lost & found

This is great.

Came across some interesting details about the feast of Tabernacles today in Edersheim's book "The Temple, its Minstry and Services as they were at the Time of Jesus Christ"

This feast was a celebration of the harvest and came on the heels of the Day of Atonement. The feast was on the 15th day of the 7th month which was Tishri. The 15th day being a full moon. As its name suggests, all except those who were sick or old slept in make shift shelters. Basically all of Israel went camping for a week.

There were two central features of the Feast:

1. The first was the pouring of the water taken from the Pool of Siloam through silver funnels that went to the base of the altar. The water was brought from the Pool of Siloam through the water gate... so that is how that gate got its name.

According to the Talmud, "Why is the name of it called, The drawing out of water? Because of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, according to what is said: 'With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation."

As the water was poured into a silver funnel that went down into the base of the altar, the music began. As the people sang they waved the boughs of myrtle, willow and palm trees.

Psalms 113-188 were sung. What was it like? How did they sing? What instruments were played? How would it compare to a worship service in our churches today?

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Let Israel say: "His love endures forever."

Let the house of Aaron say: "His love endures forever."

Let those who fear the LORD say: "His love endures forever."

In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free. The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The LORD is with me; he is my helper....

I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done. The LORD has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death. Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter.

I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation. The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you. The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Psalm 118:1-29

Imagine, then, as the singing ended, the voice of Jesus echoing in the temple precincts,

"On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

Jesus spoke with such authority that the temple guards did not know what to do. They were later scolded by the religious authorities for not arresting Jesus. Nicodemus, who had spoken with Jesus earlier, reminded that religious authorities, "Does our law judge a man before it hear him, and know what he does?"

Nicodemus words remain applicable today. Do we reject Jesus before we have taken the time to hear from him or find out what he does?

"The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone... and it is marvelous in our eyes."

Traffic slowed again and then came to a stop. We sat for what seemed like ages but I think it was really just a few minutes... a few minutes that i could not afford to waste! My Blackberry was lit up like a Christmas tree with incoming messages. I answered some of them but the rest would have to wait. I rested my head on the steering wheel and wished that, for a moment, I lived a hundred years ago, when this road was little more than two furrows in the prairie sod and a traffic jam was two prairie schooners trying to get past each other.

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8:10 AM - A wind out of the north west cut through my heavy wool jacket. It was cold! Abbigaul had to work a little harder than usual to push through the fresh snow that had fallen the night before. Her ears rotated, some times listening to me and other times, both ears forward and alert. Now one ear was rotated back, only half listening while I spoke mindlessly, "Common ... let's go..." I reached forward and scratched her head. She was young, but willing - of Canadian stock, her lively gait betrayed some Arabian blood.

My thoughts turned to what needed to be done today. I was headed to the post office first thing to mail a couple letters. I hoped that I would find a couple waiting for me. It had been 3 weeks now; about the time it takes for mail to reach the Fort from Boston. After I was done at the post office, I planned to buy a newspaper and breakfast at May's diner. Afterward, I needed to go to the hardware store to order supplies and then I was headed to Jack Filliminster's place where I was looking after the construction of his new house. It was a sprawling ranch house, with oak floors and two large stone fireplaces. All the cabinets and trim were done in the Mission style. It was going to be a beautiful place when it was finished. I hoped that when I was done I'd have enough money to purchase the CPR quarter adjacent to the one I was homesteading on. I pulled a notepad out of my jacket pocket and scribbled a few things I needed to pick up at Goldman's hardware store. Abigaul knew the trail well enough and needed no guidance from me.

The fresh snowfall made the world seem particularly quiet and still. The only sound to be heard was the moan of the wind through the spruce boughs and the quiet rustling of the long frozen willow branches that grew in groves along the frozen creek at the bottom of the coulee. Above us, a giant poplar stood out like a gnarled old skeleton against the dark winter sky that threatened more snow. A Great Owl sat perched on one of its branches looking intently for its next meal but flew away as we approached. It was quiet alright, almost too quiet.

As we came to the crest of a hill, Abigual's ears pricked forward and flattened. She let out a wild terrified snort that sent a cloud of frozen mist into the air, momentarily obscuring the trail in front of us. And then I saw it too. On a rocky outcrop just slightly ahead and not more the 20 feet off the trail crouched a wild cat. Its muscles were tensed like a coiled spring. Mine were just as tense but in a different sort of way - tense in the way that a man with a gun pointed to his head is tense. It was like an old style western face off and I am not sure who moved first. The cat let out a scream that could have turned milk into cream and with one bound it was on us. Abigaul pawed the air and fell back on her haunches. I reached for my Winchester rifle in its scabbard and managed to chamber a bullet before losing my mount, still clutching at my rifle...

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8:20 A.M. - Distant objects came into my field of vision first. I saw clouds floating over head and giant, perfectly formed snow flakes, each one a little different falling out of the sky into my blinking eyes. And I saw people. They were crowded around me. Some might have been concerned but most, I think, were just curious. I heard the voice of a girl speaking. She was the one I had seen earlier driving the Corolla. "I don't know officer, he just hammered the accelerator, veered across the lane and slammed right into the back of me."

The police officer looked down at me. "Are you ok, son?"

"Yes, I think so but where is Abigaul?" I asked. "Is she ok?"

"Abigaul, who is Abigaul? You were alone when we found you." The police officer looked around, "Did anyone see a women with this man?"

"No! No!" I cried, "Not a women!

Abi! Abi!

The officer chuckled, "Ohhhh, you mean your Audi?" "Well, it is a wreck."

I wrote this up in August and never did post it.

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I stopped to fill up my bike with gas and all but a few gallons of it immediately drained out of the carburetor ports.

A fellow from Jamaica came along in an old pick-up and offered to load up the bike and give me a ride home... I was on Memorial and 4th.

Anyway, on our way to my house, this fellow, probably in his 40's, asked me if I wanted to make some real money? I asked him how so? Half expecting something to do with drugs.

"Yo man, what would you say if I told you that I've seen an angel and that he gave me a picture of a battle between the Lion of Judah and the Dragon?
"It was the most amazing thing. Like falling thousands of feet through air and landing in a huge bed of feather's... my body tingled from the spine to my forehead and the most amazing feeling of peace... it changed my life..."

We spoke some of angels, the end times and future judgment...
By that time we were at my house so I invited him inside. He set up his computer and showed me his picture, which he wanted me to show to professors at the U of C.

It was a sky full of clouds - pretty cool looking clouds.

lol, each day has its own surprises... and opportunities.

Now when the saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

They hang the man and flog the woman
That steal the goose from off the common,
But let the greater villain loose
That steals the common from the goose.

The Law demands that we atone
When we take things we do not own
But leaves the lords and ladies fine
Who take things that are yours and mine.

The poor and wretched don’t escape
If they conspire the law to break;
This must be so but they endure
Those who conspire to make the law.

The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common’
And geese will still a common lack
Till they go and steal it back.

English folk poem, circa 1764

Peter James and 4 other archaeologist's challenged the conventional dating of the early iron age in their book 'Centuries of Darkness' written in 1992. This is an excerpt from their website,

...in the following year [1993] the famous `House of David' stela was found at Tel Dan in northern Israel. As well as providing the first historical reference (outside the Bible) to David and his house, bolstering the case for the historicity of Solomon, it is also threatening to force a complete revision of Israelite archaeology. Carefully analyzing its original findspot, Rupert Chapman, Executive Secretary of the Palestine Excavation Fund, has concluded that the stela, which can be historically dated to 825-800BC, must have come from a level conventionally dated to the 10th or even 11th centuries BC. If Chapman is right, the dating of Israelite stratigaphy will have to be reduced by as much as two centuries.

taken from here

For those of us visually orientated, this is helpful.



What was the cost of this bubble?

This pictogram does a good job of helping us visualize it. If this is right then the bailout has cost (to date) about 24 times as much as it cost to rebuild Europe after WW2 and 5 times as much as Roosevelt's entire New Deal.

What have we learned?

I don't know. See:

here
here
&
here

The trail started out broad and well defined but as I climbed out of the trees, it began to narrow and finally disappeared in a jumble of rocks at the base of the mountain. I scanned the rocky slope in front of me and traced a path to the summit. The going was easy at first but as I climbed higher the terrain got a little steeper and I was forced to use an occasional hand hold. But the summit was closer now and I was pretty sure the worst was behind me.

I came to what appeared to be nothing more than a low rising bluff and being so intent on reaching the top, I immediately lodged my boot into a crack in the cliff face and began to climb. The hand holds were solid and so I climbed higher. Somewhere along the way I crossed a threshold where to turn around and go back became more risky than to continue on. Fear began to dampen my enthusiasm but it was too late now. I assured myself that the top could not be that far off. It was still easy rock to scale and so I continued to scramble higher until the ground fell away beneath my feet and there was no turning back!

The hard granite deteriorated into something less solid and the hand holds became increasingly smaller. I was beginning to feel that my place on this mountain was becoming more precarious. But I climbed on! And then a frightening prospect sent a new wave of adrenaline through my veins. I reached out with my hand, grasping for something, anything that would allow me to pull myself up a little higher only to find that the next hand hold was beyond my grasp. I hugged the cliff face and focused on that tiny hand grip and that small part of my boot that was my only purchase on the mountain; and on life.

I looked down. The cars at the trail head appeared smaller than matchbox cars and the landscape stretched out below me looked like a miniature train set. I shouldn't have looked down. My heart was racing now and so was my mind! My fingers started to cramp and the muscles in the back of my legs began to quiver under the strain. Sweat ran down my forehead and off the end of my nose. The world was silent except for the groan's of the wind as it eddied and swirled through the crevasses in the rock; mimicking my own as I struggled to hang on. The reality of my situation began to sink in. All I had to look forward too was a 10 second free fall and then; every bone in my body splintered into a hundred pieces. This was the law of Nature, and Nature was all I believed in.

I'd always prided myself on being self sufficient. I'd made my own way in life and forged my own path. I got myself into this fix and I would get myself out of it. Kipling had it right.

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve their turn long after they are gone and so hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says to them, Hold on!

But I couldn't hold on. I had been clinging to this rock for hours and my muscles where wasted. Finally, in utter desperation, I began to call for help. No, I am trying to sound stronger than I was. I cried for help.

Do you know what it is like to lose all hope? And do you know what it is like to find it again? Then you will understand how I felt in that moment when a rope came skittering down the rock face and a voice with a strong Swiss accent came echoing down the mountain, "Hold on, son! Hold on to the rope."

It was in that old mountain man's firm grip that I discovered that heart and nerve and sinew were not enough. I needed grace.

Others went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. They saw the works of the LORD, his wonderful deeds in the deep. For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves. They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away. They reeled and staggered like drunken men; they were at their wits' end. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.

Psalm 107:23-31


For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

Jon Kontz, a good buddy from Philly, came up for a few days. We spent a couple nights up on Abbots Pass.

Lake Oessa



The AAC cabin where we stayed blends pretty well into the mountainside. It has got to be one the coolest places I have ever slept. Literally!

The night sky with the lights of Calgary in the distance. It was as though every star in the sky was visible that night.

Sunrise - Abbots Pass

Panorama taken on a ridge of Mt. Victoria.

Lake Louise


Part way up Mt. Victoria. It was so windy up there I thought it might take us right off the ridge.

Bit of snow on the way down. Thankfully it let up soon after this picture was taken.

A perfect evening on the Crowsnest River.

A Rainbow out of the Oldman River. It took around 30 minutes to bring it in!


A very respectable cutthroat taken on Lynx creek.

Couldn't ask for a better fishin partner!

RATCLIFF, Doris Clarice (nee Baker), November 18, 1917 ~ June 17, 2009 - The family announces with both sadness and joy her death at 91 years of age, in the comfort of Fairvern Nursing Home, Huntsville, ON. Sadly missed because she was such a loving and caring wife and mother; joy because she has left this world for a far better place and we know we will see her again some day. She is survived by her beloved husband of almost 69 years, Floyd, formerly of the family farm west of Stouffville, and three children, MaryLou (David) Hisey, of Huntsville, ON, Malcolm (Doris M.) of Timmins, ON, and Janice (John) Cross of Olds, AB. Doris is survived by sister-in-law, Helen Baker of Stouffville, ON; Shirley Baker of Chester, CT; brother- in-law, Howard (Helen) Ratcliff of Stouffville, ON; sister-in-law Pauline Ratcliff of Stouffville, ON; and sister-in-law Maureen Ratcliff of Huntsville,ON. Doris is predeceased by two brothers, Merlyn and Alan Baker, and sisters, Alma (and husband, Jim) Oldham and Mary (and husband, Keith) Hutchinson. Grandma is fondly remembered by seven grandchildren, Scott, Meredith, Brad, Stephanie, Julie, Andrew and Naomi as a kind and gentle grand- mother. She had six great-grand- children, Jasmine, Cody, Robyn, Ellie, Adelaine and Ethan. A private committal service will be held at graveside of Springvale Baptist Church cemetery on Monday, June 22 followed by a memorial service commencing at 3 PM in the church auditorium. Remembrance donations may be made to a mission of one's choice through the church office. Springvale Baptist Church is located 4 miles west of Stouffville on the family farm.


Ratcliff, Floyd Grenville: April 11, 1917 – July 11, 2009 - The family wishes to announce his peaceful departure in the comfort of Fairvern Nursing Home, Huntsville, ON at the age of 92 to join his wife, Doris (nee Baker) who passed away on June 17, 2009. They were faithful, loving companions for almost 69 years. Dad was such a kind and caring father who will be sadly missed but we are comforted by the thought that he is in a far better place. Formerly of the family farm west of Stouffville, he is survived by three children, MaryLou (David) Hisey, of Huntsville, ON, Malcolm (Doris M.) of Timmins, ON, and Janice (John) Cross of Olds, AB. Floyd is also survived by one brother, Howard (Helen) Ratcliff of Stouffville and sisters-in-law, Pauline Ratcliff of Stouffville, and Maureen Ratcliff of Huntsville. He is predeceased by two brothers, Donald and Charles. Grandpa is fondly remembered by seven grandchildren, Scott (Janice), Meredith (Dave), Brad, Stephanie, Julie, Andrew and Naomi (Troy) and six great-grandchildren, Jasmine, Cody, Robin, Ellie, Adelaine and Ethan. A committal service will be held at graveside at Springvale Baptist Church cemetery on Friday, July 17 at 2:30 PM followed by a memorial service commencing at 3 PM in the church auditorium. Remembrance donations may be made to a mission of one’s choice through the church office. Springvale Baptist Church is located 4 miles west of Stouffville.


memories
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Many of my memories of Grandpa revolve around a small but well equipped shop in his garage. Grandpa was an excellent carpenter and as a young boy of around 12, visiting for the summer, I was his eager apprentice. I think one of our most memorable projects was a live squirrel trap. Grandpa came up with a magnetic trigger that made it work really well. We eventually managed to trap a squirrel but our first catch was two black starlings. I was so excited I carried the whole box inside the house to show Grandma. In the process I released two unhappy starlings in the house. I will never forget Grandma chasing those two birds around the house with a broom! Grandpa's willingness to let me dull every blade and drill bit in his shop gave me an opportunity to discover something I loved and set me on a course for a future career. But more than that, Grandpa was an example of a man I want to follow.

Those who know Grandma, know that she kept a very clean and tidy house where everything had its place. Grandma was a gracious host and very hospitable. For Sunday dinner, Grandma would often put a roast in the oven, set the table with her fine china and invite guests over. Although she added very little spice to her meals, Grandma placed a mean horse radish on the table that instilled a new found respect in her grandson. Her meals were great.

Both Grandma and Grandpa lived during times of tremendous change. They watched the land surrounding their small dairy farm transformed from quiet countryside to suburbia. Once quiet country lanes were paved and then doubled. Their church went from being a small sanctuary that held 125 to one that seated 450 and then over 2000. The culture that they knew and loved changed, morals changed and so did technology. I remember Grandma speaking of some of the changes she saw and how it was sometimes a struggle to respond in the right way. That short conversation has always stuck with me. Grandma was a very astute and thoughtful women whose living faith in Christ constantly shaped her thinking.

Grandma and Grandpa have left us, their grandchildren, with a rich heritage, and I count it a great blessing to have had them as my Grandparents. They will be deeply missed.

A Paraphrase from 1 Peter 1:1-9

Grandma and Grandpa, strangers in this world, from a dairy farm outside Stouffville, Ontario, but at home now, chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace are theirs in abundance.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! It is because of his great mercy that we are assured that Grandma and Grandpa passed through death into life because of Jesus ressurection from the dead, and have received an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade that was kept in heaven for them. Through faith they were protected by God's power unto salvation. In this they rejoiced, for though for a little while they suffered grief in all kinds of trials, these have proven their faith genuine, a faith which is more precious even than gold which is not eternal though it is purified by fire, and has resulted in praise, glory and honor to our Lord Jesus Christ.

For him who they loved they now see and him who they believed in they see and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for they have received the goal of their faith, the salvation of their souls.