Mr. Craigett would spend many hours everyday mining for gold on his claim on Rancheria Creek. Gold was only $35 an ounce back then so he had to work quite a lot of hours to make much money. His system of mining wasn’t super fast.

He had built a sluice box out of 1×12 lumber that was about 20 feet long. If you don’t know, a sluice box is a chute, usually about 12 to 18 inches wide and 6 to 8 inches tall and open on the top with riffles in the bottom. Mr. Craigett’s riffles were 1 inch by 1 inch and 18 inches long so they went across the width of the sluice box. He had a riffle about every 2 inches, and they were connected together at the ends so he could take the riffle out and if would look like a little toy ladder.

He would shovel sand and gravel into five-gallon buckets from his “hot spot” carry them about 50 feet and dump them into the top end of his sluice box. He had diverted some of the creek into his sluice box so the water would wash the debris out the end of the sluice. Because gold is heavier than the sand and gravel it would sink down quickly and get lodged behind one of the riffles. One of the variables with sluice boxes is how steep to make it because that determines how fast the water will flow through the chute. If the water goes too slow it won’t wash out the sand, gravel, and dirt, but if it goes too fast it will wash out some of the gold. After he had dumped about 20 buckets into his sluice box he would pull the riffles out and wash what they had caught down and into a bucket. He would then spend hours with a big rusty gold pan, panning the gold out of the stuff that was in the bucket. It was quite an art and skill to sift the contents of the bucket around in a pan separating the gold out from everything else.

One of Mr. Craigett’s little secrets (his words) was when he had panned for a while he would pour a small vile of mercury into the pan and roll it around in the pan. Mercury will attract and hold gold inside the glob of mercury. He would do that until his vile of mercury was saturated with gold dust and wouldn’t pick up anymore. He would then take a potato, cut it in half, scoop a little hole in the center of one side of the potato and then he would pour the vile of gold-saturated mercury into the hole, he would then put the halves back together and wrap it with aluminum foil. He would then put the potato into a little campfire he had built. The mercury would evaporate, the gold would melt and all the little specks of gold would run together into a nugget about the size of the end of your thumb. He had a pint jar that had all the nuggets of gold he had mined.

When Mr. Craigett died my Dad filed on the claim. After I had started Pastoring at Jefferson and he had sold the cows and dairy to my brother he would take a couple of weeks every summer and go down and mine for gold. He would stop and pick me up and we would spend two weeks trying to get rich together. That was a great way for me to spend time with my Dad. I kick myself for not filing on that claim after Dad died, it would be a great summer activity with my grandkids.

Mr. Craigett didn’t have any transportation. Someone would drive to his house about once a month, we assumed it was family or friends bringing him some food and supplies. He had a mailbox on the main road, and he would walk from his house about once a week, climb over the metal gate which was across the BLM Road, get his mail, climb back over the gate, and walk home. We told him on numerous occasions that the gate was not locked, he could just open it and walk through instead of climbing over, but for some reason he just kept climbing over it.

Mr. Craigett didn’t have a shower and he would occasionally take a “spit bath” using water in his pan in the house on his shelf with a wash rag. He would always wear two pairs of long underwear. He would buy a new pair once every six months and he would put that pair on next to his skin. The outer pair he would throw away and the old pair that had been next to his skin became the new outer pair. You could smell Mr. Craigett a long-time before you saw him. I remember thinking that it was kind of a cool smell, a tough man smell.

One time Mr. Craigett came to our house and asked if someone could please drive him to the hospital in town. He always carried an old army surplus 38 caliber pistol in his belt. While climbing over the gate the pistol went off and shot him in the butt. The bullet evidently went all the way through and didn’t hit any bone or anything vital but he was bleeding pretty good, but the two pairs of long underwear seemed to be acting as a good bandage. Mom took him to the hospital and then took him back to his house when they were done with him at the hospital. We all were anxious to hear how he was doing and we were waiting for Mom to give us the full story. She said his wound was going to be fine, but that on the 13-mile drive to the emergency room he kept fussing about his underwear, he was very angry that he had shot a hole through both pairs! Mom said that while she was waiting for him she went to a store and bought him a new pair of long underwear. He was very appreciative.

He did start opening the gate after that instead of climbing over.

The farm that we lived on in Myrtle Creek, Oregon from 1960 to 1965 was bordered on one side by BLM land. There was a road that went through our property into this BLM land and it had a gate across the road to keep our beef cows from getting out. It was the entry into thousands of acres of timberland and great hunting and fishing. Up the road about a mile lived an old man named Mr. Craigett. He had a gold claim on a little creek called Rancheria Creek. His house was a one-room shack about 12 feet square. He had an outhouse for his bathroom, and in the house, he had a shelf with two pans on it, one was for washing his face and the other was for washing his dishes. He hauled the water in five-gallon buckets from the creek and poured the used water out just outside the door of his house. On the same shelf, he had a propane camp stove, and he also had a little pot-bellied wood stove that he could cook on as well. The shack was lit with a propane camping lantern hung from the ceiling. On the opposite wall from his wash bench was his bed and in the middle of the room was a small table and several chairs and he also had a rocking chair. The shack was built with 1×12 boards with no insulation, with no windows, and when you walked up to it at night light showed through the walls around every board.

Us boys would walk up there occasionally to visit him and listen to the cool stories he would tell. One time he invited us to go fishing with him, we loved to fish so we went with him. We walked up the creek a ways where there were some beaver dams that formed some fairly large ponds. In the ponds were swimming a number of salmon that had swum up the creek to spawn. Mr. Craigett had a long willow rod with a large 6/0 hook fastened on the end with some baling wire and tape. He slid the willow rod along the bottom of the pond and when a salmon swam over it he would snag it and drag it out of the water. After he got one he handed off the rod to us boys and we each caught one as well. That was the best salmon fishing trip that I have ever had. Mom and Dad didn’t know what to think when they got home and there were three big salmon in the kitchen sink. We had been corrupted by Mr. Craigett.

We always thought that Mr. Craigett was so lucky to live in such a cool house.

Dad sold the farm in Myrtle Creek in 1965 and we bought a farm in Trout Lake, Washington, and soon turned it into a dairy with 60 cows. Trout Lake was a small community with only two churches and a very small school, there were 7 in my graduating class. We attended Mt Adams Baptist Church which was a great church for our family. As small as the church was we supported a lot of different Missionaries. One of my favorite things was when a missionary was home they would visit all their supporting churches, give a report of their work in whatever country they were in, and usually preach a sermon. I learned a lot about world geography, the cultures of different countries, and the politics of those same countries. Some of the missionaries were great preachers, and one missionary, in particular, had a huge impact on my life. David and Patti Jo Yount were missionaries to the Philippines and started and built a very big and successful church there, successful meaning that they reached many, many people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I lived in Trout Lake from 1965 until 1976 when Patty and I left for me to become the pastor at Jefferson. During that time I heard David Yount preach 3 times and each time I was greatly impacted to the point that I can remember each of his sermons as if I just heard them yesterday. They were home from the Philippines in 1976 and I asked him if we could get together so I could get some counsel from him on my struggle with whether I should farm or go to Jefferson and become a pastor. He is the one who gave me the quote that I use all the time, “ get close to God, and do what you want, because if you get close to God He will put His will in your heart in the form of a strong desire or dream.” He also asked me how much I read my Bible and I answered, “ every day, and I read it through every year. “ He looked at me intently for what seemed several minutes and said, “my counsel to you is that you go and Pastor because God will use you and bless your ministry.”

For some reason I got to thinking of him tonight and googled his name and found several youtube videos that he and Patti Jo made. In one of them was the same message that he gave to me 44 years ago, “ the more you read the Bible, study it, and memorize it, the more He will use you to do His work.” I also saw a video of his funeral service when he died in 2021. “Say hi for me Lord, and tell him thank you.”

Today Patty and I had a fun experience. Some friends who we have known for over 50 years but haven’t seen for a long time, stopped by on their way to Portland to visit with us for a little bit. It turned into a three-hour visit and we were just getting started.

Patty and I both commented on how uplifting that time of conversation was with them. We mostly talked about the good old days, people that we both new, our kids and grandkids, and current events. It was cool how we just started talking and moved from topic to topic with great unity and balance after not having had a conversation together for many years.

There are some people that after five minutes of talking, I am ready to say, “talk to you later.” When I think about conversations with people that I enjoy and I wouldn’t care if it never got over, compared to those that I get fidgety with after a few minutes, there are some clear differences.

A conclusion that we might come to is that the length of our relationship would be a factor, but there are many people that I have know for years that are as boring as dirt to talk to. I think that the biggest thing is that people who truly care about each other have a strong unity and affinity in conversation and that the enjoyment factor in their talking together is high.

They ask questions of the others that clearly indicate their interest in them as friends and their caring for them. I have a huge advantage in conversations with others if Patty is part of it with me because she sincerely and deeply cares for just about everybody, and she is very good at asking questions that encourage others to share about what is going on in their life that is significant and matters. It takes the pressure off of me because I can mostly just listen and enjoy.

Times like today end reluctantly and are followed by thoughts of, “I would like to that again soon.” I often wonder after meaningful times like today about my part in it and if I was being a Philippians 2:3-4 kind of person in our conversation, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” I will keep imitating Patty and maybe I will get there some day.

We moved to our first farm at Myrtle Creek, Oregon in 1960 after Dad had retired from the Navy. Our place was 13 miles from town with the last couple of miles being gravel so we were glad to discover a little Sunday School only six miles from our house, it was a really old schoolhouse and was called Cedar Grove. There was no Pastor and no regular service. Parents and kids would gather together in one big room with rows of old wooden desks with each row of desks getting a little bit bigger than the previous row. We would sing about three hymns together, sing happy birthday to anyone who had a birthday and then break up in graded groups with different parents teaching each group of kids. Then after about 30 minutes of Sunday School, we would gather back together for fellowship, talk for a while as we ate some snacks, and then went home.

It sounds rather bland and not very sensational but in spite of the simple nature of our weekly gathering every significant spiritual commitment that I ever made in my life, I made at Cedar Grove Sunday School with teachers named Mrs Woodruff, Mrs Brown, and Mr Jones. It was there that I trusted Jesus Christ as my personal savior. It was there as a 13-year-old boy that I made a goal to read the Bible through in one year which I did and have done every year since. It was there that I declared Jesus as Lord, master, and King of my life, and that I would do whatever His will was for my life. It was the devotion to Christ of that small handful of parents that had significant influence in the shaping of my character that resulted in me becoming a pastor and teaching many other people the godly principles in the Bible.

I am the product of many different people’s influence in my life, and as I think back on so many events and people it is amazing how orchestrated my life has been, how all the little pieces fit together perfectly, it is as if there was a person planning every detail of my life and pulling the strings, as it were, to cause all the events and circumstances of my life to work together for good. I am very thankful to that good God who loved me, created me, saved me, and molded me like clay into the image of His Son.

Certain events have a much larger than average influence on our lives, and life direction. It is as if we are paddling our canoe straight North as we cross a lake, and we hit a rock hidden under the water and now we are headed East. As we think about the history of our life we are not just recounting general events but ones that caused great change. It is fun to remember and think about defining moments. Nothing makes me more aware of God’s sovereign working in my life than to see the history of events in my life that look from the outside to be purely coincidental but are obviously a well-orchestrated plan by a powerful God who loves me, and has a plan for my life.

The first major defining moment in my life was when I got run over by a D6 Caterpillar when I was six years old. The initial doctor’s opinion when they got me to the hospital was that I was going to die. My Mom when she got to the hospital and heard the verdict went into the little chapel and prayed for me not only to live but to live and be totally healed of any permanent consequences from the accident. In the process of praying for me she made a number of promises to God about me which resulted in me rarely missing a church service, I attended every Vacation Bible School event around us, I never missed summer camp, youth group, Sunday School, and prayer meetings were a permanent fixture in my life. Needless to say I was exposed to the gospel and the content of the Bible often, and it all stuck. Some parents are fairly lenient in making sure their kids are fully immersed in the life of the church, not my Mom, she had made a deal with God, and the fact that I was walking around as a healthy young man was ample proof that He had kept His end of the deal, and my Mom fully intended to keep her end as well.

I decided to write a new daily prayer of commitment. It is much longer than my last one that I had memorized so I will read this one each day. I will print it off, laminate it, and hang it in the bathroom. I will also put it in my phone, and my Ipad.

Today, Jesus, I declare You to be King, master, ruler, and Lord of my life. You purchased me with Your blood, I am not in charge of my life, You are. Today I will obey You, I will seek Your perfect will for my life, and I will do whatever You want me to do, no matter how difficult it is. This is the only reasonable thing I can do, in light of all that You have done for me.

Today, I will read Your Word, I will memorize it and meditate on it, Your Word will not depart from my mind.

Today, I will be devoted to prayer, I will pray in solitude, with Patty, and with my church family, I will pray without ceasing.

Today I will diligently work at growing in my spiritual gift of teaching and will always be looking for opportunities You provide to teach Your Word to others in speech and in writing.

Today I will love Patty as You, Jesus have loved the church. She is the only woman in my life mentally, emotionally, and physically. I will honor her by paying sincere attention to her words as she talks to me. I will not get angry at her, not even a little bit irritated, no matter what she does. I will work hard to understand her as a person and I will meet all of her needs.

Today, I will love any person You sovereignly bring into my life no matter how difficult they might be to love. I will forgive them quickly of any offense against me because You have forgiven me of everything wrong I have done. I will meet the needs in their life sacrificially as I become aware of them. In any conflict I will initiate reconciliation, I will be the peacemaker.

Today, I will do my part to build Your church at JBC and around the world. I will use my gifts, energy, and resources to make Your Bride beautiful, without spot wrinkle or blemish. I will love Your Church, Your eternal Bride as I love You.

Today I will diligently pursue holiness and the character of Christ. I will confess and repent of all known sins, not justifying, excusing, ignoring, or blaming them on others.

Today I will exercise self-control over my thoughts and words, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and only speaking words that edify and give grace to those who hear.

Today I will exercise great self-control over my eating and my exercise recognizing that my physical body is the only means that I have to serve You and do Your work, I am a steward of my body.

Today I will seek wisdom like gold, silver and precious treasure. I will diligently read good books, listen to good teaching, and get good counsel, never being content with where I am, always wanting more.

Today I will lift up my eyes and look at the fields that are white all around me looking for open doors, opportunities, and divine appointments and I will be Your ambassador and witness attempting to influence people closer to faith in Jesus.

Today I will be a leader as God grants opportunity. As I lead I will be gentle, humble, and gracious. I will, not be argumentative, pugnacious, and I will not lord it over people. I will work hard at praising people and honoring them as God’s children.

I can’t keep these commitments in my own strength. Dear Lord, please fill me with Your Holy Spirit today, grant me Your strength. Today I will glorify You with my life, I will praise and worship You, I will not let the foot of pride step on my neck, and I will walk humbly with my God.

Understanding why people do certain things is often a mystery. Everybody does everything they do for a reason, there is always a motive. Proverbs uses the word fool a lot. A fool isn’t primarily a fool because of what they do but because of why they do it. Right, good, and healthy motives will result in good behavior.

Understanding why I do things is also often a mystery. Everything I do has a motive behind it but the fact is I often don’t know what my own motives are. Changing the “why” in my life is the key to changing my life, but so often I don’t even know what the why is, so how can I change it?

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?

A steady diet of the Bible will increase wisdom and understanding significantly. The Bible is the very mind of Christ, His thoughts. The person who faithfully reads the Bible everyday and spends time memorizing and meditating on the words of Christ will have wisdom and understanding, and it will be wisdom and understanding, increasingly for and about others.

Sometimes when I write my blog very late in the evening my brain isn’t working very well and what I write isn’t very clear. Part of the problem isn’t just that I am brain-dead, but my vision is getting blurry late at night and I can’t read the little font on my blog program very well so I miss a lot of the misspelled words and wrong choice of words.

This morning I read the blog I wrote last night and the last sentence that I wrote was, “at least the catching part of the equation is exciting”. I asked myself this morning, “what does that mean?” I have no clue. I am pretty sure I fell asleep right there because there was no period at the end of the sentence, and it looks like the beginning of something profound that I was going to write, maybe, who knows? Some of you might suggest that it was the sardines that affected my thinking! I pray every night that in my writing, teaching, and preaching that God will work in me and help me to communicate clearly so people understand exactly what I am wanting to say.

Colossians 4:3-4
praying at the same time for us as well. . .that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.

Communication is such an important skill in relationships, in leadership, and especially as a teacher of the Bible. I listen to a lot of preachers, speakers, and teachers on YouTube and on Pod Cast. I listen to Pastors who want me to coach them on their preaching, and the level of skill in communicating is all over the board.

Part of the problem is that many people are not very skilled in listening. Two people can listen to the same teacher at the same time, one learns a ton of information and the other person gets nothing. I have found in my marriage counseling over the years that communication is often the major problem and poor listening is as much of the issue as poor speaking.

But, that being said, one of my axioms as a writer, preacher, teacher is that if the people who are reading my blog or listening to me teach don’t get it, I am 100% the problem, I need to study more, read more, work harder, and pray more. It is my responsibility to communicate clearly so I am fully understood.

Some might say, “but that isn’t true, the listener has a responsibility as well.” I agree, but I can’t do anything about their lazy listening so I have to take responsibility to bridge the gap. A major part of the challenge in speaking is trying to discern while I am speaking if what I am saying is getting through. That is why I will fuss about people sitting in the back of our sanctuary when there are lots of empty seats in the front, because if I can’t see their eyes I am flying blind. I do a lot of teaching now via zoom and it is a great way to expand ministry because I don’t have to travel to Ecuador or other places around the U.S, or the world, but I don’t like it because I rarely am speaking to an audience I can see. Oh well, I will keep working and praying and asking God to please use me in my old age.