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I have begun reading the book of Philemon. I never got past the introduction. Here is how it read in The Message by Eugene Peterson:

"Every movement we make in response to God has a ripple effect, touching family, neighbors, friends, community. Belief in God alters our language. Love of God affects daily relationships. Hope in God enters into our work. Also their opposites: unbelief, indifference, and despair. None of these movements and responses, beliefs and prayers, gestures and searches can be confined to the soul. They spill out and make history. If they don't, they are under suspicion of being fantasies at best, hypocrisies at worst. "

I had this mental picture of one of our boys at the ranch casting a fishing line across the pond. As it hits, ripples make their way across the entire pond. Every movement that we make has a ripple effect. We all make waves. What kind of waves are we making in each of our own ponds?

Belief in God affects our language. Has our language today reflected our beliefs today?

Love of God affects daily relationships. Has the quality of our relationships today been an accurate reflection of our love for God?

Hope in God inters our work. Have we worked today like our hope is in God or our self?

The question is not if we will make waves each day, but how and what kind.

What is your Ripple Effect?

Posted by Todd Vinson at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Jacob's Ladder Camps and Retreats would like to thank the Rob Liddell Foundation and the many who has invested time and materials to this project.

It is amazing to see how God continues to work in super-sized ways. It is another "George Muller story."

This new multipurpose gym holds 6 glass goals for full court and half court basketball, a 25 foot climbing wall, two bouldering walls, an amazing sound system and a kitchen which can feed 300 people. Soon this gym with be full of the sounds and smells of summer camp!

To quote Jacob in Genesis 28, "Surely the Lord is in this place" !

Posted by Todd Vinson at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Of all the conversations you have with someone throughout your life. It is funny the ones that you remember. Some of the smallest things have the largest impact. My grandmother, raised during the Depression, was full of funny sayings. Part of her life was full of sorrow, pain, and tragedy. However, she was full of hope, laughter, and joy to all who knew her.

Grandma Fern's life was characterized by investing in others. She did this even when it was not easy or convenient. Over the course of her life, Grandma battled with cancer: three types and six different episodes. Through it all however, she rarely complained.

I am often reminded of one story in particular. Grandma Fern had begun to make a quilt for me a few years before I was married. As always, when she worked on this type of project, she looked at the collage of family pictures that hung on the wall of her room.

As she quilted, she prayed. She prayed each family member would trust the Lord to meet his or her needs. She told me one day...you know, I don't pray for you everyday...I pray for you all day long.

Years later after her death, I realized something. As I was covered up in her quilt, I realized that I was wrapped in her prayers and her love. This is a great picture of God's love for us. This quilt was beautiful. But when you look at the quilt, you don't see the suffering and the sacrifice of the one that made it possible. You see a labor of love. When you wrap up in it, you are wrapped up in her love.

The same is true of God. He gave the gift & sacrifice of the most valuable thing he had, His Son. God wants to wrap us up in the love of His Son Jesus Christ. Like that quilt, His love also came with a great price-His Life. His life was given so that we might have life. My grandmother spend her life giving it away to the ones she love. What a powerful statement for the self absorbed world that we live in.

Since I have experienced that priceless gift of love in my family, my life has been forever changed. There is nothing that I enjoy more than wrap up in Grandma's quilt. My drive in life is to spend it investing in others. I aspire to become a quilt maker like Grandma Fern and wrap others in the love of Jesus Christ.

In 1996, with the help and inspiration of family and friends, my wife and I founded Willow Springs Boys Ranch. The Ranch was named in memory of my grandmother, Fern Bowden. She and her family, the Weatherly's were raised on a dairy outside of Ryan, Oklahoma. Their dairy was named Willow Springs.

Fern Bowden was a tremendous influence, not only in my life and my family, but also with everyone who knew her. Grandma Fern leaves a legacy to all the lives touched at Willow Springs Boys Ranch.

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