#9 A River Runs Through It

A River Runs Through It

'He cutteth out rivers among the rocks and his eye seeth every precious thing.'
                    -the Bible

On Easter Monday I embarked on a tradition that I have carried out for as long as I can remember.  The weather was warm and sunny; the winter snow was melting away and forming little puddles on the driveway and yard.  For reasons I cannot explain, over the years I've gone out with a stick and carved a groove in the ground creating little riverlets that connect the puddles and make the water run.  That's how I spent Easter Monday afternoon 2016.

Our youngest son Luke and his wife Clara once wrote movie reviews for See magazine.  It was a 'he said/she said' type of column.  A while back Luke asked me what my favourite movie was.  Robert Redford's A River Runs Through It was my quick response.  Luke asked me what there was about that movie that made it special to me.  I responded with an 'I don't know I just like it' answer.  Since then I have given it some thought.  If he were to ask me the same question now my answer would be quite different.  I'd say it's about the water.

I love what water does.  The rain washes away dirt and makes everything clean.  It gives life to dry ground.  It feeds into the streams, creeks and rivers and along the way it supports more life.  It freshens the world; it makes the lake and rivers sparkle, sometimes so clean that you can see every precious thing on the bottom.  I love water-- and rivers are water.

Solomon wrote:  ' All rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not filled.  Unto the place from where the rivers come, hither they return again.'
                - Ecclesiastes 17

For three generations starting with the Grandparents on both sides our family has made an annual pilgrimage to Jasper National Park.  Our favourite spots there have something in common -- it's water; hot water at Miette Hotsprings; noisy water at Athabasca and Sunwapta Falls; placid, emerald-green water at Lake Maligne; foaming water at Maligne Canyon and even the uninspiring water of Bubbling Springs.  It's water that has brought our family back year after year for over 90 years to Jasper National Park.  Water holds me and causes me to look on in wonder. Apparently I'm not alone for every year thousands of visitors come to this mountain park to see this spectacle expression of a Creator God.  Here in Canada our rivers and lakes are often of a huge proportion, powerful and explosive.

Fortunately water does not have to be big and violent in order to be appreciated.  A cool glass of water on a hot day gets my thank you every time.

We require water to function physically, mentally and spiritually.  Jesus uses water as a metaphor in John 7:38
     'Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within.'

Water is part of the Christian narrative.  From creation to salvation to revelation, water is part of God's story.

By Canadian standards the water of the Holy Lands are less than inspiring.  From one of its four beginnings at the top of Mount Heron the waters of the Jordan River travel only a short distance before they empty into the Dead Sea.  At most times of the year you can cross the Jordan in a pair of high-top rubber boots.  The most impressive thing about the Jordan is that it drops off from nearly 9100 feet above sea level to 1275 feet below sea level in less than 120 miles.  Still, the Jordan is not a destination point for white-water kayakers.

A few years back I was blessed to visit a spot where a small quiet river ran.  I was there to check out a story that went back to our pioneer days.  I asked permission to enter and started out on my walk to the back of the quarter.  Before I knew it I had forgotten why I was there, distracted by rows of peas and carrots and by wild raspberries, saskatoons and other tasty goodies.  I watched as the field workers steadily and quietly went about their job.  A small creek had been dammed by a beaver and had created a beautiful pond.  A big fat beaver came swimming my way.  When he noticed me he slapped his tail and submerged.  He repeated this performance twice more before disappearing into his lodge.  Mourning doves sprang up from the tall grass their wings squeaking as they made their getaway.  At an old long-abandoned building site, seed pods from the caragana hedges were making popping sounds as they exploded in the heat of the day.  As I approached the old barn a rock dove hooted a warning and flew off clapping his wings over his back.  The smell of the clover and sage was heavy in the air.  I was in paradise.  All of the tastes, sounds, sights and smells merged into one, creating an incredible feeling of peace and well-being . . . and yes, a river ran through it.

"Eventually all things merge into one -- and a river runs through it.  The river was cut out by the world's great flood.  Its waters run over rock dug out of the basement of time.  I am haunted by waters."

- from the movie A River Runs Through It

Thank you.

Richard

#8

The Favour

"A righteous man regardeth the life of his beasts, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel"

-- Proverbs 12:40

My Dad was born in the year of our Lord 1919.  By the time he was 20 he had spent many long days following teams of work horses around the farm.  My Grandfather raised and bred exceptional championship work horses of three different breeds -- Belgian, Clydesdale and Percheron.  If it's true that every story requires a bad guy then for the purposes of this story my Grandfather would be that guy.  He liked good horses but to him they were nothing more than way to get farm work done and a way to make money.  My Granddad's tender mercies were few and far between.

In 1939 most of Europe was in flames; unbelievable cruelties were commonplace as the Nazis swept across Europe.  Back in Canada the DeSmet family farm was getting ready for winter.  The crops were in the bin and the field work was done.  On November 10th the first winter  blizzard blasted across central Alberta bringing with it heavy snow and high winds.  Granddad decided it would be best to head into town (Gallahad) to pick up supplies before things got worse.  Dad went to the barn and harnessed up a light driving team to the sleigh for the trip to town.  On the way back the storm had gotten worse and the drifts were deeper.  About a hundred metres from home and the barn the sleigh now loaded heavily with supplies got stuck in a deep snow drift.  Granddad started to whip the team in order to make them pull harder.

I don't remember my Dad ever expressing a fondness for working with horses or any farm animal. Perhaps he had spent too many hours of hard work in the field walking behind a team of horses. What I do know is that in his life he would be witness to many kinds of cruelty being inflicted on man and the horse.  I also know that he did have regard for both the well-being of man and beast.

He once told me that the greatest favour that man ever showed the horse was when Henry Ford invented the internal combustion engine.

Back then, in November of 1939, Dad wished to do a favour for Granddad's light driving team.  He asked Granddad to sit tight while he ran home and got a big team to pull the sleigh out of the drift and the rest of the way home.  By the time he got back somehow Granddad had whipped the team into pulling the sleigh free.  They stood there shivering and shaking, lathered with sweat and unable to go any further.

The next morning Dad expressed his distain for this type of cruelty.  He packed his bag, said his goodbyes and walked and hitch-hiked to Edmonton.  Once there he joined the Army's 8th Field Regiment.  A few weeks later he was on board the Empress of Bermuda on his way to the cruelties of World War II.  It would be seven years before he would return to Alberta.

If my records are correct I  have worked with as many as 9000 different horses.  I have never known one that didn't require a favour from time to time.  The favours that horses ask for aren't all that different from those that are sought by man.  A favour to the miserable is called mercy; a favour to the poor is called pity.  That was the type of favour that Dad was hoping to offer Granddad's light team.  A favour to the suffering is called compassion and the favour required by the obstinate is called patience.

A good argument can be made that horses along with all other beasts of the earth deserve these types of favours.  Most would find it hard to make the same argument for mankind.  Since 1905 over 90 million human beings have been sacrificed without any regard to favour on the altars of war and genocide--all because of the human sicknesses of power and greed.  How can a favour be offered to such a creature as man?  Yet one is offered.  It is offered to the totally undeserving and it's offered by the Creator of the universe, God Almighty.   This favour is called Grace.

Many years ago I came across a poem.  I think Dad would have agreed with its message.

'Look back at our struggle for freedom, 

Trace our present-day strengths to their source

and you'll find man's pathway to glory

is strewn with the bones of the horse.'

-- author unknown

Richard

# 7

Jesus said:  'Where your treasure is there will be your heart also.'

 -- Luke 12:34

Jesus also said: 'Children, how hard is it for those that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of Heaven.'

At some point in 2014 my wife and I made what was for us a huge decision.  We decided to divest ourselves of most of our possessions and made plans to move into a small, half-finished cabin.

The cabin was a mile and a half down a dead-end road and totally off-grid.  On January 13 of 2015 we completed the move just a month before my 67th birthday.

A few friends and some relatives asked what we could be thinking and what would make us do such a thing.  Our answer was most easily expressed by Luke 12:34 quoted above.  We both believed that one need not be dead in order to enter into the kingdom of God. In fact, we believe that there are some real advantages to making this move while one is still alive. We felt that the move closer to nature and to a simpler way of life would better position us to be where our treasures and heart are and to be at peace with nature.  From that the notion of 'Christians at Peace with Nature' was born.

We may have taken it a bit far but time spent with the things that God has created stand in stark contrast to time spent in the hectic pace of modern life.  As Henry Thoreau wrote: 'We are in such a rush as to expect that we are about to be late to get into Heaven.'

There are drawbacks to living off the grid -- things like cutting and splitting firewood come to mind, giving new meaning to a verse found in Genesis 2: 'by the sweat of your brow you shall earn a living'. The blessings far outweigh the disadvantages--the wild aspects and tranquillity found in living amongst God's creations more than compensate.  Then there's the confidence found in being able to do more with less.  Again, Thoreau commented: 'A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.'

It's not for everyone, this kind of life; it's been a steep learning curve for us.  The truth is that only a few would want to join us on this adventure of trying to be at peace with nature.  Take heart!  It's not necessary that everyone make the same decision we have.  If you have a special place or activity that draws you closer to creation, it's quite probable that you are already one of us.  Tending a garden, be it a big one or just a window box; having a special place that is sacred perhaps only to you -- it might be a park or under the shade of your favourite tree; or it could be time spent with one of God's many critters.  All these things through the blood of our Christ qualify you as a Christian at peace with nature.  How?  We believe that the things of creation serve best in putting our spirit with the wisdom and the comfort found in God's Holy Spirit.  These are blessings to be counted as riches if we just take notice of:

The year's at the spring

and day's at the morn,

Morning's at seven;

The hillside's dew-pearled:

The lark on the wing;

The snail's on the thorn:

God's is in his heaven -

All's right with the world.

                               -- Robert Browning

My Dad had one that he like to recite every morning at 6:30:

Rise and shine

It's daylight in the swamp

The birds are singing sweet praises to God and his world

It's time to wake up and get up

Don't wait, do it now

Wake up!

I'd love to know where Dad got this little gem from.

Richard DeSmet

a Christian at peace with nature

#6

Part 3

"He that placed the ear. . ."

-- Psalm 95:9

It is often said that those who cannot make music have a tin ear.  This makes some sense due to the very limited range of sound that can be produced on a piece of tin.

Those who study such matters claim that there are 264 semi-tone vibrations required to run through the do-re-mi musical scale.  We are told that those notes that harmonize with each other are called music; those that don't are classified as noise (where does that leave rap?).  Even to the trained ear not all of these vibrations can be heard.

Symphony orchestra conductors look at the violin as the instrument that can produce the widest range of musical vibrations.  Turns out that the violin is a distant second to an instrument created by God -- the human voice.

Symphony musicians take their profession very seriously.  They are well-versed in all things musical right down to knowing the number of vibrations between musical notes; they're not all the same.  In 1834 the musical conservatory at Stuttgart came up with the number of vibrations between notes which was adopted by the Paris conservatory in 1859.  The rest of the world has followed suit in the time since, providing their musicians with the following information.  There are 33 vibrations between do and re; 33 between re and mi; mi to fa is 22; fa to so is 44; so to la is 44; la to ti is 55 and 

ti to do is 33.

It doesn't take much of a mathematician to determine that all of these numbers have something in common.  They can be divided by the number 11.  God has branded music with this number.

I started out this 3-part series with a story about my Mother's ability to make music and about how that played a part in developing my Christian belief.  I thank God for this gift.

If you're so inclined, click on the link below; listen and enjoy.

Richard

'Who Do You Think Would Believe Such a Thing?'

#5

‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.'

Genesis 1:1

"Who hath measured the water in the hollow of his hand and melted out the Heavens in a span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed out the mountains in a scale and the hills in a balance."

     - Isa. 11:12

Anyone who has spent time farming and ranching has spent time measuring and counting.  It could be that they measured the pounds of wheat required to plant an acre of land or the pounds of feed required to bring stock to market.  Then there's deciphering required to come up with a bottom line on the year-end balance sheet (uggh).

Technology has taken agriculture into the space age.  Farmers now track their crops with satellite imaging and trace their livestock through DNA testing.  Ownership was once done with a hot branding iron; now identification implants are commonplace.  This technology extends to how we identify and track our pets.

Branding is now a major component in the work of marketing.  Not too long ago our five-year-old grandson provided us with a lesson on corporate branding.  He pointed out that the best way to tell a Chev from a Ford was that a Chev always had a yellow bow-tie on the front grill (now that's effective branding).  

Branding is nothing new; with the first ten words of the Bible (In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth), God took ownership and branded all that was as being His.  He just didn't leave it with that claim.  He set about marking his creation just as surely as old-time ranchers marked their stock by applying a hot brand to their hide.  God's brands are there to take notice of if we only search them out.

In the millennia since those famous ten words were put to parchment, man has done all he can do to discredit them and like bandits and rustlers steal away ownership of God's creation.  The intellectual world has given itself over to a blind unquestioning faith in themselves and in evolution.  They throw around words like theory, conjecture and assumption like they had a place in true science.

So successful has this thievery been that those who give God credit for creation are branded as backwood crackpots and Christian wing-nuts.  Just consider what this is doing to our young people as daily we send them off to school to get an education.

If we are to have any hope of saving our young people's minds for Christ we must present them with a credible alternative to modern day 'science'.

We have the people to do it--people with all the necessary credentials to be called experts; people who have spent a lifetime in the study of such matters.  They are called ranchers, farmers, cowboys and horse handlers; shepherds, gardeners, birdwatchers, naturalists, pet enthusiasts and a host of others.  Their experience comes from time spent looking at the heavens, comprehending the dust of the earth; the hills, valleys and mountains; and considering the well-being of the beasts in their charge as well as those that are not.  Their experiences when guided by the Holy Spirit offer a wealth of wisdom and knowledge to meet the challenge of protecting God's creation as His and ours.

 

What is it that these Christian experts have learned in their time down in the dirt.  It's that the Holy Spirit has led them to take notice of the little things and God's branding of these things in ways that go unnoticed by those outside the wisdom of His Spirit and his kingdom.  They call these little things the laws of nature but what they really are is God in action in words and in works; it's God showing off his power.  Through his Holy Spirit, God has offered his creation to us as a place of higher learning and has branded his creations as examples of His law and divine power.  Consider the number seven as one of his brands and follow it through the gestation periods of the following creatures:

• the mouse is 21 days; that's 3 x 7
• the rat and hare are 28 days (4 x 7)
• the cat, 56 (8 x 7 days)
• the dog, 63 (9 x 7 days)
• the lion, 98 (14 x 7 days)
• the sheep, 147 (21 x 7 days)

All the above times of gestation are the ideal number required before the birth process begins.   Birds are not left out.  The common hen is 21 days (3 x 7); the duck, 42 days (6 x 7).  This list could go on for several more pages.  Other numbers are used to brand different elements in God's creation.  Why are these primary numbers seen over and over again?  I suggest it's because God is offering us proof of Himself as a divine creator and has branded His work in a way that all can see.  He has branded us with His Holy Spirit so as to provide us with the knowledge and wisdom required to be teachers. Indeed, He is perfect in all His ways.

#4

If you follow this page for any length of time you will begin to recognize that I believe that numbers can be used as a way to understand God and his teachings. This story my Mom taught me is a bit of an introduction to that belief.

DECK OF CARDS (Part 2)

This is the soldier's explanation for bringing a deck of cards to church:

Sir, we have been on the march for 10 days. I have been without Bible or prayer book -- only this deck of cards to remind me of God and his teachings. When I look at the ace it reminds me that there is but one God; and the deuce reminds me that the Bible is divided into 2 parts, the Old and the New Testaments. When I look at the trey I think of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost; and when I look at the 4 I think of the four evangelists who preached the Gospel--there was Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. When I see the 5 it reminds me of the 5 virgins who trimmed their lamps-- five were wise and were saved; five were foolish and were shut out. When I see the 6 it reminds me that in six days God made this great heaven and earth. When I see the 7 it reminds me that on the seventh day God rested from his great work. When I see the 8 I think of the eight righteous persons that God saved when he destroyed the earth-- there was Noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives. When I see the 9, I see the lepers our Saviour cleansed-- nine out of ten never even thanked Him. When I see the 10, I think of the ten commandments God handed down to Moses on tablets of stone.

When I see the king it reminds me that there is but one King of Heaven -- God almighty. When I see the queen I think of the Blessed Virgin Mary who is the queen of Heaven; and the Jack of Knaves is the devil.

When I count the number of spots in a deck of cards I find 365--the number of days in a year. There are 52 cards--the number of weeks in a year. There are 4 suits--the number of weeks in a month. There are 12 picture cards--the number of months in a year. There are 13 tricks--the number of weeks in a quarter.

So you see Sir, my pack of cards serves me as my Bible, almanac and prayer book.

This story as told originally by Tex Ritter is reported to be true. I find it true to my memory as being one of the first messages my Mother provided about God and his glory. My God how great thou art.

#3

Paul wrote: "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities, his internal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that man is without excuse."
--Romans 1:20

DECK OF CARDS (Part 1)

My Mom played the dobro. She had the most beautiful singing voice. She was also intensely shy; she refused to sing in public however at home with just her 3 children for an audience she would sing, pick and even yodel.

Most of the songs that she sang were old-time country spirituals. It was from these songs, through my Mother's voice, that I first began to get a glimmer of God's presence in my life.

Through time and experience that glimmer grew into a huge light that presented the Bible to me as the first authority on God's word and on the life of Jesus Christ. I also grew to an understanding of the power of the Holy Spirit in my life as a doorway to wisdom. I began to recognize the Holy Spirit speaking to my spirit and the presence of God in a way that was heard, felt and experienced as I walked through my daily life.

A teacher named Evelyn Unger planted a thought in me that spoke clearly to the notion that we do not all learn and understand things in the same way. What she said captured her philosophy on teaching: "If my students are unable to learn the way that I am teaching them, then I must teach them in a way that they understand."

How can anyone be surprised that our Creator would have known that about us, especially given the information in Romans 1:20. It is impossible to look at God's Creation without finding multiple examples of his qualities, power and nature.

The Holy Spirit can show us ways and things about God that we may have never understood had it not been for the generosity and grace of those things found in nature. This is the truth of my experience and in these communications I will attempt to offer those experiences to others.

Way back in my memory I recall my Mom reciting a story as she chorded on her dobro. It's about a WW II soldier who was in trouble with his sergeant. The soldier had brought a deck of cards to a church service on Sunday. This story will be in Part 2.