Tag Archives: building a log cabin

Posted on

I’ve Got a Light in This Dark World

light

Electricity!  I’ve got lights in the log barn now.  For those of you keeping up with my log home project, I’m half way through building the nine foot walls for this cabin.  The summer heat has been relieved by daily storms and rain showers. It’s great that it’s cooler, but with the cloudy rainy days, now it’s too dark to see inside the barn. Even though it’s daylight, it’s hard to see the lines I’m carving, and more important, hard to see the lines as I cut with the chainsaw,……. even though it’s daylight, inside the barn it’s just too dark to see.  I need a light.

Much to my surprise and amazement, when I tied the light fixture above me and turned on the light I could see SO MUCH better.  I didn’t realize how I had been straining.  I didn’t realize how hard I was making it on myself.

See, every log in my house is “scribed” to fit the log below it.  I take the scriber and trace along the two logs to know exactly were they must be cut to fit.  This line that I trace is the line that I cut with the chainsaw.  When I cut inside of the lines, the logs don’t fit together.  Even bigger problems will show up.  Problems like leaks between the logs, and worse than that, structure instability with these logs that aren’t fitting together.  If I cut over and outside of the scribed lines, more problems.  Problems again with the structure and security of the logs themselves.  Rule number one for a handcrafted log home,……….. All joints and notches must fit.  For my logs to fit tight and soundly together, I must stay in line!!

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

This scripture was my daily Bible reading for the very day that I turned on the lights where I build my barn.  Coincidence?  Direction from Above? God interacting with me? Divine Intervention?  Really and honestly I don’t know.  But here is what I DO KNOW.

Each and every day I ask God to “help me”.  (Just like plugging in the light).  With His Light, I can now see so that I can “Stay In Line” with my life.  Each day even though it’s daylight, having God’s Light shine in my life gives me a new outlook on how to live.  With His Light I’m no longer blind, but now I see!  I can live a fuller and more meaningful life by staying in line as I carve and whittle each day into what will be my life and journey here on this Earth.

What I here from folks a lot of times is that they are scared of God shining His light on them.  They know that then all the mistakes they have made will show up BIG time.  Well, buddy, Don’t ya think that God already knows about your past and all your mistakes and blunders?  He knows about all my “Boo-boos”.  That mistake on log number three, that cutting I did on the second notch…… nobody knows about those mistakes I made but me and God.  But get this.  God’s light was given to us not to show how bad we are or can be, but Jesus Himself came not to condemn but to save.

As far as the light now being on while I’m building my log home,  It (the light) is saving me.  It’s saving me from myself.  It keeps me from carving and cutting too far out or too far in.  It keeps me in line.

Do you have God’s light shining in your life?  “Well, turn on the switch, plug in the cord.”  How do you do that?  Ask Him.  Say Lord, “help me”.  It’s an everyday activity.  Pray to God…… and listen for His still small voice.  Read a scripture every day.  There are lots of apps that will give you a daily “plug in” from God on your computer or phone.  Then each day as you live in His Light you will experience things that couldn’t be seen before.  Hmmm……. are you experiencing coincidences……direction from God…… Divine Intervention???  Again, I wouldn’t know.  But what you will know is that you will see things in a different light than before.  Gives a new meaning to the phrase “was blind, but now I see.  Thank you Lord!

I’m proud that you’ve “plugged in”.  See Ya!!

Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher, part time chainsaw log home builder (using the light)

Posted on

A Heat Advisory Issued For Your Spiritual Journey

heat advisory

The more I work, the more I get done, right?  You can’t afford to slow down no matter the conditions, I mean time’s a wastin’.

Here in Mississippi the last few days, the heat index has been around 104!  Inside the log barn where I continue building my log home, the temp is more like 110 bacon sizzling degrees.  IT’S HOT!!  It’s so hot, my dog was chasing a rabbit and they both were walking.  It’s so hot the trees down here are looking for shade.

It’s so hot……… My neighbor’s horse got into my corn field.  It was so hot, the corn started popping.  The horse thought it was snow and froze to death. 😉

OK, you get the picture.  It’s hot.  Yet, still I feel that I must continue working at a pace that I must admit is harmful. In these conditions heat exhaustion, even heat stroke can become a major problem.  Why do I kill myself?  We have to realize in certain conditions that maybe we need to slow down, take a break,….. cool off.

In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.  Psalm 4:8

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27

Don’t ya think we get caught up in our spiritual journeys with doing instead of being?  We think that the more “good stuff” we do, the better person we are, (and the more God will like us and bless us).  😉  In spite of the conditions around us we spiritually work ourselves into a type of “heat exhaustion”.  It’s so easy for us to want to do things ourselves, our own way, in spite of how “hot” it is.  Well, as a Christian the peace that is inside of us comes from God, not from how much we do for ourselves.  And to top it all, He gives you and me this peace freely and abundantly.

What I’m trying to say is that doing “good stuff” is good.  What’s better than good?  Jesus………  He came to seek and save……..  He wants to share His peace and love.

Grow your relationship with Him.  How?  By taking the warning of a “heat advisory for your spirit” seriously.  Refresh yourself by praying with Him.  Seek a “cooling off” by reading the Bible.  Learn to pace yourself in this “hot and dried up world” by following His Will.

This world and even those around you may be hotter than a billy goat in a pepper patch.  They may be hotter than a firecracker lit at both ends.

You my friend will be cool.  Cool as a cucumber.  Joe Cool.  Better yet, Jesus Cool!!!

See Ya!!  Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher,  writing this while drinking Lemonade!

 

 

Posted on

I Got Some Sense Knocked into Me!

tools

Here’s a picture of some of the tools I’m using as I build my log home.  The blue tool with the long handle is called a peavey.  It has a metal spike at the end and also a hook.  When this is placed on the log, I now have leverage to roll a massive log wherever I want.  Power!!  I feel like a MAN because I can now move a 1500 lbs log with just my own muscles.  Be careful, I know, I know.  But it is a rush to be able to move that much weight.  I feel like a super hero.  Call me Thor, or Batman, or a Jedi,…….or LOG Man!!!! cause I got the power!  I need a theme song.

But be careful.  With the proper leverage, you can move the world.  Amazing to me how this huge log can be rolled with such little effort on my part.  With these forces of weight and movement battling with and against each other there is a high probability that things may not roll your way.  Things may not go as planned. Did I remind you and myself to be careful?  Well let me say it once again.  There is danger involved with moving and building with logs.  Be careful.  But sometimes I don’t pay attention, ……….even to myself.

While humming my “theme song” and enjoying all this power, I proceeded to roll this log into position.  It continued to roll on its own.  I ah,.. I ah,….. turned loose of the handle.  Ok, I’ll admit it.  I turned loose of the handle, it continued to roll, but then flipped back in reverse and the end of the handle caught me square on the side of the face.  (I feel like I’m giving an insurance report.)  It hit me like a ton of bricks.  I felt like Rocky Balboa himself had just given me an uppercut.  The theme song in my head suddenly changed.  I saw stars,……. my knees buckled…….and now I am down for the count.  It didn’t knock me out, just knocked me cuckoo.  Didn’t knock my brains out, just “changed the channel” I was on.  It didn’t knock me senseless………. It knocked some sense into me.

Proverbs 24:16– For a just [man] falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

It’s good to know I got up again.  But in a way it’s good to know that I got 6 more times left.  I feel like a cat with 9 lives now.  Well, down to about 4 now.  What I mean is this.  We all fall. We all fail.  At least one of us here falls while singing his own theme song!  I tell myself all the time to be safe,…. be careful.  There is not a day goes by that Staci doesn’t tell me to be careful.  She even calls me from time to time to make sure “I’m OK”.  ( I’ll have to tell ya sometime about the time I fell off the log pile cause I was trying to get to the phone.)  Be safe, Be careful.  I here it over and over.  But when it hits you up side of the head, you get a better understanding of it.

I’ve always said that God Himself will remind you of things that are needed in your life.  He will even hit you between the eyes to get your attention.  With a two by four, on in my case a peavey tool.

I bet you’ve had God “hit you” just to make you take notice of a situation in your life.  That’s what is so “good” about falling.  When you fall, He is there to pick you up.  He’ll pick you up seven times which in Bible terms means as many times as is necessary.

Be careful out there.  Stay safe.  With a very sore jaw this has taken on a newer and more important meaning in my life.

See Ya!   Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher, part time Rocky punching bag