July 26th, 2024
I have a bit of a rodent problem. This Watts Bridge campsite has been great the past few days, but I am hearing my rodent traps go off every single night. I have caught about 5 or 6 so far. I did some research online and found that peppermint oil is a natural repellent for rodents. There are countless sellers on Amazon that will sell you a spray bottle of the stuff for anywhere from 20-40 dollars. That’s not really how I roll. I figured Challis is just down the street and here is a Family Dollar there that will have spray bottles and a grocery store called Lambs across the street that will have peppermint oil. I need to scout for churches and pick up some more melons anyways.
I hopped on the bike and headed down the highway the short trip to town. I took a little tour of the small town of Challis noting any churches that I passed by and stopping to see if they listed their service times on a sign, which none did. After that I stopped at the Family Dollar and made my way through the store not having any luck finding what I was looking for. I headed back up the the front and flagged down a gal who was unloading some stock. I asked her if they sold spray bottles and she politely referred me to the back corner of the store where, sure enough, they had plenty in stock. I grabbed one and headed back up to ask the same gal if they had any peppermint oil for sale. “No, we don’t, but I know they sell it a Lambs across the street.” … “Wow, your pretty helpful,” I said “what can you tell me about this church next door?” … “I don’t know much about that church, but if you are looking for Sunday service to attend, you should come to my church. Its called New Hope and it’s over by Lambs as well. Service is at 10:30.”
And that was that. Just like that I had a place to go on Sunday… and a familiar face to wave to when I got there.
July 28th, 2024
As I read today’s entry in My Utmost for His Highest, I encountered my first disagreement with Oswald Chambers since starting this book. He basically said that I am mistaken if I believe that God has some great mission for me to fulfill. Given my journey through life thus far, I could not disagree more with this statement. God absolutely has something for me to do while I am here. I have been saved from death time and time again, beginning with my very birth. God has gone to great lengths to preserve my life for something that he intends me to take part in. As I tracked through my morning run, I could not help but bring this concern to God that I could not, and did not, agree with what I had read this morning, and that I intend to put it out of my mind and continued to finish my run.
That done, I got cleaned up and headed for church at New Hope. I was greeted by 3 gentlemen who opened the door for me, shook my and introduced themselves. Several of the church members came by and had quick chats, introduced themselves, and welcomed me warmly. I hadn’t gotten there until about 10:25 so there wasn’t much time to converse, but the short time I had before the service was very welcoming.
The service itself was unique to what I have seen so far. They had standard announcements first, and then came the worship time. There were no hymn books, no band, just a man and a woman at the front clapping and leading the singing. It was a bit jarring at first, and with no music to predict the flow, I found myself a bit lost… but as the songs went on I found the flow in them and had a nice time singing with the other worshippers. The teaching itself was also different than what I had seen in other places. The pastor, Wayne, was fairly new to his position having recently started the process of taking over for the previous pastor. His style was very laid back and conversational. He sat on a stool in front of us and just kind of chatted about the bible for about an hour. He had a kind, even familiar, face and I found myself drawn into his words of wisdom.
About 15 minutes into his service, Pastor Wayne completely blew my mind. He told us about a passage he had read in a devotional that morning. He read the same passage from My Utmost for His Highest that I had just disagreed with a few hours ago. I couldn’t believe it. I had taken this very issue to God not two hours ago, and here this pastor was drilling it back into me. My jaw dropped to the floor. I felt trapped. But then Wayne went on to interpret this passage in a very different way then I had. He said it was about living in the now, in this day, instead of living in some unknown future. I had not looked at this this way, and found great comfort in hearing another take on this passage. As I service winded down, I knew I had to tell Pastor Wayne about this.
Service ended and I shook many more hands and shared many more quick words and then Wayne came over to me to thank me for coming. I told him I was glad I had a chance to run into him because I wanted to tell him about this amazing thing that had happened with this Chambers passage. He took me to the fellowship room where we sat and chatted for over an hour. He asked me my story, and I told him all about my past life, being saved, transformation, everything. He told me his story as well about running nuclear reactors, being called from Arizona back to Idaho to serve, and his troubled sons. We built a lot of rapport in that short conversation and he was very pleased with the story about this amazing “coincidence” with Oswald Chambers today. While we chatted, he told me about a ranch that he runs a few miles west of Challis called Living Waters. A few of the employees had attended church that day and he introduced me to James and Anthony as they passed by us in the fellowship hall. James stopped to chat for a few minutes and at one point invited me to come stay out at the the ranch for a few days. I though he was joking but Wayne assured me he was serious and told me they had RV spots with full hookups power, water and sewer and that I should consider taking him up on the offer. I agreed to pray on it and let him know and we shook hands and parted in good company.
I hit the road back to my campsite, considering his offer the whole way. God knows, I am shy, and my first instinct was to decline his offer… but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I needed to take this opportunity and run with it. I was led here, to this place, to these people. There is some amount of life that is going to come from this relationship. All of the signs are there. I didn’t pick this church from a list, I was led to it while shopping. The coincidence with the passage from My Utmost for His Highest is not a coincidence at all. That was the first time I had ever spoken to God about a passage from that book in the 3 months I have been reading it, and it came right back to me an hour later from the mouth of a pastor during church service. There is just too much going on here. God is all over it. I picked up the phone and accepted the offer to join them at the ranch. I will head that way tomorrow.
These last few weeks have been a little touch and go. I can’t deny that I have felt far away from God. No matter how hard I tried to reach out and focus on Him, I found myself distracted, and alone. I have read so many times that when God feels far away it is often because he is about to do something amazing. This is not easy to remember during these times, but is absolutely true. God delivered me an absolutely mind blowing day today. He wasn’t gone, he was winding up a perfect pitch, right down the middle. Today I took a swing and connected big time.
July 29th, 2024
The drive to Living Waters Ranch was a short, but beautiful one. The ranch sits at the base of a canyon about 4 miles west of Challis. It is in a very secluded spot surrounded by mountain and lush trees. I was not prepared for how large the place is. As I pulled in, James greeted me in a little side by side ATV and told me to follow him to my parking spot. The spot is great, its a little close to the road but the road seems to have very little traffic so it should be just great. There are electrical hookups, a fresh water spigot, and there is even an RV dump right at the site. It’s really quite cool.
I pulled in and got my rig leveled quickly and James offered to take me for a tour of the property. I hopped into the ATV and he drove me around from one end to the other. The place is beautiful. Multiple cabin like structures have been built all over providing different levels of housing for rent. There is a dormitory type building with a common bunk area for hosting large groups of kids during camp, several motel type buildings for small families to rent, and full sized cabins with lofts available for larger families. The staff lives on site with very generous quarters located at each end of the property. The center of the property is a large, well maintained park with beautifully manicured grass, walled dirt paths throughout and water features and waterfalls here and there. There are basketball courts, a field with a baseball diamond, playgrounds, an octagon, and a volleyball pit. There is also a brand new main building just constructed that acts as an assembly hall, worship hall and mess hall with a huge professional kitchen fully stocked and equipped with state of the art gear. This place is really something.
As we chatted we found that our situations were quite similar and built fast rapport. He invited me to volunteer there during my stay, which was a large part of the reason I came in the first place so I happily accepted. He had been praying recently for God to send him some help, and here I was… it was meant to be. He also showed me to a bathroom with a shower I could use in a cabin right by my parking spot. I asked him about paying for the spot, and he refused outright. After our chat he led me in a short prayer and left me to finish setting up. About a half hour later he popped by again to introduce me to his wife, Ashley, who acts as the staff manager of the property. I cannot believe how welcoming these people have been, I am so grateful.
At 4:00, I headed to the kitchen to help out with that evenings work. There were 130 kids coming for a Bible camp that would be staying until Friday morning and they were busy preparing food for the lot of them. I walked in and introduced myself to the staff. The main cook was Debbie, who is the wife of Christopher who also owns the property. I had met Christopher at church the day before, he had been sitting in front of me and turned around during worship to welcome me. There was also Robin, who works with Debbie, a newer hire Jessica, who does not speak English, Emma, James’ 15 year old daughter, and Anthony, who I had been introduced to the day before by Pastor Wayne during our chat. There wasn’t whole lot for me to do at this point other than get to know everyone and carry a couple trays of spaghetti, but it was a pleasant visit. Everyone was just extremely welcoming.
I spent the week here helping out with the kitchen and yard work and getting to know everyone. I also had plenty of time to myself to work out, run, explore, and play with Danny. A few days in, James popped by to see if I wanted to come help him set up a gigantic slip-n-slide over in the ball field. Of course I did! It is basically a huge 100 foot long tarp draped down a 20 foot hill and fed water by the grounds’ sprinkler system. A pretty simple concept but quite impressive in execution:
I really enjoyed my time here. I made some good friends among these folks and had some wonderful experiences. No great adventures or epic tales, just good people and a helping hand. I did fix the air hockey table while I was here… it had bad wiring so I made the necessary repairs and I got it running again.
While I was here Christopher, the owner, would often come by and we would just chat endlessly about the Lord and His mission for this place. Living Waters is all about bringing glory to the God by giving people a beautiful place to retreat to where they can learn and grow in their faith. I feel blessed just knowing that places like this exist and that God would be so generous to let me be a part of it, even if just for a short time.
As the week came to a close I turned to Christopher for some advise on churches to visit when I headed north to Salmon. He said I should be sure to stop in to Calvary Chapel up there and meet their pastor Hagan Miller. He also made sure to let me know that there would be a permanent place for me here at Living Waters if I ever wanted to come settle down there. These people have been a gift, and a true blessing. I find myself completely surrounded by love, and I don’t really think I know how to handle it yet. I feel my heart growing and changing, but I feel like I still have so far to go. These people are on another level. I pray God will continue to transform me.
Isn’t it crazy how He works? This all came from a trip to town to buy some peppermint oil for a rodent problem. Hah!
God is good.
The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
Isaiah 58:11