Every Child Loves a Zoo

To Grand Manan and Back

Jonathan Joins Our Circle

One Of Those Special Moments

It really was a very special time for your Grandfather, Uncle Jonathan, Uncle Brian, and me.  We had worked hard clearing up brush and unwanted logs at our site on Cary Lake. It was the fall of 2011 -- late October. It was well into the evening.  The moon was full, the air was calm. Except for the crackling of the fire and the soft tone of our voices, there was little else to hear as we enjoyed the unusually warm night and the fires. We had four of them burning that night. 

It was a night for thinking about the value of family and time together with people that we love. It was a time to be enveloped in the peace of a perfect night. We cherish such times.  

The light from those fires remind me that Jesus said we are to be as lights in this very dark world. One time we were in Luray Cavern in Virginia and as the guide showed us the amazing formations, we came to a large space and he stopped us. He said he was going to have the lights turned off so we could experience total darkness. The lights went off and there was no glimmer anywhere. The darkness was almost palpable. I moved my hand in front of my face but could see nothing. It was total blindness and it seemed to even be a little hard to catch my breath in such dark and "heavy" air. Then after a moment he said he was going to strike a match so we could see how effective a little light was in a totally dark place. It was amazing. I could see features from a few yards away. We all began to murmur over it because we were so astonished.

I tell you this to remind you that Jesus said we are not to hide our light, but to let it shine. If you are ever tempted to think that your good deeds, your kind words, your prayers are of no value, think again! Those things stand out brightly in this troubled world. People all around you are hurting and they need to know that somebody cares. Maybe you can't fix their problems, but you CAN care. As someone wrote on facebook recently, "one person can make a difference -- or at least try." How true!

Doing The Best Thing and The Least Thing We Can Do

Grandchildren, here is a picture of some of you in our family room, but I am thinking of every one of you from the very youngest (Adam) to the oldest (Heather). There are 26 of you as of 2012.

Let's talk about prayer today. Prayer -- it's simply talking to God. He is with us always and has His ears open to us. He knows our happy times and he knows our sad times. And He is always ready to listen.

I learned to pray as a very young child. Our family was a praying family. But your grandfather taught me more about prayer after we were married. One thing that amazed me about Grampie was that he prayed about everything. For example, when we got into the car to go somewhere, we prayed before we started our trip and asked God to give us "traveling mercies" -- to keep us safe. He prayed for our children before they were born. And he prayed for the children that our children would have someday (that is YOU, of course).  He prayed when he couldn't find something. Your Grampie prayed about things that never entered my head as a matter for prayer. He helped me to understand more fully that GOD cares about every detail of our lives, whether it is big or little.

One night I was reading the Bible online. Online Bible reading is great because it is easy to go from translation to translation and to paraphrases in order to get a better understanding of the chapters and the verses. While I was reading, an old spiritual came to mind: "It's me, it's me, Oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. . . not my brother, not my sister, but it's me, Oh Lord." Hmmm -- that made me stop and think. I pray for you and a lot of people, but how often do I really pray for ME?

I'm supposed to pray for YOU. The Bible commands it! In the Old Testament, the Prophet Samuel said to King Saul, "God forbid that I should sin by ceasing to pray for you." In this very difficult world, the very best thing that we can do for one another is to pray! And we can do that any time of the day or night. We can pray lying on our beds, driving the car, at work, at play. We can pray anywhere and at any time. We can speak aloud or direct our thoughts to the Lord because He knows what we are thinking on the inside.

There are always many needs among our family, friends, and "friends of friends": spiritual, physical, emotional, material, end-of life issues, pregnancies, stresses, and conflicts. People are concerned about their grades, where they will go to college, who they will marry. Some of those things are overwhelming to us and they motivate us to pray for each other. Those are the times when we go to God's Emergency Room!

But we should pray for ourselves, too. When we do that, we are telling our VERY best friend about us! One thing to remember is that we should be very careful that we do not ONLY pray when we have problems. The Bible says we should "pray without ceasing". That doesn't mean we have to be praying every second, but we must not neglect our regular times to pray -- daily. You know when we pray for you most often? It is at meal times when we thank the Lord for our food. So three or more times every day we are praying for members of our family. Sometimes we pray because we know you have a need. And other times pray for you "just because".

What do you pray about? If you are like me, maybe you forget to ask the Lord to teach you what you need to know for living this life in a pure and wholesome way. Maybe you forget to tell Him when you have had bad thoughts or when you have been mean or when you have used rude or crude language. He wants to hear from us at those times and He has promised to forgive us and to help us please Him in everything we do and in everything we say. If we just go our own way, we usually live very selfish lives. We need God's guidance and so we pray and we read the Bible. We go to Church and we talk to other Christians and to our family. That is how we learn. And that is how we grow as Christians.

Maybe the thing we forget most often is to praise Him for who He is -- our Lord and Savior. Or maybe we are more forgetful about thanking Him for the blessings and miracles that He freely gives to us by His grace -- especially the miracles of salvation and redemption.

So remember to pray for friends and family. And remember to pray for yourself, too. When you pray, tell God how wonderful He is. Tell Him you love Him. Thank God for His goodness and His gracious gifts. Tell the Lord when you have done wrong things. Tell Him you are sorry and that You want to not do that again. That is repenting -- turning away from those things that do not please the Lord. So pray. It is the LEAST you can do and it is the BEST you can do.

Christmas Treat From The Old Days

Nobody loved molasses more than my grandfather. It would not surprise me to learn that he ate it in some form most ot the days of his life.

I remember seeing him in the kitchen hand-grinding salt pork for this -- one of his favorites for Christmas time. And I remember seeing the proud look on his face when the finished product was ready to go with his inevitable cups of tea. Hmmm. I must ask Mom if he ever drank coffee. If he did, I don't remember it.

If there were no molasses cookies, gingerbread, or other such baked goods, he was content to finish his meal with a thick slice of home baked bread dotted with hard butter from the refrigerator and topped with a very meticulous swirl of molasses always poured from the "molasses jug" in a circular pattern that began in the center of the bread and ended at the edges of the slice. That sight was always fascinating to me -- Gramp was precise in everything he did, including the way he poured his molasses. (Funny what one remembers, isn't it?)

On Building A Camp

Having a camp on Cary Lake will fulfill a dream of mine since the 1950s. This is on property given to us by Grammie Ruth -- a portion of the land that she bought for herself and her children in 1957 after our father died in a trucking accident. This piece of land represents memories that we want to share with you and it represents the memories that we hope you will build for children of the future. It represents the importance of family love and the Christian heritage that we want to leave for our children and grandchildren (for this will be a place dedicated to our Lord and His Gospel).

Here you see Grampie Wayne and Jonathan enjoying a break from felling, sawing, loading, and hauling trees to make a building plot overlooking the lake. We worked HARD and long hours, but we believe the time and effort will be worth it in the future. Right now where 60 foot hardwood trees and smaller flora once grew is a building with a metal roof and exterior sheathing. It has no windows yet. One door is installed and the other stands inside waiting for the time that the chipboard is removed from the opening and it can take its place on the west entrance. The camp stands in the parentheses that we know as the northern Maine winter. Where the warmth of a phenomenal fall and the rustle of leaves once set the stage for our work, we see ice,  snow, a few brave chickadees and barren hardwoods. It is a time to wait and rest.

We hope you plan to spend some vacation days and weekends at the camp -- and that you might even lend a hand or an idea to this place as it continues to take on a personality that reflects who we are.