Category Archives: building a log cabin

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You Are God’s Dream

Most of you have been following the construction of my log home in Colorado.  It’s a crazy adventure, I know.  But you are seeing my dream come true.  It’s taken time, more time than I expected.  Time to deal with the everyday activities involved with building a house.

It’s taken passion.  My passion.  This “project” has taken my heart and soul, my true passion to continue it from the very start.  I needed the passion to sustain me through the hard times, the difficult times,………. and the truly “I don’t know what I’m doing” times.

It’s taken love.  I love doing this.  It’s my physical way of showing my Christian journey.  To take a pile of logs, (trees that I planted myself 35 years ago).  A pile of logs that are crooked, scarred, weathered, containing knots and cracks.  But these logs have now been turned into a crafted tight fitting piece of furniture called a log home.  Every inch of this house has been touched by Staci and me.  I know it’s “character” inside and out.  And I love it.  It’s mine!  This log house is my dream coming true!!   Woo hooo!!!

You my friends are God’s dream.  Stop with the “stinkin’ thinkin'” that God has no place for you and that you are not good enough.  Hey just like me, and my logs, you are “crooked, scarred, weathered, full of knots and cracks”.  But if you will allow God to fulfill His Dream in your life, you will be perfected and made complete as only God can do.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Wow, talk about passion and love.  God sent His son Jesus to die for our sins.  Jesus in turn, becomes the way for us to follow.  We have to believe.  God then uses His time, His Passion, His Love to “craft” each of us into what He wants us to BE!!  What is that?  His dream come true.

Staci and I took the time to go to a Bible class here at our church in Westcliffe.  The speaker mentioned how God wants us to be His dream.  I think I understand better now.  God wants to take you “into His arms”.  He’s definitely got the time.  He’s got the passion, and He’s most certainly got the LOVE.  What better way to realize God wants a personal relationship with you.  You, little oh good for nothin’ you.  God’s wanting to throw some Love your way whether you realize it or not.  Whether you’ve stopped to look at it this way or not, you need to realize something that is life changing.  YOU ARE GOD’S DREAM.  Follow Him and you will be God’s dream coming true!!  Woo hooo!!

See Ya!  Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher, Living the Christian Dream, and still woo-hooin!!

 

 

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The Prayer Chair

Praying to see and hear God

This is my “prayer chair”.  Can you see the mountains in the view behind? No?,…. neither can I.  That’s why I need a prayer chair.

Every morning before all the construction guys get here, I take a moment for just me and God.  I like sitting in the prayer chair and looking at the mountain view.  Except, this morning I can’t see the mountains.  I know they are still there, I just don’t see them.  Most mornings, I can actually hear the wind and waterfalls from across the valley.  Not this morning.  I don’t hear a thing.  I guess the clouds and fog are blocking my view.  I know the mountains are still there.  Something has come between me and “my” mountains.

You would think that something as BIG as 14,000 ft tall mountains would never disappear.  But something comes in between me and “my” mountains.  Maybe it’s low flying clouds.  Or smoke,…… or dust,……or rain.  What ever the reason, those majestic mountains become hidden from our view.  I know they are there, I just can’t see or hear them.

“My” God and I have a close relationship.  I cherish it.  But some days, I feel that I’m not seeing or hearing from Him.  I know He’s there.  It’s just that the “clouds”, “dust”, “rain”, and “smoke” of this life get in my way of seeing and hearing from God.  I bet you have trouble with your “hearing and seeing” from God too, huh?

You would think that someone as BIG, Mighty, and Majestic as God could never disappear…….  We all know that He’s still there.  It’s just that our view is  being blocked.  Matter of fact, on this day I actually drove my 4-wheeler over into the mountains.  Being on the mountain top itself there was no smoke or clouds to deal with.  It reminded me of why I first came to Colorado and traveled to these mountains  To be what God created me to be.  It was a time of refreshing for me.  A time to BE closer to my God.  Being on and in these mountains makes me more aware of God’s presence in my very own life.

My prayer time is my way of keeping my view clear so I can see and hear from God.  Things in life that I have no control over seem to constantly get in my way of “the view”.  Thus the constant battle of staying close to God.  Prayer has a way of flowing through the “smoke” and “clouds”.

Let your prayer constantly be one of seeing and hearing from God.  Even when life throws all the “smoke” and “clouds” your way.  Let your prayer time with God be your “4 wheeler” that brings your spirit back to the mountain top with Him.  Prayer is a vehicle we use to stay close to our Heavenly Father.  Happy Ridin’ partner!!

I will lift up my mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.  My help comes from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.  Psalm 121:1-2

See Ya!  Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher

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If It Don’t Fit……..

Solving this Spiritual Mystery

I’m building a log chair.  Should be a rather simple process of putting a bunch of sticks together right?  But you see that one short log spindle laying on the ground in front of the chair?  That one piece has caused the whole log chair to not fit.  The small spindle was cut to fit on the left arm side.  When placed in the holes cut specifically for it, it fit!!  It fit perfect!!  But every one of the other spindles and logs were suddenly no longer tight.

Still in a delay and waiting on building the log house, I chose this log chair project as an afternoon chore.  A simple design, small logs and limbs readily available, the building task was begun.  But instead of a quick construction of my own chair, it became a time when I scratched my head, measured and re-measured.  This fitting together of several log pieces has become perplexing,confusing, and……..a mystery.

How can one piece cause all the others to not fit?  How can all the pieces of the chair fit tightly, until I add the one single perfectly cut piece.  Then the chair is as “loose as a goose”.

Honestly I never figured it out.  Maybe the holes were cut at an angle, or the spindle was bent, or my measuring was off.  What ever the reason, it didn’t fit.  So,……… I got rid of what I thought was the perfect fitting log spindle, and replaced it with another.  Lo and behold if the chair  now fits perfectly together all over.  The connections are tight.  I’m on my way to having a tight fitting homemade log chair.  Never quite figured out the mystery, but the chair is being completed.

8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.  Ephesians 1:8-10 NIV

Friends, if I can’t figure out the mystery of my log chair, then this spiritual MYSTERY of how God wants to Be in our lives is even more complicated to explain.  Through Christ, God “constructs” a perfect fit for us to be with Him.  Our own way of thinking sometimes causes us to try to add what we think is a “perfect fitting piece” to our spiritual life.  But that seems like when our whole spiritual existence becomes “loose as a goose”.  Solution???  Better to let God do the measuring, the carving, the whittling in our lives.  Better to let God have control.  Why God would send His Son into the world for little ole me and you is….. well, it’s a mystery.

I love a mystery.  When the mystery is being lived out daily, maybe I need to focus more on the mysteries and not necessarily trying so hard to solve them.

I’m now looking forward to sitting in my log chair pondering life’s mysteries.  Knowing and believing my God has all the solutions gives me a relaxing fresh breath of life.  It’s still a mystery………

See Ya!   Dan Ainsworth wildernesspreacher, “scratchin’ my head as I go through life”.