Oh, Never Mind. I Took Care of It.

From my front yard - the horses are Cha Cha and Charlie.

Sunday Sermon 2

I have been thinking a lot this past month about my rural upbringing. We prayed for snow, or rain, or sun, or warmth on a daily basis. The fields were everyone's livelihood. Even if you didn't own an acre, or a cow, the local weather affected your own livelihood. If the farmers didn't have healthy, heavy cattle to sell from eating good winter hay, you closed your store. If the potatoes froze, families moved away and there were fewer kids to teach as a teacher. If the drought caused the deer to die, there would be no guiding money and no extra taxes to collect.

The valley where I grew up.

The farmers all over the Western United States called for people to fast and pray for rain at the beginning of February this year. The reservoirs we rely on for irrigation were drained to the bottom last year. Usually they stay half full. We drink from those reservoirs in the major cities along the Wasatch Front. The situation was dire. And the winter to this point had been dismal for water. Many of the snowpacks were at 20 percent of normal - and that was following the rough year before.

Well, people prayed. It was like being in my hometown again, listening to the fervent prayers for moisture.

The Lord heard our prayers. February brought our water storage in snowpack up remarkably. We had rain and snow in the mountains a lot, and that is unusual, and as March begins, it just keeps coming. We still have a way to go to get our numbers up enough to take us out of the extended drought, but no one can miss the miracle of February 2014.

Or can they? I am reminded of a story from my Dad. He probably told it to me when I was a little lazy in my faith or work ethic, but it stuck. It was a simple story:

There was a young man whose roof needed just a bit of fixing. He carefully climbed up the ladder and climbed warily onto the two-story roof. After a few minutes he got confident enough to wander the roof without too much fear. He quickly finished his patches at the very top of the roof and took a step toward the ladder below.

That is when it happened. He slipped. As he fell closer and closer to the edge of the roof, he tried to grab something, anything, that would prevent his falling. Finally, in desperation, he cried out, "Lord, please save me!"

Almost in that split second (and he really had no time but a split second before he would have fallen into the abyss), his back pants pocket caught on a protruding nail and stopped his descent.

"Oh, never mind, Lord. I took care of it", he said as he reached for the ladder.


We have truly experienced the hand of God in the last month. But in the prayers at church last week I heard no mention of the rain.

If God had a temper, I think he'd tip the ladder to the ground and leave us stranded up there on the roof.

And the story carries an added significance that is easy to miss. The thing that saved him was a nail.

Whether it is rain or atonement we need, let us be aware from whence the blessing comes. And it isn't our back pocket.

Sunday Sermon - Virus Database Updated

Sunday Sermon #1

It was quiet. Very quiet. Our whole congregation sat reverently during the very last moments of the administration of the Sacrament of Our Lord.

"Your virus database has been automatically updated!" screamed a laptop or tablet somewhere in the silence. A few snickers followed, as the Sacrament was finished.

For me, though, it was a warm teaching moment from the Father Himself. I partake of the sacrament weekly to remind me of the sacrifice and atonement of the Son of God. As I partake, I pray that I can always remember Him and act in accordance of His plan for me. I focus on His flesh, His blood, knowing that through His sacrifice I am saved. It makes me whole again after a week of being beaten down by temptation and burdens.

I was able to picture, at that moment, the protection of the weekly sacrament in my personal life - a protection so much more profound and thorough than that of the virus checker in the computer. And I need it's protection as much or more, than the machine needs a virus checker.

Please, Lord, protect me from the world this week as I remember Thee. I have been updated.

I Am the Gardener Here - Sticks and Stones Crafts

Well, it is the February thaw. Time to prune the fruit trees and roses. I love doing it. It makes me happy. And why not? I am outside, working with my hands, using my brain, and thinking about the promise of spring and harvest of sweet, juicy fruit and beautiful, fragrant flowers.

With every clip of the shears I repeat, "I am the gardener here," in my head. That quote comes from an analogy by Hugh B Brown. He was pruning a very overgrown currant bush and it seemed to cry and talk to him as he cut it back. It was an experience which helped him handle disappointment ten years later. Here is a wonderful youtube video of the story - music by Jon Schmidt. It is awesome and well done.

Hugh B Brown - I am the Gardener Here Audio/video

Hugh B Brown - I am the Gardener Here  text only

Nice, distraction, huh? But on with the post.

I have a hard time just trashing or even composting all those perfect sticks that I so carefully cut off. Maybe my currant bush could live on in another form, too, before it is composted? Yes, I think so.

Here are a couple of projects to use some of those sweet sticks. And maybe when you see your stick projects in your house you can hear "I know what I want you to be" in your head. Or maybe not.

Tic-Tac-Toe Boards for the Patio

 

 I first made these tic-tac-toe games for a wedding reception that was held at a local park. We made lots of yard games that we spread around the venue.

Materials -

Bases: Find some old board ends that are fairly thick and in decent shape (very weathered wood won't hold a nail - find something solid). Mine were a piece of 3/4" pine and a rough-sawn 1" red oak scrap from the hub's furniture cutoffs. They were 7 inches square and 8 inches square.

Sticks: The sticks I used were well dried (not just pruned or they will shrink and twist) sand cherry sticks. Try to choose very straight and flat sticks.

Brads: 1" to 1 1/4" brad nails (Use the longest ones you can without going through the back of the base board)

Waterproof glue

10  one to two inch River rocks

Acrylic paint (outdoor formulation would be best for outdoor use)

Bases: Layout two sticks from top to bottom on a square, wood base. Cut the sticks 1" smaller than the board. Position the sticks 1/3 of the base in on one side and 1/3 of the base in on the other side, centering top to bottom . (You are making the down lines on a tic-tac-toe grid; you know how to do this.) Put some glue on the back of one of the sticks and put it, glue side down, onto the base. Then nail it down with two brads - one, 1/3 of the stick up from the bottom and the other, 1/3 down from the top. ( _._._ ) Repeat with the other stick.

Now piece by piece, fit and cut six stick pieces to the grid to make a #, gluing and nailing as you go. Cut the pieces to fit tightly to the other sticks and keep your outer border on the base empty (leave space on the edges). While the glue dries, make the markers with the river rock.

Because we were taking these to a park, I made little bags out of leftover painter's canvas so we wouldn't lose the rocks.

Markers: Paint an O on five rocks in one color. Paint an X on the other five. Let dry.

When the boards are dry, paint with several coats of outdoor polyurethane making sure to get it smooshed into the nooks and crannies. Poly will brighten the stones too, if you like (I did not).

You could paint different things on the rocks to go with different themes for parties - hearts, or crowns, or initials, or animals, or leaves . . .

Rustic Pedestal Candle Holders

These candle holders use your bigger limbs.

These were from the cherry tree, which loves to grow taller than I want it to. My limbs were 2 1/2 inches across (largest holder) and 2 inches across (smaller, taller holders).

Simply cut varied lengths of limb on straight angles. I cut mine to: 3", 6" and 9".

Next, clamp your wood piece tightly down to something. Use a 3/4" spade bit on a drill to bore a half-inch deep hole into the top of the piece, centering it.



Have fun pruning - both real and figuratively.