Bear Claw Cabin--and "Just for Today"

It's been a fun day at Bear Claw Cabin in the mountains where Jonathan is remodeling by putting an upstairs bathroom between two bedrooms in the loft.

Timmy, Danny, Hannah and I came with him, lugging all manner of school books, groceries, clothes, gallons of our own well water, and pretty much everything except the kitchen--stove. (I need some sort of metaphor besides the "kitchen sink.")

Little did I know a week and a half earlier when I bade most of the family goodbye to go hunting,
and I could not go with them,

that I would get to do exactly what I wanted to do only ten days later!

I couldn't manage going out at 4:30 in the morning in freezing temperatures and sitting for hours watching for an elk, living on two meals a day and sharing a tent with ten other people!

The rest of the family had a ball, but I didn't have the strength for it, and I would just freeze. I felt bad because I would love to go to the mountains and enjoy the trees and nature and wildlife and sunshine.
I was thinking that I kind of needed to just spend some time in a cabin where I could go out during the day into the mountains, but could stay warm and comfortable otherwise, but how in the world could I manage that?

Well, I couldn't manage to figure out a way, just like I can't manage to figure out a lot of other things in my life.

I have to let God manage my life and figure things out for me, and guess what?

He gave me exactly what I felt I needed in such a special way!

Not only do we get to stay at a cabin that we don't have to pay for,

but we get paid for staying there! :) :)

Jonathan was asked months ago about remodeling in this cabin, and he and I had come up to estimate the job one day, and then the job had to be put off for months between Jonathan's jobs and the cabin being booked.

But finally, Jonathan was able to schedule a week or so to work on it. And here we are!

Here Jonathan is starting to tear into this corner between the two loft bedrooms where he is going to put in a tiny bathroom.

It's going to be right around the area where a big pipe comes up through from the gas fireplace downstairs, so that creates some complications.

But he has several skilled guys lined up to deal with things.

I cut protective plastic and covered beds and furniture.

In between helping the children with their schoolwork, making three meals a day from scratch, (or in this case, heating up leftover borsch from yesterday)

we all helped carry out old drywall pieces Jonathan was tearing out,

2x4 studs, and other stuff from the demolition going on upstairs.

 I loved the cute little kitchen.

We had skillet toasted cheese sandwiches along with our borsch for lunch. Mmmm!

 And sauteed veggies with BBQ sauce over beef pieces for supper, and potatoes with

 green bean casserole!

 And cookies from a mix leftover from last Christmas, which I made today in case we got surprised by Trick-or-Treaters coming by.

 While we're in the mountains, we're also in the middle of a mountain skiing town, and quite a few condominiums around, and a house right across the street decorated for Halloween.

Our kids are very happy to spend Halloween evening eating supper together with Daddy and Mom,

playing games, eating cookies, and reading a Bible story about Naaman this evening after the sun sets.

Our trust is in the Lord, and we have nothing to do with the devil, Halloween, trick-or-treating in witch costumes, or any other such participation in devilish things on this Halloween night.

God commands us to "Abstain from all appearance of evil."

So our children do not dress up in costumes, however innocent, to go trick-or-treating. 

We'd prefer to remember that 500 years ago today, Martin Luther set off the Protestant Reformation by nailing his 95 theses to the door of the Catholic church--and got nailed for it!

 While I was making supper and Jonathan was still working, the sun was setting.

 It was a beautiful ending to Reformation Day at Bear Claw Cabin!
"The just shall live by faith," was a favorite text of Martin Luther, and this was another day lived by faith.
Just another day in the life of the Lucases--as we live day by day with our trust in the Lord.

As a song says that my dear sister Dorcas used to sing as a solo,

"Lord, for tomorrow and its needs, I do not pray.

Keep me, my God, from stain of sin, just for today.

Let me both diligently work and duly pray;
Let me be kind in word and deed, just for today.

Let me be slow to do my will, prompt to obey;
help me to sacrifice myself, just for today.

Let me no wrong or idle word unthinking say;

Set Thou a seal upon my lips just for today.
 

Lord, for tomorrow and its needs I do not pray;
But keep me, guide me, love me, Lord, just for today."

Branding Day at the Ranch--and the Letter Kills But the Spirit Gives Life

A couple weeks ago, the ranch where our children work had their branding day.

Our kids were asked to come for the morning by the rancher's wife. 

A couple veterinarians were there and other helpers.

Sam was given the job of administering vaccinations, and then the rancher's wife decided that each of the children except Danny would get a turn branding!

Rose got the above picture of Sam taking his turn.

And below is Timmy taking his turn.

They hadn't asked to do it! It was the rancher's wife who had decided very definitely that it was time they learned!

You can see one of the ranching ladies getting her own picture of Timmy doing it.

Even Rose got a turn.

The children helped herd the calves back and forth where they belonged.

They had a very fun day, and stayed as they'd been invited for lunch. 

Rose had taken a pumpkin roll and apple pie which were much enjoyed.

And the rancher's wife later sent Gatorade and a case of Raisin Bran with the kids to take with them on their hunting trip!

She is such a dear, generous lady who is more like a grandma than a neighbor!

Yeah, this is supper afterward with the boys telling their stories--

and sometimes they don't sit like they are supposed to. I know.

Don't think I didn't notice!

But sometimes you just gotta let them be.

 Just days after the branding, I read in my devotions:

"You are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart..."

And I thought about how those hot branding irons sear through tough hide and into the flesh.

That is what the law and the letter of the law does.

The letter of the law is tough, impossible. It brands. It knocks you out. It even kills.

We could never perfectly keep the letter of the law of the Old Testament.

 But Paul wrote that as ministers of Christ, we are "ministers of the new covenant, 

not of the letter but of the Spirit;

for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

The Spirit doesn't brand; the Spirit writes.

The Spirit doesn't want to sear through a whole bunch of tough hide. 

He wants to get right at the tenderest part of us--our heart. 

Lord, sometimes we get so used to the letter of the law, to high pressure on certain issues that certain people think are important.

Or to the scoffing at other things that You say are unacceptable even under the New Covenant, but other Christians say are acceptable because it is so prevalent in our culture.

We are knocked out with the pain of the branding of everything from Old Testament Jewish laws

to the unwritten and unspoken rules of cultures and subcultures around us.

But what a joy to keep the spirit of God's law!

For example, while we as Gentiles and Christians are free from the Jewish laws of the Sabbath, we may use the Lord's Day to do good for others. 

 Crystal, Hannah and I had the joy of attending again at the Denver God's Missionary Church Sunday

while the others were down south spending a quiet Sunday in the mountains in between days of hunting. 

I'm sure we traveled farther than a Sabbath day's journey.

 At lunch time when I put our cherry cream pie in the fridge of the parsonage before lunch,

I noticed that the fridge was almost completely bare!

I have never seen such an empty fridge!

I wanted to make our gift of groceries we'd bought the day before a surprise, but I did ask first about doing a surprise in the church, so Pastor Christian and Holly wouldn't wonder what on earth we were up to in between morning service and Kids Club at 3 o'clock.

 We ladies needed something to do in between services after all, and yes, we weren't up to snuff on Old Testament law about Sabbath keeping because we carried heavy loads and did some work!

But we had a ball, stayed awake, and the pastor's empty fridge would once again have groceries in it.

It was the Lord's money, anyway, that we used, but He allowed us to have some fun with it first!

Thank You, Jesus, for smiling upon us and letting us smile and rejoice together in Your provision for both our families! It was so fun!

And then we probably didn't keep the letter of the law again when we went to pick up children for Kids Club. It was a lot of work and a lot of stress. There was a bunch of screaming and burping and swearing and dirty talk and it was totally unnerving. Some bigger boys could not be allowed to come because they were unmanageable. They tried to come anyway, walking to church and showing up with a stick and a big glass bottle. They were not allowed in. It has been a tough time for the Walkers.

 But other children came, and I plopped right down with the boys because they were the ones who needed more control. (That was probably not according to the letter of the law either, as I should have been on the girls' side.) 

Then Holly told the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and she didn't keep the letter of the story or quite King James Version, but she told the story so the children could understand,

and it was a very interesting story.

 She told how King Nebuchadnezzar chose boys at random because they were handsome or strong or smart and took them off captive.

One little boy, the one who had burped the loudest in the bus, promptly raised his hand and hollered, "Would you pick me?"

 And without missing a beat, Holly said, "I would pick you in a heartbeat! You're awesome!"

And the little kid looked shocked and pleased all at once.

The letter of the law would have been to not pick him. He was about 6 years old and uncouth and had been saying dirty words and burping like crazy and he shouldn't have been picked.

But Holly picked him. 

Just like Jesus.

God gave her a special wisdom and love in that critical moment when this little boy wondered if he would be picked.

God picks people like that.

And yeah, we didn't keep the Sabbath when the kids were playing golf on Sunday!

You guessed it!

They loved it and so did we!

Holly would ask a question about the Bible story, and the child who answered correctly got to have a try at hitting the "golf ball" into the basket for points, boys against girls.

The pastor had to chase one little boy around the pulpit once, helped by the boy's brother, but it was a good day. 

We took those noisy, crazy, cantankerous kids home and it was one of the most fulfilling days we've had in a long time.

Lord, here are our hearts. 

We open them to be written upon by Your Spirit and to be made part of Your life-giving ministry!

Rendering the Beef Fat--When You Melt in God's Crockpot

After cutting up our beef, we had a pile of scraps of fat left over. 

We decided to "render" it so that we could preserve it as lard. We're just learning in recent years how to do some of these things.

To render fat, you simply put it in a crockpot and turn it to low heat.

You heat that fat for a few hours till it is melted.

Just till it is melted. I think we heated ours too long, as we did it overnight. 

I read that if you heat it too long, it can have an odor to it instead of being odorless, and ours has a strong smell. But it is still good for frying, just not good enough for pastries. 

In the morning, Rose scooped the liquid fat into pans lined with waxed paper, and we let it cool and harden.

Or we poured it into plastic jars to then freeze.

Rose cut the lard into squares and packaged them to freeze.

Sometimes we feel like we are in the heat of God's crockpot, and we wish the situation would just hurry up and be over with.

God has His eye upon us. He knows exactly how much heat we can take.
And when it's enough, and our heart is softened and liquid to where He can ladle us out and make us useful, then He will turn off the heat.

Until then, just keep surrendered.
Just keep learning the lessons He wants you to learn in the crockpot.
Just keep low at His feet in the heat.
He will soon be setting you to cool on the counter, and then--take heart--
 you'll be ready to enter the frying pan!