2007 Make The Most Of It

In this photo I am standing in the great room of our Red River Ranch Lodge. Today, I can hear the fire crackling in this room as my precious wife Elizabeth, and I are as snug as a bug in a rug. The temperature outside is in the low twenties and expected in the single digits tonight. The river is still flowing, but filled with chunks of ice. The river is quite beautiful.

If all the players (Jerry, LaMar, Joel, Kevin, Rikk, Paul Michael, John Mark, Sarah, Jenna, Darla, Lin, Keat, Jason, JD, Leroy, Cade, Casey, Corey, etc...) didn't do their part we wouldn't be enjoying the blessings of our new home. What once was only a vision, is today a reality.

Eccl 9:10
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. NKJV

What are your dreams for 2007. Without the Lord, we can do nothing, but with Him nothing is impossible!!! Make sure your dreams are His dreams, and then go for it with all your might. The Apostle Paul assumed he had a green light until the Lord gave him a red one. Attack 2007 as if it were the last year of your life, and enjoy the fulfillment that comes from giving it your all. Have you ever enjoyed anything that you went at half-way?? If we had not started on our lodge, we would never have finished it. As someone once said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." It is becoming increasingly rare to find someone that actually pursues their (God given) dreams with vigor and tenacity.

I am so proud of my daughter Rachel who, last year, accomplished her dream of becoming a vet tech. She spent two years going to school and working nights at a 24 hour emergency pet clinic to accomplish her dream. It wasn't easy, but she did it and for the rest of her life can enjoy the fruit of that accomplishment. She had to move somewhere that she could go to school, so she and her husband moved to Nashville, Tennessee. It was a bold move from little Haviland, Kansas to big Nashville, but as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Last night there was an accident a few miles from here on I-40. The roads were icy and a van carrying twelve people, lost control and crossed the median running head on into a semi. Seven people lost their lives. I am sure they never dreamed that their time would be up so soon. It is appointed for each one of us to die. We don't know the day nor the hour, but we can be sure the day is coming. We don't have to fear death if we have committed our lives to the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, but should use that knowledge to inspire us to live every year, better yet, every minute, to the hilt.

1 Tim 6:17-19
17 Instructions to the Rich
Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. NKJV

God isn't trying to limit our enjoyment -- He wants us to enjoy life. It is just that He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows that we get more enjoyment from a life lived to the full (Ecc 9:10). And, He knows we experience more enjoyment from doing good, giving, and sharing, than we do from doing bad, taking and keeping for ourselves.

This year -- 2007 -- live life to the hilt. Experience the enjoyment God means for you -- maybe by taking a couple of days to come and get closer to The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit at the Red River Ranch Retreat. We are building it for you and that purpose.

God Bless You All

Ridge & Elizabeth