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Well,...She's here! Murphy Ann was greeted today at 1:28pm by 3 excited big sisters, friends and family. Murphy is 19.5 inches and 7 lbs 5 oz. She looks alittlle bit like each of her sisters, and her mommy. Whew!!! Could have been years of therapy! Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement today. It is a blessing to have friends and family like you.
I have not written much lately. Partly due to a busy camp schedule and a our baby girl arriving tomorrow. That part is all good and beyond what I could ask for. But the silent days of no postings screams volumes. This summer has been one of the most challenging times of serving others since the ranch began. WSBR has had a few boys who have chosen to walk away from WSBR. These are not new guys who have been here for a short time. These are guys who have been here over 5 years. Guys who many of you have also been heavily invested in as well. It has been hard to not feel a heavy sense of defeat and personal failure when you see the prodical son arrogantly walk away. But you continue to love. You begin to look down that dusty road and hope to one day see a familiar figure walking back to way of life that was instilled in them. We have to hold out hope for our mission statement of Proverbs 22:6 that says "when they are old, they will not depart from it."
As our staff picks up the pieces what seems to be shattered hopes for some boys, Oswald Chambers has given us an excellent reminder of where our focus needs to be during tough times and in the midst of tough decisions. I hope this reading encourages you as much as it did for me when my friend Derin read it to me. Please pray for the return of the prodical. Please pray that we can be the faithful father who waits for his son to return.
Am I convinced by Christ?
Notwithstanding in this rejoice not ..., but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. ~Luke 10:19-20
Jesus Christ says, in effect, Don't rejoice in successful service, but rejoice because you are rightly related to Me. The snare in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service, to rejoice in the fact that God has used you. You never can measure what God will do through you if you are rightly related to Jesus Christ. Keep your relationship right with Him, then whatever circumstances you are in, and whoever you meet day by day, He is pouring rivers of living water through you, and it is of His mercy that He does not let you know it. When once you are rightly related to God by salvation and sanctification, remember that wherever you are, you are put there by God; and by the reaction of your life on the circumstances around you, you will fulfil God's purpose, as long as you keep in the light as God is in the light.
The tendency to-day is to put the emphasis on service. Beware of the people who make usefulness their ground of appeal. If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure that ever lived. The lodestar of the saint is God Himself, not estimated usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him. All that Our Lord heeds in a man's life is the relationship of worth to His Father. Jesus is bringing many sons to glory.
Chambers, O. (1993, c1935). My utmost for his highest : Selections for the year (August 30). Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers
God does not need praise by men, but he knows apriori, that when men cease to praise him, they begin to praise one another excessively.
~Isaac Bashevis Singer
Muck, T. C. (1985). Vol. 2: Liberating the leader's prayer life. The Leadership library. Carol Stream, Ill.; Waco, Tex.: CTi; Word Books.
I haven't read Oswald Chambers for weeks. Seems like when I do, it nails me. Like most people, I have had a busy summer. I get focused on self, and that is a slippery slope. Today's devotional was a good reminder on where I need to keep my focus. Read below what Oswald has to say:
MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST: August 20th
And I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to Him at once and ask Him to establish rest. Never allow anything to remain which is making the dis-peace. Take every element of disintegration as something to wrestle against, and not to suffer.
Say - Lord, prove Thy consciousness in me, and self-consciousness will go and He will be all in all. Beware of allowing self-consciousness to continue because by slow degrees it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is Satanic. Well, I am not understood; this is a thing they ought to apologize for; that is a point I really must have cleared up. Leave others alone and ask the Lord to give you Christ-consciousness, and He will poise you until the completeness is absolute.
The complete life is the life of a child. When I am consciously conscious, there is something wrong. It is the sick man who knows what health is. The child of God is not conscious of the will of God because he is the will of God. When there has been the slightest deviation from the will of God, we begin to ask - What is Thy will? A child of God never prays to be conscious that God answers prayer, he is so restfully certain that God always does answer prayer.
If we try to overcome self-consciousness by any common-sense method, we will develop it tremendously. Jesus says, "Come unto Me and I will give you rest," i.e., Christ-consciousness will take the place of self-consciousness. Wherever Jesus comes He establishes rest, the rest of the perfection of activity that is never conscious of itself.
I was in the OKC BACKWOODS Store yesterday spending a birthday gift card.
For all you outdoor gear hounds, I just got introduced to a cool website: STEEP AND CHEAP. They post one sale item at a time. Items are seriously discounted. Check it out.
OU Lamba Chi's endured two 100 degree days of heat during a two-day work project on Wednesday and Thursday. These guys painted pipe fence, mowed, weedeated, built stairs, lined a wooded trail with rail-road ties, did heavy-duty cleaning on our gym, bunkcabins, and bathrooms to get ready for our fall groups at JL Camps.
OU Campus Crusade arrived tonight being the first to benefit from all these guys hard work. The place looks great after 3 days of work projects. Thank you guys for the difference that you have made!
The 100 degree heat did not slow down the Society of Petroleum Engineers who came today for out for a work day. They cleared an area for a future retreat cabin, cut down trees, and pulled up stumps, did some mowing and weedeat around our ponds. They ended the day cooking out and feeding all our guys on the ranch. Thank you for all your help today! We had a great time and appreciate all your help!
I just read a great book while I was flying home from a familiy wedding. My mother-in-law gave it to me on the condition that I give it to someone else. I am getting a copies for all our staff and board. The book is called MENTOR: The Kid & The CEO. You don't have to have a boys ranch to have an impact. We all have life experience to share with someone. We all need look for opportunities to mentor a younger person. We also need to be mentored. We need both in our lives. This is a great book with some great resources in the back of the book along with a good reading list. Check out their link.
Where has the summer gone? Many are getting in that last summer trip before school begins. WSBR has had a great summer. Hard to believe that boys will be back at school in about week. Football practices also start next week. Football practice at the ranch is quite the event. We have little guys playing in the Chandler Youth Organization, 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade, 9th grade, junior varsity, and varsity. That's seven football schedules if you are counting.
Two of our boys graduated in May and spent the summer working at Deep Fork Tree Farm in Arcadia, OK. One young man is living at the Nichols Graduate House and will finish up his second year at Gordon Cooper Technical School. He volunteers at Faith Works of the Inner-City. This non-profit was founded largely because of this young man's influence on an Edmond, OK teacher. Our other WSBR graduate will be attending college this fall, studying to become a personal trainer. WSBR is very proud of both of these young men.
With the beginning of the school year, there are many needs at the ranch. A group of families from Henderson HIlls Baptist Church has graciously volunteered to take care of all our school supplies and back-packs. Other needs include: shoes, socks, t-shirts,casual shirts, shorts, and jeans.
If you would like to help meet some of these needs, please contact the ranch ( 405.258.5176). WSBR can give specific sizes and accept donations or gift cards to stores including OLD NAVY, TARGET, WAL MART, KOHLS, JC PENNY, and ACADEMY.
WSBR operates soley on private donations. It is humbling to watch how these needs are continually. Thank you to all of you who help meet these needs everyday. You are truely amazing! Thanks for all you do!