Living Hazzardously

Little pieces of our journey with Jesus

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Fixing that leaking tire in your life. 

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I was out mowing the other day and I remembered just how therapeutic it can be to mow the trails. I was stressed about not having the time to mow the yard for three or four weeks. But, Today I finally mowed the trails for the first time this year… actually, I never even mowed them last year either. WHY? Well, my mower broke down two years ago and I finally gave in and asked the neighbor to fix it, “I just don’t have the time to fix the mower”.

How ridiculous is that statement? I don’t have time to fix the mower but magically I would have time to mow? If I had just missed one mowing cycle, I could dedicate that time to fixing the mower, but instead I just missed mowing the entire season. 

How often do we do this in life? How often do I put off doing something until everything is right to do that thing? I paid someone to fix my mower because I just don’t have the energy to take on one more “MR. fix it” problem, but mowing takes longer, mowing takes many hours to accomplish, but mowing is therapeutic, and sometimes I just don’t have enough “problem solving” energy to resolve the broken boat motor or the lawn mower. But if they were working, I would easily find time to mow or fish… fishing… that sounds nice. I just need time to fix that boat motor. 

How many times do we say the same thing about our relationships with friends? With our spouse? With our pastor? With our-self? Our lives get so cluttered with daily living that sometimes we just don’t have time to fix the things we tolerate. Like the man that fills the tire of his truck every day, he knows it’s leaking and rather than taking 3 minutes to put a plug into the tire to stop the leak, he takes one minute everyday for months to just fill it with more air until he has time to fix the tire… 

I had a tire in my life that had a leak, it drove me insane, but over the last 450 days (fixing Sam’s Place) I have had to prioritize my time more than any other time in my life, I never missed an opportunity to restructure my time, to prioritize projects and fix leaking tires. Now I am to the point that I can start to breath a bit, but I feel guilty for taking a day off to work at home, or an evening to relax, or a date night with my gal… we have both been burning the candle at both ends… it’s now time to catch up on a bit of maintenance at home. Our relationships need some attention, and we are now able to start inserting that relationship time back into our lives. I thank God for his direction and for sustaining us this past year. 

This summer we are taking a few trips to see our kids and grand babies. It’s hard to allow myself to enjoy some well deserved time off after not even having a free weekend for so long, but I seem to settle in quickly enough to enjoy the few days we are able to squeeze out so far. 

One of our biggest obstacles in Bigfork is lack of transportation, public transportation. Our clients have needs that can only be filled by trips to Grand Rapids, so now we are using our little four seater car to transport folks to rapids and back. It’s a mess when we get back home and some days it’s smelly, but we have no choice! 

We have had multiple meetings, attended forums and made countless phone calls with public transportation operators, private transport options, D.O.T. … NOTHING! We can get some limited Medical rides if we plan it for two weeks… Recently We had one client miss a Dr. appointment in Duluth because our car was already in use that day with another client’s needs. So, we just need to get a van asap, do you have a van you are willing to donate? We have had offers from some folks to buy their van.  The truth is, we can’t afford to buy a van, so we just need to “keep filling the leaking tire” until we can somehow resolve the issue. We honestly loved the offer from one person who offered a van for really cheap…

I just can’t afford to buy a van at a really good price and then spend countless hours fixing the van. We just need that van that works, asap. 

So I appeal to you today. If you are reading this Blog: please go to our website and donate to get a van, or… maybe you have a van you would like to donate? Or maybe you would like to match some of the other matching funds to our grants? There will be more information about this in the future.. We need matching funds to fulfill our grant requirements for the following projects: ADA accessible (ramp, elevator)? Painting, exterior upgrades? Fencing, garden and pavilion? Updating the kitchen? Air Conditioning and ventilation (it’s horrible hot in there after that storm we had and even the day before.)?

Where ever you want to help, we have a need! 

Visit our website or join us on Facebook

https://www.samsplacenorth.com/general-5

https://www.facebook.com/p/Sams-Place-61559249289857

Asalways, God Bless

C.

The authority to destroy a boy

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My entire life has been marked by authority! Do I have authority? Do you have authority? Do they have authority? All great questions, different connotations, but all around authority… but what is authority? How do we get it? Maintain it? Give it? 

The definition of authority is :

The power or right to give orders, make decisions, enforce obedience. A person or organization having power or control in a particular, typically political or administrative, sphere.

The power of yielding to authority or the power of wielding true authority is the only thing that gives authority any value. This is a difficult balance for the person with authority, because with authority comes power, with greater authority comes greater power… power corrupts and greater power corrupts greater… So does authority mean corruption? This is where I want to park today… authority that is used improperly. 

When I was a child in school, I got my grades on a card every semester. I would need to bring that card home, have a parent sign off that they saw it and bring it back. But whose authority was it if I refused? May father? He would have beaten me first and then asked questions… my mother? She was hooked on pain killers this year and she wasn’t really in touch with the world… myself? Yes, there it was, I somehow needed to take charge and figure out a way to get a signature without getting a beating…. I was too young for that authority… so I lost that report card, I made the school redo that report card and things went much better…

You see, the words on that report card from one music teacher would have driven my father into a rage and I would have once again been beaten with a wire coat hanger, I knew if he saw what she wrote about me, my underwear would surely have been stuck to my backside with the bloody stripes of a wire coat hanger, and the next step would be going into the laundry tub to soak the underwear off those bloody stripes in order to use the toilet. So what were those fateful words from a seventh grade music teacher? 

Let’s back up a year, the year was my 6th grade, a summer that changed me forever, my neighbor molested me, my grandfather died, my mother was hooked on pills and I entered JR High. My first 6 grades were in a private school, Immanuel Lutheran Grade School. I was a custodian’s assistant and played basketball. Everything was going fine! I started 7th grade, got picked on, got in typical Jr High fights and was awarded a 2 year all expense paid scholarship at the UofM… tuition, fees, books and housing (I never went to college, that scholarship was wasted) so back to my music teacher. What could be so bad on a report card? Well, I kept that report card, I never actually lost it and I still have it today as a reminder that words can cause more damage than a knife.

 “Charlie is not much use to us!”… 

Those words set me on a path of self destruction and eventually led me to be the man I am today, no regerts! (intentionally misspelled). I remember those words almost as clearly as the words my father spoke with colorful expletives… He exclaimed “you (meaning me) are the worst thing that ever happened to me (meaning me)” of course that’s not the actual quote, it contained many words that should never see the light of day in my blog, but the intent is fully understood when I clasp that phrase in quotes for you.

Back to authority, today God has given me authority in many areas of life: My family. My business. Sam’s Place. Operating our farm… and so much more. But with authority comes responsibility, and with great authority comes great responsibility… that responsibility should never be taken lightly, for we will all be judged by God on what we have done with what has been given to us, as stewards, because in reality, it’s not our authority, it’s Gods!

So this day, remember this, if you are given authority over twenty dollars, and you use it to cause harm to yourself or others… you will not escape the responsibility of that authority. One day I will answer for my actions and I have a shield to protect me from what I have done and what I deserve… That comes with the responsibility of surrendering not just my failures, but also my success… because I can do nothing good apart from HIM who saved me! So give praise where it is due, and not to men, for nothing good has ever been done aside from the father ordaining that good to happen. Nothing good has ever been done in Charlie’s name, except that God has done it though me.

What are you going to do today that is honorable, good and delightful in Gods eyes?

C.

The despair that comes from strength.

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When I am strong, I fail, when I am weak, I am strong!

God gave me a strong body, that body is definitely breaking down and starting to fail… The morning pains associated with waking up. The knee that needs injections. The hands that once turned oil filters. The shoulders that pop and crackle. The eyes that once saw clearly. It’s no lie that youth is wasted on the young.

 If I knew then, what I know now, I would not be the man I am. Instead, I would be a different man that does not know what I know now.

One life lesson I am still learning is trusting God to always do what is good and right! 

About two weeks ago Jess and I hit a bump in the road with a situation at Sam’s Place. I wont get into the details, but it discouraged us greatly… We started to question the WHAT, WHY, WHEN, and HOW… Looking into all our alternatives, questioning God himself, asking God… are we hearing your voice? Is this still what you are asking of us? And then, three days ago… I sent Jess this text:

 “Do you think our discouragement about Sam’s Place is because it’s a satanic attack?”

Low and behold, My asking that question has changed our hearts almost overnight. The situation changed dramatically, we got some news that helped us to realize God is still bigger than our issues… God let us know we had been operating in our own strength and we needed to pray more and lean on him more, and so… reclining back, into his arms, we now step forward with his strength.

I am indestructible, unstoppable and in control! Until God destroys my plans, stops me in my tracks and removes me from the operators panel of my life… Jesus regains the lead and I once again, I get out of the driver’s seat, taking my proper place as the tour guide, on the bus that Jesus is driving.  Jesus determines why, where, when and how that bus is operated and I simply tell others about what is outside the  windows of that wonderful tour bus. 

Its difficult to be given the role of “leader” in the Hazzard family tree… Hazzard men are strong, fearless, determined and focused, that leads to being the most important person on the planet! Imagine being so strong that you become blind to restraint! I was once told… “Manly strength is the power to do so much, yet restraining that power for the good of everyone but yourself”… self sacrifice for the good of others? BUT I LIKE TO TAKE CARE OF ME! Like the great words of agent Smith…

ME, ME, and also ME!

How easily I can turn from God and lean on my own understanding, forsaking the words of Jesus “I will never leave you or forsake you” 

How quickly I forget that Jesus has mended my broken heart, held tight the ropes of unbelief, lifted me out of the sewage in my very own Kidron Valley. 

Jess and I are on track again, the unstoppable team with the unstoppable dream. Now, I start playing in a new arena… FUNDRAISING. I know, this is the part that makes you want to avoid me. Do you remember playing “hide and seek”? I was excellent at finding others, not so good at hiding, so, with no further ado… “ready or not, here I come” I am coming in strong. Like it or not, I’m comin in hot. I am asking for donations, and I have God on my side! Or should I say, I am on GOD’S side? 

Today I officially started the unofficial fundraising at Sam’s Place! What are the goals we have to achieve:

Adding Air conditioning for our residents’ comfort during the hot times of the year.

Adding an elevator

Replacing the ramp that meets ADA for our residents safety. 

Updating the kitchen.

Exterior upgrades like paint & awnings.

A van to help residents get to appointments. 

Pavilion for smoking. Away from the building. 

Operational costs of programs that integrate community involvement.

Upgrade our security system.

AND SO MUCH MORE!

Visit us today on the web and contact us. Help us make a home for someone in need.

Welcome to the Sam’s Place family located in the great north woods of Minnesota:

Sam’s Place

200 Huskie Blvd

c/o PO Box 313

Bigfork, MN 56628

218-256-9154

samsplacebf@gmail.com

https://www.samsplacenorth.com

https://www.facebook.com/p/Sams-Place-61559249289857

Thank you, Charlie.