#10) Nothing Merely Happened Along

 …Everything is created.  Everything carries within its form and texture the signature of its Creator.  No part of this material world is unconnected with God; every cell is in the organism of salvation.  Biblical religion cannot be lived apart from matter – the seen, felt, tasted, smelled, and listened to Creation.  It is all, precisely, Creation.  Nothing merely happened along.  Chokecherries and tundra and weasel are not random accidents. Since everything is by design, no part of Creation can be by-passed if we intend to live in the fullest possible relation to our Creator in his Creation.  None of it is an inconvenience that we are forced to put up with. Nothing is a stumbling block introduced by the devil to trip the feet of those whose eyes are piously lifted in praise to God.  Creation is our place for meeting God and conversing with him.  The voice that spoke Behemoth and Leviathan into being is the same voice that says, “Your sins are forgiven you,” and invites us to call upon Him in the day of our trouble.  External and internal are the same reality.  Heaven and earth are formed by a single will of God.  We take box seats in this Creation theatre when we pray.  We look around.  The mountains are huge, heaving their bulk upward.  The creeks spill across the rocks, giving extravagant light shows under the hemlocks.  The lakes lift up with the sky, on earth as it is in heaven.  A lion rips its prey.  A sparrow builds its nest.  Solomon and the Shulamite embrace.  An eagle plummets from a cloud to a meadow and takes a rabbit in its talons; for a few moments the two Genesis creatures are in a terrible entangled harmony.  An infant drinks her fill of breakfast from her mother’s breast.  Matter is real.  Flesh is good.  

 

What a wildly wonderful world, God!

You made it all, with wisdom at your side, 

made earth overflowing with your wonderful creations.

 

Taken from Psalms 104: 24 (as translated by Eugene H. Peterson)

 

It is my belief that this could serve as the creed for the Ghost Horse Hills Wild Church.

 

#9) The Glory and Praise is God’s – He is Worthy

 “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth”    Matthew 5:5

 

What a wonderful inheritance!

 

If we truly believe that only God is worthy of the praise and the glory, being meek should be an easy goal to achieve. Even so, I am cursed with the word ‘I’. – I did this, I did that or I did the next thing that is on the list.  Everything about Creation points to the fact that I have done nothing at all. 

 

There is an Indigenous tribe in the southwest U.S. (the Hopi). Their culture asks that they avoid using the word 'I'.  When something good happens that is worthy of praise, they humbly and meekly say that the good thing happened ‘through them’.  They never take the credit for any good thing.  This keeps their ego in check.  This aligns with the teachings of Christ and with the promises and rewards that Jesus spoke of when delivering the Beatitudes on the side of a mountain.  

 

For the last couple of years my goal has been to eliminate the word ‘I’ from my thoughts and speech and try to achieve some sort of meekness.  The fact is, I have failed miserably.  It’s like I am addicted to the word I.  It creeps into my speech most times unnoticed.  I would love to inherit the earth.  Creation has helped to keep me meek.  Maybe you the reader is of the opinion that it would be easy to remove the word ‘I’ from your thoughts and speech.  Here’s a challenge.  Try it and let me know how you fare.

 

Thank you.

Richard

#8) Wild Church

 “For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have clearly been seen and understood from what he has made so that men are without excuse.”     -- Romans 1:20

Of all that is recorded in the Bible, this verse has had the most effect on my faith story. More than any other, the natural world is never confused in its operation.  It always tells the truth about Creation and about us. In the natural world, things are not always what they seem to be.  Still, like in all things, the Creator never leaves a job incomplete.  Eventually and when considered properly, all things speak the truth.  To some men, God was created in their image. Creation offers proof of the opposite and like the Creator, it is incapable of telling a lie.  

 

My faith story tells of a time long ago when circumstances led me to commit the unforgiveable sin – that God existed only in the eyes of men.  It was a dark time; my heart was filled with anger.  Fortunately, with God, all things are possible, even the forgiveness of that terrible sin.  Enter in the grace of God.  ‘Amazing grace, how sweet the song that saved a wretch like me’. By the way of God’s grace, my wife’s understanding and 10,074 horses and donkeys that my hands touched and worked with, God’s forgiveness would be granted. 10,074 is a number that was well researched.  There were people who stood behind that number – the owners and handlers of the horses and donkeys. They showed me their confidence in my ability.  They saw what was invisible to me and provided me with a way to support our family.  Today, the 10,074 horses and donkeys are no longer required and for the trust their people showed in me, there is no way to express my gratitude.  When doubt rears its ugly head as it sometimes does, I first go to God and then to Vera and together we go out the cabin door and out into Creation.  Is this not the beginning of a Wild Church congregation? 

Now that the weather has started to turn for the better, stay tuned for an invitation to the first Ghost Horse Hills Wild Church gathering.

 

Thank you.

Richard

#7) Easter Sunday

 “In the beginning God created…”    Genesis 1:1

Skip to Genesis Chapter 3 verse 26.  

            

            “Then God said, let us make man in our own image and in our own likeness. Let them have rule over the fish of the sea the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

There you will find two small words that most times go unnoticed – ‘us’ and ‘our’...

 

There are at least 2 deities that are at work getting man right.  In John chapter 1 we are told more about the second deity that was working on our behalf, on ‘us’. Here again, we find the words “in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  Through Him all things were made.  Without Him, nothing was made that has been made.  In Him was life and that life was the light of man.”  John chapter 1 leaves no doubt of the identity of the second person in the trinity.  Like in Genesis chapter 1, it starts out with the words “in the beginning…”.  John chapter 1 speaks of the Christ Jesus, the 'our' and the 'us' spoken of in Genesis.

 

On Palm Sunday, Christ made his triumphant ride into Jerusalem on the back of a humble donkey colt.  The people spread down palm branches before the donkey so that its hooves would never touch the ground.  Days later, Jesus would be tried, convicted and crucified.  For a mere human, this would have been the end of the story but Jesus was no mere human.  On the third day after crucifixion, Easter Sunday, he rose.  The word, the light and the life of all that is, defeated death and rose again.  In so doing, he gave all mankind the hope that death has no power over us.  Our future is guaranteed.

 

Have a joyful Easter Sunday!

 

 

#6) The Church Quarter

 A book taught me to read.  It was published in 1958 and for 62 years it has been my go-to book.  Published by the Department of Economic Affairs, Alberta; written by W.R. Salt and A.L. Wilk.  Its title is Birds of Alberta.  My copy has been with me since 1960.  It is now a bit tattered and the cover along the spine is missing.  It is on the bookshelf, along with newer editions of The Birds of Alberta.  Still, this 1958 edition is my favorite.  All the information about birds that you find on this blog come from this book.  My thought is that it’s time to introduce the readers of this blog to the birds and critters of all types that reside, pass through or pass over the Ghost Horse Hills.  

Thank you.

Richard (aka Pops)

As the crow flies, the church quarter is 1 ¾ miles south of the Ghost Horse Hills.

The SW-17-58-23-West of the 4th meridian -- that's the legal description of what we called our Church Quarter.  The Waugh Catholic Church took out four acres on the northeast corner of the quarter section.  A half-inch of topsoil covered the surface of the Church Quarter.  Beneath that, a heavy layer of bentonite clay reached right down to bedrock.  Dad would joke that even a good farmer couldn't raise a disturbance on the Church quarter section.  Dad wasn't a good farmer but he never stopped trying to raise a hay crop on that land.  In a dry year, even the grass was slow to grow.  Even so, if a person knew where to look in the spring, new life abounded.

On the Church yard, many years past, an ambitious parishioner had spread tons of rich black loam over the cemetery plot.  What followed was an invasion of pocket gophers.  In the process of mining out their horizontal tunnels, they left black mounds of dirt on top of the grass.  Every once in a while, they would grab a mouthful of this rich quack grass, drag it into the tunnel and line a nest with it.  There they would give birth to their young.  Under the steps at the back of the church, ground hogs had dug out deep burrows, created small caverns, lined them with quack grass and birthed their young.  

On the top of the post that was part of the fence that separated the church yard from the rest of the quarter, a meadowlark would sing sweet praises to God and his world.  At the bottom of the post, in the tall grass, a female lark had used grass to weave a domed nest with a side door.  There she sat on her eggs.  Out in the hayfield south of the church, using a field stone for cover, momma jackrabbit was raising an only child.  

Close to the centre of the Church Quarter was a derelict, broken-down granary.  Rock doves (pigeons) used a hole in the roof to gain entry.  Inside, they had created a terrible mess.  In the spring, these pigeons would bring in a few twigs and sticks to fashion a flat nest on the floor or on a flat plank over the granary door. 

There they laid two white eggs and for the next couple of weeks both parents did equal time in incubating them.  At the end of the structure, outside, behind a mess of broken boards, a mother porcupine birthed one of her own.

Under the eaves, opposite the door, a pair of kestrels laid their eggs.  They were too small to hunt pigeons so they used their aerial skills to capture all sorts of bugs.  A small knoll north of the old granary was occupied by a horde of gophers.  Their young ran in and out of the dens that their parents had dug out of the hill.  After them came the badgers that spent days digging bigger tunnels so that they could capture the gophers.  Parent badgers are very protective and jealous of their young.  One day, while investigating one of these huge caverns with my brother, we must have gotten too close.  It's surprising how fast badgers can run on their short legs.  

A spring-time creek cut across the northeast corner of the Church Quarter.  In a long-abandoned beaver

pond, there was no end to the life that could be found.  Strings of frog eggs spread across the surface; tadpoles were everywhere.  In a clump of willows next to the pond, a house wren lectured anyone who came close to her nest.  Under a hazelnut bush, a mallard duck sat on eggs.

Along the north boundary of the Church Quarter, a 30-acre grove of scrub poplar trees offered other delights.  Crow and magpie nests and paper wasp nests could be found just about everywhere.  Here's where our journey on the Church Quarter takes a little bit of a detour.  Dad had three rules that were never to be broken.  We were never to give Mom any lip; never show up late for breakfast and under no circumstances were we to be late for church.  

The quarter section where our family's building site was located was ¾’s of a mile west of the church yard.  Every second Sunday from spring to fall, we were expected to attend Mass.  On Sunday mornings, my habit was to leave early for church.  This allowed me extra time to explore the scrub poplar grove.  

On one such Sunday, a climb up a willow to look into an old magpie nest, gave me a surprise.   Four big eyes were looking out at me.  Two small owls, one coloured grey -- the other red.  We stared at each other for several minutes.  They made no attempt to fly off.  Just then, the bells in the church tower began to chime.  It was the last call to Mass!  They were a warning to me to hurry up to avoid being late for church.  It was my intention to return to the nest after church service but my hasty departure left me with no memory of where the magpie nest was located.  Hours were spent searching for the right willow.  The colour differences of the two little owls gave away their identity.  They were screech owls. There have only ever been three reports of screech owls in all of Alberta and never a report of a pair of nesting screech owls.  Such a report would have put a crowning touch to spring and the new
life that could be observed on our Church Quarter. 

#5) Bees Dance

 Bee-keeping is a most rewarding enterprise.  

 

“All things are interwoven, each with the other.  The tie is sacred; nothing or next to nothing is alien to aught else.”

            -- Marcus Aurelius, 150 A.D.

 

Honey bees are interwoven with most things in creation.  Their life story speaks of a Creator.  Honey bees are a mathematical phenomenon that is based on the number three and multiples thereof.  In 3 days, the queen bee will hatch; it feeds for 9 days (3x3).  It reaches maturity in 15 days (3x5).  The worker bee reaches maturity in 21 days (3x7); it is at work 3 days after leaving the cell.  The drone matures in 24 days (3x8).  The bee is composed of 3 body parts (head and two stomachs).   The two eyes are made up 3000 smaller eyes each.  Like the cell of the comb, the 3000 smaller eyes have 6 sides each (3x2).  Underneath the body of the bee are 6 wax cells (3x2) with which the comb is made.  The bee has 6 legs (3x2); each is composed in 3 sections.  The foot is 3 triangular sections.  The antennae consist of 9 sections (3x3) on each side.  Creation or natural selection?  There is more to the bee that speaks of Creation.

 

At present, the Ghost Horse Hills are covered with a metre of snow and it is still snowing.  Within 90 days, this will have changed.  Fireweed will be in full bloom.  Crocuses will have flowered and willows will have budded.  The fields and meadows of the Ghost Horse Hills will be ablaze with God’s flowers.  The hive will be all abuzz.  The workers will have already collected nectar and pollen.  The hive will be well established and reconnaissance missions will have been flown.  The workers will be returning with maps of the area, cataloging every flower and its location.  They will have missed nothing.  

 

When they return to the hive, this information will be downloaded to all the other worker bees.  They will dance.  They will dance out the information that they have compiled and in a series of complicated semi-circles and straight lines they will rumble, jerk and jive until all the locations of all the flowers is known to the rest of the hive.  This dance of communication will help make sure that the crops, flowers and plants will be pollinated so that there are seeds for the birds to eat and crops for humans to harvest.  The following spring, other plants will grow and the dance will be repeated.

 

“All things are interwoven, each with the other.  The tie is sacred.”

 

#4) At Peace With Nature

 

“Before the railroads, thin lines of steel bit their way through the wilderness.  Athabasca Landing was a picturesque threshold over which one must step who would enter into the mystery and adventure of the Great White North.  It is still Iskwahtem, the “door” that enters into the three rivers country.”   

                                    

The Ghost Horse Hills are two kilometres east of the historic Athabasca Landing Trail.  It was Canada’s first dominion highway and Alberta’s first toll road.  Still, to look at it, it seemed to be nothing more than a path cut through the wilderness.  When it came time to name our little piece of paradise, we chose Iskwahtem.  It means door or threshold.  Since the time of naming it, over 2000 students have crossed over that threshold. They came to learn about creation and the natural world.  The quotation above is from a book by James Oliver Curwood.  “The Valley of the Silent Men” was published in 1920.  Should we compare the landscape of northern Alberta in 1920 to what exists today, Curwood might be considered to be a prophet.  Curwood put the following words into his book, voiced by one of the characters in the book – Pierre:

“If it will happen mes amis, that steam thing will come to the Landing when the cow beast eats with the moose and when our bread is gathered from the great swamp.”

But the steam thing did come and with it came civilization and the plow.  It was the plow and not the steam thing that would change the wilderness.  Alberta’s landscape of now would not be recognized by the people of Curwood’s day.  At present, there are thousands of acres of agricultural lands that surround the Ghost Horse Hills and still the 1800 acres of land that exists in these hills stands apart.  It has never known the plow and as far as we can discover, no Indigenous settlement has occupied any part of the Ghost Horse Hills.  The only thing that has ever affected these hills are the forces of nature (fire and storms).  For the last 45 years, a group of volunteers has kept it that way.

 

Creation teaches like few things can.  In the year prior to COVID-19 and in the time since COVID-19, over 3000 students, teachers and parent helpers have stepped over the threshold and through the door of the Outdoor Classroom.  Most people long to find and connect with Creation.  Experiences in the Ghost Horse Hills offer young people an opportunity to connect with nature.  Almost all student visitors love to connect with the natural world.  The results are amazing however, there are a few who are afraid of the challenges that the natural world presents.  They do not trust that world to keep them safe.  It’s true, Mother Nature can be an unforgiving teacher – bitter cold will sting the fingers; ants will bite and wasps will sting but it is not a distrust of the natural world that is at the core of their problem.  In most cases, these students simply do not trust that anyone or anything has their best interests at heart.  Most have never even had a bird feeder in their back yard.  They have never been exposed to a pet of any kind.  They suffer from what Richard Louv, author and educator, calls ‘nature deficit disorder’.  A connection with any pet or part of the natural world would calm their anxiety and build their trust and confidence.  A connection with something even as large and potentially dangerous as a horse.  What follows is a story of such a connection:

 

Some days are diamonds, some days are coal.

There are days that treat you so harshly that you wish they would have never happened.  That way, you wouldn’t have to try so hard to forget them.  Then there are other days that are pure gems with experiences so filled with joy that you wish they would last to the end of your days.  Those were the type of days to be experienced at Pax Natura Ranch for the Rehabilitation of the Deaf.  

 

The Right Reverend Dr. Robert Bauer was the chief lead at the ranch.  Every summer, deaf children and their parents would travel up to the ranch to take part in a variety of nature-based activities that included horseback riding.  The horses’ hooves needed to be trimmed and cared for.  This was where my services were needed.  

 

One summer, a seven-year-old boy and his mom and dad traveled up from Pennsylvania.  Tommy was profoundly deaf and mostly blind.  With the help of thick glasses, he could see shapes and shadows.  He could tell the difference between a cat and dog or a human and a horse but that was about it.  He loved being at the ranch and every time he touched a horse he would squeal with delight but he required a huge amount of supervision.  

 

Pastor Bob used a one, two approach to supervisors.  One supervisor for every hearing child and two supervisors for the deaf children.  Tommy was in unknown territory.  He left no doubt of his need for independence, especially when he was around horses.

Pastor Bob asked if there was a horse so kind and decent that it would allow Tommy’s parents to be a little more comfortable when he was around horses.  The next morning, standing in the corral, Andy was there waiting for Tommy.  

 

Sometimes it’s possible to know a thing without having any idea why you know it. 

 

We know that birds migrate but we couldn’t tell you why.  We know that the Methuselah generation of monarch butterflies return to the same grove of pine trees thousands of miles away – a place where none of their kind has been for over six generations and we can’t tell you how.  Horsemen know that some of their horses will blow what they call ‘rollers’.  This is when a horse exhales a short burst of air out through its nose, sometimes making little sound – other times it sounds like a snort.  Some horses do it all the time.  Andy didn’t do it at all.  

 

When Tommy was brought out to meet Andy in the corral, the boy broke away from his mom and as quick as a wink, he was hugging Andy’s back leg.  His mom gasped in alarm but there was no real need for her to be concerned.  Her child was in the safest place he could be – he was with Andy.  The good horse reached around and blew a roller into Tommy’s face.  A few years later, Tommy had learned a little Braille and with the help of his tutor he wrote, “Hello Pastor Bob, how is Andy?  When he said hello, his breath smelled so good.”

 

Jesus said: “Let the little children come to me.  Do not hinder them for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.”         Matthew 19:14

 

 

 

#3) Sight is a Faculty: Seeing is an Art Form

 

A few summers past, a powerful storm rolled in from out of the west.  The day had been hot and muggy.  The storm hit just after dark.  Night became day so powerful were the bolts of lightning.  The next morning, all most people remembered was a violent storm.  For those who were practiced in the art of seeing, they had witnessed a miracle.  

The natural world displays miracles when seen by those practiced in the art of seeing.  The hand of God is displayed in all of creation.  In the Bible we are presented with examples taken from Creation that teach a biblical lesson.  St. Matthew Chapter 6: 26

“Behold the fowl of the air for they sow not neither do they reap or gather into barns yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are ye not much better than they?”

 

In the Ghost Horse Hills, the natural world bears witness that God takes pleasure in working through the things he has created.  God takes pleasure in working through us in accomplishing his will.  When my wife puts out bushels of seed to feed her flock of birds and when she fills pails with oats to feed a small herd of deer and puts out apples and other treats for a three-legged porcupine to enjoy, it’s a miracle.  God is working through my wife to fulfil his promise to care for the things he has created.  

 

Verses 28-30

“Why take ye thought for raiment?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.  They toil not neither do they spin yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these.  Where if God so clothes the grass of the fields which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, oh ye of little faith?”  

 

One of the most loved verses in the Bible contains these words – “consider the lilies of the fields”.  Here in the Ghost Horse Hills, there are two types of lilies to consider.  Down on the lake surface, the yellow blooms of the water lily float by in large, closely-bunched groups.  The wood lily mixes with other flowers, trees and shrubs and clothes the hillsides with their bouquets.  While we are considering the lilies, we might want to consider how other plants, trees and shrubs speak the glory of the Creator for we are without excuse for all Creation speaks of him.

 

Consider the simple cob of corn where the rows of kernels are always placed in even numbers – always 6, 8, 10 or 12 kernels – never in rows of 5, 7,9 or 13.  Consider the trees – the apple tree, where the first leaf is in direct line with the fifth; the oak, where the first leaf is also in direct line with the fifth.  There are dozens more of these examples that prove intelligent design and give glory to the Creator.  All that we are required to do is seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

 

What better way to get started than to consider the lilies of the field.

 

(Please feel free to comment)

#2) The Purpose of Creation

It occurred to me that after reading the Ghost Horse Hills blog introduction that my thoughts on large churches with large congregations might be viewed as a criticism of those establishments.  This is not the case.  How could it be?  For seven years, five days a week, for 3/4 of an hour a day, my time was devoted to religious studies in a denomination that boasts the largest churches and cathedrals the world has ever known.  It didn't end there.  Every Sunday we attended mass.  On Holy days like New Years, Christmas, Epiphany and the first Friday of every month, my obligation was to attend mass and on most of those Holy days, serve as an altar boy.  This was done out of love for my faith.  At one time, my goal was to enter into Holy orders and become a priest.  My religious training was complete.  My training in faith left much to be desired.  That education would start when a good friend expressed that there were different ways to worship and understand the word of God.  My faith started to grow when my attention was turned to the natural world.  My belief is not to worship the natural world but to gain an understanding of God from what the natural world presents.  

Why? Because the message God has for all of us is to be found in the natural world and in an easy-to-understand form the Creator presents his case.  

Why?  Because, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  

Why?  The answer is to be found in Revelations 4:11.  Because, "Thou art worthy Oh Lord to receive glory, honour and power for thou has created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created."  

A friend offers an interpretation of the last part of that verse "for thy pleasure they are and were created" that his mother passed down to him.  It was that God gets a 'kick' out of us and what he created.  That interpretation suits me perfectly.

#1) INTRODUCTION

 Gary is a friend and colleague.  We share much in common.  In our younger years we trained horses and worked as farriers (a person who trims horses' hooves).  We both loved being outside in the natural world. That's the place that provided me with the bulk of my education.  Mother Nature is an amazing teacher.

Many years ago my purpose was to share my version of Christianity with this friend.  My thought was that we would both benefit by spending more time in church.  His reply would forever shape the story of my faith journey. 

"Why would I want to spend my Sundays in a building built by man when all I
have to do is saddle up a good horse that God has made and ride out to a place made by the Creator to pray and meditate?"

"Where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am also."  -- Matthew 18:20

My friend would never have admitted it but he could have been a latter-day prophet.  His notion was that worship of the Lord did not require a large building filled with large amounts of people. Now this is an idea that is catching on amongst people who believe that when two or more are gathered in His name, there He will be also.  These type of gatherings are called Wild Churches.  Most of these gatherings take place on natural lands.  Here, we are blessed with all that is needed for a Wild Church.  All we need do is to step out of our off-grid cabin and we are in the middle of 1600 acres that is made up of Natural Areas and the Nature Conservancy of Canada lands.  These lands are called the Ghost Horse Hills.  

As blessed as we are, large pieces of natural land are not required for a Wild Church.  A Wild Church could be something as small as a bird feeder in the back yard or a block of suet placed outside the window of an apartment.  What is required is a connection to the Creator and that the gathering is two or more in which case Christ will be present.  

The natural world brings people together so if you are alone, make a new friend and gather with that friend and you will have all you require to be part of a Wild Church.

In this blog, we will share stories of our connection with the critters that God has created.  There are two of us so when we worship, Christ will be there.  Now, if you're a bit of a loner and you have no one to share your faith with, consider this.  In the writing and your reading of this blog, at least two people will have been present and if God wills it, many more will follow.  It is our wish that you enjoy our stories of Mother Nature and her critters, that you follow them and recommend them to others.

Thank you.