JANUARY 7, 2014

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace." The Christmas decorations are put away and nearly all the calendars have been changed. It would seem that 2013 should be a willing distant memory ... but the situation finds us rather in somewhat of a hole. We descended by means of a ladder, and that will be the means to the way out of the hole as well. Each rung of the ladder proved to be a step to our destination, and now each rung will prove to be a step up to a brand new day. We will say ... "It seems as if we have been here" and truth is, yes we have. We do have choices. The hole that we have found ourselves in may seem as a grave. We can accept the depression of the grave, and with each scoop of dirt pitched in to fill the grave, we will be constrained even more. But it is only when we realize that the grave is for the dead and we cry out in life, that help will be extended and the ladder will prove to be deliverance rather than the instrument of defeat. Or another viewpoint is this hole that we have made residence in is no more than a rut. We may be content with the direction that it leads, but really a rut is not much more than a grave with the ends knocked out. Again, we have the choice of climbing out and realizing that the path may not be leading even close to where we should be, and now we are free from the confines of that rut to seek the proper path. However, we may also realize that we have been asked to abide into that void to make something better. Holes in the ground have proven to be great places for pipelines that in turn bring us the convenience of pure water or energy. Consider that the greatest buildings that reach into the sky started as holes in the ground to which foundations were established for something great. Consider that holes in the ground have become tunnels for roads, for railways, for subways and have proven to be great opportunities to "obstructions." We can allow for this void to become an abyss of residence or we can receive it as a valley where the channels of blessings flow. That is what we have chosen to do as the Reinhold family of Rainbow Bible Ranch on the Lonetree. And God is faithful. To be quite frank, we have been overwhelmed by His faithfulness. Are we on the edge of something great that is about to happen? The answer is a resounding "no!" We find ourselves in the middle of it--a drama that we could not and probably would not have fathomed. The Cattleman’s Blizzard of October 2013 known as Atlas has not only been etched into our memory, it has challenged and changed our very being. We will never be the same again. And we see the events of the past three to four months as described above as the means to be a pipeline of God’s blessings. Obstructions have been penetrated. Foundations have been laid for the unfathomable. I love the old song that is printed above ... Let us sing that together daily no matter how far apart we may be. God is doing amazing things.

In Christ,

Larry B. Reinhold

Executive Director