen.

Sunday Morning, ...

I awoke at 7:00am with chest pains. It felt like I had a weight on my chest, breathing was laboured and shallow. Jannie woke up from my groans. She listened to my heart and said that it was racing. We headed to the hospital, which is 25 minutes away.

My blood pressure had dropped very low, I was having some vision problems by the time I sat in the car. Jannie would have made a NASCAR pro smile with envy as she piloted the little Saturn car through the curvy mountain roads. Shall we just say, it didn't take 25 minutes to get to the hospital.

Usually, if I show up to the hospital for some stitches, I get directed to sit down and in time, maybe an hour, I get to see a nurse. Today, I staggered into the ER and before I got to the receptionist, she was pointing to me and saying, "You, over here, now!"

My heart was still racing as I collapsed on the bed in "room" 3. I was still suffering physically, but inside, I was praying all the time, and had peace. My heart rate was 190 beats per minute.
The doctor ordered a drug administered in the IV patched into my right arm. In fifteen seconds, my heart resembled a freight train that locked up the brakes. My chest tightened and my breathing became full and deeper. The blood pressure machine automatically took new readings every 5 minutes. With every check, my BP was nearing normal.

The doctor said the condition was not a heart attack. It was something like a back up operating program for my heart rhythm took over. The drug cancelled the adrenaline, and my heart returned to normal.

I arrived home just as church would be starting. Jannie mentioned, "Hey, weren't you supposed to lead the congregational prayer this morning?" Oops! Too late and I was in no shape to attempt a trip back into town. Someone else would have to step up to the plate and take the prayer time.

I took a nap, because I was groggy from the medicine. I woke two hours later to hear Jannie telling me that we were on evacuation alert. A forest fire a mile or two away was threatening our area. If the wind changed, things would get scary in a hurry. So, I got up and we loaded up the two vehicles for a hasty retreat, if it came to it.

While we were packing and trying to get ready for evacuation, concerned friends would stop by to look at the fire. Then they would visit. We had six visitors this afternoon. Eventually, we got things packed. We cancelled the Bible Study for tonight, since the guests probably would have trouble getting through the police block.

It has been a busy day.
Not a proper Sabbath.
In the midst, the Lord of the Sabbath has given us peace.

At last...a prognosis

We left home at 7:15am in order to make it to the long anticipated meeting with the oncologist (a doctor specializing in cancer treatment). It was raining, so I dropped Jannie of at the front door of the clinic and went to find a parking place. When I oppened up the back door to check on the doggie, she jumped out. I had the end of the leash secured inside the vehicle, so in case of such a surprise, she couldn't go far. Well, she came to the end of the leash, it tightened, and then the snap on the harness simply gave way. The harness simply fell off Daisy. There she stood, in the big city of Kelowna, off leash, and only knowing me for five days. This could be the makings for a disaster!

I kept calm, and gently called "Daisy, Daisy, come Daisy." The little bit of command training that I have done over the past two days, paid off. Daisy slowly walked to me. I quickly placed the harness back on her, and then we went for a little walk, to stretch her legs.

While walking the dog, I turned on my cell phone. A minute later, it rang, "This is Jannie" the voice said, "where have you been? I have been trying to call you."

(Great! I just avert one disaster and before I can feel good about it, I am in hot water with my loving wife.)

I hastily told Jannie about my dangerous situation with Daisy and then went to the Kelowna Cancer Clinic to meet her. (I wasn't late...there was still seven minutes before our scheduled meeting with the doctor.)

The doctor told us some good news. The chest X-ray and the bone scan did NOT show any indication of a spread of the cancer. Then, over the next 55 minutes, she explained the recommended treatment plan for Jannie. There was a lot of technical verbage, but it boiled down to a 15 month treatment plan. The first six months were chemo therapy. Jannie was told that she would lose her hair. Then there would be nine months of follow up treatments which would include five weeks of radiation. It is going to be a long haul, but God's grace is sufficient for each day.

I was thinking today about how important it is for us to submit to our Loving God. Romans 8:28, 29, & 32 speaks of His totally positive intentions for us. Nothing can come into our lives apart from God's will. That includes this current challenge of cancer. It didn't surprise God. God didn't hear the prayers of many friends and say, "Oh my!! Jannie has cancer!! I didn't see that coming!!!..."
No, He uses events in our lives to make us more like Jesus (v.29). He also uses events to reveal to us where our hearts are really made glad. If we claim to love God, but get wacked out because of events, then we may need to admit that we love this world more than God. But, if we really love God, we will be able to trust all things into His loving care. That includes cancer, and yes, death.
So, submitting to God, is the key to knowing the Peace that passes all understanding.

Daisy, the Frengle

We have an addition to our little family. Daisy, a French Bulldog and beagle cross has come to live with us. She seems to be a good fit for us. She is laid back, easy going, a medium sized dog, and she doesn't bark. She is one year old, so she is still a puppy, but at least we don't have the house-breaking part to bother with. She is full size which is just right for us. The former owner caller her a Frengle, a cross between a French bulldog and a Beagle.

Bone Scan Day

Going to Kamloops today for a bone scan. It will be a long day, but not a painful one.
Our spirits are in a good place. We are experiencing the Peace of Christ with each moment.

Update on Jannie

"I did six cancer surgeries last week," the surgeon said, "and four of the six pathology reports made it to me. Yours was not among them."

Disappointment expressed itself with an involuntary sigh. "I guess we will go to lunch and come back later,"I said.

It was disappointing that after a week of waiting for news from the pathology report, we would have to wait some more. Still, I wasn't worried about it. I expected to here that the cancer was caught early and that it hadn't hardly touched the lymphatic system. We would probably see the surgeon smile reassuringly and hear him say, "A light dose of chemo is in order and you will have a clean bill of health."

After lunch, we went back to the surgeons office. He said he got the report. Instead of cancer in two locations, there was five! Nine or ten lymph nodes were cancerous. Instead of hearing, "We caught it early," we heard that it was stage three. I was gut punched. This was not what I was prepared to hear.

We went to the hospital with requests for more testing. There was a chest X-ray and blood work. In a week or so, there will be the bone test in Kelowna.
The surgeon personally called the cancer clinic in Kelowna and requested this case be bumped up to very urgent status. So, we can expect to start chemo therapy in as soon as two weeks.

I asked the surgeon what he did to relax. I couldn't help wondering what this highly skilled guy did to have fun. He said he is an avid fisherman, likes woodworking, and goes fishing with his young kids. That's good. He needs a good outlet and solid point of reference. He probably sees a lot of sadness in the course of his work.

We are still in God's hands. He knows the road ahead of us, I don't. I try to keep my head in today, and let Him handle tomorrow. Still, I feel gut punched. Still trusting, Howard.

The Meaning of Grace - A Drama

I am used to helping others. Being on the giving end has been my lot for a long long time. Today, God has placed me in a unusual place of being on the receiving. It seems like a new lesson on the doctrine of Grace.

On Saturday, a work crew of six came out to cut fire wood on our land. We had about 12 pine trees that had been killed by the pine beetle. The trees were dead and thoroughly dried. The six men that came out had lots of tree felling experience and in the course of the morning, they dropped enough for 5 cords of wood.

God was watching out for the felling crew. As one tree fell, a branch from way up in the tree broke off. It fell and shmucked a workman square on the top of the head, knocking him out and laying him flat! A fellow worker reached down to check on him; and the man mumbled, "I'm okay."
Testing his cognitive function, another worker asked him how he felt. The spunky injured man answered, "With my fingers."
On the way home, the injured mans wife was called to let her know what had happened. Concerned that he might have received a concussion, she asked if they took him to the doctor to get checked out. The answer, "Oh, yeah...we took him to the doctor...Dr. Pepper on the way home." The wife was not amused!
She asked if her husband had any slurred speech or stuttering. They passed the phone to the husband, who then tormented her even more by putting on a fake stutter as he talked to her. Her pity for her husbands injury quickly passed after that tease.

Well, I wasn't home for much of the events of Saturday. I had to go to Kamloops Inland Hospital, to get Jannie and bring her home. I prayed for safety for the workers, and God blessed.

Today is different. Today I am here to see what is going on. I am also the nurse/care giver for Jannie. She continues to mend well and seems to be healing well. Still, I need to be about the house to help her. I made her breakfast, and by 8:00 o'clock, trucks, suburbans, and cars started to show up. The next part of the work team was arriving to haul the wood out of the back acre, and bring it to the wood shed.

I felt such a tension in my chest as I saw the people coming. They were donating their holiday to come and work for our needs. They came from churches in town. I saw people that I didn't even recognize! I felt a strong urge to be out there, and not inside. Yet, it was inside where I was needed by Jannie. The conflict inside of me was raging strong.

I was in a place of receiving something that I needed, but couldn't do for myself. I couldn't afford to pay for the labour. I was in a helpless position, where the only response was to receive unmerited help. It is like living through God's gift of grace, and unmerited favour, but instead of reading about it, I am living it out in a real life drama.

My heart is humbled and full of thanks. There is that initial feeling of needing to pay back or earn the favour I was receiving. Yet, I cannot. Nor is it expected by those who came to help. A thank you is enough. It is enough for these men who came to help, and it is enough for the Lord Jesus, too.

Humility and thankfulness, these are the markers of a heart that loves God. What an amazing God we have who lovingly provides these lessons for our benefit. More than teaching me more about Grace, God is also dealing with the lives of the volunteers who came this morning. Only He knows what His Grace is doing in their lives, but I am absolutely certain that He is active in each of their lives as He is in mine.

What an amazing God! He gently leads each of us on the path that He placed us on. So, I pray, "Lord Jesus, thank you for your Grace. Thank you for drawing so many people to come an help us get fire wood before winter. Thank you for what You are doing in each of their lives. May they all come to experience Grace as I am today. Please bless each of them richly for their willingness to respond to the urging of your will, and keep them safe."

Who needs A/C?

The doctor made his rounds this morning. He sent one lady home. He forgot to check on Jannie. So, four hours later, he had a phone conversation with the head nurse and signed off on her well being from where ever he was calling from. Jannie could go home.

At 2pm, we headed for the exit, Jannie in the wheel chair, and I was driving. We stopped in the lobby. I went to get the car, and pulled up out front. It was a hot day in the high desert conditions of Kamloops as we headed home.

The A/C went out on our car years before we even bought it. Open windows helped some, but really, when somebody is feeling sick or recovering from surgery, or both; a one hour hot ride home isn't the best experience. I really wished I had A/C for Jannie's sake.

Anyway, we made it home. Not long after we travelled that road, a serious accident closed the road for the usual eight hours, of the typical serious accident processing time of the RCMP.
I would like to see how they do it...I used to work traffic accidents when I was a cop. We could process a fatal accident in an hour, and the road was open again. I don't understand how the RCMP can take eight hours to do the same job as I did in one. Things that make you go Hhhmmmmm.

She's Resting at Hospital

The love of my life made it through surgery. Seeing the scar, the tubes, and all were a reality check for me. I could have called friends in Kamloops to spend the night, but I chose to drive back home because I needed quiet time. I needed time alone to process the trail that God has placed our feet on.

So, Jannie is resting in hospital. I hope to bring her home tomorrow. I am going to be busy with new duties as Jannie's nurse. (I hope she doesn't expect me to wear a little uniform).

Hair cuts

If God doesn't choose to miraculously heal Jannie in the next couple of days, we are looking at surgery about 11:00am on Friday. She went to the hair stylist yesterday afternoon for a major hair cut. It would be easier to manage hair loss due to chemo therapy if her hair were shorter, so she is planning ahead.

Since it seems to be a time of change for us, so I cut off my moustache. I am now clean shaven. Haven't seen my upper lip in 30+ years. My back is doing great. All the exercise I have been getting with the move really toned my back. Last weekend, I went skin diving with Tim in a local river. That was quite a work out. I had trouble with my face mask sealing properly, and probably due to the moustache. So, I had a little practical reasoning for the change.

Fell off the face of the Earth?

It has been a full five weeks without internet. Our account with Telus ended on June 14. We signed up with Xplornet on June 5 so we wouldn't have any lapse in internest services. They promised service in a week. Just today, in the evening, we finally got the satelite system installed, five weeks later.

I don't have email yet, since I am missing some info necessary to register with my new ISP. But I am hopeful that I will be able to get email going on Wednesday.

In the past five weeks, we got the surprise call from my wife's doctor. There was a little problem with the recent mamogram. That has led to followup trips to hospitals. She went for a MRI on Monday, and will go again to Kamloops on Thursday for a biopsy.

We have been moving in at the new house. We have some new flooring in a couple of rooms. Jannie got new cabinets for the kitchen. They should be fully installed tomorrow.

So, lot's has been happening. There is lot's to thank God for, and still room to intercede with God for Jannie.

I'll have my new email up here as soon as I get it worked out.

Still Trusting, Howard

Renovating

One thing leads to another. We wanted to change the floor covering in a room from carpet to linoleum. Lift the carpet and you discover the flooring beneath the carpet isn't all the same. That would take some plywood to remedy that, but if you do the plywood, then you change the height where it meets the ceramic tile. When it was all said and done, we realized that if you had lots of money and time, you could switch to linoleum, but carpeting was much easier to work with. So, in the end, we opted to go with carpeting after all.

A friend from church volunteered to help with the kitchen work. By work, I mean removing the 30 year old cabinetry. I sure appreciated his know-how. He got all the cabinets out, and safely disconnected plumbing and electrical connections.

I have been painting. That is something I know about. The whole house is getting new paint inside. The former occupants liked very bold and dark colors. That just made the rooms appear smaller. It also required two coats of primer paint to subdue the bold colors.

Today or tomorrow, I get the job of going under the house in the crawl space. When I was a kid, I would have enjoyed the adventure of going in the dark confined space under the house. As someone who is much older than a kid, I don't find the job so fun. I hope I don't meet up with snakes or Black Widow spiders down there.

Surprise!

Buying a house in Canada is much different than what I knew from the USA. The vocabulary is different. In the States, the final meeting where the keys are exchanged and papers signed, is called a "closing." I suppose it comes from the sales marketing lingo for closing the deal. In Canada, it is a "completion."

In the States, all the parties involved meet together and the seller and buyer get writers cramp from signing a huge stack of official forms, that you have no idea of the contents. You just trust your attorney and sign, sign, and sign. Finally, it is over, and every one sighs, and keys are surrendered.

In Canada, the buyer does more "foot work" for individual tasks. The buyer has to secure the insurance on the new dwelling. In the States, that is done for you...(maybe because they don't trust you to do it?)

Today, I got a shock when I learned that the bank did not request a transfer of certain funds. The closing/completion date is only 7 days away. I thought they would do that, as the mortgage provider. They assumed I would do it. So, with my blood pressure surging, I Faxed the forms into cyber-space where I hope they safely arrived into the loving hands of a clerk at the other end, who would devote themselves wholly to a speedy processing of my request.

In seven days, if all goes alright, we will meet at our attorneys office and sign a few forms, hand over some money, and that is the completion. No inch thick pile of documents to sign.
The whole thing ought to be done in 15 minutes. The attorney then files a new registration certificate for the property. Two days later, the realtor hands us the house keys.

I just hope there are no more surprises, even though in reality, the experience of buying a house in Canada is a new one. I hope my surprises are good ones then.

Illustration

I went bear hunting with a joung friend recently. It was 12:45 in the afternoon when we noticed a bear on a area below us, about 100 yards away. The bear looked up at us in the truck as we eased to a halt. I put the truck in reverse and quietly backed away the same way we had come. I stopped about 200 yards away and parked.

My friend took his bow and arrows and quietly went down the raod again to see if mr. bear was still there. He was. So, I brought a range finder and judged the range at 54 yards, downhill. That was well within the range of my muzzle loader matchlock rifle, but I would only take the shot if my friend said that he couldn't try it with the bow and arrow. I thought it was a pretty good chance that I would soon get a chance, when my friend hunched over to get lower, and off he went down the road.

He went another 200 yards and then turned off the road onto a trail that would bring him back to the bear. The wind was not good. It was blowing past the hunter and nearly straight to the bear. Still, the archer pressed on, with me watching from a perfect vantage point above.

The archer closed to within 50 yards of the bear, and the animal hadn't seen or sented him. Then, to my amazement, the bear actually began slowly walking towards the hunter. I noted the range at 30 yards, well within the range of the archer, but he kept stalking closer.
The bear kept walking closing the range, too!

At less than 20 yards, I saw the archer stop, and draw the bow string back. The bear raised his head and noticed the archer motionless before him. A milli-second later, I heard the bow string twang, and at the same time, the bear fell to the ground without a twitch.

I thought, how often do we face what may seem like long odds on success and simply give up without even trying? This hunt was clearly a long shot on success, but it did work out.

Want To Be Part of a Divine Moment?

God always chooses the foolish thing of this world to confound the wise.
He shows His might only on the behalf of those who trust in Him.
Humility is the place where all Christian service begins.
Revolution in World Missions,
K.P.Yohannan, p. 65

Lies

Anybody like a liar? Anybody like the people that create computer viruses? You think you are getting something good and in time, it takes over, sending spam mail or more viruses to all the people on your address book, and destroys your hard drive. Anybody like the guy who asks a little child for help in finding his lost puppy, and then abducts the child, who is never seen again?
Okay, not a lot of room for discussion on those examples given. I think we would have a rather united response of "no". So, how about the person who looks like a grandfather, and smiles kindly, and offers to let you receive from a demon, promised help?

I was invited to attend a class taught by a psychologist on the subject of emotional healing. I looked over the book he had written and didn't see anything weird, so I agreed to go.
I greeted the teacher when I came into the class and shook his hand. He was in his 70's, with flowing grey hair, hazel eyes that smiled easily, and a gentle voice.

He began by introducing himself, and then promptly gave three examples of how he could help people in the class if they would just open themselves to his spirit helper. He looked at me and asked, "Did you hear a 'Yes' in your mind?"
I said, "No."
He continued by asking, "Do you know why you didn't hear a yes?"
I knew why. I knew that the Holy Spirit of God would not allow such a dangerous interchange between a deceptive evil spirit and myself. I could have said that, but I wanted to test him and see if he would say it for me in front of everyone. So, I answered, "Do you know why?"
He answered, "No, I don't know."

Some people in the class looked like they were open to his teaching. They know me as a "spiritual leader". If I said nothing, my silence might be viewed as approval of the lies being spoken. So, I challenged him, "You say that your spirits are all good. That is an assumption. How do you know that they are truly good?"
He went into a dodge, where he shifted into psychological vocabulary and terms and rambled for a while, but eventually it came down to this: he believes the results of their involvement was good, therefore he believes they are good.

In a First Nations context, direct confrontation is rarely done. My challenge was direct confrontation. It was enough to register clearly that I was not accepting his teaching. After that, I would shift to indirect communication. A lady on the other side of the room glanced over at me during a teaching moment. I put on a slight frown and slightly shook my head side to side. She got the message. Later, she asked me what I thought of the morning. The teacher was sitting at a table next to me with his back turned to me. I said that it wasn't helpful for me.
"My personal value, my self esteem is good because I know that God loves me. If God, who really knows me, can love me in spite of my faults, then I can also love myself." I went on to say, "I don't need any spirit to do emotional healing for me because I have the very spirit of God Himself who does that for me. The Holy Spirit of God goes into my memory and heals."
The teacher must have heard me, but he didn't say a thing.

I prayed a lot during the class. I prayed against the evil spirits in the teacher. I prayed for the students that they would be protected for this Neo-pagan New Age spiritism in the disguise of psychology. I knew that at least some of them were not accepting the teaching. One lady just fell asleep, so she wasn't hearing him. Another, got up and left the room and did not return. Another man said that it wasn't working for him.

The next day, I was bold to speak to the principle of the school and I said that I didn't think that this particular teacher was suitable as a speaker for this school on three grounds:
1) He slung out psychological terms without any definitions. Ninety percent of the people listening to him had no idea what he was saying. Therefore, as a teacher, he failed to communicate.
2) By the words of his own mouth, he said that his beliefs were not accepted by the American Psychological Association. He said that as few as 5-10 people world wide respected his views. That places him on the wing-nut fringe, and not worthy to be listened to.
3) He was mixing Neo-pagan New Age spiritism with psychology. This was both unsafe and unprofessional.
The principle listened to my remarks and took note of them.

2 Corinthians 11:14 says that the devils will try to masquerade as angels of light. What a sad thing to see a man in his 70's, who has suppressed the truth of God and chosen darkness instead of Light. Sadness is replaced by a anger when that same grandfatherly character is willingly participating with demons to try to ensnare others with darkness.

Lions

I bought a book on eBay. The title is: Gerard, The Lion Killer. It is a autobiographical sketch of a Frenchman's life from 1844 and lion hunting in Northern Africa among the Arab people. The book used to be in the reference section of the Brooklyn Public Library. It was ceded from the library inventory and lucky for me, I got it.

I bought the book specifically because of the time it was addressing. The 1840's were when muzzle loading guns with percussion ignition were being used. This was the best that they had at the time. So, with a lot of courage, and I mean a lot of courage, Gerard went after lions with a gun we would think today to be only marginally adequate.

I have less interest in lion hunting than I do in the technical information I glean about the guns and loading of them for such a dangerous animal. I remember aiming at a bear in a black forest and discovering that I couldn't find my front sight! A precision shot was not possible. Just then, a movement to my left caught my eye, I looked away from the bear, only to discover that I was being watched by a much bigger bear about 20 yards away. What did I do? I slowly backed out of the forest, watching both bears. After I survived that little episode, I decided I had to do something about the sighting system. Since then, I put a low powered scope, 1.5-4.5 power, on the gun, and I mounted a powerful flashlight under the gun barrel. Now, I can illuminate a bear in the deep dark forest and have positive sight acquisition, too.

Back one hundred and sixty years ago, Gerard didn't have optical sights or means to illuminate a target in the dark. He went out during the full moon and waited until the lion crept up to within six paces, and then pulled the trigger! Yikes!! He was using an underpowered gun, and poor sights, to engage one of the most dangerous beasts in the world. (Ha hah ha...I shudder to think of it.)

Gerard was despised by the Arabs because he was a Christian and a foreigner. Still, as a representative of Christianity and France, he chose to go face to face with lions that were in the habit of killing the cattle and sometimes, local Muslim people. The Arabs never dared to hunt the lion directly. They might build an armored box to hide in and shoot from, or build a trap, but they would not hunt eye to eye like Gerard. His courage silenced the bigotry of his Arab benefactors.

The book reflects on wars and politics of long ago. It has cultural facts that are fascinating, too. I am pleasently surprised about how much I am enjoying the read.

Peace

It has been several weeks since I last wrote. We found our selves in a tornado of activity. Besides our usual ministy activities, we had to do a host of things with regards to buying the house. There was the meeting with the bank, the house inspection, meeting with the lawyer, getting the water sample from the house and running it to the testing facility, and a final meeting with the realtor.

I found myself a bit stretched with the constant strain. Today was the first day I actually had free in three weeks. I didn't do any work and I took a nap. I wish the snow was gone so I could go for a walk in the mountains. We still have a lot of snow on the ground. I won't be walking in the mountains for a month.

Still, I am grateful for a day of peace.

Star Wars

I remember going to the movie theater to see the new movie, Star Wars. I was driving my used 1965 Chevy, the former cop car, as I recall. Well, seeing the movie on the big screen and all the special effects left me brain numb. I remember exiting the movie hall and going to my car. I sat in my car for 20-30 minutes while I processed it all and got a grip on reality again. Well, that is how I am feeling right now.

We prayed for nearly eight years about moving to a different house. I would go outside for a prayer walk and it nearly always came up in prayer. We knew that God provided this rental house, but we also knew in our hearts that it was temporary. So, we prayed for God to guide us to the right house at the right time, someday.

This morning, I found myself thinking, "I wonder how it will look when God answers more than seven years of prayers for our next house?" We started the house hunting process last Friday, with a visit to the bank. We talked to a mortgage expert and got pre-qualified for a house loan.

We visited a realtor after leaving the bank, since the realty office was right across the street from the bank. The realtor printed out some possible listings, and one that was expired.
We went from there to look around and learn about house hunting.

We drove past homes and one by one, ruled them out. We need convenient parking, for at least six cars. We have 10-16 people each Sunday night for a Bible Study. That eliminated many homes right away. Then there was the repossession home. Oh boy did we learn from that. We won't even go there! Then we drove out to see the expired listing. After all, it couldn't hurt, and we were still learning the area and market.

We drove out of town, into the country side, about 13 minutes from our present rental house. We found the expired listing and to our surprise, there was a realtor listing sign posted at the driveway! We met that realtor years ago, when we first arrived in Salmon Arm. She was a Christian and we thought that maybe one day, we would seek out her help in house hunting.

Well, we gave her a call and inquired about her listing. After prayer meeting at Church on Wednesday morning, which is our usual practice, we drove out to the house in the country to meet the realtor.

It was good to meet her again. She showed real interest in our work and encouraged us to keep on with it. It was also very good to have a Believer to deal with in this possible house search. We could be completely honest and transparent with the realtor, trusting God to direct her as she guided us through the house and around the property. This was Wednesday.

Thursday, we finalized our new relationship with the Canadian government. We changed from living here on a Visitor Visa, with a work permit, to being Permanent Residents. No house hunting on this day.

This morning, Friday, we emailed a formal bid proposal to the realtor. By 8:00pm, we learned that our offer was accepted. My son Tim reminded me that last Friday I said that I wanted to complete my house hunting in one week! I was joking, but God got the last laugh. God answered those seven years of prayers, and the prayers of many people like you, who have also joined in intercession for us on this matter. One day after becoming Permanent Residents, and now able to secure a house mortgage, we had a contract for a house. My head is spinning trying to take it all in.

One thing more, and this really has me in awe. I have a friend at Church who has cancer and may be facing the "end of his race", and God is with him. I have another friend who was rushed off to the hospital for an emergency surgery this morning, and God was with him. Our Heavenly Father is able to answer prayers like ours for something as mundane as housing, and do it with style and glory. He is also with those facing difficult times. He is the God of the mountains, and the God of the valleys at the same time! No other god in all of the world can compare with the Lord Jesus.

I am in awe right now. We have more work to do here, and God is helping us get a place that will compliment our work. The new house will be an asset to ministry. I am encouraged.
With tears in my eyes, tears of joy and humility, I say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

LANDED!!!

We have been waiting for three years on paper work we submitted with the Canadian government, to change our visa from a Visitor, to a permanant resident, otherwise known as a Landed Immigrant.

We had an appointment with the government office in Kelowna this morning. A meeting we weren't sure we were going to be able to keep. There was a snow storm last night. Boy, it came down, and just kept coming. It was windy and drifting snow, and all the while, we are thinking that the government office is about 2 hours away on a nice dry sunny summer day. Would we be able to make it? If we didn't, it would throw off the timing for getting a housing mortgage. The housing timing is already a bit on the tight side already, so we didn't want to delay the meeting in Kelowna.

We didn't sleep all that well, and the alarm was a shocker. The clock radio alarm greeted us this morning with a radio talk show host who was all excited about the impact steroids were having on the game of professional baseball. It worked. It forced us up if only to shut off the radio.

We gave ourselves 3 1/2 hours to get to Kelowna. The snow had stopped during the night, and the plows had been out. The roads were snow packed, and like ice in some areas. So, we took the 4x4 pick up truck.

We made our meeting with a half an hour to spare. By 11:00am, Jannie and I were Landed Immigrants. Yippie!!! Praise the Lord. :)

Tracks in the Snow

Looking for a house in the dead of winter is the best. You get to see the property loaded with snow. Does the snow shed from the roof? You get to see if the road is plowed. You get to walk around the property and notice animal tracks. Okay, for city people, this is probably not a big deal, but if you are looking at a more rural location, it bears consideration. Walking around a prospective house location and seeing cougar tracks would be something I would be interested in. Actually, I would be happier if I didn't see cougar tracks in the back yard. I would not mind deer or moose tracks, heh hee he.....

We looked at a property today which is 13 minutes driving time further north-west from our present location. It is a rural setting, with a mountain on the other side of the road in the front, forests and mountains in the rear. The house is large enough, and there is a shop building to set up my wood working power tools. The realtor is a Christian, and the sellers are Believers, too!

We think this property would be a better fit for our ministry than some of the other ones close to town. Our friends aren't going to feel at home in the city/suburban environment. Parking is very restricted for the city; and I think the city folk may object to seeing a moose being skinned and butchered in the neighborhood, (though it might keep the gang bangers at a distance.) :)

So, we prayed with the realtor and sent her back to the sellers to see if they could lower the price within our playing field. We aren't too far from a workable price, but the seller would have to be led of the Lord to come our way.

We want His best for the seller, and for our next house, too. So, God's will be done. :)

Keep praying. Answers are coming. :) Thanks.

Housing Update

We met with a financing expert at our local bank. We found out what mortgage limit we would qualify for. Oh, do you know where the word "mortgage" comes from? It is a combination of two words: mort you recognize in the word "mortality", or death; and gage meaning "grip". A mortgage is a contract, a "death-grip contract" with a banker. heh heh heh... :)

After our meeting with the bank, we went out and began looking for possibles in our price range. One which was quite close to our present location was disappointing. Looking for a house at this time of year is great. You get to see the house in the challenging setting of Winter. So, I can see if snow sheds from the roof, or if snow stays on the roof (hinting about insulation or lack of it). We can see if the road is plowed well in snow removal. In the case of the close home, the road was poorly plowed, and showed evidence of being a private road, not cared for by the regular road maintenance people. Ice had shed from the metal roof, but when it did, it ripped off the gutters! Nope, don't think I want to get involved with that house.

The next one has possibilities. It is about 5 miles from our present location. The taxes outside of Salmon Arm are WAY better. We drove past the house and contacted the realtor for an appointment to see the house next week.

Next Thursday, the 26th, we sign the final Landed Immigrant/Permenant Resident form with the government. Yippie!

Answered Prayer

Before we moved to Canada, we prayed. We prayed for a lot of things. We prayed about selling our house in Wisconsin. God answered and provided a private buyer, without ever listing the house on the market. We prayed for God to provide, if possible, a place to live in Salmon Arm, close to Pierre's Point. It was close to the Adams Lake Reservation, so it made sense to pray to be close. God answered a month before we were to move, and provided this house to rent, which is less than one kilometer to Pierre's Point.

We believed that this was a temporary living place right from the start; but we also were thankful to God for providing it. So, anticipating the need to move someday, we began to pray for the next location seven and a half years ago.

Recently, God graticiously gave a sign that we would be moving again. It seems, that our little Barn-House was built 38 years ago as a whim of the owner of the property. He wanted to prove that though he was 70 years old, he wasn't too old to build a house. You don't need city permits for a whim, do you? Well, he didn't think so.
So, he built the house...illegally.

Our landlord had a house fire last winter. He went to the city to get the proper permits. The city engineer came out and looked over the property. When he came to our little Barn-House, he said, "What's that?" The landlord explained that the former property owner built the house, and that it was grandfathered into the deed. The engineer promptly checked the records. The answer was, "No." So, the city lawyers told the landlord that before he can move into his new house, the barn house has to be vacated. I presume that it will be checked out later by the city building examiner to determine if it is up to code. Anyway, when the landlord told me that I had about six months to find other quarters, my heart stirred and I took it as a sign from God to get ready to move.

One thing preventing us from looking for a different house up to now was the fact that we couldn't get a house loan from a bank as long as we had a "Visitor Visa" from the government. A week before I got the notice from the landlord about moving, we got a letter from the government telling us that our two and 3/4 year wait on the government was nearly over. We would be granted the Landed Immigrant status (which is like the Permanent Resident - Green Card, in the States). That meant that we could get a house loan, when that was finalized!
Today, we received the official and final paperwork. We can expect to be in a position to apply for a house loan in anywhere from 1-3 months...I think. Anyway, things are coming together.

If we could, we would consider moving to Reservation land to be closer to our friends; but that probably won't happen. There are a fixed number of houses available on the Rez, and they are all occuppied. There is a waiting list of Native people wanting to move on the Rez, so without Native status, it is unlikely that we will be able to move there. But we can still pray! :)
I figure we have a couple of months for God to open a door of opportunity if He wants us on the Reservation. I wonder how He will direct...?

So, what happened?

We are back from the “house cleansing”, or “house clearing”, or “house blessing.” The words you choose depend on who you ask at the house.

We had the home owners, a young couple with one small girl and two grandparents. Jannie came as my prayer back-up. Half way through, it was made clear that the grandparents were expecting a ceremony, nothing more. If the Catholic Church had a priest they trusted, he would have done a ceremony. If the Shuswap shaman’s were available, they would have done a smudging ceremony. I knew this was likely to be the expectation of the people. Indians like and expect ceremony, it is in their blood.

I got back to the Pre-house Clearing Notes and finished. Then, I went through the house with holy water, a “wisk” (the brushy thing to dip in the water and scatter it in the room) I made from cedar greens, and prayed over and blessed each room. At the end, I prayed for the whole house and especially for the little girl, to break any ancestral curse.

No spirits manifested and everything went very smoothly.

We had coffee and talked very well with the young couple afterwards. We hope to stay in touch with them. This would be a break through for that Reserve. They are the hard Reserve to reach. So, perhaps God is now breaking through the walls of spiritual darkness on that Reserve!

Perhaps you are curious about my choice to use “holy water” and cedar greens in the ceremony? It does seem a bit Roman Catholic. Well, remember that the Secwepemc People respond to ceremony. They expect a ceremony, and so the cultural response is correct to provide a Christian ceremony. I made it very clear that the ceremony has no power, but that Jesus Christ who is present and behind the symbols, He is the power in the ceremony. So, we need to be able to leave our Protestant anti-ceremonial cultural bias behind, when ministering to the First Nations community. We need to be able to create meaningful Christ honouring ceremonies, that minister to the Shuswap heart and mind.

Thanks for your prayers. I was eager to go to this house this morning and full of faith that God would glorify the name of Jesus Christ somehow. I believe He did.

Prayer Request

I just got off the telephone with some Native people who live on the Reserve. They said that they are experiencing ghosts in their house and they asked if I could come over and kick the ghosts out. I arranged for all the people that reside in that home to attend a teaching time before I do the house cleansing.

Next, I went to my file drawer and got my notes together so I could “put on the armour” tonight and be ready for tomorrow.

The next thing I thought of was asking other Believers for prayer support.

We will meet tomorrow, Saturday morning, at 10:00am. I will go through 45minutes to an hour of teaching about what the Bible says about ghosts, spirits, and the like. The teaching time moves intentionally towards understanding that power over evil spirits comes only through Jesus Christ. If they choose to “open doorways” to the spirits and invite spirits into their lives by some Indian ceremonies, or drugs, etc., I leave them to the spirits. No point in sending the spirits away if the people in the house choose to invite them right back. Also, if the spirits are confronted, they don’t like it. If they leave angry, and are able to come back, they can bring seven more spirits with them, and the situation is worse than before.
If, however, they agree to keep spiritual doors closed, I will go through the house cleansing ceremony. Most of the time the spirits just leave quietly. Sometimes, they manifest.

So, could you pray for our meeting with this family?
Pray that they would see the glory of Jesus Christ and want to know Him as Saviour and Lord.
Pray for safety; and that if spirits do manifest, that they will quickly bow their knee in subjection to the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I’ll write again how the meeting went.
Thanks in advance for your prayers. Oh, and “yes”, you are welcome to ask other prayer warriors to join in as well.
~Howard

From no hope and dispair to.....

Today we heard of a tragedy on the Reserve. A couple of days ago, some young people, teens and early 20's, gathered for a party. Drugs were passed around.

Three have died, and one more is in coma. We know the coma victim slightly.

The person who made the drugs in his home lab turned himself in to the cops.

There is a lot of dispair on the Rez. Drugs promise a temporary escape, but sometimes, the drugs take away all chance for hope and change.

"There is a way that seems right unto man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death."

a view out our living room window...after we had snow, snow and some more snow!

Isaiah Chapter Six

Well, we made it to 2009. You have seen a lot of changes in the world during your life. It would take a long time to try to list all the change, wouldn’t it?

It kind of makes me think about Isaiah chapter six. “In the year that King Uzziah died…”

Isaiah was living through many changes when he wrote that. King Uzziah had a good start as king. He trusted in God and made a lot of changes to suppress idol worship. He reigned for 52 years. He submitted to teaching from Zechariah in how to worship God rightly. God gave him engineering genius. He made ballista and catapults that defended Jerusalem. We think that the Roman military invented those weapons, but King Uzziah had them 700 years before the Roman empire! 2 Chronicles 26 tells about his reign.

It must have been a golden era, to live in the first thirty years or so of King Uzziah’s reign. The legal system was cleaned up. Criminals were in jail or left Israel. False prophets and false religions were not welcome. People went to temple and worshipped together, and all was well, as long as King Uzziah sought the Lord.

Isaiah also witnessed the time of departure, the time when the King, full of his victories and power, stopped seeking the Lord. With that change, came many old vices and troubles which have been common to people though time. I wondered if Isaiah had some intense prayer times, interceding for his country? He would have witnessed a cooling of devotion for the Lord from the government and also in the people.

At such a time as that, Isaiah was met by the Lord in a rare and precious way. Chapter 6 begins, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’”

God was still on the throne at a time of spiritual decline and social decay when Isaiah saw Him. God is still on the throne in this day, too. There may be many things trying to distract our attention from seeking the Lord today. There are earthquakes, hurricanes, global warming, wars and rumours of wars, a general cooling of hearts from seeking the Lord, and a soft economy. Still, the Word tells us that “He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a self discipline.”

God is still on the throne. The Lord Jesus is coming back, and soon. I am not anxious about the change that is coming, for my feet are standing on the Rock.

“So, hurry back Lord Jesus. Shake your church. Shake the governments. Shake the earth! You are still on the throne and right on schedule.”

Perhaps you believed that you would live to see His return during your life.
You may be right!
He is coming soon.