Sunday, February 06, 2011
Resurrection Day!
Over three months ago, Thorhild Living Gospel Fellowship, the church I had pastored for nine years, closed its doors. Since then I have made several trips there to help work on reopening the church. We sought the Lord for direction and eventually reestablished a board of elders. Several weeks ago we decided to start with a Sunday morning Bible study twice a month. Today was to be the first one.Last night after work I was about to head for Thorhild, a two hour drive, when my daughter called and advised me to stay off the road. She and her husband were on their way to Edmonton and had encountered several accidents. They took two and a half hours to make a 45 minute trip.
This morning I headed out early on the still somewhat icy roads. For about 20 km I followed a sanding truck. Then the road got better. Several times there were sanding trucks ahead of me and most of the rest of the road was already sanded. At church in Thorhild I publicly thanked the Lord for sanding trucks.
About 14 of us gathered. We sang hymns, peoples favorites. My friend Steve led the singing and his wife Joyce played the Piano. We prayed together. We shared with one another. And I led a Bible study. Afterwords we went downstairs for a light lunch. All 14 of us stayed for it! Every person who make a comment expressed their appreciation for how the meeting went.
The roads were much improved for the drive home. I arrived safely in Camrose, as did Suzanne and Brian from their overnight date! At home I caught the last two thirds of the Superbowl. I thought to myself, if I had to choose between what I did today and being at the Superbowl, I'd choose "resurrection day!"
Please keep us in your prayers; we have only just begun.
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Minor Setback
After a month of waiting I finally got back to the family farm. I spent the past three days out there getting dirty and greasy. I was working on the old tractor I am in the process of restoring.
The first task has been to get the engine running.
On Monday, Bill (my brother) helped me set the repaired cylinder head onto the engine.
Probably the most important task is torquing down the head bolts. This is what 150 foot/pounds looks like! Monday was a successful day. The engine took shape as I continued by reinstalling the push rods and rocker arms.
Everything was progressing well yesterday. Then I decided it was time to add water to the radiator. I put the garden hose into the top of the radiator and Bill turned on the water. Almost immediately, water was running out of the bottom of the rad and onto the floor. No, I had not forgotten to put the plug back into the drain! (If only...) Instead, the water found its way through a crack in the elbow coming off the bottom of the rad. So we spend the rest of the afternoon and this morning taking the radiator off the tractor and taking the broken pats off. You see, as we took at apart we also discovered another crack. As the picture reveals, the tractor is looking less like a tractor again.
The first task has been to get the engine running.
On Monday, Bill (my brother) helped me set the repaired cylinder head onto the engine. Probably the most important task is torquing down the head bolts. This is what 150 foot/pounds looks like! Monday was a successful day. The engine took shape as I continued by reinstalling the push rods and rocker arms.Everything was progressing well yesterday. Then I decided it was time to add water to the radiator. I put the garden hose into the top of the radiator and Bill turned on the water. Almost immediately, water was running out of the bottom of the rad and onto the floor. No, I had not forgotten to put the plug back into the drain! (If only...) Instead, the water found its way through a crack in the elbow coming off the bottom of the rad. So we spend the rest of the afternoon and this morning taking the radiator off the tractor and taking the broken pats off. You see, as we took at apart we also discovered another crack. As the picture reveals, the tractor is looking less like a tractor again.Hopefully I can get the cracked parts welded at a local shop and the restoration process can continue soon.
In the mean time I have another restoration project that I am involved in. I must focus on it for the next several days. I should be able to bring a report on that one next week.
