As we entered our second year at Sky Ranch, we looked back at our first year with hearts filled with thanksgiving. Yes, it was an intense year, but God had confirmed over and over again that we were where He wanted us to be:

• Our wonderful home was affordable and in a great location.
• Our three children had settled into their new schools.
• Sally Jo had located everything from the grocery store to new doctors
• My relationship with the Sky Ranch Board of Directors was good
• Sky Ranch had excellent first year “permanent” and summer staff able to deal with changes and challenges
• Rain had stopped construction, but filled the lake. We prayed, God stopped the rain, construction continued
• An increasing number of campers each session filled each new cabin as it was completed
• Though we shared the camp with copperheads and scorpions, only one (disobedient) camper had been bitten.
• God provided Gladys Lankford and Walter Hodges whose example, counsel, and generosity lifted our spirits.

Our family had enjoyed a continual flow of visitors who helped and encouraged us. When summer camp closed, we had time to breathe, and to go to The Spaghetti Factory, Ola Podrida and other fun places in the Dallas area.

In the fall we hired Ricky and Alice, a young couple who wanted to be in Christian ministry. Ricky’s dream was to become a pastor. They both were willing to do whatever needed to be done. Our daughter remembers that Ricky could ride a horse at full gallop, swing down from his saddle and pick up a cowboy hat on the ground.

Contributions, camper fees and Sky Ranch Board member-secured loans carried us through to the end of the year, and the Board was confident that year-end contributions would be good. But the economy in Dallas was sputtering: empty office and apartment space practically stopped commercial construction. People were uneasy. Year end contributions were poor. The Board reminded me that funding was their responsibility, and though they were stopping further camper/retreat cabin construction, I should continue to work on preparation for the coming summer. Contributions stopped, and further borrowing secured by Board of Director members was impossible as several worked in commercial real estate development. Soon Sky Ranch was unable to pay bills, and vendors required cash on delivery. All retreat income had to go toward essentials.

After meeting with the Dallas office staff, Sally Jo and I met with the five ranch staff. I explained that I was no longer receiving a pay check, and asked them to tell me before the end of the day how much money each of them needed to keep going. I saw Ricky and Alice talking intensely. Then Ricky said “Chuck, since we live here at camp and can eat dining hall leftovers, if someone will let us use their washer and dryer, we do not need any money.”

As days moved into weeks, and still no paychecks, no financial relief, I often thought about the Israelite people: After 430 years, they were finally leaving Egypt. God had provided them Moses, and then the miracles of the plagues, ending with the Passover. God had led His people into the desert with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night. When they were caught between Pharaoh’s pursuing army and the Red Sea, they had seen God part the waters for them to pass, and then bring the water back to drown the army that was very close behind them. These people had experienced God’s care and provision, yet within three days after experiencing the parting of the sea, they were grumbling at Moses and God, for they had no water to drink. Did they really think God was unaware of this fact?

We did not want to be like the Israelite people. If God had provided, we should be thankful that He would continue to do so. But after six weeks, personal reserves were gone and we were changing our thinking from “Lord, we await your provision” to “Lord, have you forgotten us?” Would the ranch have to close, and we find new work? Was this what it meant to Live In Partnership With God?

Walter and Bonnie Hodges retired to a small house on a few acres three miles from Sky Ranch. Walter had been an insurance agent in the Dallas area and had some knowledge of the ministry. When they bought their “homestead” it already had a root cellar, garden plot, blackberry patch, and persimmon, pecan and holly trees. To this they added beds of iris, daffodils and a cow named Trilby. Their life was simple, yet rich in many ways.

A couple weeks before camp was to open the first summer, Walter drove up in his cream colored 1965 Chevy pick-up. With his warm smile, he asked if he could look around. About an hour later Walter returned to report that the wire mesh under the mattresses on the old army bunk beds was sagging because the side springs were stretched out. He suggested the side springs could be replaced with wire to help solve the problem. He then offered to do the work. When I pointed out that there were over 200 bunks, each with four springs, he said he thought he could do it over time. Six days a week he worked for a couple hours, eat the lunch he had brought, and work a couple more hours. Each session more campers came, and Walter had the bunks ready.

When he learned that Sally Jo wanted to plant a five acre garden to teach gardening to the staff and campers and provide fresh vegetables for the kitchen, Walter was there to coach her. Every morning he came to help in the garden and work on the bunks, always wearing a smile and an old white shirt, dark pants, and a straw hat. Throughout the long growing season the garden produced more tomatoes than the campers could eat, plus potatoes, carrots, beans, squash, corn, cucumbers and okra,

Walter invited us to come by his house to meet Bonnie. Repeatedly through our seven years at Sky Ranch our family would stop by their house for a brief visit, and every time we stopped by, they gave us something: “go pick yourselves as many berries as you like”, “please pick yourselves some flowers”,” here is a bottle of jam”, “please enjoy a gallon of Trilby’s milk”, “the persimmons are ripe – take a few”, “Christmas is coming, enjoy this beautiful holly”.

Our three children always wanted to go to visit them – and to see what surprise they had for us. These visits were full of kidding and laughter and our family became very close to Walter and Bonnie. This relationship lifted our spirits!!

When Bonnie had a stroke, Walter placed a hospital bed in their living room, and focused all of his attention on caring for Bonnie, necessarily neglecting their little “estate”. We stepped up the regularity of our visits. The laughter and sharing continued.

Over several months Bonnie’s condition worsened, and we watched Walter’s health and strength gradually decline as he worked long hours caring for the wife he had loved for over 50 years. When Bonnie died, Walter was completely worn out. He assured us he would be like his neglected tomato plants: with care, sunshine and time he would be fine.

Seven years after we left Sky Ranch, our family was able to travel around the country in a borrowed RV. We were all looking forward to seeing Walter, particularly daughter Jenna who had been corresponding with him while in college. Two weeks before we were to visit Walter, he died. His son told us his father wanted us to have his 1965 Chevy pickup. We pulled the rust free truck behind the 43 foot RV from Mineola, Texas to our home in New York where son Dirk rebuilt the truck to original condition – except for replacing the oak bed with one made of bird?s eye maple and cherry. We continue to enjoy the truck and remember Walter and Bonnie with happy hearts.

Living In Partnership With God requires only that we give ourselves to God. What would God have us do with our lives? Use what He has entrusted to us. When we do, this will bring God joy, and God will use us to enrich the lives of others.

“Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” — Matthew 5:16

Summer camp was tough. Everything about camp was new to us: the year around employees and summer staff, the program, the unfinished facility, the food, etc. Sally Jo began five mornings a week working with campers in the 5 acre garden – tomatoes, potatoes, okra, and much more. With summer camp having just begun, Larry and Barbara Brooks and their daughter, friends from our two years in Murfreesboro, arrived to run the craft program for two months. Larry taught art at Middle Tennessee State University. Bill and Vodie Schwantes arrived. Bill, but he was a highly recommended, recently retired business manager from another Christian ministry. While Sally Jo and our three children remained at camp, early each Monday morning I returned to Dallas for a Sky Ranch Board of Director’s meeting and to talk with parents, donors, potential rental group leaders, pay bills, etc. Early each Friday Morning I would head back for a busy weekend at camp, stopping at the Dallas farmers market to fill the station wagon with fresh produce.

The days were hot!! (One summer it never went below 100 degrees, day or night, for 30 days!) Every Sunday afternoon Sally Jo and I met the campers and their families at the entrance of the parking lot. Try standing for two hours on hot black top in the hot sun in cowboy boots, jeans, red and white checked shirts and cowboy hats. The sweat runs down your legs into your boots!

Summer camp was tough, yet rewarding. Most of the campers came from churches which taught the Bible, but many of these same campers did not understand God’s plan of salvation. Hearts were open to hear this good news, and without any pressure, it was often a simple process to lead these children to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, and to encourage their continued walk as God’s children.

When September came, the heat subsided, but the work continued. As a family we stayed in Dallas from Saturday or Sunday evening through Friday after school – then back to the ranch to welcome a weekend retreat group, and to work in the garden, the store, the dining hall, or with the horses – whatever was required to support retreat groups from Young Life Clubs and many churches. Sally Jo and I also led two weekend “family retreats” during the school year.

In the midst of the daily operation of the ministry, Sally Jo’s diary reminded me that in the fall I left for 4 days to teach previously scheduled Christian Education work shops in West Virginia and North Carolina, and at another time, in Tennessee. We had a steady flow of family, and friends from our days in AL, CT, TN, and IL – over 30, some for several nights. This required keeping our home in Dallas and the trailer at the ranch ready for guests all of the time. Add to this the school functions of three children, caring for a occasional sick child, speaking on behalf of Sky Ranch, participating in church activities when possible, building relationships with immediate neighbors, and going to Sky Ranch board member’s homes for dinner – with many enjoying dinner in our home. It was a crazy pace to live week after week.

Our stability and sanity as a family were greatly enhanced by singing in the car going to and from the ranch, and when possible, making a stop along the way for something fun – a salt festival, the largest flea market in the country, a small town rodeo, a unique place to eat. On slow weekends we would swim, take canoe rides and ride horses together. We were able to take a two week family trip to Florida where both of our parents had condominiums and we spent two weekends alone at our pediatrician’s cabin.

When we live In Partnership With God, much of life is a daily discipline – nothing dramatic. Noah was considered a righteous man, yet there is no indication that Noah found life any different (Genesis 6). We read that Moses experienced several “God interventions”, but it was over a span of 40 years with the Israelites in the desert (Exodus 12 – 40). It is easy to forget that Paul was beaten five times with 39 lashes, 3 times with a rod, stoned and left for dead, three times ship wrecked, and he spent several years in prison (I Corinthians 11). Tradition says Paul was beheaded.

Let us all press on in obedience to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – regardless.

Randy came to serve as the camp cook for the summer. He was a reasonably good cook, an excellent cook considering the fact that his kitchen consisted of 4 home type refrigerators, 4 chest freezers, and the stove/griddle/oven unit and huge mixer from the old camp in an unfinished building without air conditioning. He had not worked with any of the food vendors and he had no experienced help.

Randy started the summer cooking for 30 staff members under a 12′ X 12′ tarp. By summer’s end he was cooking for 150 in one end of the future craft building. He never complained. I am sure his physical toughness from being a wrestler enabled him to survive – while preparing good food meal after meal, day after day.

None of the staff had ever worked together before. In fact every staff person was new to the situation, including me. I had never directed a camp before. Monty, who was 22, had been program director at the old camp and knew his position well. He was the only staff member who did.

It was a tough summer, as you can imagine. I was not focused on good management technique, but on being sure the campers had a wonderful, safe experience. This was a real challenge with a new staff, unproven horses, copper heads in the camp (we killed 28 during the summer), scorpions in the buildings, and snakes in the lake. We not only survived, but the campers had such a good time that they returned the next summer, bringing their friends.

When camp ended and we were shutting down for a couple months so more of the camp could be completed, Randy asked for a few minutes when we could talk together. Soon we had the one-on-one time he requested.

Randy gave me a carefully chosen stick with a knob on the end – fastened by two leader strips to a weathered board two feet long.

Randy explained that it was to represent Moses’ Rod, and was to remind me that there were times when it was not necessary for Moses to hit the rock to bring forth water. All that Moses had to do was speak to the rock. He went on to say, “Chuck, there are times when only a few words are necessary to make your point.”

I have kept his gift hanging on the wall of my office – a constant reminder from a gentle servant.

Kaleo Lodge was a small, beautiful retreat, located two miles from Sky Ranch. The only time I was there, a 5′ tall white haired lady introduced herself: “I am Gladys Lankford. Everyone calls me Glad, and I would like to help at Sky Ranch. I am 81 years old, and as long as the Lord lets me live, I will serve Him.” I asked what she would like to do: “I can do most anything you want me to do. My husband, Bud, who has gone home to be with the Lord, and I owned the drug store in Mineola (15 miles away), and my husband was also the Post Master.” I promised to give her a call.

During staff training the T-shirts and other supplies arrived for the camp store – a building from the old ranch so small it came over on a truck. I called Glad and she arrived in a tired looking car a couple hours later. I showed her the boxes and the shelves, and soon this feisty lady was unpacking boxes, organizing their contents on the shelves. Glad returned the next day, and the next, until the task was finished. One day when I stopped by to see how she was doing, she asked about Sky Ranch: Its purpose, its history, and its plans for the future. She had heard rumors that Sky Ranch was somehow involved with problem kids – a rehabilitation place, or something like that. I explained that I was aware of this misconception, and we were asking people known in the surrounding communities to run advertisements telling that Sky Ranch, a Christian ministry, was re-locating in the area and they were pleased to welcome Sky Ranch. Glad offered to sponsor an advertisement in the Mineola paper – and assured me that everyone knew her! I asked if she was sure she should do this – each advertisement in a local paper cost about $100. She said she thought she could handle it.

Just before the campers were to arrive she noticed camp did not have a “refrigerated water fountain.” She asked me to buy one, and she would pay for it. When camp started, she could see she was no longer needed and quietly stepped out of the picture. I was curious about Glad so went by her home, a small two bedroom brick house.

In the fall she returned to ask if she could sell things in the store. I really hesitated, as Glad had strong opinions which she was very happy to share when she felt it appropriate. But…how could I say no? Young Life rented the facility for the first retreat weekend and, just as I feared, Glad soon lecturing a high school student who smoked!!!!! I cringed! However high school kids loved her, and soon were asking her questions about what life was like when she grew up. Glad told how the first time she drove a car, she drove it through a store window. And how nice girls rode side saddle, but she rode “astride” so she could ride faster. Glad laughed as she remembered, and those around her laughed with the fun, little lady.

After the first weekend retreat she told me to buy a piano. A piano? “Well, you don’t have one in that conference building. Buy a good one, and I will pay for it!” Glad…are you sure? “Buy a good piano!” And so we did. A year later she told me to build a maintenance building. “Build what you need. I’ll pay for it.” We had plans drawn for a building adequate for the future needs of the camp. Glad had no interest in seeing the plans, nor did she have any interest in being recognized for her giving.

Our daughter, Carla, was the first chair cellist with a high school orchestra that was going to Vienna, Austria for an orchestra competition. When Glad learned about the competition, she told our daughter, with Sally Jo and me present, to have her cello teacher pick out a good cello, one appropriate to her ability, and she would pay for it.

Glad, Sally Jo and I became very close, and after six years we took her to see Wheaton College, which she had supported, but never seen. During the hours we talked, she told us she was giving away $28,000 a month! Oil money she called her “unearned increment.” Glad enjoyed giving: giving herself and her resources.

Gladys Lankford lived In Partnership With God, and did not need the praise of men.

Glad lived by her favorite verse: “This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be Glad in it.” — Psalm 118:24

Dear IPWG people –

The following is a personal update – totally out of the series.
Recent camping convention – and Sally Jo’s unconventional birthday present for my 70th

Sally Jo and I have just returned from the Christian Camping and Conference Association annual Convention in Colorado Springs, Co. We went to my nieces wedding in Wheaton – then went on from there. I was given $ by Deerfoot Lodge and then was able to get a special convention rate …to decided Sally Jo should come along – a special treat.

I took my partially completed IPWG with me, thinking I would send along the trip. Joke! We were going just about 24/7 from the time we left Greenville until we returned home this morning.

At the convention were 6 DL former staff – I think all had been with us at DL for 10 or more years. 4 are now camp directors – NY, ME, TX, PA. One is retreat manager in PA, and the other is head of wilderness camping and maintenance at a camp in MT. Two wives (+ Sally Jo) were also present…. Incredible experience for Sally Jo and me, as you can imagine. Another Deerfooter, unable to come, is the business manager of a year around camp/conference ministry in MN. And Scott Barnett is in Kenya…did not come. There are other Deerfooters who are also in camping – but there before I came.

I also participated in a seminar with another retired camp director – he of a year around ministry with $7,000,000 budget! Our topic: what would we have done differently? And time was spent with others in camping/conference ministry – have known some of them for 34 years.

One fun contact – a man from Indiana University (Weselyan) interested in developing a camping/conference major.

For my 70th birthday Sally Jo gave me a membership to a glider pilot club which is located 10minutes from our home. The idea: that I will become a glider pilot. Should be lots of fun…

Our 4 acre property is pretty well put to bed – which takes time….lots of time. Last summer we picked and froze 35 packages of blue berries – also lots of rasberries, rhubarb, beans, swiss chard, etc – and picked about 20 acorn and 16 butternut squash. All told we have 1 1/2 freezers full of food.

I dug up, split, and replanted at least 500 daffodil bulbs – This past spring I cut over 1000 flowers, mostly to give away. Yes, sounds crazy. We started buying bulbs after the planting season for half price soon after we moved in 29 years ago. This year I did not buy any more – only tulips!

And…the flower garden was again expanded… While Sally Jo was on her 9 day bike trip in the Czech republic, I worked with friends to put in a 16X20 blue stone patio on the South side of the house. One long term friend is a profession nursery man. He gave very clear instructions of how to prepare….and incredible amount of work. We dug out (help from friends) 11 cubic yards of soil – down 14″-17″ to create good drainage and a solid base. We replaced with course gravel topped with 4″ of stone dust. Another friend who sand blasts signs into rock went to the quarry and picked 7 ton of blue stone – up to 3′ X 5′ – the nursery man saw them and simply said “wow” Helps to have friends who know what they are doing – We have started to plant large grasses so as to create the feeling of a room. I have put away the table and two chairs for the winder, but today December 3, I ate an apple there, standing comfortably in a shirt – no jacket.

Anyway…the garden club has asked if our home can be on their tour in 2010. Sally Jo was pleased, though surprised, as most of the garden is no visible from the road…somebody told! So…next spring…I would rather not think about it!

Tis time now to turn my attention to making Christmas presents on the lathe – at least 9. If all goes well, we have an additional tentative list of another 15…will see.

Yes, busy – and “living thankful”

chuck

I have just worked through Sally Jo?s daily diary from 1975 and found the following:

• February 8 – Dam construction to create 70 acre lake begins
• March 3 – Our family has picnic on lake bottom
• At some time:
  • Eleanor Briley arrives in Dallas, stays with friend June Hunt in Dallas, begins staff hiring
  • J.C. Hawkins hired – maintenance – lives mile from camp – builds fences, prepares riding trails
  • About 30 unproven horses/tack begin to arrive at camp – bought by Lonnie, new wrangler from W. TX. His instructions: horses must be safe for campers to be around, all suitable for trail rides, some must be trained for barrel and other races within rodeo corral – also buy necessary tack & other needed equipment. He had two months – very tight budget! Good horses, great program!
• May 10 – Six repossessed mobile homes (cheap!) pulled in by bull dozer for staff housing & office-1st cabin framed in May 13 – Heavy rain. Concrete truck gets stuck – pulled out by bull dozer – no more deliveries until things dry out. Randy, the cook, arrives – stays with us in Dallas while working on menus, food suppliers.
• May 18 – Stoves from old camp put in temporary kitchen under our 12X12 dining tarp
• May 19 – Staff arrive in rain – sleep in mobile homes – no water, sewer, electricity – staff training in uncompleted barn
• May 20 – Water running off tarp onto burners and griddle. No refrigeration. Only water source across lake. Desperate situation! Decide to pray for 24 hr – set up schedule: “Lord, Please Stop The Rain.” The Lord Stops the Rain! – for area of about 3 miles around us
• May 21 – Call general contractor. “The sun is out at Sky Ranch” Calls 7 sub-contractors – no other dry place to work.
• May 22 – 7 sub-contractors/their crews arrive – I have movie of their arrival – workmen everywhere – working together – Larry Brooks, art teacher from Middle Tennessee State U. arrives with wife/daughter to run craft program
• May 25 – Lake full – copperhead snakes into camp up from lake bed (kill 28 during summer) scorpions abound!
• June 1 – workable camp – home type refrigerators/freezers are all we had for 1st summer. – first campers arrive – fortunately a small number for the first session.
• June 3 – Sally Jo and our 3 kids join me in mobile home. Still no electricity, thus no AC – over 90 degrees inside. While swimming with kids in lake sees snake – likely a water moccasin – very sobering.

Each session more cabins are completed – and filled with campers registered months before. During summer over 1000 campers had been at the new Sky Ranch – as many as attended old ranch in a peak year.

• If there had been no intense rain, the lake would not have been filled.
• If there had been no intense rain, the Sky Ranch staff would not have experienced God stopping the rain over the camp
• If there had been no intense rain, the sub-contractors would have had other places to work.

As Hudson Taylor said, “God’s work done in God’s way never lacks for God’s supply.”

Dr. V. Raymond Edman, President of Wheaton College said: “Go as far as you can go, even if you cannot see how necessary things will happen. If it is God’s work, God will keep a step ahead.”

God again proved Himself faithful. I kept going forward, and God was continually going before us, providing the resources as needed to do His work. This was true in the area of staff hiring, supply purchasing, building design, site selection, and construction. Living In Partnership With God is a reality we can experience. It takes faith in action.

The Bible gives many examples of how God desires to work through people who take God at His word: building the ark, fighting battles, Gideon’s battle, training to be a king, preparing for Jacob’s family to survive through Joseph’s being sold into slavery, food and water for Israelites in desert, Nehemiah’s building the wall around Jerusalem, Esther’s intervention, Daniel as prophet.

Billboards in and around Dallas featured a beautiful lodge with the words “Sky Ranch.” This lodge was to be located on the highest point in the property – with a great view of the lake. This lodge is where the dining room, kitchen, offices, meeting rooms and large deck were to be located. The reality was that there were no significant contributions for the construction of the lodge. Time to swallow hard and scratch the lodge.

Three months until the campers were to arrive – no buildings & no utilities under construction. Campers were registering. Staff was being hired. The old camp was gone. No turning back now!

The re-designed craft building had a loft and a very open feeling. This looked to be the only building of any size which would be built in the first year. It could work as the temporary kitchen and dining hall for 150 people — tight, but by using the loft, it could work. The barn loft, if fully separated from the barn and properly insulated, could become the location for the craft program. This very closed in, almost windowless area would be just the opposite of the open, bright feeling of the anticipated craft building, but reality was reality.

A building designed for use by small groups was redesigned into one large room which could seat 150 on the floor. The front deck was expanded to handle 150 people. This building/deck would meet the indoor and outdoor program requirements — it would work.

We had to scrap the maintenance building – not essential for the summer. Ouch – no building to adapt for this purpose.

George Christian became the “go-to” person for the construction of the new ranch. We walked the new property hour after hour, selecting and marking the site for every building and activity area for present and projected plans. To do this we had to keep in mind where utilities would be available, where the trail rides should be located, how people would travel from one building to another in clear or rainy weather, where to park 100 cars, where to locate the road for deliveries to the camp store, kitchen, and barn. Road access to each sleeping cabin was a challenge ? and each cabin, being a duplex, needed two parking spaces for retreat weekends. The challenge was huge — but we did it!

Don Hill of Tyler, TX was hired as the general contractor for building construction and he blocked off the entire spring to build the fifteen planned buildings for camp. When Don realized the central lodge was not going to be built and that other buildings were still in the design stage, he took on other construction projects. Don Hill had no problem finding work — he was good! Reality: when the building plans were finalized, Don had his men working on other projects. At least the construction of the dam was on schedule.

To have peace and patience in the midst of this mess was truly a stretch for all of us! Nothing was going as anyone had planned — except for the construction of the dam. At this point living In Partnership With God was challenging and exciting ? but not fun! Abraham, Moses, David, Nehemiah and many others expressed similar feelings.

The Sky Ranch situation was a great example of Hudson Taylor’s words: “God’s work done in God’s way never lacks for God’s supply.” Something was not right! Everyone now agreed: the plans for the beautiful lodge had to go – others modified. Insufficient funds!

The result? Sky Ranch was becoming a much more “camper friendly” place. The dining hall would not be beautiful, but it would be functional due to its openness, and bright because of the many large windows. The craft shop would feel “tucked away” – a place set apart, cool and comfortable. And there would be an excitement felt when 150 campers and staff are packed into a room, or sitting on a deck – to laugh, sing, and listen.

Trust in the Lord. Wait patiently for Him!

One of my jobs as Director of Sky Ranch became fund-raising. As I visited committed or prospective donors, I come to know a variety of people. Sometimes these visits took surprising turns.

One afternoon I went to meet with a financially successful business man, a Christian. I could see instantly that he was not happy. He welcomed me – then turned away and looked out his window. Nothing was said for what seemed to be an eternity. When he turned back to me, he managed a weak smile. After another quiet stretch I asked him if he would like to talk about what was troubling him.

He then dumped the whole load.

He started his monologue with “It is wrong! It is just wrong!!! I gave $100,000 to a Christian organization, and they act as if I did something special – and now they treat me as if I am a special person. I am not special – that $100,000 really cost me nothing! Nothing!”

“The people who are really special are those who give generously out of what little they have! They are the special people, not me.”

His face was so sad. What I wanted to do was to take a step forward and give him a huge hug! He understood. He got it right.

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two farthings, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They gave out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had to live on” — Mark 12:41-44

This man lived in partnership with God’s people – In Partnership With God.

I believe God provided the home we were able to buy in an excellent neighborhood near a very good school, and a ten minute drive from the Sky Ranch office. God provided the billboards which made Sky Ranch instantly known throughout the Dallas metropolis. God was doing this work, and I was along for the ride, with a very thankful heart. When lunches were arranged for business leaders, my work was to put on a coat and tie, show up, eat good food, and speak for 15 minutes. No physical work.

However, soon after I became the Executive Director of Sky Ranch, I faced a very different type of work – physical work. It was necessary to take what was valuable and movable from the old Sky Ranch in Denton, TX, to the new Sky Ranch, three hours away in Van. This included boats, dock sections, beds, and kitchen equipment. The moving was somewhat urgent as the men subdividing the property wanted to get on with their work. At the new property, the existing road was to be replaced by a temporary road while the dam was being built, and this would take months: the 500’ earthen dam was to 25 feet high.

There was a fork lift to get things up on the flat-bed truck, but each item had to be moved to where the fork lift could get to them. Once on the truck, everything had to be put in a position to tie down. The days were long, the work very hard, but this very physical work had to be done.

I think the only time I have fainted from pain in my life was when I was up on the truck and one of the large, wooden dock sections slipped in the loading process. I was able to get my body out of the way…except for one thumb. As soon as it was squished, my thumb began to swell. I jumped off the truck and ran over to an old drinking fountain, put my thumb under the cold water, and shortly thereafter passed out, flat on the ground!

I remember the challenge of getting a large Hobart mixer out of the kitchen to where it could be picked up and taken to the truck. This was an old army mixer about six feet tall. There was no way the few of us working could lift the machine or even move the machine very much. We figured out that we could tie one end of a strong rope to the machine, take the other end across the room and out a window and tie it to a pick up truck which then pulled the mixer across the floor. When we needed to pull the mixer in another direction, we put the rope through a different door or window. We soon had the monster through the door.

When I was growing up, my father, who was a medical doctor, thought it very important that my brother and I know how to work. I think our first job was cleaning the garage. Our dad cleaned the garage with us so we would know how to do it right. He often said: “if you know how to work, it will help you whatever you do. Soon keeping the garage clean was our responsibility. When I was 12 and my brother was 14, my father and Mr. Van Kampen bought a farm so their sons would have a place to work. I learned to hoe the corn out of the soy bean field – required as there was crop rotation, and the corn picker would leave kernels on the ground. I learned to drive a tractor, back up a farm wagon, and disk a field. I was almost as big then as I am now, and when Mr. Knecht realized I could stack hay bales five high on the wagon behind the baler – this is pretty much where I lived all summer long. And the same baler was used across the road on Mr. Camas’ farm and “somehow” I ended up going with the bailer. Dad always picked us up on his way home from his office. One day, when he came by, I was still out baling hay. He knew someone would bring me home when the job was done for the day. The next morning, when my dad woke up, I was still not home. He drove out to the farm just as the sun was coming up, and I was still on the wagon stacking bales. The rain was coming and the work needed to get done before the rain came. I loved the work – and the fact that I was treated as a man.

It often comes to my mind that Jesus was a carpenter – he worked with his hands. Solomon said “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” Ecclesiastes 9:10. The Bible is full of examples of hard, physical work – the ark, the temple and its furnishings, the wall of Jerusalem. When we live In Partnership With God, much of life is just hard work, be it mental, physical or both.