J. Todd Vinson is the Founder and Executive Director of Willow Springs Boys' Ranch and
Jacob's Ladder Camps and Retreats in Chandler, OK.
Willow Springs Boys' Ranch provides a long-term home for boys who are displaced or whose families are in crisis. WSBR serves boys from across Oklahoma and the United States.
Jacob's Ladder Camps and Retreats strives to strengthen inter-personal relationships, develop character, leadership, and introduce the importance of a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jacob's Ladder facilitates groups for high school and college athletics, youth groups, service groups, prepares mission teams, couples and families retreats, rites of passage retreats, and corporate retreats.
Jacob's Ladders function is to help fund the mission of Willow Springs Boys Ranch.
Todd holds a B.A in Psychology and a Masters in Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma. Todd is a former Young Life staffer in Norman, OK. He also is a former Kanakuk Kamp counselor. Both of these organizations have had a profound influence on his life as he works with youth and families.
Todd and his wife, Jeannie, have been married for fourteen years and have four girls: Mattie, Ellie, Avery and Murphy. They are active members of Henderson Hills Baptist Church in Edmond, OK.
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Did you make a face shine brighter,
Make some heart a little lighter?
Did you cause just one to smile,
Stop and chat with them a while?
Did you give some heart a lift,
Did you bear some simple gift?
Did you do your best to make
A brighter world for someone's sake?
Did you do just one kind deed
To help someone who stood in need?
Tomorrow's still too far away,
Just count the deeds you did today!
If no kind deed we can recall,
What matters if we lived at all?
When day is done and time for rest,
May we say, "Dear Lord, we did our best."
~ L. L. Weatherly
1887-1981
We all dispense Good Will and Cheer,
When Christmas time is drawing near.
To friends that we have 'most forgot,
We send a card, just like as not.
Are the gifts we place beneth the tree,
The kind of gifts Christ likes to see?
Faith, Hope, and Love, all three,
This Christ expects, from you and me.
If Christ, by chance, dropped in to dine,
To drink the cup of hallowed wine.
Would we make him feel at home,
Or be relieved when he was gone?
~L.L. Weatherly 1887-1981
I got to spend my birthday on the beach with my girls in Seagrove, Florida. What a great place to build memories with your family. I can't wait to look back on all the vacation pictures taken on the trip and remember all the great memories we had while our girls were young. It reminded me of a poem written by my great-grandfather.
Continue reading "Harvest Your Dreams" »
"Stepping stones or stumbling blocks,
Which would you rather be?"
This question, I asked my neighbor, and
This is how he answered me:
Please let me live on the sunlit plains,
With few or no regrets,
Where the daylight often lingers
Long after the sun has set.
Those living in the shadows
Will miss the evening's sun,
Where the gloomy shadows gather
Long before the day is done.
Let me stand beside still waters
Beneath the stars at night,
To commune with God and Nature
Where all is peace and quiet.
~ L. L. Weatherly 1887-1981
WE NEVER WALK ALONE
You may live in a crowded city
Where the race of men go by,
Or some lonely desert island,
Beyond the reach of human eye.
You may feel that no one loves you,
Or will miss you when you're gone.
But I'd like to reassure you
That you never walk alone.
You may feel you are rejected,
As on life's sea, you're tempest tossed.
Or perhaps, sometimes neglected,
Despite your efforts, all is lost.
You may feel your sins are many,
That you never can atone.
But again, may I remind you,
That you never walk alone.
~L. L. Weatherly 1887-1981
There may never be a tomorrow,
But we know we have today;
Pray that He will point the way.
Point the way to larger service,
To a life less stained with sin,
Give more thought to where we're going,
A little less to where where we've been.
For each new day allowed us,
Drawn from our store house of time,
If we live them for the Master,
We can make our lives sublime.
~L.L. Weatherly 1887-1981
There's a silence that is golden
Close beside each woodland trail.
You may hear it on the mountain,
Or below you in the vale.
You may hear its silent echo,
Back and forth among the trees.
You may her its silent murmur,
In the rustling of the leaves.
There's a silence that is golden,
Close beside some babbling brook.
It's like a bit of Heaven,
Everywhere you choose to look.
~L. L. Weatherly 1887-1981
Some prefer to live in cities,
Some like to live among the hills.
Where life's tides flow free and easy,
God and nature provide the thrills.
I'd like to sore o' friendly neighbor,
Always willing to forgive.
It's always good to have a neighbor
On the streets where you live.
I would like to have a neighbor,
Who would call and wish me well.
Who would wave at me in passing,
Or stop and chat a spell.
Folks who still accept the axiom:
"It is better, far, to give
Freely of our time and talents,
On the streets where we live.
~L. L. Weatherly 1887-1981
A family to me is like a book,
Inside the pages we love to look.
The protective love the parents give,
Could mold the life their children live.
The children are pages of spotless white,
God help the parents to guide them right.
They're the leaves like leaves of gold,
The parents watch as they unfold.
Each tender thought with loving care,
Deep in their hearts will linger there.
In years to come when they are gone,
They'll remember lessons at home...
~L. L. Weatherly (1887-1981)
Two kinds of people in this world of ours:
One sees the thorns, the other-flowers!
One sees the beauty of birds and bees,
One sees the tares among the trees.
Tho' both may travel by plane or car,
Each finds the things they're looking for,
One sees the beauty of the rose,
The other, the thorns on which it grows.
One sees the beauty of the desert road,
The other, lizards, snakes, and toads,
One sees the beauty of the stars at night,
One fears to camp without a light.
One sees the beauty of the mountain stream,
An ideal place to doze and dream,
The other sees the mountainside,
Where creeping things and serpents hide.
One sees the beach where people go,
While others see the under tow,
One sees the evil the world employs,
One;innocent laughter of girls and boys.
It's Heaven to one, to the other Hell,
Whether either Saints-or- serpents-dwell!
We make our Heaven, or we make or hell,
In the very place we choose to dwell.
~L.L. Weatherly (1887-1981)
We often go back thru time and space,
To visit again our old home place;
There seems to be some mystic charm,
Where once we ran our dairy farm.
How clear it all comes back to me,
When we got up to milk at three;
Though winter's icy winds may blow,
Or it may rain, or sleet or snow.
I've forgotten why, but this I know,
At five, we thought the milk must go.
We called our dairy "Willow Springs,"
And time slipped by like birds on wings.
The crystal spring was never dry,
A grove of willows grew nearby;
This spring, a part of nature's art,
Leaves Golden Memories in our heart.
~L.L. Weatherly (1887-1981)
Continue reading "WILLOW SPRINGS" »
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