Visit my New Substack for Most Recent Posts

I am now posting on Substack.  I like the interface and the ability to easily connect with readers.  The net result is I am posting more.

 
Me.  Photo by smart granddaughter.

Click here to visit my new blog location for newest posts. Here is a sample front page view....note that it's easy to select a post:

Sample front page from A Wild Olive Branch

I post new short essays on Tuesdays and often additional posts during the week.  I would love to have you some along for the journey.  It's easy to subscribe and have new posts delivered to your email.

Substack also has a "notes" feature that allows creators to post short....well....notes with images.  You can see my notes feed here.  Notes is available from a link on my Substack "home page." Here's a sample notes roll from late May 2024:

 

 

 

Why Exactly do Squirrels Bury Acorns?

Grey Squirrel by Kev from Pixabay

As I watched one of this little rascal's cousins trot over to one of my raised beds and quickly bury an acorn I was reminded of a great story about acorns.

Some English naval officers used to carry acorns in their pockets so they could plant oak trees -- so England would never lack for good oak for the masts of her fighting ships. One officer is reported to have planted hundreds of thousands of acorns over his career.

That made me think of the motivations of my sciurid neighbor: Was he storing the acorn? Or is there an deeper motivation?

Can they remember where they put them? Does underground storage make bitter acorns more palatable?

Maybe God built this trick into their brains and then smiled because he knew this food storage method would mean most would become oak trees which would feed many future squirrels.

It's easy to think of these little guys as graceful arboreal rats but not very smart. But honestly, the more I learn about our fellow animal travelers on the Earth the more I realize there is deep wisdom among them. Squirrels know oak trees and the forests in which they grow in ways we will never understand. Perhaps they understand in ways that would not compute to us that some acorns should always be planted so future generations of squirrels yet unborn will always have food.

All I really know for sure is that I am forever pulling yearling oak saplings out of the ground where we live. Those acorns did not get so deep by accident. Squirrels plant a LOT of acorns. 

 

 

Please visit my new blog location for newest installments. :)

 

 

Apostles: That's What Changed

 

Some years ago, my father sent me the above text on my birthday.   Linda and I left Louisiana in 1972 immediately after our marriage to live in Alaska.  We lived there about 40 achingly wonderful years.  We had learned to thrive in cool and cold weather.  Hot weather was not on our radar.

 

There was no criticism implied.  It was just an honest question.  We had recently moved to become part of the Bethel movement, which has its roots in Redding, California.

 

I had come to adult faith in my mid 30s.  Linda has been a Jesus follower most of her days.  We had in our years in Alaska some great, and a couple of not-so-great experiences, with churches in Alaska.  

After I thought about dad's question for a while, I replied with a very long message. 

 
What changed was, in a word, apostles.  The three apostle-led church communities of which we have been a part since going to Sweden (Word of Life Church in Uppsala, Anchorage City Church, and now Bethel) have changed the course of our lives.

When we took off for Alaska in 1972, it was to pursue a dream of a place and a way of life.....Alaska was the land of our dreams.  In the months before our marriage, we talked much about Alaska.  We read and looked at pictures.  And then we came to Alaska, and it was for decades living inside a dream.  The experiences we had there, the friendships we forged are bright in our memories....and if truth be told, a little painful today, because we miss them.

And then, unexpectedly, we found ourselves in Sweden, at a controversial (to many Swedes, anyway) church that operated in great faith under the leadership of an apostle, Ulf Ekman.  Apostles as a current force in the Church was a new concept to us then, until that time thinking of them only as a part of Biblical history.  What a sea change in our spiritual lives that was!  By the time we left Sweden, our dreams had changed from a place (Alaska) to a mission (the Kingdom).  We almost stayed, you know.

Back in Anchorage after five years of coming and going to Sweden, we connected with  Anchorage City Church, another church led by an apostle, Richard Irwin.  That was another powerful experience and great time of spiritual growth, and a time of intensive pastoral service.  In 2011 Richard turned the church over to his son, Rich, a fine young man with fire in his bones, a leader and a shepherd. 

About that time we were becoming more and more aware of the move of God in an unlikely (to us) place: Northern California.  So......we came here for a one year sabbatical....which turned into something else!

 

This church, Bethel,  also is led by an apostle, Bill Johnson, and interestingly, by a prophet, Kris Vallotton.  The entire five-fold ministry (Ephesians 4:11) is in powerful operation here.  Miracles are common here......real miracles, including cancer being completely healed.  Prophecy is common, even sometimes very accurate foretelling prophecy.  People come to the Lord every week at our church services.....about 10 at the 8am service alone last Sunday.  People are showing up here from all over the earth to be part of this movement.....a few we have met didn't even know about Bethel......they just know the Lord told them to go to Redding......and then they discovered the church.

Today, the church is about 9,000 people, but even more significant than the large numbers is the global reach of the church: thousands of churches are influenced by the ministry of this church, and if you count the ministry of music and praise song writing, the influence in the lives of men and women reaches into the millions.  Bethel Music songs are some of the most popular in churches around the world today.  

So....what changed is the influence of apostles in our lives.  Living in the context of apostleships changed our dreams from an amazing place (Alaska) to an amazing Kingdom.  Our dreams now are of the increase of His government and His Kingdom which brings all the good gifts of Heaven to Earth for all people.

It DOES feel strange to me sometimes to be in this seasonally very hot place.  But I know why we are here.....and the powerful impact this apostleship has had not just on Linda and I, but also in the spiritual lives of our family.

It also feels like the favor of God that the really hot days are relatively few, and even they begin with lovely mornings in the 70s.....and 2/3 of the year is generally pleasant.  And then there is this beautiful natural landscape of Northern California with wild country abounding, waterfalls, tall mountains, rivers, wildlife, friendly people.....we didn't expect it, but we love it!

You started this, you know.  It all began when you invited me at the turn of the century to go to Sweden with you and mom to see the land of my ancestors.  :)

I know you weren't asking for a treatise....but THAT is what changed.

Honorable Men

How does an honorable man handle pain and disappointment?  Stephen Mansfield writing in Mansfield's Book of Manly Men has some suggestions worth sharing: 

Honorable men refuse to wallow in the small and the bitter. 

Honorable men refuse to hate life because something once went wrong. 

Honorable men don’t build monuments to their disappointments, nor do they let others brand them and curse them to their destruction. 

Honorable men seek out the highest definition of their lives, the nobler meaning granted by heritage, by their ancestors’ dreams and their parents’ hopes. 

Honorable men cry out to God until curses are broken and a grander purpose is achieved. 

Honorable men don’t settle for lives of regret.

It's easy to let the difficulties of life wear us down.  Life can be hard and painful.  But the path of honor leads us always upward.

Lord, let my heart seek always the grander purpose written in your heart for me.

Breaking Chains

There was a time in the history of the world when people were sold for the value they could provide to the buyers.  Even children and teens were ripped from their childhood and sold.  Millions of souls were denied freedom, good health, and simply normal life.

 

This evil wasn’t hidden.  While both victims and buyers were a small part of the overall population, the evil could be easily seen.  But just as it could be easily seen, it was also easy to look away.  It must have felt like just a part of life.

Some raised their voices against this evil trade in souls.  Organizations arose to fight it.  Some of the victims were rescued, often at risk of death for the rescuers.    Legislative actions to stop the trade were proposed with little success. Those making fortunes from the trade had money and influence, and used that in legislatures, in the media of the day, and in the court of public opinion.

Capturing humans and selling them is an old and evil human practice.  The victims have come from every continent and race.

But the time in history I am writing about is today.

 

It is going on right here and right now in America, and elsewhere in the world.  In our country, millions of women and girls are captives of an evil industry that cares nothing for their lives except how well their bodies provide sexual release for their customers.

Many, many Americans are unwittingly contributing to this evil --pornography use is epidemic in our country. Consuming pornography can lead to paying for pornography, which can lead to demand for prostitution, which leads to more enslavement of women and girls.  The modern day slavers walk among us.

We Americans fought the bloodiest war of our history to free the slaves in the 19th century.  What will it take for us to metaphorically take up arms again today to fight for the women and girls who are enslaved right now? 

 

A noble rebellion against this darkness is rising to free them.  We can join the fight.

• We can inform ourselves
• We can quit using pornography 
• We can raise our voices against the evil industry that enslaves women and girls 
• We can join with or contribute to organizations fighting modern slavery
• We can advocate for changes in laws
• We can support organizations that offer loving pathways out of sex slavery.

I support Exodus Cry. There are other organizations doing good work. Whether we provide a monthly donation, prayer cover, or physically participate....we can all do be part of this.  Please add your strength in the fight for the daughters of Eve and the sons of Adam ensnared by the hellish forces behind the evil sex industry!

Sometimes Yelling at Alexa Isn't Enough

It is dark. We sleep. The electronics do not.

 

At 0600 precisely, the alarm starts loudly blaring a song.

 

“Alexa,” I say sharply, from a dead sleep. “Turn off alarm.”

 

Blaring continues.

 

“Alexa,” we both say commandingly, and almost in unison, “STOP!”

 

Unfazed, the song blares on. Loudly. Surely the neighbors can hear this?

 

“Alexa, turn down volume,” I order with my 500’ voice. The little blue light ring illuminates, but insolently, the song continues at its stentorian volume level.

 

“Alexa, turn on bathroom lights,” Linda says with her best teacher voice. Maybe with the little beast’s attention diverted to another task, it will thereafter be able to perform its actual duty.

 

Bathroom light goes on. Song continues. Loudly.

 

Feet hit the floor. “I’m just going to stretch your neck, you insubordinate little box of microchips,” my inside voice says.

 

I stride powerfully around the bed and as my hands come up to reach for its scrawny throat (well….power cord) I notice that it is NOT the little blue-ringed black troglodyte troublemaker that is singing that now even louder song.

 

It’s one of our mobile phones. Heh heh.

 

Stupid `Lexa.

 

#firstworldproblems

Apical Buds and the Intelligence of Trees

At first glance, there's nothing too remarkable about this small redwood tree growing near our house.

But I know something about its history. And there is a remarkable story here.

After I planted it, I discovered to my surprise that beavers will eat redwood trees. Dang. A couple of winters ago, a beaver turned my five -foot redwood into a six-inch stob.

But it lived, and because it had good root infrastructure, it started growing again. Now, it's again about five feet tall. And protected from long-toothed rodents that dwell in water.

Last year, the apical bud (the topmost, and dominant growth area) died somehow. I wondered what would happen to it, but I kept adding fertilization and water. By the way, redwoods are not native to the central valley of California where we now live. They need a LOT of water, and so are found naturally along the coasts. This redwood however, is not far from a year-round creek, and may have already discovered that water source.  It is growing happily.

Early this year, I began noticing the branch at right in the photo beginning to slowly bend upwards from nearly horizontal. As you can see, after about six months, it is almost vertical. The new apical bud is at the top of this branch.

That, to me, is remarkable.

How did the tree know to transfer apical dominance to one of its limbs? And how does it cause the limb to slowly bend until it is upright? And how does it know when that limb is fully upright?

There is an intelligence among trees. There is something going on within that allows them to be aware of their needs, and even aware to some extent of what is going on around them.

I suspect that intelligence is more significant than we yet imagine.

When I really "see" nature, my heart turns by habit to nature's God, and remember when my heart first knew Him as an adult. That happened in a plant ecology class in my university training, of all places. I remember the day sitting in class when I had become sufficiently aware of the massive interconnections of the plant and animal word.....and that was more than 50 years ago. Today, much more is known.

I realized then that the intricacies of creation could not possibly have happened by chance.  I realized that God was, and as I opened my heart to that reality, that He is.

And in time I my heart came to know that He loves me. The transference of apical dominance and self-bending a limb is pretty amazing.  But a God that loves me and communicates with me: THAT'S a real miracle.  😃

Losing Weight With Friends: A Better Way

This isn't a brag. It's a strategy that has worked for me. I'm sharing this in hopes it will help others.

After being overweight for decades, at 178 lbs (81 kg) I am now in the normal weight range for my height, as my body mass index (BMI) is now under 25. 

 

My wife tells me I look good and feel good. That's an even better motivator than BMI

Here's the strategy: On a camping trip in early June, two friends and I decided to lose weight. Each of us was overweight. It showed and we felt it. 

 

The next day, we sent our beginning weights in a text thread. Almost every day since then, we have continued to share our weights. Many days, it's just a number. Other days, it's a number and something humorous or encouraging....or a bad excuse for a small weight gain. 

 

We're men, so there's an element of competition here, of course. But honestly, the most valuable part of this is that we are each invested in the success of the other two. And it has worked: between the three of us we have already lost more than 60 lbs (27 kg). Each of us is approaching his goal weight. I'm down 16 lbs (7 kg) with 3 lbs (1.3 kg) to go. All of us feel better, and all are seeing health benefits.

 

How did we lose weight? Simple: we ate less and exercised more. There's all kinds of ways to go at this. I have been using Weight Watchers, and I find as a side benefit that it helps me understand good portion size and the caloric content of my usual foods. I also try to walk 8,000 steps a day.

 

But in my heart, what really made the difference was the encouragement of two friends!

University Education: Why Would We Pay for Leftist Indoctrination?

My university experience was a great time in my life. It is where I met my wife, it prepared me for a rewarding career, and it opened my eyes to new knowledge, new ways of thinking, and new ways to learn. The University of Alaska in the 1990s was very valuable to our adult children as well. 

But today, as I think about our two granddaughters, I am seriously doubting the wisdom of their future attendance at nearly any of the colleges and universities in the United States or even abroad. Most of these have left their honorable purposes to become leftist indoctrination camps. 

I am not concerned about exposure to ideas from both ends of the ideological spectrum. That’s healthy. What I AM concerned about is the overwhelming preponderance of leftist faculty and staff and a smothering teaching of “correct think”. 

Our family has poured years into our granddaughters’ healthy emotional and spiritual growth, and much money into excellent private education. For them to lose that would be a disaster for them and their family, and those that follow after them. 

Clearly, not everyone coming out of America’s colleges and universities today is steeped in neo-Marxism and nihilism, but many are, to the great dismay of their families, and to the diminishing of America. The massive college debt of many young Americans is bad, but the educational outcomes are worse. 

And speaking of debt, is a university education in many disciplines really worth what people are paying? 

So…..American colleges and universities: are you listening? I am one American father and grandfather and financial supporter of education who views you with massive distrust.

An Ordinary (But Deeply Powerful) Sunday Family Lunch

We did something ordinary today.  We ate our Sunday lunch together, the three generations of us here.  It's ordinary because we do this almost every Sunday.  We started this pleasant habit about four years ago -- now around 200 times.

But ordinary does not even begin to describe the deep human value of this simple activity. Sharing food is deeply woven into humanity. There is a bonding that happens each time we sit at table together. It feels like silken threads added layer upon layer binding us together.

Not only are we sharing food, we are sharing ideas, hopes, and dreams. While sometimes we have important subjects to discuss as a family, mostly it's just happy talk, the casual conversation of people who know each other well. Plans are hatched for other activities we do together. Sometimes we ask for help with a project or a need. We often talk about the church meeting we were part of earlier in the morning. And we're Americans, so we talk about politics. :) We often find that two or three hours slip away before it is time to go our separate ways.

I believe what is happening at a superconscious level is even more profound. In these regular gatherings, we are each teaching each other who we are as a people in a family, how we respond to life, and how we communicate and connect emotionally with each other. Family history is shared in little pieces, and the younger learn from the older who they are and where they come from.

And there is a simple profundity at the spiritual level as well. We begin our meals together with a simple grace. It's a habit, but habits are powerful, and this one reminds us each week that we live our lives with attitudes of gratitude and a recognition of Jesus, who is at the center of all. This is what we have sung together for many years:

Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus

For this food, for this food

And our many blessings, and our many blessings

Amen amen amen

So......today, I'm deeply grateful for this ordinary thing we do, and the extra-ordinary family of which I am a part. 

 

 

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