I prayed all day yesterday for God to help with my financial distress and mentioned this to someone.
She proceeded to tell me that I could not pray for money. I told her of course I can. God will help in whatever way we need if we just believe. I was feeling a little down last night after hearing my office rent check bounced. My son Kailem invited me over for dinner and some games of crib. That was a wonderful distraction. I do find it most interesting how the youth now a days can sit around together with their cell phones and laugh about something they find on facebook or you tube and then pass their phones around laughing at each others funny find. In the old days, we would tell jokes but times have changed.
This morning I lay in bed in my Soo office which is my new apartment, thinking and planning, and stressing I suppose. There is a large church right outside my bedroom/treatment room window. The church bells started ringing at 8:45 am. I immediately thought, that is what I need to do. I need to go to church. So I was up, face washed, dressed, and out the door, and walking in the church door by 9 am. Not bad. It was lovely. Wonderful organ and choir, people singing, incredible architecture. Yes, I thought God wants me here to see this architecture. It was interesting, if you thought about it. It did look like the framework of a barn.I have been looking at a few barns lately. The church is little more ornate but none the less.
It has been my dream since I was 20 to have a spiritual retreat center. A place where we can go and find peace and tranquility. A place where people from around the world could come to get away from the hustle and bustle and hear the wolves and coyotes howl. Where you could take some courses in emotional release techniques, twig furniture building, yoga, art therapy, you name it and we could offer it. A place where you could get a massage, have a group meet to discuss environmental issues, enjoy nature, etc. I even came up with a name for it.
Affinity. I believe we are all One. We are all one with each other and we are all one with nature. This is why I stay away from some churches that practice that their particular religion is the only way. This has caused more wars than anything. I found a symbol which could be worked into the building and the stationary.
1. A natural attraction, liking, or feeling of kinship.
2. Relationship by marriage.
3. An inherent similarity between persons or things. See Synonyms at likeness.
4. Biology A relationship or resemblance in structure between species that suggests a common origin.
5. Immunology The attraction between an antigen and an antibody.
6. Chemistry An attraction or force between particles that causes them to combine.
The Voyageur Trail goes right through this property. This is a well marked, well kept trail that goes basically across Ontario. And the property sits between 3 lakes. You can walk up the hill and put your canoe into Rock Lake, and travel across to the Thessalon River and go down it to Gordon Lake, cross it over to the Thessalon River and travel down it to Ottertail Lake which the farm looks over at. It seemed so perfect.
Through all this time, I had gotten to know the Mennonites pretty well. I have become good friends with some of them. I massage the women. The men build things for me like horse shelters, outhouses, fences and my horses get their feet done. This winter, when I knew that things were not going well on the farm with my room mate, I made arrangements to have my horses trained, bred and kept for the winter with the Mennonites.
I joined the Voyageur Trail Association and went on any hike that was in our area. These were always wonderful informative times.
When Kiesha and I were driving around looking for a place to live on the water and keep our horses, we found the dream place. We had been following a "Real Estate For Sale" sign from behind Bruce Mines. But when we got to the property, it was a huge rock cliff which was not at all suitable and it cost $250,000. A little out of my price range. And no pasture land. But I said to Kiesha, it is beautiful out here, let's keep going on this road. I knew when I crossed the little single lane bridge over the Thessalon River that this was it. Unfortunately that property was not for sale. And so, as I explained in a previous post on November 18, 2009, I rented the farm. I do believe that I was guided there. Everything fell into place as it should. Of course, I had the thought in my mind that eventually I could build the retreat center there. It felt so right. But after a few years the owner from Austria told me that I would never be able to build so the dream kind of shattered. I doubted myself. I was sure that my intuition had been right guiding me here but now I was not sure.
I got to meet my neighbours, Deiter and Erika Ropke. We have remained good friends. Their son and daughter have moved to Ecuador and I will go visit them in April when I go there. Deiter and Erika just got back from Ecuador. They are having my brother Vern and I over for dinner next week to tell us all about it. Fun. Anyway while we were hiking on the trail a couple of years ago, Deiter asked me what were my plans in life. Nothing like getting right to the point. I love those straight forward people. I told him that I had planned on building a retreat center there but those plans are done now. He asked, Why don't you buy the property on the corner? I said, "Because they want $250,000 and there is no pastureland for the horses." He replied, "They are Americans and they just dropped the price down to $80,000. And there is 110 acres there with 2 large pastures on the other side of that hill." Wow, I could not believe that. Amazing. We were all invited back for a potluck at their place after the hike. I went home to get my food out of the frig to take to the potluck. I took a moment to sitt down at the computer to see if I could find the propety in the real estate online and sure enough, it was listed now at $80,000. I took this as critical divine intervention. To make a long story a little shorter, I got the property. 3 other offers came in the same day but we were first. I now realize that if I had not been on that farm, I would not have known about the property going for sale, and I would not have bought it. Everything happens for a reason.
So acquiring the property is one thing, now how do I get the money to build the place. I have been talking with Josiah the Menonnite for the past few years about building it for me with post and beam construction. I have met with the building inspector and Josiah together to talk of how my ideas may be worked out. I was told that I could have a duplex which must be joined by a roof. Therefore, if the building was 40 x 100' with a 2 story 20 x 40' on each end, that leaves a 40 x 60' room in the middle for the center. A center in the center. That's cute. That is quite large enough. With lots of windows overlooking the river. We can have a commercial kitchen on one side. And have it off grid. And Green. It is indeed a work in progress in my mind but ......without money, nothing happens. I keep asking God, if Thy will be done, then I will do it. If it is my will, then I will not do it. So I tell him, if you want me to do it, you had better put some money on the table. I sincerely do not want to do it just for me. I don't want this to be an ego thing. It has to be for the good of others. I will be the instrument to put it together.
So I hear the church bells ring at 8:45 this morning. I jump up, wash my face, and head to church. Enjoy the experience. Talk with the priest after who I know as he was taking a pottery class in my old office building. Take some photos inside the church and am totally inspired again.
I get back to the office and start writing this down in my blog and my phone rings. It is an old high school friend. He moved away right after high school and made his money in Europe. He now wants to build a place outside the Soo area so he can come visit his mom and sister once in awhile and would love to have a place out in the country on a lake. He wants to be able to canoe down the river. He has been looking for the past couple of years but found nothing with any kind of privacy. He likes my place and guess what. We are going to talk about him building there. And he likes the idea of the retreat center. And he wants it off grid, and would like to build Green. Oh my goodness. Life is Good, God is Good. Thank you thank you.
6. Chemistry An attraction or force between particles that causes them to combine.
The Voyageur Trail goes right through this property. This is a well marked, well kept trail that goes basically across Ontario. And the property sits between 3 lakes. You can walk up the hill and put your canoe into Rock Lake, and travel across to the Thessalon River and go down it to Gordon Lake, cross it over to the Thessalon River and travel down it to Ottertail Lake which the farm looks over at. It seemed so perfect.
Through all this time, I had gotten to know the Mennonites pretty well. I have become good friends with some of them. I massage the women. The men build things for me like horse shelters, outhouses, fences and my horses get their feet done. This winter, when I knew that things were not going well on the farm with my room mate, I made arrangements to have my horses trained, bred and kept for the winter with the Mennonites.
I joined the Voyageur Trail Association and went on any hike that was in our area. These were always wonderful informative times.When Kiesha and I were driving around looking for a place to live on the water and keep our horses, we found the dream place. We had been following a "Real Estate For Sale" sign from behind Bruce Mines. But when we got to the property, it was a huge rock cliff which was not at all suitable and it cost $250,000. A little out of my price range. And no pasture land. But I said to Kiesha, it is beautiful out here, let's keep going on this road. I knew when I crossed the little single lane bridge over the Thessalon River that this was it. Unfortunately that property was not for sale. And so, as I explained in a previous post on November 18, 2009, I rented the farm. I do believe that I was guided there. Everything fell into place as it should. Of course, I had the thought in my mind that eventually I could build the retreat center there. It felt so right. But after a few years the owner from Austria told me that I would never be able to build so the dream kind of shattered. I doubted myself. I was sure that my intuition had been right guiding me here but now I was not sure.
I got to meet my neighbours, Deiter and Erika Ropke. We have remained good friends. Their son and daughter have moved to Ecuador and I will go visit them in April when I go there. Deiter and Erika just got back from Ecuador. They are having my brother Vern and I over for dinner next week to tell us all about it. Fun. Anyway while we were hiking on the trail a couple of years ago, Deiter asked me what were my plans in life. Nothing like getting right to the point. I love those straight forward people. I told him that I had planned on building a retreat center there but those plans are done now. He asked, Why don't you buy the property on the corner? I said, "Because they want $250,000 and there is no pastureland for the horses." He replied, "They are Americans and they just dropped the price down to $80,000. And there is 110 acres there with 2 large pastures on the other side of that hill." Wow, I could not believe that. Amazing. We were all invited back for a potluck at their place after the hike. I went home to get my food out of the frig to take to the potluck. I took a moment to sitt down at the computer to see if I could find the propety in the real estate online and sure enough, it was listed now at $80,000. I took this as critical divine intervention. To make a long story a little shorter, I got the property. 3 other offers came in the same day but we were first. I now realize that if I had not been on that farm, I would not have known about the property going for sale, and I would not have bought it. Everything happens for a reason.
So acquiring the property is one thing, now how do I get the money to build the place. I have been talking with Josiah the Menonnite for the past few years about building it for me with post and beam construction. I have met with the building inspector and Josiah together to talk of how my ideas may be worked out. I was told that I could have a duplex which must be joined by a roof. Therefore, if the building was 40 x 100' with a 2 story 20 x 40' on each end, that leaves a 40 x 60' room in the middle for the center. A center in the center. That's cute. That is quite large enough. With lots of windows overlooking the river. We can have a commercial kitchen on one side. And have it off grid. And Green. It is indeed a work in progress in my mind but ......without money, nothing happens. I keep asking God, if Thy will be done, then I will do it. If it is my will, then I will not do it. So I tell him, if you want me to do it, you had better put some money on the table. I sincerely do not want to do it just for me. I don't want this to be an ego thing. It has to be for the good of others. I will be the instrument to put it together.
So I hear the church bells ring at 8:45 this morning. I jump up, wash my face, and head to church. Enjoy the experience. Talk with the priest after who I know as he was taking a pottery class in my old office building. Take some photos inside the church and am totally inspired again.
I get back to the office and start writing this down in my blog and my phone rings. It is an old high school friend. He moved away right after high school and made his money in Europe. He now wants to build a place outside the Soo area so he can come visit his mom and sister once in awhile and would love to have a place out in the country on a lake. He wants to be able to canoe down the river. He has been looking for the past couple of years but found nothing with any kind of privacy. He likes my place and guess what. We are going to talk about him building there. And he likes the idea of the retreat center. And he wants it off grid, and would like to build Green. Oh my goodness. Life is Good, God is Good. Thank you thank you.
