Life Is Better With A Horse!

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If God had intended man to walk, he would have given him four legs. Instead, he gave him two – one to put on either side of a horse.
- Montana Rancher

So we bought a horse of course. Our story does need some explaining though. We definitely hadn’t planned on moving to America and then buying a horse, but it did happen. It all started when I (Chrissy) had a break during the Selah, as I was finding it slightly overwhelming and just needed some time to think, pray and do some of what God had put upon my heart. I had a few days where I felt truly lonely and longed to have a horse. I thought it was just a passing longing, but I prayed about it and asked God to show me whether it was permissible or beneficial. I looked on a few horse websites from around Windsor, CO but didn’t find much that looked right.

Then one day I was looking on a website that sells all kinds of things – it even used to sell people, but we won’t broach that topic at the moment. I found a couple of horses that were for sale or for rent for a small sum. I called about one of them that was for $250, which is a quarter of the price of a ‘basic’ horse. The girl said that the horse needed some training and that the horse was quite new to a lot of things. I didn’t even mention the horse when Roy came home, as I knew he wouldn’t want to buy a horse when we were half way round the world from ‘home’. But as he questioned me on some of the events of the day, I ended up thinking ‘I may as well mention that I spoke to a girl about a horse.’ So I did, and Roy became more and more interested as I revealed the information I had received about him. We ended up calling the girl and saying could we visit and see him tomorrow. She said sure, but warned us that two other people were looking at him the next day and that whoever put money down first had him. I thought at the time, ‘that won’t be us.’

The afternoon came and we drove to a place called Berthoud, which is about half-an-hour’s drive. We got there and Roy was much more positive about it than I was. I was sure we weren’t going to get him, as he would be too slow or too crazy. But when we saw him, checked his legs and feet, watched him eat, tried a saddle on and rode him… I was amazed. Sure, he had a few things not perfect about him, but he definitely had a lot of potential. He had a nice temperament, a lovely coat, he rode with a great pace, but wasn’t too flighty. The drawbacks were that he had dry feet and he was shy around his mouth. We decided to ride him with a bit-less bridle so that we didn’t build upon his past experiences and so we didn’t continue to pull upon his mouth.

We were both thoroughly surprised when we saw him and decided he would  be a perfect project horse, that I could try and train up to be easy going and good to ride, with some ground manners. We didn’t have a paddock or pasture though for him, so we bought him on the grounds that we could find a place for him to stay. We looked on a couple of websites and saw that there were a few pastures around, but not many that were close. Roy had the ingenious idea of putting an ad on the internet that we were seeking a pasture near Windsor, so we did and we got a few calls of some amazing offers. We also knew of a family that lived down the road from us who had a paddock and a couple of horses, so we decided to ask them if they were interested in having him stay. They did end up being, so we are now organizing his immunizations, so that he won’t threaten the other horses with anything he might have that they don’t.

It was amazing though how much God has provided for him. When we were going to be moving him, we were offered help with using their float/trailer by three different people. We were offered saddles by 4 different people and they were all “Aussie” saddles. We were given hay by one family who did help us transport him and sold hay by the man who has lent us the paddock for the time being. It has been an interesting journey already, even though we have only had him for a couple of weeks. The man who lent us the paddock also said we could use any of his horse stuff that he had in the shed, so a couple of things have really come in handy – some brushes, a saddle blanket and a rug which we used last night and today, as it has been raining quite a lot. I was so glad he was able to be kept warm.

 

I just wanted to let you know though what God has been teaching me through him, which I did not expect to ever learn through a horse. The first couple weeks we have had him, I have spent a significant amount of time with him, walking him, brushing him, cleaning the arena, checking the ground and the fence and picking weeds! The first and the last ones are the most important though – walking him and picking the weeds. He didn’t have the best ground manners and especially when he was in his own pasture, he can be funny to be around if he is eating or if he thinks we are intruding his space. He seems to have a personal bubble or something of the like. A few times he tried to nip us on the hand when we went to pat him while he was eating or grazing in the pasture. One time though, I gave him some hay and was patting him to say ‘goodbye’, but he must have thought I was going to take him away from his food, so he put his ears straight back, tried to signal that he wanted to bite me and then spun around, so his back was about to be facing me, stepping on the heel of my shoe and removing it by the twisting action. At the time, I was quite fearful and kept trying to reassure him by speaking to him, even though it was only a few seconds, but I quickly backed away and left him, feeling a little shaken, as I knew he had only just decided that it wasn’t worth kicking me.

Horses can be quite scary at times, but one has to understand that they can only communicate with humans by body language, so humans need to read the signs and listen, otherwise they could be in for it. He was giving me all the signs, just a little too quickly for me to realize how uncomfortable he was with me being near his food. He treated me much like he would another horse. I’m glad I was able to understand what was going on, but God showed me a deeper level than that. God showed me that in working with any human or animal that has been abused, that there will be times of misunderstanding and that I will need to learn to be great at forgiving. He taught me that although the horse had scared me, he only did what he had been taught and he only did what he understood. From what we have experienced with him, it seems clear that he doesn’t yet know that there are ‘nice’ humans, as well as ‘horrible’ ones. We are hoping to teach him that some people are there for his good and not harm and that we long to love him and not abuse him, as others may have done.

We still have a long journey to go with this horse, but I look forward to seeing how he turns out. Oh and by the way, we named him Jashobeam (“B” for short) – which is one of David’s mighty men from the Bible (1 Chron 11:11). Hope you enjoyed the story and have fun seeing the pictures of him!

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  A good rider can hear his horse speak to him, a great rider can hear his horse whisper, but a bad rider won’t hear his horse even if it screams at him.

   A horse is like a best friend. They`re always there to nuzzle you and make your life a better place.

The Denver Debut

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So, after 3 months of Living in Colorado, we finally decided to take the hour-long drive south on interstate I-25 (at 120km/H may I add) to Denver, the capital city. It isn’t that we had never been to Denver previously, it is simply the fact that we were actually in Denver for a matter of about 10mins as we transferred buses in a hurry, and had been on a bus for over 24 hours straight at that point in time. Apart from the sight of the Denver Bronco’s (State Football team) Mile-High stadium, we had been unable to take much in.

So this was a nice relaxing (except for the driving side of things) afternoon excursion for us. After dropping in at a few stores, we made our way to Two Rivers Coffee, where we met the great staff. We found out that one of our acquaintances works there, and that the staff know our pastor from the Sunshine Coast in Australia.

 

 

After spending a couple of hours studying and looking at photos in the café, we went a little way further and found a nature reserve. Here, Chrissy had a grand old time taking various photos, whilst I was able to strum away on my trusty guitar, enjoy the fresh air, and praise God.

  

So after all of that, I guess you could say that we didn’t even get into Denver itself, just to a park and a coffee shop… But that just means that we have to go back again sometime soon.

Enjoy all the photos that Chrissy captured in the gallery below.

“One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful

organization does not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men

make a football team. The first requisite is life, always.”

- A. W. Tozer

“Preach abroad….It is the cooping yourselves up in rooms that has

dampened the work of God, which never was and never will be carried

out to any purpose without going into the highways and hedges and

compelling men and women to come in.”

- Jonathan Edwards

When attacked by a bear… FIGHT BACK!!!

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For those of you who care about us, it is okay, we are alright, we DID NOT get attacked by a bear. It can sometimes be quite easy to be misunderstood and inspire fear in others when we write this blog half-way around the world, so i apologize to any of you who just had a heart attack when opening this post / receiving this email (especially our parents).

The title of this post comes from one of the signs that took our interest at the campsite where we were staying. After listing a whole heap of ways to protect yourself and your campsite from bears, it said “When Attacked by a bear, fight back”. Chrissy slept the whole night expecting to be woken by a bear outside the window wanting to get in and eat our marshmallows and honey (which coincidentally was in a bear-shaped container).

This post is actually about our wonderful weekend in the Rocky Mountain National Park (about 1hr east of Windsor). Driving up to Estes Park (gateway to the National Park) on Saturday afternoon, we enjoyed being able to explore around the town, and bought some really cool T-shirts from a Christian business. We also enjoyed a really nice (and cheap) dinner at Poppy’s Pizza & Grill next to the Big Thompson River.

With our SUV, we were able to go camping at Morraine Campsite using a custom-made air mattress and enjoyed this beautiful view of the national park (above).  With no need for a tent, no worries about rain, and a quick turn-around time, this has become a new and exciting way for us to camp. We also noticed a few other people sleeping in their cars, I am sure they were nowhere near as comfortable as we were though. At least we were protected a bit more from the bears.

Early the next morning, we were able to go for a bit of a hike… okay make that a BIG hike. In the reasonably fit state that we are in(although I was in a pained disposition following a Fitness for Missionaries and Martyrs training session) , it took us close to 4 hours to reach the trail summit (Fern Lake), and then another 2 hours to make it back to the car. On our arrival back at the car, we were very happy to be able to take off our packs, grab some extra food and flop into the comfy seats ready for the drive back into Estes Park. We were very grateful that we weren’t the ones cooking that night. The hike was down beside a beautiful river where there was a number of men fly-fishing. It then wound up into the mountains where there was quite a bit of snow on the trail, past a waterfall where we met a few other hikers, and into a heavily snow area. At the very top was the beautiful Fern Lake where the park had a Ranger’s Cabin and some log seating.

We had a beautiful bluejay (?) come and sit near us in the trees, and were able to rest for a few minutes before we thought we should leave and get back down the mountain. Oh, what a joy it was to head back down the mountain (or at least the first few miles where the air was thin…) where we (I) would often skip and run down the path. To understand the significance of this, you must know that the path was covered with snow, and that it was hard for less than a foot in width in the middle of the trail, and at either side there was a depth of 1.5ft of soft snow into which you would sink immediately as you misplaced a foot. This gave Chrissy some interesting sights to watch as I started speeding up, and then got off track… 1 step… 2 steps… crash! With both legs caught in soft snow, i had plummeted into the soft snow, with the weight of my heavy backpack driving my face and upper body into the thick snow. As a result of my workout on the Friday, I was unable to really use my arms (still working on building upper body strength with push-ups), and without Chrissy being able to really pull me out, I had to squirm and roll until I finally made it onto a rock and could stand up. It was hilarious, but I think I took the rest of the trail a little slower.

We have included a few of the different photos that we got to take throughout the hike. We were able to see quite a few animals. A squirrel (or chipmunk), a garter snake, mega-sized magpie-looking bird, a bluejay, many elk, a big-horn sheep and two wolves?. We were on the lookout for other delightful creatures such as mountain lions, and bears (common to the area), but must not have been taking enough notice. Enjoy.

Our Favorites: (by the way, have you noticed that we have nearly fully converted to American spelin’ for the time being)

Attacked by a beaver… There was quite a large area of forestry alongside the river that were cut down in the same way. The funny thing was that Chrissy had to educate the Americans that the beavers had chewed down the trees and that it wasn’t just the wind that had blown them down. How did she know this? hehe – notice the beaver bite marks.

Selah Classes

Well, Ellerslie basic semester is over, and I have started off on the  Selah courses. The Selah is a great time to meditate on scripture, pray, and have 3 amazing classes.

Mon, Wed and Friday we have the following classes

 

The gospel in not so much of a nut shell. This class runs throughout the 34 weeks of advanced training, and slowly equips and inspires men and women to understand and practice sharing the gospel.

 

 

In this class, we read / listen to a variety of sermons from the Legends of yesteryear. This semester we are looking at sermons from A.W. Tozer, John Wesley, C. H. Spurgeon, Paris Reidhead, Jonathan Edwards, Richard Baxter, Major Ian Thomas, D.L. Moody, John Piper (not dead yet), Martin Luther, Leonard Ravenhill and evaluating them. A fantastic class.

 

An amazing class that looks at the paradigm between spiritual and physical health, along with actually doing some physical training. Let’s just say that I am still hurting a week after our first class.

 

A thursday afternoon meditation on scripture / concept within scripture.

 

Images are just the little bits and pieces that I have made up to help me remember each of the different classes. Only 3 weeks left in Selah, and then on to an advanced semester.

- Roy

An Epic Week of Ellerslie Basic Graduation

Well, I know it has been quite a while since I posted anything of real significance. One of the reasons for this is that we have been absolutely flat out with a week of graduation ceremonies, messages, preparations and farewells. Thursday night saw an amazing time where staff and students got together for a time of remembering important moments throughout the semester. The night also included the preview of a few Ellerslie movies:

• How to go home

• Epic Ellerslie Games

• The Voice

We then were able to present the staff with a number of gifts from the student body. Of special significance were scrapbooks of notes from students to the staff, a set of Elk Sheds, and a crown of thorns. Each of these had special significance for the staff and the school as a whole.

 

Come Friday, we were able to go out in groups into all of Windsor and door knock the area letting people know all about the upcoming fun run (His Little Feet 5K) and pray for a few people who requested it. It was a great morning, and there was a mass of positive feedback from the community, and support for His Little Feet.

 Saturday was the big day. A 5k Fun Run / Walk was simply a magnet for the community, and students families to get involved. The ‘His Little Feet International Children’s Choir‘ was out for the day, giving out plenty of hugs and singing a few songs. With over 250 people participating, this was the largest fundraising event that had been completed, and the funds are now able to be used to help bring over the next choir group from the various countries. I (Roy) served as a medic and had a fun time riding around the track wtih a bike, ensuring that everyone had enough water, and no injuries. I also found out that just like cars in the states having the steering on the wrong side… bikes have their brakes on the wrong side. Luckily the dirt was not too hard when i flipped over the top of the handlebars.

Currently HLF has 14 children from Ethiopia and Honduras who tour the continental USA performing, recording an album, and raising awareness of orphans and children at-risk. They work with Compassion International to sponsor children from at risk communities. This support allows children to be educated, fed and clothed.

After lunch, Chrissy and I were blessed to visit some friends outside of Fort Collins with the Allard family (another Ellerslie Family). They have a property with a few horses, mules, donkeys (miniature) and dogs. It was a wonderful time where we had a chance to go clay target shooting (again), have a fire with smores (only my second time since arriving in America), rode one of their horses, and enjoyed supper together.

Sunday arrived, and it was time for our Winter / Spring 2012 Zeta Class graduation. We started off with an amazing church service where the ‘His Little Feet’ choir led us in praise and worship. They also gave a full presentation, that they would normally do when on tour. It is amazing to hear the testimonies of these little ‘kiddos’, and to realise the miracle it is that they are here in the US living on campus at Ellerslie. Eric then preached one of his best messages on “The Bravehearted Man” (available at www.ellerslie.com in a few days), which was one of the best graduation messages we could have asked for. Within half an hour of finishing church, we had the entire chapel moved around and changed into a luncheon / picnic area. At this picnic lunch, The men presented the ladies with a special gift (white rose with personalised scripture verse) and once again prayed for all of the women who had been in our course. This had been one of the most memorable times during the semester when the men had first risen up as protectors and … godly men.

 

With another change of tables, we were into the graduation ceremony where Chrissy addressed the audience as the female speaker for our class. We also had poems recited, awards, and a message “Gritted Teeth” from Eric. By 7pm when we finished, everyone was a little tired, but it was off to Old Chicago (Pizza Restaurant) for a night of good food, good friends and goodbyes.  We said goodbye to a  few people who were leaving that night, and to those leaving at 3AM! the next morning.

Zeta Family Group Leaders

Sleeping a few hours after the graduation celebrations we were up again and at Ellerslie to see people off to the airport / home on the hour, every hour from 7AM. There were hugs, tears, bubble and accordions to farewell our classmates from this past semester. Cars were chased, donuts were eaten and memories were shared until the last of our classmates who were leaving were gone.

Without delay, after dinner we commenced the orientation for the advanced program, received a brief message from Eric Ludy, the schedule and any other addendums to the Ellerslie handbooks. By the end of the day (9:30PM) we were exhausted, and ready for sleep. Thus ends an EPIC ELLERSLIE WEEKEND of GRADUATION!

Please enjoy the slideshow and view any of the other pictures i was unable to post.

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Stanland… Bluegrass, Bonfires and Clay pigeons

Well, we finally got the opportunity to dress up, find some boots and get some western on!

We were able to enjoy a beautiful spring afternoon across the Poudre river at Stanland.

With an abundance of clay pigeons, shotgun shells and onlookers, we had a go at target shooting.

 

Soon enough we had a good old dinner of sloppy joes and nachos followed by some bluegrass worship (banjo, accordion, guitar and even harmonica) and smores around the bonfires.

Selected Photos

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“A man may study because his brain is hungry for knowledge, even Bible knowledge. But he prays because his soul is hungry for God.” – Leonard Ravenhill

Epic Ellerslie Games – Winter / Spring 2012

Well, it is the time of the semester where the sun has melted the snow, the trees have started blooming and flowers have returned to previously barren gardens. That means that it is also time for another rendition of the “Epic Ellerslie Games”.

This semester, I (Roy) was part of the GREEN TEAM – otherwise known as the “Ginosko Green Leprechaun’s”.

Chrissy was a vital member of the RED Team – Redeemed and Extremely Dangerous.

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
And when I am dying, how happy I’ll be,
If the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee.”

Poem by C.T. Studd

We had a range of games from pool noodle relays (collect a new pool noodle each leg of the race, so that at the end you have about 20 pool noodles to hand over.

Fish in a barrel (with giant gym ball)

     

Waterbomb dodgeball (with squishy water balls)

Mens Caber Toss (Click Here to find out what that is…)

Caber Toss (Not At Ellerslie)

Egg Hunt Relay (Teams sent one person at a time into a field of 200+ eggs) – Had to find one of 6 eggs that had a piece of paper in it. Green Team kept running for over 30 minutes.

watermelon Mayhem Relay (Kick a watermelon 40m x 13 people)

All in all, a wonderful day. Being Ellerslie, somehow if you cheated at any of the games, God had a way of prompting you to confess on the monday morning…

Hope you enjoy some of the photos

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“Is what you’re living for worth Christ’s dying for?”
- Epitaph of Leonard Ravenhill

One life to live
- C.T. Studd

“Two little lines I heard one day,
Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgement seat;
Only one life,’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, the still small voice,
Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave,
And to God’s holy will to cleave;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, a few brief years,
Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its clays I must fulfill,
living for self or in His will;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

When this bright world would tempt me sore,
When Satan would a victory score;
When self would seek to have its way,
Then help me Lord with joy to say;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Give me Father, a purpose deep,
In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;
Faithful and true what e’er the strife,
Pleasing Thee in my daily life;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Oh let my love with fervor burn,
And from the world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone,
Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;
Only one life, “twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Now let me say,”Thy will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call,
I know I’ll say “twas worth it all”;
Only one life,’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last. ”

— extra stanza —

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

And when I am dying, how happy I’ll be,

If the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee.”

Pursued by Police from Prayer

It is important to set the scene for this post. It was 2:09AM and I had just finished my prayer watch at Ellerslie (nightly from 12-2AM). I had returned to my car (BIG BLACK SUV…) and was warming up the engine for a few minutes. Just as I decided that the engine was ready to go, and started pulling out from the curb another car came around the corner and down the road. It seemed rather strange that there would be another car coming through the neighbourhood at this time in the morning, but I just kept on driving (keeping to the right side of the road…). As I passed the car, I noticed that it was a Ford Territory (or similar) with extra lights on the top, and the sign “Windsor Police”. Not being at all worried about this, I chuckled to myself and kept on driving down the road.

Now I had decided beforehand that I would go to King Soopers (our local supermarket) which was meant to be open 24/7. The only problem, was that the police car had gone past, and seeing me pull out from the curb decided that I was up to no good. They turned the car around immediately and started back up towards where I was driving. I guess it didn’t help that to get to the supermarket I took a left, then a right, then a left again. They followed behind me by about 50m right into the car park, and then drove off.

So I jumped out of the car and walked up to the door… only to find that the supermarket was now open from 5am-midnight. Not wanting to wait a few hours, I walked back to the car. As I got into the car, I saw the police car waiting about 100m away in another car park with its lights off. I had obviously added to their suspicion by making my way to the car park of a supermarket that was CLOSED…

So I drove out of the car park and down the main street of town, and naturally the police car followed. To make things worse, I was driving about 10miles under the speed limit (warming up the engine still), and was making sure that my driving was A+. Now being smart, I stayed in the left lane until I was coming up to the corner that I needed to turn down. Just 100m beforehand, I indicated and moved into the right-hand lane, and drove around the corner. The police were given sufficient time, but they didn’t follow me down that road, or so I thought.

After 10 seconds I saw their lights behind me once more as they had done another U-turn and turned back down my street.

Puzzled by this, and thinking that they were really wanting to follow me wholeheartedly, I forgot exactly which road I had taken. This meant that I turned down a street one too early, and again had to turn left, right, left, right. With this puzzling display of deceptive manoeuvres the police edged closer until I finally pulled into my cul-de-sac and turned off the lights. The police unit kept going down the street quite quickly, and disappeared into the dark of night.

Confused by all of this, I gathered together all the bits and pieces in my car, grabbed my bible and locked the car. At the end of the street, I saw approaching lights. Ah hah I thought to myself… they DID want to come and talk to me. Sure enough, it was another patrol vehicle (sedan this time) which pulled right up to me.

The officer wound down the window as I stayed, waiting in the cul-de-sac. The first question that came out of his mouth was “Is that your bible?”. I answered in agreement. I guess I am lucky that I am not in China as I answer that question. But after that brief interaction, the police officer was quite satisfied that I was not up to any mischief and explained that they were just checking out anything that looked suspicious. He actually had quite a smile on his face when I explained how I thought that King Soopers was still open, and how I had taken the wrong turn on my way home, all leading to increased suspicion.

So there I was, standing outside the house where we are staying, talking to a police officer at 2:30 in the morning, after being followed for a couple of miles by the police. Well, I know that it is not that exciting, but it was definitely a different experience, being followed home from a prayer meeting.

Set Apart Girl Weekend…

The day was started off by waking up in the dark of the morning at 4.30am. Instead of feeling sleepy, I jumped awake as I knew today was the day us girls got to enjoy time together ~ without any boys around! It was a lovely concept… I’m not sure why, as there’s nothing wrong with boys as far as I know, but spending time just as girls has always been fun and exciting.

We met at the Lakehouse for a steamy cup of hot chocolate, tea or coffee. I chose the first, as I have really come to love it, not more than Milo though! I do miss a couple of the Australian products, which to our surprise aren’t sold here. Then we all filed outside, into the chill and walked through a nearby paddock kind-of-thing, which has a lake, a stream, ducks, prairie dogs and who knows what else. It was still dark and the stars and moon were out, it was beautiful, but slightly colder than I was prepared for. I should have worn thermals under my jeans, as my legs slowly froze and seemed to reach the early stages of hypothermia – or so I thought!

We walked along, quietly thinking upon a small scripture each of us had recieved as we left. Mine said, ‘ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16) and I had a quote from Charles Swindoll ~ ‘We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.’

Then breakfast time came, I am off-campus, so I went with the family we are staying with – well the girls. We decided instead of going home, we would have fun and go out to get pancakes! We had a great time! The restuarant had a little shop too, so we explored and the family found some presents for their cousins and some little cowgirl booties for a friend’s baby. They were so cute!

Thinking it would be time to get back, we checked our watches and were amazed at the benefits of getting up while it was still dark; it was only 8.30am! So we decided to visit a sewing shop so the girls could get some fabric to make flower hair clips and I could get some materials to make a skirt (hopefully). The people at the craft supply shop were somewhat lacking in zeal, but I have since found a more helpful and better priced place to go, of which I am very glad.

We then went back home, made some hair clips, I made a blue one! They turned out immeasureably better than we had imagined, using some fabric which was cut into different sized circles, then some netted fabric to overlay it, burning the edges, to create some contrast and turn the corners upwards, finally fixing a diamonte like stone in the middle of the flower and a clip onto the back with a hot glue gun! We all thoroughly enjoyed it, if only we could have taught the rest of the girls!

Back to Ellerslie we went, to have lunch, which was a lovely indoor picnic, set up with rugs and blankets all down on the floor and decorations all around. We were served baskets of cheese, bread, olives, carrot, fruit and sipped away at hot spiced apple cider. As we ate, a couple of the SetApartGirl team and interns shared some short and pointed testimonies about how God had been with them through trying times, mission trips they had been on, health problems and His provision through it all. It was great to be encouraged and strengthened. Near the end, we each picked a name out of a hat and we were asked to pray for that girl for an hour or so and write a letter encouraging and challenging them.

I prayed and wrote a letter to a girl I didn’t really know at all, but I was glad God knew all about her. I hope what I wrote was encouraging, I may never know. The letter I received later that night was an amazing encouragement to me and just what I had needed! I then borrowed a book called ‘Set Apart Femininity’ written by Leslie Ludy and read for most of the afternoon, as we had quite a while for free time. The book was incredible, as it described our society and culture and the way it shapes young girls to present their bodies so wrongly to men and to the world. She challenged so much of what is rarely questioned in this day and age and spoke of stories that completely contradicted one another.

One was of a woman who is a supermodel, her name is Adriana and she claims to be a Christian, she has outward beauty to a great degree or at least the world thinks so and yet in an interview she said that everything about her from her head to her toes was fake, including her heart. She describes the essence of so many girls who pursue this world, only to find it has nothing to fill them.

The other story was of a woman named Jackie, who entered a city in China and worked with prostitutes, drug addicts, the poor and destitute. She said to God one day, that if she could only win one man who sorted through the garbage each day, then it would be worth it. She does not seem of much worth in the world’s eyes, but she found purpose beyond herself and beyond her own body and earthly beauty. She looked to the very one who created beauty and her face used to shine so, that when people walked past her on the street, they would stop and ask her why she was so beautiful. ( I may have mixed 2 stories up just then, my bad if I did sorry)

Dinner then came. We had a treat, the girls had made all sorts of little things for us ranging from fruit sticks and nachos to grace’s biscuits which seemed inbetween shortbread and scones, they were lovely! We ended up watching the movie of Corrie Ten Boom, ‘The Hiding Place’, about the Holocaust and the Jews being taken to concentration camps. It was challenging, but also very needed, as to be a real Christian, we need to be prepared for what the world will or may one day do to us. The Ten Boom family’s courage and joy was something to look up to. I hope one day if I was ever put in such a situation, that I would be able to be that courageous.

So yeah that was the set apart girl weekend. I wish I had taken some photos, but Roy was given the pleasure of being able to take the camera up into the mountains, which he really enjoyed, so I’m glad he got to take it. For any of you who are interested, Set Apart Girl has a magazine for girls and women, which I find great when I get the time. I would highly recommend it though! It’s online and the link is: http://www.setapartgirl.com/home.html

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Warrior-Poet Weekend

If you have ever read any of the Ludy’s books, or experienced a taste of Ellerslie, the term “Warrior-Poet” will not be new for you. However, it is my assumption (from knowing a large percentage of my audience personally) that most of you have no idea.

So let me introduce the concept to you:
MEN being MEN.

The concept of a warrior poet is a man who will indeed exert the manly strength required to fix things, to stand for justice, to stand for the cause of the oppressed, to show a boldness and brave-hearted attitude of a warrior when the situation demands it to be so. However it also demonstrates a tenderness which cares for others, beholds beauty, and is not brutish in ignorance. Ultimately, this warrior-port has made a

 ”sacred covenant with his holy King. He has chosen to deny himself, take up his cross and follow Christ. He no longer lives to please his own selfish desires. He lives to please his Lord. He is not seeking to draw attention to himself but to draw all eyes to Jesus. As John the Baptist said “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). That’s the motto of the warrior-poet’s life. ” (excerpt from Answering the Guy Questions – Leslie Ludy)

 Well, with that in mind, what would constitute for a manly warrior-poet weekend (or Saturday) whilst studying here at Ellerslie. By the way, think William Wallace (Braveheart) and you may get somewhat of an idea… then again, maybe not (I haven’t seen the movie for over 10 years).

 Start off with a beautiful sunrise rising over Colorado, warming the bright sky (actually that wasn’t technically part of the WP weekend, but still cool).

Sunrise over Ellerslie Campus

 

 Spend time as a group of men in prayer for the women of the campus who were going to be having a “set-apart girl weekend” (See the Set-Apart Girl Magazine for more clues on what that might hold).

Head out to “Vern’s” a hole in the wall dinner north of Ft Collins, Colorado for a manly breakfast of HUGE cinnamon rolls (I was told not to expect all cinnamon rolls to be anything in comparison), hash browns, eggs, bacon etc.

Vern's Dinner - Laporte, Colorado

Drive through scenic Colorado foothills to “Horsetooth Rock” state park. Here at Horsetooth, we climbed the track through the foothills on winding, slippery, dry and snow-covered paths until we reached the summit and climbed upon “Horsetooth Rock”. This rock provided a great view across all of Ft Collins and even across to Windsor Lake. Unhindered by the other ranges, we beheld the expanse of Ft Collins, and our new surroundings. After a time of seeking God through scripture and prayer we had the mighty Ben Z recite some manly poems and spur us onwards and upwards, deeper into the life of Christ.

Horsetooth Rock - Summit

The Final Ascent

View from the Summit

Needless to say that because lunch was awaiting us back at the cars, the descent was ridiculously fast. With men sliding down over icy sections of track, and running down paths around corners there was soon a separation from the main group. With hiking boots tightened, camera backpack thoroughly strapped on, and a video-camera mounted to my bag, I tried to keep up with these fit young men in running gear.  Unfortunately the video didn’t turn out of us running down the mountain, but it was definitely fun.

On arriving at the bottom we were also greeted by a number of fire trucks, rangers and an ambulance. Don’t worry it wasn’t any of our crew. It turns out that a dog had fallen off the rock and was needing to be rescued by the firemen  abseiling down to the dog and bringing it back up.

We then enjoyed an afternoon full of Ultimate Frisbee (with lots of pain associated for the next 4 days) and some American football (I am still not sure if I like the football code, but we will see once we have a proper game).

The night ended with a home-cooked chicken soup dinner and some great time just talking with one another.

All in all, a great warrior-poet weekend.

- Roy

“The emphasis of holiness movements tends to be that God is
producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum… God’s
purpose is not to perfect me to make me a trophy in His showcase;
He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do
what He wants.” – Unknown.

“God’s choice acquaintances are humble men.”
-Robert Leighton

“We fear men so much because we fear God so little. One fear
cures another.”
- William Gurnall.