Ever notice how our emotions can get the best of us? Here I am, overwhelmed like crazy with everything happening and everything that needs to be done at the ranch here before winter (had snow here at this point last year), in spite of the fact that the first part of this week saw more fingerprints of God in rapid succession than I have seen in a long time. So, I will do as the Psalmist says to do, I will recount all God's blessings to me. And there in, once I put my focus back on God and the incredible way in which He is working, I will find my peace once again, and quit worrying.

1. Got the grant paperwork submitted Saturday night to the grant consultants for round two, as I try to get it all qualified to actually be grant worthy. If it passes muster, they will send me an exhaustive list of grants, subsidies, loans, and corporate funds that we can photocopy all the grant paperwork for, and apply for.

2. Sunday, church was really good at the new church in Clear Creek. I really enjoyed it. It is still small, but we are alive :-). Anyone want to come visit? I lead music for it. Starts at 10am at the old lodge restaurant in Clear Creek, Sunday mornings.

3. Monday, an old friend from a church in Arkansas called me about the possibility of his church paying for all my filing fees to get the ranch legally founded, non-profit status and everything ($600-$1000 give or take). Final decision on if, and how much, on November 7.

4. A friend of a friend of a friend, found out about the ranch on Tuesday - a pastor in Bullhead City, Arizona, that is founding a very similar ranch to this one, called the Restoration Ranch. We are talking and praying and considering how we might help each other out and network together.

5. Also Tuesday, as I was working at the Accelerated Athletic club in Emmett, Idaho (computer clients in a town where I used to live), I got to talking to one of the women who works there, and she got "God pimples" (goosebumps?) as we talked, because apparently, her lifelong dream has been to work at a ranch in the mountains that is focused on reaching out to wounded people. So we are considering how she might play a part in this ranch as well.

6. Tuesday evening, another client called and said they would be home so I could come get some work done on a computer problem that they had been having that had been causing me grief for over a month - I couldn't figure it out! So I prayed and asked God to help me figure it out. And I did, within 10 minutes of getting there. It was amazing. And the money from that bought me gas money.

7. On my way to the above client, I happened to see something out in a field along the road. It was a camper shell for a pickup truck, with the word "free" spray painted on it. I have been praying for a camper shell for quite awhile.... *chuckle*. So I stopped and talked to them, and not only did they give me the camper shell, but also some other stuff for the ranch too (they were "spring cleaning")...

8. I have been praying for a backhoe and bulldozer for the ranch here. We desperately need both. Well my pastor and someone else in the church apparently just got unlimited access to both through a guy who is looking to buy a bulldozer and backhoe to build a business between the three of them. And through my pastor, the ranch would also potentially have access to them..... Is that cool or what? This happened also on Tuesday.

9. Still Tuesday, someone I edited a Christian manuscript for a month or two ago, has begun corresponding with me. At first it was just about their manuscript, but when they found out about the ranch, they were thrilled, and have begun to pray for the ranch and are interested in seeing how else they can help someday.

10. Wednesday morning, on my way to another job, working for a pastor that I am helping to frame in his house, the guy in Star that had given me the camper shell for my pickup, called me and said he had just got ahold of 5 beds for the ranch also, would I like them? I said yes *chuckle*

11. Wednesday helping my pastor friend on his house, we got quite a lot done on his house, and he gave me an unexpected raise, saying that my work was well worth it. I will be helping him out a lot more for several days next week. It helps me pay both my own and ranch bills, and it gets his house enclosed before the snow flies. We are soooo racing winter right now, both there and here at the ranch too.

12. Thursday morning, a neighbor stopped by that I have been praying for. His house is also on the market and I want it for ranch staff housing. The price is right, and I think we can get it. I just have to work out some arrangements.... But the guy is also interested in maybe coming to church with me on Sundays to the new church in Clear Creek. Oh, and he also showed me where there is a HUGE apple tree on the ranch here, that I had never seen before! It has some of the best apples on it that I have ever tasted. And not a single worm to be found. I couldn't believe it. It has been right under my nose the whole time, and I never even noticed it. Likewise with the pear tree that I found a month ago here.

13. Thursday I drove to Boise to pick up those 5 beds in Star and have my date night with my daughter Vanya, and I broke down several times in the truck. Apparently the distributor cap had worked loose, and my engine timing got mucked up pretty bad. Both times, I was able to push it out of the road, and then various people gave me jump starts (battery also weak, been too long since I drove it) once I hand tightened the distributor roughly to where it was supposed to be. I was thankful each time that we got it running again, I was thankful to God to have figured out the problem, and thankful that no one was hurt or anything.

14. Friday, today, I spent here at the ranch all day, cutting and bringing in firewood, and doing little odd jobs (like repairing one of the retaining walls in back of the house where I plan to stack wood). I had not even started collecting my firewood yet this year, and with potential retreats happening at the ranch this winter, and with the potential of a lot harder winter this time too, I will need a lot more wood than what I had last year - I'm planning for double what I had last year (had roughly 5 cord cut, stacked and split last winter) . But today I was able to cut and bring in a fair bit of wood. I am at almost 2 cord right now. 8 cord to go! *chuckle*. But I was thankful for a simply gorgeous day today, and that I got alot done, and that nothing bad happened while running the chain saw or anything.

15. Tomorrow, Saturday, I am going to cut firewood with my pastor, off a fuel wood timber sale lot that he bought last summer, and taking my truck along to fill up too (after I fix it in the morning - my pastor is letting me have the wood in return for me helping him load his 4 cord dumptruck with wood also).So that should bring me up to 3 cords of wood cut and stacked for the ranch here. 7 to go! If I can just get a cord or two each day, and the time here at the ranch to do it (instead of being in Boise, Emmett, or Ola working!), I should be able to get it all in. It has been abnormally warm this week, and I am trying to make as much use of the warm weather time over the weekend as I can. I think the warm weather is a fingerprint so I can finish up some stuff like get my firewood in, frame in the ends of the trailer cabins, and finish burying the water lines (got some of them buried this summer).

There have been lots of other God fingerprints too over the last several weeks in my life and around the ranch, but this string of fingerprints was just too good to pass up talking about and sharing with you. I am VERY muscle sore tonight. What I wouldn't give for a good soak in a hot springs.... *chuckle*.

But I am thankful that I serve a big God, and that He loves me, and that even when I get emotionally tired and wore down, I can still hold onto the fact that God loves me, and is taking care of me, and that He knows everything that I need, and that He will provide for my needs somehow (He promised to and always has).

So next time you start feeling down, go back and think about your previous week/month/year. See if you can pick out any God fingerprints that you can draw comfort from, And count your blessings. Emotions are fickle. Fortunately, God's love is a rock that I/we can hold onto, while we ride out the emotional storms around us.