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We live in a time in America, though certainly not the only time in America, where much of the country seems to be polarized between differing political viewpoints. And this polarization seems to show up most after an election, with some of those who did not get their way in the election acting out in very poor manners. Living here in Seeley Lake, I would like to think that maybe we get along with each other in spite of differing ideologies, and certainly I am thankful to not be aware of any protesting or rioting going on in our area....
It is a mere few days from one of the greatest celebrations of the year. This will be our 24th year celebrating the Christmas season in Seeley Lake. And though a few times we have spent Christmas with family elsewhere, we still have been in Seeley Lake during the Christmas season, and continue to enjoy many of the things our small town has to offer. From the friendly faces and voices at every business we go to, to the wonderful opportunity to hunt for a Christmas tree out in the forest, to the guaranteed white covering on the ground, to the...
I started writing this in a hotel room near the end of a trip to a predominantly Muslim country. I thought I would share a few musings about our experience in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This was not the first time we have visited a Muslim country, but it is the first time we have spent more than a day in such a country. I have to admit, it has been a wonderful experience! The country is very modern, with infrastructure in some ways better than ours. The people are very friendly, the feeling is safe, and my wife has never felt like she was...
Words have power. Words are a primary method of communication. They can change the destiny of nations, causing war or peace. When spoken, they can stick in our memories for our entire lives, and even beyond as we pass them on to others. When written down, they can survive for centuries and millennia. The Bible is composed of words. It is God’s message to humans, penned by men, inspired by God Himself, written down, surviving for millennia. And the Bible itself shows the power of words. In the third verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:3, God spoke the...
As a builder, I have the opportunity to look at a lot of plans for all kinds of various projects. For the most part, I enjoy it - there is such a variety of building styles and types out there with every project being unique in some way or another that I enjoy looking at the plans. And of course, it is an indispensible part of my job. Those plans are my guide for what to build and how to build it, and without them, I generally could not do the project or even give a price for doing the project. Over the years I have noticed that I have yet to...
I had the benefit of a Christian education as a child. And no, that does not mean that I was homeschooled by Christian parents during my formative years - I did about 3 months of homeschooling as a freshman in high school. And no, that does not mean that I went to Christian schools from grades 1-12. I did go to Christian schools for a few years, but the majority of my schooling was done at the public schools. So what do I mean? I mean that I received a Christian education predominantly from my parents, and not even predominantly during school...
As we all know living here in western Montana, the weather changes fairly drastically on a seasonal basis. Sometimes it changes even much quicker - like recently when it went from snowing one day to sunny and warm a day later. We live in an area that has some of the most dramatic seasonal changes - about an hour drive from here is the location of the coldest ever recorded temperature in United States outside of Alaska - Rogers Pass recorded -70 Fahrenheit (F) in 1954. And only a few hours farther to the east but still in Montana, Glendive and...
I write this having just returned from a snowmobile trip to British Columbia. Seeley Lake has wonderful snowmobiling, world-class snowmobiling, but sometimes it’s nice to just get away on a trip to somewhere else. While out riding, I had a few thoughts and observations that I thought I would share. First, the world is big. Really big! I know that going from western Montana into the land of our friendly neighbors to the north does not pass through any heavily populated part of the world; indeed, driving for many hours covers a very miniscule p...
As a contractor, I have many opportunities to see the value and effects of appreciation. Appreciation is simply defined as “the recognition and enjoyment of the good qualities of someone or something.” There are certain customers that I find more pleasant to work for and certain customers that I find more difficult to work for. One of the differentiating qualities is how appreciative they are of what we do for them. Even a very demanding customer is easier to work for when they regularly express true appreciation for what we have done. And that...
It is one of my favorite holidays this week - Thanksgiving. Between feasting, family, friends, floats, furlough and football, it always seems to be a fabulous time! There is a long tradition of Thanksgiving in our nation, dating all the way back to the Plymouth Plantation in 1623. Although it is not a holiday found in the Bible, giving thanks is certainly a very biblical thing to do. After celebrating a day of Thanksgiving on a couple of different calendar days, it was in 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, by act of Congress, that...
