A Goat Visits Pure Water Hollow: A Shadow of Things to Come?

Erica, Matthew, Christina, and I were working on the barn this afternoon when we heard the call to come back home. It was a beautiful, if cold, day and we were hoping to get much done at the barn in order to let Nellie and Sally have a nice lot to get out in. We were not really ready to go back to the house, but we decided we'd better go and see what was going on.

We returned to the house to find Lisa and Simon holding on to a brown and white nanny goat while it ate Chief's dog food! It was a very friendly goat but at first they said it seemed that she was going to fight Chief over the dog food. She was rather thin and had some scratches on her, and she looked like she had been on her own for a while.



We decided to tie her up and try to find the owners. I went up the road a few miles to a place where we had seen goats before. They were not home, so I left a note with my name and number. I then went to town to buy some horse chow for her. Actually I was going to buy goat chow, but the feed store lady said most people buy this horse chow for goats since it is less expensive and goats do very well with it. I paid her the $6.25 for a fifty-pound bag after I first made sure that it was ok for pigs to eat, too. (I also got a few more bales of straw while I was there so we would have them when needed.)

The goat really liked the horse chow and she ate right out of the children's hands! Her coat was soft and she enjoyed the attention and petting she got and we enjoyed spoiling her. We started envisioning keeping her and hoping that her owners would not come to get her!

The lady who had the herd of goats down the road did call. We still had hope, however, that we might be able to keep her. She told us that the goat was probably one of the three she sold last week to a guy down the road from us, and that apparently he did not keep the goats confined very well, since they all ran away. She made it sound like the guy did not really want to take care of the goats, so I started thinking that there might be a chance he would let us keep her, or at least let us buy her at a low price.

The lady came over and identified the goat as one that she had sold. The goat was named Fawn and was about 3 years old. She then told us a sad tale. She used to have 22 head of goats, but a pack of wild dogs had recently killed almost her entire herd. She had sold three of the survivors and still had three left. Some of Fawn's cuts were actually from when the dogs had gotten hold of her, but somehow she had managed to get away from them. The dogs did kill her kid, which looked just like her. (We had heard stories of wild dogs running around. It is scary thinking that her place is less than 3 miles from here across the mountains. Hopefully Chief will keep those wild dogs away from Pure Water Hollow! Great Pyrenees dogs are bred to be guard dogs and protectors of herds. They are supposed to keep predatory animals at bay.)

The lady contacted the new owner, and to our dismay, he came and picked up Fawn. I offered to buy her, but he did not want to sell. It may have been our imagination, but it seemed to us that Fawn did not want to go with this man. We sadly watched the guy drag her away from the straw lined doghouse she was staying in, and then finally had to pick her up because she was resisting so hard. Fawn wanted to stay with us and be a Pure Water Hollow goat! At least he did say that if he decides to sell her, he will check with us first.

We have been planning to get some goats, but I've been waiting until we get the pond fixed or at least some fence put up the mountain for a pasture. We have a giant patch of kudzu that continues to grow and will take over Pure Water Hollow in the near future if we don't do something about it. One of the goat's jobs will be to take care of the kudzu. Fawn would have been perfect for this because she was just a scrub goat. We think that we would also like to have some milk goats someday, after the future pasture gets cleaned up a bit.

We had to come to the conclusion that it is not God's timing for us to start a goat herd right now. We really do need to get a place fixed up for them to pasture before we get goats. I fixed up a barn stall for Fawn today just in case she was going to get to stay with us, but the fencing job still has me a bit intimidated. It will cost more money than we are willing to spend right now and I think it will be very difficult to run the fence down and up the ravine and up the mountainside and back down the mountainside and through all the brush and briers. It probably would not get done until spring even if we had Fawn in the barn waiting patiently for a pasture. I must be satisfied that God has not allowed Fawn to be a Pure Water Hollow goat right now, even though I would like to have given it a try! (By the way, if anyone has any fencing tips for goats, I would love to hear them. I'd rather not use electric unless it is absolutely necessary.)

It was nice having a goat around for a day. I believe it was a shadow of things to come in Pure Water Hollow!






2 comments

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Jessica on October 29, 2006 at 3:40 pm
Hello Uncle Eric! That is an exciting story! I hope you will get goats someday! I am sure that Fawn was really cute! Well, have a great Sunday!

Love,

Jessica
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Lynn on November 8, 2006 at 8:27 pm
Hello and thanks for visiting my blog today!

About goats and fencing, I have yet to see a fence keep a goat in. We tried electric several years ago and they crawled under the fence and we had it about 6 inches off the ground and 4 strands. My brother tried dog fence and wooden fence and neither kept his goats in, they would climb it. The best thing I have found to keep a goat in is to chain them up in a spot where you want them to clean at. I know that is alot of trouble, but it works for us. And they don't like to get to far away from home. Goats are very socialable and love people! I use dog collars and dog tie out chains and it seems to work except on a billy and they will usually stay wherever the females are.

Just my 2 cents worth!

Lynn in Eastern Kentucky

Big Family Blessings Bigger for Four Days

So do the words "big" and "bigger" here modify "family" or "blessings"? Actually, both.

We've been busy this week and I've not written much. For one reason, our family size had been temporarily increased from 4 children to 7 children! A good friend and neighbor of ours became very ill Tuesday afternoon, and had to go to the hospital via an ambulance. She was in such bad condition that they had to fly her out to a bigger hospital and she spent some time in ICU! We were in a position to be able to take care of her 3 youngest children while she was in the hospital: a 9-year-old boy, 7-year-old girl, and a 2-year-old girl.

Thankfully, their mom is much better now and was able to come home this afternoon, but from Tuesday afternoon until Friday afternoon, our family size was altered, and we got a peak at what our family would look like with 7 children: a 14 year old, 13 year old, 9 year old, 8 year old, 7 year old, 6 year old, and 2 year old! We were a sight entering the church house Wednesday night, where we were already the largest family before our additions!

At our house, our two boys share one bedroom and our two girls share another bedroom. Now there were 3 in the boy's room and 3 in the girl's room. They used the camping cot or made up beds on the floor and I think they took turns sleeping in different places. Our children enjoyed having company and I think everyone had as good of a time as possible! They played games with each other and read books to one another, and we tried to reassure the children that God had everything in control.

Lisa slept with the two-year old in the living room and let me have our bedroom to myself. She is an amazing woman and handled the situation marvelously! She felt the most stress and responsibility, of course, (I went to work each day) but she rose to the occasion.

During meals, we all squeezed around the table, and were able to function pretty much like normal. Last night we even had an incredible meal of steak, potatoes, green beans, corn, and breadsticks! If God allows us to have more children of our own someday, we will count it as a great blessing!

It has been a tiring week, but I am glad we were able to help out a friend in need. We are also very thankful that our prayers were answered and that she is OK now. Please pray for her and her family as she recuperates.

By the way, our pigs Nellie and Sally have done well during their first week with us and the children have been feeding them and making sure they have water. Matthew and I did get a little done on the barn and pig lot. We repaired some of the inner walls that were leaning and the door that leads to the steps to the loft. We also got the posts in the ground for the pig lot, attached a top rail to the posts, and got up most of the fence around the lot. I chose to use a cheaper fence of galvanized metal only 3 ft high for about $19 but we are also going to use wooden rails across it and bury some old roofing tin around the bottom. When I get my new computer on-line, I'll see if I can post some pictures of our progress.

It has been raining here for 24 hours and Pure Water Hollow is filled up with water right now! Hopefully, we will have some dry moments this weekend so I can finish the pig lot. I want Sally and Nellie to be able to go outside and get into the dirt and roots and things. They will not get to be free-range pigs, but at least they will have a good-sized lot!

Until next time,

Counting our blessings!

Eggs, Chestnuts, Pigs, Snowflakes

(Prepare for a Ramble)

Some firsts today at Pure Water Hollow: a pullet laid her first egg, our pigs ate out of the children's hands for the first time, and the first snowflakes of the year floated leisurely to the ground!

I had written about my concern when our chickens stopped laying eggs all of a sudden in September. In August, our 9 layers had given us 100 eggs, but then there were 21 consecutive days with no eggs in September! Finally, during the last week of September, one hen decided to lay an egg every other day into the first week of October. We got 7 eggs during the 12-day period and I was feeling like eggs were going to start coming around again. But then we had another 15 days in a row with no eggs again, until today.

We got an unusually small egg today, which means one of the pullets have started laying! In addition to our 9 mature layers we also have 11 pullets that were hatched March/April, which makes them 6 to 7 months old now. They have grown to be as big as the hens and it is exciting to think that they will all begin laying soon! I don't think they will start peak production until the days start to get longer again, in January. Every egg we get now is a blessing, especially after being with no eggs for so long! We've been thinking about getting some store bought eggs, but haven't caved in yet.

We also have 3 other pullets that hatched in July and are only 3 months old. I wouldn't expect them to start laying for quite some time still. So the 9 hens plus 14 pullets, plus Dommer makes 24 chickens in the main flock, which get closed up in the coop every night. I am still keeping 2 Dominique looking cockerels that are 6 or 7 months old because they are looking like such fine roosters. They are just about as big as Dommer now. We've read that if you have more than 15 hens you should keep more than one rooster with them, so we are waiting to see which one will work best with Dommer in the main flock. Maybe all three of them will get along together?

On the pig front, the children are continuing their goal to tame them and to help them feel comfortable with us. Sally ate some corn out of Matthew's hands this morning. When I brought the pig chow home after work today, they really went for it. Both Nellie and Sally ate out of Erica's and Christina's hands for about a half hour! Simon was climbing around the barn and Matthew was digging postholes with me for the coming pig lot we want to give them. On Mondays and Wednesdays I can't get home until 5:00, which is almost dark these days, so there is not much time to do anything out side. (It will really be bad next week when the clocks are moved back an hour. I won't have any daylight at all when I get home! On the good side, I will have some daylight to feed the chickens by before I leave for work.)

While I'm doing some updates let me tell about our disappointment with our chestnuts. We found some websites selling fresh chestnuts for $20-$25 per 5 pounds. I figure that we have about 5 pounds in each gallon size bag and we filled 11 bags full! That would be over 50 pounds, which means around $200 in chestnuts!!!! That cannot be right, can it? It doesn't really matter, though, because we still do not know the best way to use them, and no one is offering to buy them from us. We wanted to make chestnut flour but we read that they needed to be dried first. We have tried drying about 15 pounds worth by spreading them out flat on some old screens rigged in the rafters of our small metal out building. This is a warm area, and dry, so we thought that maybe they would be safe. We let them dry there for two weeks and checked on them this weekend. They seem to be ruined with those little white grub worm type things that we would run into other years, when we did not refrigerate them! So how in the world can we get them dried for flour making without the worms getting them? Does anyone know where these worms come from and how they can be prevented? We still have the equivalent of 7 bags in the refrigerator that I suppose are ok? (How can you really know for sure?) I guess if we can't figure out any thing else to do with them, perhaps the pigs would like $200 worth of chestnuts?

One final note: This is the earliest we have had snow flurries here, on October 23rd, since 1995. (There was some snow on October 21st that year. We remember because my brother-in-law, Gary, got married that day in WV.  It snowed there and we heard that it was the same here.) We have had mild, almost non-winters for so many years now that I wonder if folks will know what to do if we get hit with a bad one? We had some huge snowfalls in the mid 90s here, but the children were too young to enjoy them.

Erica was the only child we had when we saw 24 inches of snow dumped on us on March 13th, 1993. She was just one year and four months old! Matthew had also been born when we had the 15-inch snowstorm on January 17th, 1994, but he wasn't even walking yet. That January our water pipes were frozen for 3 weeks straight and the river nearly froze over when we saw our thermometer reading at 26 degrees below zero! It was our first winter in this old house here at Pure Water Hollow. The house had no heat because the fireplace was not safe and we had put in some very inadequate baseboard heaters that kept the house at around 50 degrees while costing hundreds of dollars in electricity! The windows were hand blown glass and let air in when the wind blew.  All this with a 4 month old baby boy and a 2-year-old little girl! They were too young to enjoy the 15 inches of snow but at least they survived!

Personally, I enjoy winter more than most people do, so I wouldn't mind having a bit more winter than we have had. On the other hand, I am not set up well enough yet to keep chickens and pigs alive for long, if we have many 26 below zero days!

I thought this was going to be a very brief, update of some things I hadn't written about lately, but as I look back at it, it has turned into another lengthy post! This one does not have much literary merit and reads more like a ramble, I am afraid. I suppose that's what a blog is for, sometimes.


1 comment
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Renee on October 24, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Hello! I can't wait for the snow too! We got flurry's on Sunday. I found a web-site I thought you might like to look at they have chickens too. homesteadblogger.com/surplusfamily/ It looked like you all had a little incommon.

Blessings to all of you,

The Pigs of Pure Water Hollow

Winston Churchill is credited with saying,

"I like pigs.  Dogs look up to us.  Cats look down on us.  Pigs treat us as equals."

I'm not sure if he was trying to insult pigs or man with that remark, but it is something to think about. I'm also not sure what point I want to make here, except that I think it is an interesting quote and I tend to agree with him! We have a dog and we have many cats, and now we have two pigs as well!



We had all loaded into the van yesterday evening to check out the pigs that Jimmy Music was selling down the road. He is one of the many "neighbors" around here whom we have never met, although I have heard some stories about him.  I had planned on getting pigs from a fellow who had been selling them to the FFA at school but that deal fell through last month when the guy got out of the pig business. I had agreed to pay $40 a piece for those pigs, which I thought that was a fair price. I was afraid Mr. Music would want more than that, so we were just going to go over to meet him and ask about the pigs. He had some for sale that was ready to butcher but he also had two adorable little Hampshire gilts that were just 6½ weeks old. They looked perfect, and I was glad to hear that he was asking $40 a piece for them as well. We brought them home, much to the delight of the children, and put them in our most secure stall in the old barn.

Sally is mostly white with a black head and a white back with black spots. Nellie is black all over. They were born on September 5th and are now around 20 to 30 pounds, and are both cute little pigs.






If the Lord blesses and all goes according to our plans, they will grow quickly and become mama sows sometime next July. In order for them to become sows, though, we will need to buy a daddy pig! Our neighbor down the road, Mr. Music, has 19 more piglets, not related to Sally or Nellie, that are around 2 1/2 weeks old now (born October 5th). He has promised to sell us two of the males. We are going to raise one for breeding and one for butchering, and we should be able to have them sometime between November 15th and 20th.

So, we have now embarked on the beginning of a hog raising adventure in Pure Water Hollow! We have no experience doing this so we will be learning very much as we go along. If anyone would like to share any advice, it would be appreciated! Our first project is to construct a good, secure lot for them to grow up in. We are planning on building it on the side of our barn and let them have a stall in the barn for sleeping and warmth. (We have much to do on the barn before winter weather really grabs hold here!)

Tomorrow I will stop and get some more straw and some pig starter chow. Today they have only had cracked corn bought for the chickens to eat, which they seemed to like very much. (They ate like little pigs!)

So far, I must agree with Churchill. I like pigs!


1 comment
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Jessica on October 23, 2006 at 3:01 pm
Hello Uncle Eric! I had a wonderful time at your house two weeks ago! I can't wait to see your pigs the next time we come over! I am sure they are so cute! It was nice talking to you, Bye!!!

~Jessica~

An October Dawn At Pure Water Hollow

It was a marvelous dawn this morning, in the woods of Pure Water Hollow. As the darkness of night began to give way to a dim, fog shrouded forest, I began to notice several small woodland creatures arising to greet the new day. It was a chilly 42 degrees according to the thermometer at the house at 5:40 when I began the trek that ended under this protective ledge that we call the West Cave.

I had at first gone past my destination because it was so difficult to see, even with a good flashlight. The heavy fog acted as a wall to my flashlight beam and I had never tried to hike up there in the dark before! I was finally in position around 6:00a.m., which would be a full hour and twenty minutes before I could recognize the dawn. I was armed with my muzzleloader with which I hoped I would get a good shot at my first deer when it walked by on the trail below. Yes, this was my very first adventure as a deer hunter! Months earlier I came to the conclusion that if I could provide meat for our table from wild game on my own land it would be a very good thing.  It would save us money and help us move closer to being self-sufficient.  Today was the day to begin!

This rock-house seemed to be a good spot because I would be well hidden, there would be no breeze from behind me that could carry my scent to an alert deer, and my black powder gun would be able to stay dry since there was a threat of rain. The mighty buck that would provide meat for our table did not appear on the trail where I envisioned him, but I was blessed by my time spent watching, nonetheless. I stayed there for the next 5½ hours, and just took in the whole marvelous scene that God rolled out before my eyes and ears.

A gray squirrel high up in the tops of the trees was the first animal to seem to say, "Good morning", when he caused several leaves to flutter to the ground.  He shook the limbs, jumping from one to another with ease. The dew was dripping so furiously from the trees that it sounded like a steady drizzle of rain, making pitter-patter sounds on the blanket of fallen leaves laying all around; the squirrel didn't seem to mind at all. I suppose he was used to it. This was his world; I was the foreign guest here, recognizing God's grandeur in ways I seldom have the chance to in the world of civilization.

Gradually, little by little, the night continued to retreat against the mounting army of dawn's light. At first I could only make out the silhouettes of the nearby trees and branches above me, and they were not even definite forms because of the heavy fog. It was a wondrous experience to observe the fog slowly disappear as more and more trees and rocks were revealed! It was as if I was looking through a camera lens that was out of focus at first, but then gradually adjusted until the foreground came into perfect clarity, with the background farther away still a blur. It wasn't long before a chipmunk could be spied running back and forth across a long, half rotted, log.

This old log itself seemed to tell a story. It had many years ago given up the fight to remain a towering tree, and was now content to be a home for small, furry, grounded creatures instead of highflying birds or acrobatic squirrels. The sights it had seen during it's existence!

As the forest floor came more and more into focus, I began to notice not just one, but three chipmunks, all of them scurrying around amongst the logs, rocks and leaves. I could see a greater abundance of the tree limbs of the forest tops and they began bouncing and swaying and showering leaves from several squirrels now. I got a very good look at one squirrel in particular when he stopped in a tree in front of me, not much higher than my eye level, and looked at me. I sensed that his eyes met mine, but he did not seem to be alarmed. After a few seconds he jumped to another limb.

The continual dripping of the dew became less and less pronounced as the light continued to gain command of the situation. Not only was light obliterating the darkness, but it was also driving the fog away; the noise-making dew seemed to be running away with the fog. The sound of birds singing in the new day soon began to replace the dawning dripping pitter-patter of the dew.

The most pronounced cry of the morning was that of a Pileated Woodpecker from the other side of the hollow. Another Pileated Woodpecker, which was above and behind me somewhere, answered his call. As the morning progressed, more and more of my view from this ledge came into crystal clarity with the foggy background moving farther and farther away.

I heard some definite leaf rustling noise across the trail and on the other side of the hill, below the point that was in my direct line of vision. I could tell it was getting closer and closer, coming up the hill. Soon it would emerge on the trail right below me! I cocked the hammer back on my gun and was ready to take down the deer that I knew would appear. Then I saw a strange oblong shape on a stick moving back and forth. As it came a bit higher and closer to the trail I realized it was the head of a wild turkey, which was scratching in the dirt and leaves! Soon there were two magnificent birds on the trail below me. I thought about touching one off, but at that point I still had hopes of getting a deer. I thought that the deer might hear the turkeys and not notice that I was up there, too. Maybe the turkey noises would make the deer feel as though everything was normal, I thought. The turkey must have noticed me when I slowly lowered my gun because they went back over the hill and disappeared silently and quickly.

As the day became brighter and the sun began to push it's golden rays through the canopy of leaves above, I couldn't help but notice the variety of different shades and colors of the leaves all around me. I thought that last weekend the woods were pretty, but this spot, at this time, was far more dazzling than anything we saw last weekend! The variety of golds and oranges and light greens of the poplar, beech, hickory and oak were complimented wonderfully by a couple of deep red maple trees. I thought to myself that I would be happy to stay here forever.

I may have been able to stay much longer, had it not been for my being so cold and hungry and stiff. I finally decided that it was not meant for me to get a deer at this time and place, so I got up and stretched my aching legs and back. I soon began the hike down the hill and to the clearing. I still had my gun ready, and decided to go along the Split-Rock Trail to see if I might scare up a deer or two there. It is a wide bench with many deer trails through the beech and birch trees. This would be my next pick for a perfect place to get a deer and some day I will try to hide out at Split-Rock much like I did this morning at West Cave.

I found no deer along this trail and decided to set the hammer back to the lock position as I came through the pine tree covered decent to the barn, because of the possibility of slipping. By this time, I had given up on the idea of getting a deer. It was about noon now. I was ready to get to the house so I was no longer walking stealthily. As soon as I crashed carelessly through the woods onto the dirt road in front of the barn I saw something across the ravine! It was two white tails bounding along the Pear Tree trail directly across from me on the other side of the ravine!

I didn't have much time to think, and had I been able to get the hammer up in the firing position quicker, I may have had a chance. There were many small trees and brush in my line of fire, and the deer were on the run, but I got off a shot in their direction anyway. Both deer dashed away, unharmed.

My muzzleloader, on the other hand, was not so fortunate. I'm not sure why it happened, but the nipple that the hammer strikes to send fire to the powder to shoot the ball was somehow blown away! I had been target practicing with the muzzleloader several times this week and did not have any trouble with it but this was the first time I tried it out in the field. The nipple was gone, and without that nipple, the gun is dead. So instead of killing a deer I somehow killed my gun! That meant I could not go back out tonight deer hunting like I had planned.

(Instead of hunting this evening, I went out and bought our first two pigs! I will write about that in my next post, maybe tomorrow.)

In conclusion, my first attempt at deer hunting was not a success. Or was it? After being out in God's nature all morning, I have come to a conclusion about the hobby of hunting. (My brother philosophized to me in a similar manner about golf last weekend. I don't play golf, but do people really just like to chase a little white ball around, or is there something deeper?) Hunting is such a popular hobby for many people not because they like killing animals, but because it gives them an excuse to experience the world outside an office the way God intended. A world without the phone ringing or the TV blaring or all the stress that goes with living in the modern rat race, when you don't even know the difference between night and day because of all the artificial man-made lights and stores that are open 24 hours a day. Hunting gives people a chance to get closer to the God that created them, and to see Him at work in ways that we usually do not even recognize. If I shed that light on this morning, then my first try at deer hunting was a great success indeed!


1 comment
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Renee on October 23, 2006 at 6:55 am
Congratulations on your new addition! My mom and dad had pigs for a while. They are so cute when they are little pigglets.

You are well on your way to being really good homesteader's:)

Love and Blessings,

Renee

A Visit to Pure Water Hollow (with pictures!)

Last weekend, October 13th and 14th, our Pure Water Hollow Homestead was blessed with family visiting from out of town. From northern Kentucky came my brother, his wife and their two daughters. It is due to my brother being a computer genius that I am able to finally have some pictures of areas around the homestead. As a matter of fact, most of the pictures that follow were taken with his camera. (Thanks for everything, bro!) My mother and step-dad from Cincinnati, Ohio was also here along with my uncle and his wife from Sidney, Ohio. Including the six in my family we all together made up an expedition of fourteen explorers of Pure Water Hollow!

It was a beautiful fall weekend. Here are some pretty pictures of the Pure Water Hollow woods:






On Friday we walked up the above grass/dirt road past the old barn and on to “the clearing”.

Here we are at the clearing.

We went up the "Paw-paw Trail" a bit and then backtracked to the clearing. From the clearing we took what we are now calling the “Split-rock Trail” back down to the barn.

Here are some pictures of Split Rock. Most of the group climbed up to it and enjoyed the unique rock.


You can go all around it, on top of it, and also inside some of the crevices.

Climbing up the hill-side.

Look in the middle and on top.  Peek-a-boo!

I can hear Bill saying, "That sure is some rock!"

Marie and Erica on top of Split-rock.

It was down along the Split-rock trail that we had our only casualty of the weekend when my sister-in-law twisted her knee pretty badly. We didn’t realize how terribly painful it was for her at first because she handled the pain like a soldier and continued on down the trail. I don’t think she let a tear come to her face even though she was limping in extreme agony by the time the trail faded into the pine tree descent to the barn. We all helped her down as best we could.



We sent Matthew down to the house to bring the truck up to the barn so she wouldn’t have to walk the rest of the way to the house.


By the time we got back to the house and iced her knee down, it was time for dinner. Everyone had worked up a good appetite so we took advantage of the “all you can eat” buffet that was being served at the hotel restaurant where our company was staying!
Saturday morning we all went across the swinging bridge, which traverses the river about a half-mile from Pure Water Hollow. This is not on our property, but it is a pretty neat bridge and a unique way to see our river. It is one of the places our county lists as a tourist attraction.

Here is a veiw of the river from the bridge:  (it’s a bit muddier than normal due to the recent storms)

The state is beginning construction of a car bridge here that will connect the communities on both sides of the river. Right now it takes over an hour to drive to our neighbors across the river, while we can walk there in just a few minutes! We decided to look around at the machinery at the construction site.

Here is Matthew pretending to operate one of the bulldozers that was over there. This is not my bulldozer (I wish) or my property, but I thought it was a neat picture. Perhaps someday?



When we got back to Pure Water Hollow we decided to explore our own riverbank. The river was up a bit so we didn’t have as wide a walkway along the water’s edge as we do sometimes. Also, since the water had been up even higher a couple of days earlier, it was rather slippery in many places because of the slick mud. We have several beautiful boulders to sit on to enjoy the river. In the summer we can wade all the way across the river here at the shallow part.

I don't think any pictures of our river bank can do justice to the sense of beauty and wonder I feel when I'm down there.

Here I am, pleased to show everyone the peaceful spots on my river bank.

The children enjoyed playing on the rocks next to the water.

This is Simon swinging on a grape vine over the river:

Back at the house we had lunch outside at our side yard. It was a pretty day and not as cool as early weather reports had given. We had sandwiches, chips, vegetables, and roasted marshmallows for dessert.

The sun was shining and the sky was blue.

After lunch we took the truck up to a place we creatively named “the turn around spot”.  (So named because it is the end of the road and a cleared out place where there is just enough room to turn around in.) Some of us rode but some hiked the entire ½ mile up. A half-mile is not far, but when it is almost continually straight up, it is a good walk! From here we walked a little on the “East Ridge Trail”, back to the truck, and then on the “West Cave Trail” which goes back down to the clearing. Some of our party explored the West Cave while some of us went back to the truck to ride down off the mountain.

Here we are on the East Ridge Trail. It is very pretty up there.

West Cave is not really a cave, but just a neat overhanging rock shelter that you can keep out of the rain in.

Here are some of the children exploring it (and their kitten Puff).

By the time we had all gotten back down to the house it was time for supper and we had again worked up a good appetite! This evening it was Pizza Hut and then we spent some time at the hotel’s indoor swimming pool!

Both days everyone enjoyed watching our chickens run around:

Our famous rooster, Big Daddy Dommer(named after the Dominique breed of chicken, not Jeffrey Dahmer):

Here is one of the hens that has 10 chicks. It is nice to watch the mama protect her babies.

Christina is checking the nests for eggs.

Maybe I’m going picture posting crazy, but I’ll end this post with a few more that I liked:

Our beautiful Great Pyrenees dog, Chief (he is a bit timid around new folk).

This is my sister-in-law and niece next to a large beech tree.

Here is our empty barn loft.

Walking down our dirt/grass road.

Simon hiding in a hollow living beech tree along the trail.

Some roosters waiting for the freezer.

A pretty picture of the sun over one of our hills.

Here are my two oldest children and their cousins by the river:

On the other side of the river behind the children (not our property) we can often see horses trotting around or cows grazing.

All in all I think everyone enjoyed visiting Pure Water Hollow. I am very thankful for being blessed with such a wonderful family! I hope those of you reading this have also enjoyed seeing a bit of the spot God has given us here in eastern Kentucky.

Ya’ll come back, now, ya hear?

3 comments
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Out in the Garden on October 19, 2006 at 5:06 pm
Wow, you surprised me with how fast you put the pictures up! The weekend sure was a great one. What a blessing. Thank-You!
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Livin'theMontanaDream on October 19, 2006 at 7:02 pm
What a great time you all had! I loved the tour. Looks like maybe there were a few more pictures at the end that weren't showing up for me. I'll check back later and see if they've decided to appear. What a beautiful place you all have.

Darcy
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Debi on October 19, 2006 at 10:42 pm
What a beautiful place the Lord has blessed you with. I was wondering if you could post a few more shots of your chicken coop. I have been looking for the "right" design for our chicken coop, but haven't found one that I really like. Yours looks perfect from what I could see.

Again what a beautiful place you have.

Blessings,

Debi

homesteadblogger.com/rldranch

How Old Is Grandma?

We received this in an email from a friend the other day and I thought it was cute, especially in light of my recent post about why I am writing a blog. It was called "How old is Grandma?" I took out all the annoying >>> marks and put in some punctuation. Maybe it compromised the integrity of the original manuscript but I like it better this way. And I have not checked out the dates of everything mentioned here, but most seem correct.

"How Old Is Grandma?"

One evening a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current events. The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.


The Grandma replied, “Well, let me think a minute. I was born before: television, penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, Frisbees and the pill.

There were no: credit cards, laser beams, or ball-point pens. Man had not invented: pantyhose, air conditioners, dishwashers, clothes dryers

And the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and man hadn't yet walked on the moon.

Your Grandfather and I got married first, and then lived together. Every family had a father and a mother. Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, “Sir”. And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, “Sir.”

We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy. Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense. We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.

Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege.

We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent. Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins. Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening breeze started.

Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends-not purchasing condominiums. We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.

We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios. And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.

If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan' on it, it was junk. The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam. Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.

We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents. Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel. And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards!

You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, . . . but who could afford one? Too bad, because gas was 20 cents a gallon.

In my day:
“grass” was mowed, “coke” was a cold drink, “pot” was something your mother cooked in and “rock music” was your grandmother's lullaby. “Aids” were helpers in the Principal's office, "chip” meant a piece of wood, “hardware” was found in a hardware store and “software” wasn't even a word.

And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby. No wonder people call us “old and confused” and say there is a generation gap.

And how old do you think this woman is?

***********************************************************************************

We may think that for these things to be true, this person would have passed away in old age decades ago.  But this woman is alive and well. She's only in her 70s today (born during the 1930s)!



4 comments
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Renee on October 12, 2006 at 10:10 am
I thought this was great! Where did you find this? Who wrote it? Isn't it sad how so many things have changed.

Blessings,
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Purewater on October 12, 2006 at 11:06 pm
Thanks for dropping by. This was one of those emails that get passed around and a friend forwarded it to us. There was no author given or any information about where it originated. I thought it was pretty good, too.

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mc2rwe on October 16, 2006 at 3:44 pm
I really loved this post as I do all of your posts… keep up the good work…

Kat

Why Keep a Homestead Blog?

My answer might sound a little corny, but it is true, nonetheless. My main motivation in writing this weblog of the Pure Water Hollow Homestead involves posterity. Yes, it is for posterity's sake that I feel the desire to record some of our life's happenings here in the hills of eastern Kentucky. If the Lord continues to be longsuffering with mankind and allows the return of Christ and the judgment of this present world to be yet another many years hence, then it is very possible that there will be future generations of "Purewaters" living, perhaps, on this very land!

We currently have four children and would like to have even more, if it is the Lord's will. If any of them wish to settle here with their own families there is plenty of room! We already have one good house seat up at "the clearing" and with the incredible work that bulldozers can do these days, it would be possible to have numerous homes nestled in amongst the trees and hills.

Our children know how much we value this land God has given to us, but what about future generations? Making this land into numerous homesteads in the future is a pleasant picture, but it would also be conceivable for someone to blast away the ridge tops and use them to fill in the hollow and have enough flat land to build an entire subdivision or shopping center on our property! Would future generations be aware that such a thing would constitute a tragedy in our minds?

I know we would all be long gone and enjoying whatever God has in store for us in His Kingdom, but I can't help but think that a historical perspective of this land and our lives here may be of benefit, or at least of interest, to those who may come after us. I would like our descendants to know what kind of people their ancestors were during the early 21st century, when America was continuing down the path of abandoning God and embracing immorality (during the time period that future history books may entitle "The Decline of America!”)

Hopefully, this blog will present a picture of what type of people we were back during the first half of the century. When most of society valued time with their television over time with their family, we chose to throw out the TV! When the norm was still to rely on government schools to educate children, we chose to home school! When society declared that extramarital affairs are normal, we chose to keep our wedding vows! When no fault divorce was rampant in society, we still believed "till death do us part"! When the common people were relying more and more on the government, we chose to rely on God! While others were borrowing more money, we were getting out of debt! When the art of old time raising and preserving your own food and being able to provide for your own needs had all but been forgotten in our culture, we chose to try to re-learn them! I want them to be able to say, "Great Grandpa and Great Grandma sure did go against the current of the times!"

Thinking about future generations of my family I can't help but think for a moment about those before me. I have one grandparent still living today. Grandpa is 91 years old; he has lived through a lot and has fascinating stories to share about the old days working at a post office in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Grandma just passed away this year in July at age 95.) Had they written down instances that happened in their life when they were raising their family, I would treasure them today. Fifty-two years ago Grandpa was my age of 39. If you do the math the year would have been 1954. My dad would have been turning 13 (Matthew is 13) that year and my aunts would have been 15 (Erica is almost 15) and 10, I think. I never realized before that Grandpa was having children born at the same stages in his life as me!  What was life like in 1954 in a small city in America? Much has changed, and a journal from back then giving glimpses into their lives would be fascinating today!
This weblog may also be helpful to my immediate heirs, as well. Right now, Simon is only 6, Christina is almost 9, Matthew is 13, and Erica will soon be 15. When they are adults and raising their own family, might it be helpful for them to be able to look back and have a tool to help them remember some of the things they were doing while growing up? If they live here, in Pure Water Hollow, they will have a record of the types of plants and trees growing here that are beneficial. They will have a record of the time of year the chestnut crop can be harvested as well as the raspberries and blackberries and strawberries and peaches and pears and grapes and apples if I continue to write. They may also have a record of dates for when various trees were planted, or when the fishpond was re-built and stocked, or when a new barn or shed was built, or any number of projects that we hope to do in the coming decades. When they are 39, it may be helpful for them to look back on these things.

Not only do I hope that this blog will chronicle our homesteading experiences and demonstrate the type of people we are, but it will also be a record for posterity what my views about God and eternity are. We are really not just laying up treasure on earth (Pure Water Hollow Homestead), but we are laying up treasure in heaven! The things of eternal significance are far more important than these temporal things that will pass away. I want this blog to be for the glory of God and point people to the simple truth that Jesus is the only way to salvation. During a time when man has made theology so confusing, I desire that our simple life will demonstrate our simple faith and point to our incredible Saviour.

I may not post many sermons, since they take so long to type up, but I would like to share one every now and then as an example of my beliefs. Future generations may know that I was a preacher, but they would have no way of knowing what kind of a preacher without some things in writing. Here in eastern Kentucky, in our small country churches, there is still much of the old time shouting, "hacking" style of preaching. I appreciate the tradition these men of God come from, but I have never been one of those kinds of preachers. I have gone against the grain in that area as well. The Lord leads me to preach well thought out, mostly expository sermons that I pray will help folks understand God and the Bible better.

Having a forum like homesteadblogger to publish my thoughts and ramblings is also a good motivator for writing them. To know that there really is an audience reading right now, and not just 100 years from now, makes writing even more satisfying. I have tried to journal off and on in the past, but it has been more off, I am afraid. I think having a potential audience will make writing regular installments easier for me. I also like the idea of the potential audience being some of our friends and family. This might be a way they can keep up to date with what is going on in our lives, seeing how I am so negligent in writing letters and calling on the phone.

The last reason for writing a blog on Homesteadblogger, I guess, is the opportunity to be part of the bigger homestead picture. I like the idea of being able to pose questions from time to time and there actually being a chance that someone has experience that may help us learn. In the old days, people relied on their neighbors for advice about raising and preserving food and how to repair and build things, and how to care for livestock, etc. Today, it seems that much of that knowledge has been lost, or at least it is no longer a part of the common community experience.  I'm thinking that folks from Homesteadblogger can sit in for those types of knowledgeable neighbors when I have trouble finding some in person.

I don't know if anyone else ever thought of why they are keeping a blog, but these are my reasons. I'm sure there are many other potential advantages and reasons for writing a blog, but these are the thoughts that have motivated me. While I am writing primarily for posterity, I do hope that there are some who might receive benefit or enjoyment from it here and now as well. May God bless you!



1 comment
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HandsNHearts on October 11, 2006 at 11:47 am
What a thought-provoking post. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. Posterity. A very good reason for sharing the homestead famiy life.

Deanna

A Non-Adventurous Sunday Afternoon Walk

I almost wrote a catchy, exciting sounding title for this post since I was getting kind of used to Sunday afternoon adventure walks with yellow jackets and copperheads! Actually, there was no adventure this time, thankfully, just a pleasant, peaceful walk through the mountains.

(Actually, Lisa did get stung by a packsaddle or spider or something on her left eye, but it wasn't too much of an adventure. I was quite concerned when it first happened but I'm glad it was not too serious. Matthew galloped down the mountain to a place where he knew some touch-me-not flowers were growing. We use them to take the sting out of bites, stinging nettles, poison ivy, and any other type of stings. Lisa is doing fine now.)

Today was another incredibly beautiful Sunday that the Lord blessed us with and we were looking forward to our regular Sunday afternoon walk. The leaves are beginning to fall and the hills are aglow with the autumn colors. The blue sky was full of sunshine and the temperature was a perfect 74 degrees.

We ate lunch out at our picnic table in the side yard and then we were soon loading into the truck to hit the hills! This time we avoided the yellow jackets and drove right past the old woodpile where the copperheads might be, and we headed on up to the head of the hollow where the one good walnut tree was last year. (There are five or six closer walnut trees but they did not have many nuts this year.)

Around here in Kentucky, the walnuts are ready and have been falling for some time already. We have been disappointed, however, because none of our trees had many walnuts on them. Our last hope was a couple of walnut trees up on what we call the West Cave Trail. (We call it that because the trail loops past a nice overhang of rocks beneath the west ridge that we call the West Cave. It's not really a cave, just an overhang that you can stay dry in if there's a rainstorm.)  We sadly discovered that those walnut trees up there did not do any good this year either, for some reason. Maybe all of our walnut trees are too crowded by other trees? Some of them are rather large and we know that several of them have produced in the past. The rest of the forest is growing right around them, though. Do they have to be out in the open to have a good crop?

We did pick a poke full of spice bush leaves and twigs to make spice tea and some birch limbs to make birch tea and enough paw paws for Lisa to make some paw paw bread! We have lost most of the paw paws that were growing, however. A few weeks ago there were so many paw paws hanging around that we could not have used them all had we wanted to! The animals probably got them because they are a favorite food for opossum, squirrel, raccoon, fox, and others. We have plenty of those kinds of critters around Pure Water Hollow!

After we returned back to the house the children played some card games and we all had some delicious ice cream. It was a very peaceful, enjoyable Sunday afternoon in the Lord. I'll take a calm, non-adventurous Sunday afternoon walk over slaying copperheads and attacking yellow jackets any Sunday!

Thank you, Lord.

Without Christ: A Sunday Sermon

(I have been trying to post this for over an hour now! Terrible problem with pop-ups and computer crashes. I am starting to think that Satan does not want anyone to read this post!)

Nearly every Sunday you will find the Pure Water Hollow clan leaving the homestead for a time of community worship, prayer and fellowship. We currently drive about 15 miles to the church that God has placed us in at this time. We pass many other Bible believing churches on our way, but we are confident that we have found the one where God wants us to serve. In this small country church I am one of three preachers. None of us are seminary trained and we all earn our living in the secular world, although I am not opposed to those who are in the ministry “full time”.

I am usually called on to preach about two to four times a month, most of the time with no advance knowledge. The church believes strongly in the man of God being “instant in season and out of season.” Last Sunday, both our pastor and the other preacher were out of town, so I had a pretty good idea that I would be asked to deliver the message. The Lord gave me a good sermon and I have decided to share the basic sermon I preached last Sunday here on the Pure Water Hollow Homestead blog. It is not a word for word transcription or anything like that. (We do not tape the sermons, even though that is a great idea!) But rather what I am posting here is the basic gist of the message, and perhaps some of the points are ones that I now wish that I had given Sunday, but actually only thought of them while typing this. God knows what we need and when! The basic 5 points are the same I gave Sunday; they are just maybe elaborated a bit differently here.

I enjoyed receiving this message from God and I enjoyed preaching it. I have also thoroughly enjoyed typing it all down for this blog, even though it is taken a vast amount of time! I originally split it up into two posts so that neither one would be so long, but I later went back and combined them like they should be. I hope and pray that it will encourage those of you who need encouraging and convict those of you who need convicting!



What is it like to be without God? What would it be like if Jesus Christ was not a part of my life? In Ephesians 2:12 we read a description of what it is like:

“That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the common wealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”
This is a bleak picture of what life is like for those without Christ. They are aliens to God’s people, strangers to God’s promises, and they have no hope! I’m glad the passage continues in verses 13 and 14:

“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;”
What a difference Jesus Christ makes in a person’s life! Yet many people are without Christ in their lives today. They feel that they cannot do without so many things, yet choose to do without the one most important thing! I’ve heard many people comment that they could not do without their television, or computer, or their morning cup of coffee. What about Christ? Also there are many people who do belong to Christ, yet choose to live their lives so far below what He intends for them, that they are living their lives as if they were without Christ! What a shame!

There are many things we could say about life without Christ, but I would like to compare what it was like for the apostles to be without Christ, literally, after He died and before His resurrection, with what it is like to be without Christ today, in our own lives.

We will look at John 20:19-31 and find that without Christ we are living life without 5 important aspects that we need in order to have a home in heaven and to be able to serve Him properly on earth. Without Christ we are:

I Without Courage

II Without Peace

III Without Joy

IV Without Purpose

V Without Forgiveness
This passage (John 20:19-31) shows us what the disciples were doing 3 days after Jesus had died. They did not understand that He had to die to be the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. They did not understand that He was going to be resurrected on the third day. At this moment, at the beginning of the passage, they were confused and had little hope and probably thought that they may be the next to be put to death. But I am glad most of them assembled together. I believe we need fellowship with other believers, especially when we are confused and down heartened. We need one another. (But that is going off into a different sermon.)

I. Without Christ, We Are Without Courage
V19a “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews,…”As far as they knew they were assembled without Christ and since the scripture states that they kept the doors shut because of their fear we can see that without Christ they were without courage. It is true in our lives as well. There is a type of courage that people can have and not necessarily have Christ in their lives. I thank the Lord for men and women who have the courage to run into a burning building to save lives, or the police officer having the courage to make the drug bust to keep the community safe. They do their jobs, even though they are putting their own lives on the line, and they need a type of courage to do it.

But the kind of courage I am talking about is a moral courage. Like the courage to take a stand and do the right thing, even when it is unpopular. Having Christ in our lives gives us the courage to be honest when everyone else is cheating, or to stand up for the lives of the unborn when all around us are pro-abortion, or to stand up for the Biblical definition of marriage as being one man with one woman, even if people accuse us of hate speech, or to take a stand against the sale of alcohol when there is much community pressure to have it legalized. (I am thankful that we still have dry counties in eastern Kentucky. We live in one and our church is in another, but the forces of evil never cease attempting to get liquor in our communities. Every so often there is a concerted push to make alcohol sales legal and if the Christian community ever fails to use the courage that having Christ affords, we will see liquor stores and bars around every curve!)

Another area that comes to mind this time of year where true courage is needed revolves around the celebration of Halloween. My family took the unpopular stand long ago to not join in with the world concerning celebrating Halloween. We have never decorated for the holiday, our children have never gone trick-or-treating, and we do not attend any parties that may contain Halloween “fun”. It is not right for Christians to celebrate the day that practicing witches and Satanist consider their most sacred high day of the year! It is a glorification of the dark and evil world of the occult. I know that the Christian “church” attempted to take the holiday back from the pagans by calling November 1st All Saints Day and the 31st All Hallows (Saints) Eve and that kind of a celebration would be fine. But the idea did not stick. I’ve not heard of anyone dressing up like a ninja turtle and going house to house yelling “trick or treat” in honor of their dearly departed great grandmother who was a Christian! Even trying hard to leave out all the witches and ghosts, most of the time Trick-or-Treating only teaches children to be greedy and demanding and to be upset if someone gives them an apple instead of a Resee Cup! Very little good can come from the celebration of Halloween. If you must participate in Trick-or Treat I would suggest investing in some kid-friendly tracts from your local Christian bookstore and along with the candy, drop a tract about salvation into their bag. There has been other years that I have preached whole sermons about the evils of Halloween but that is not what this sermon is about, and I have chased that rabbit long enough!

We are talking about moral courage to go against the world’s values, and if you take a stand against a popular, fun holiday like Halloween, or you stand up for anything that is contrary to the world’s perverted sense of right and wrong, you will need the courage that comes from having Christ in your life!

We could go on and on with examples of times that we need the moral courage of Christ to take a stand. Those instances are not comfortable and it is easy to be silent, but we do not need to fear if we are with Christ!

“God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and of a sound mind.” 2nd Tim. 1:7And as Moses told Joshua, “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee nor forsake thee.” Deut. 31:6

II Without Christ, We Are Without Peace

V19 “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.”
Peace is something the world is looking for. Peace in the Middle East, yes, but also peace down in our individual hearts. A deep settled peace that causes you to know that all will be ok, no matter what. Peace in knowing that everything is in the master’s hands and that I have a home in heaven! Without Christ it is impossible to have peace with God.

Jesus spoke about peace. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27
Wow! Did you notice that Jesus said that we could have His peace? He exhibited peace even in the midst of being beaten and spat upon. He could have called the angels to take Him off that cross and destroy the world if He wanted to, but he opened not His mouth against them. He had peace in knowing that He was accomplishing the Father’s will. We, too, can have that kind of peace, if we are with Christ! Even when taking unpopular courageous stands, we have peace because it is His peace. “My peace I give unto you.”
Jesus also recognized in that verse that the world has its brand of peace and that His is far superior. His is a lasting, eternal peace, while the peace the world offers is fleeting and worthless. People look for peace in the bottom of a bottle of alcohol or pills and they may feel some type of peace as long as they are in a stupor and forget about their problems. But when the "buzz" is gone, the problems are still there. Some people seek peace through divorce and believe they will have a peaceful life with a new spouse, only to find things much the way they were before. Spending thousands of dollars to satisfy all of one’s material wants does not bring about the desired peace, only more debt.

Homesteading and living close to nature will not bring lasting, eternal peace, either. You can feel so much closer to God when living a simpler life and there may be many peaceful moments. But if you don’t know where you will spend eternity after you die, you will not have the peace you need. Without Christ you are without peace.

“These things I have spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: But be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
The Bible also points out that this kind of peace is hard to understand in Phillipians 4:7:

“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep you hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

We can see in verse 19 that the disciples were without courage and without peace when they were without Christ. We, too are without the moral courage to do what is right and without the eternal peace that passeth all understanding, when we live our lives without Christ. As we continue with verse 20 we see that...


III. Without Christ, We Are Without Joy
V20 “And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.”
Joy is closely related to peace and is also highly sought after by the world. Many people mistake joy with happiness. Happiness is dependent upon outside circumstances while true joy is dependent on that inner peace we were talking about. You cannot have fullness of joy in your life apart from God.

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Psalm 16:11
Drugs, alcohol, new sex partners, material goods; none of those sorts of things really bring joy either. There can be joyful moments even in those things, but fullness of joy is with God. Jesus discussed full joy:

“These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” John 15:11
Both of these verses are true because Jesus and God is one. Notice that in the Old Testament fullness of joy came about by being in the presence of God but in the New Testament full joy comes about by God’s presence being in us!

Before, Jesus had said, “My peace” and now He says “My joy”! What a privilege to have His peace in us and also have His joy in us! When thinking about what the “My joy” Christ was referring to we recall an interesting verse in Hebrews 12:2:

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
There is a lot in this verse but notice that it links Christ’s joy with the cross; “the joy that was set before him”. What joy could there be in the cross for Him? It was an excruciating, humiliating death! The joy was in obeying the will of His father and seeing the salvation of you and me!  He also knew that the "throne of God" was set before Him, which brought Him joy. There is joy in the presence of the angels when one sinner repents! (Luke 15:10) When a person repents of their sins and comes to Christ for salvation is what brings God joy!

So true, full joy is knowing Christ, doing the Father’s will, and seeing people saved, but to grasp the whole depths of what that deep settled joy is all about is difficult to form into words! The apostle Peter worded it this way:

“Whom having not seen, ye love: in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” 1 Peter 1:8

So, without Christ we are without peace and joy. With Christ we have a peace that passeth all understanding and a joy unspeakable and full of glory!


IV. Without Christ, we are without Purpose
V21 “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”
Without Christ and His salvation, it is very hard to sense any real purpose for our existence. One’s life purpose is especially elusive if you listen to some in the world of science who have pushed the theory of evolution into all aspects of society. If there is no Creator and everything in the universe came about by some cosmic “fluke”, then why are we here? If mankind is only a highly evolved animal, why should we live any differently from the animal kingdom?  No purpose in life.

People sometimes try to find their purpose in life through their occupations and their whole identity is surrounded by that job. If they loose that job or when they retire, they tend to loose all sense of purpose for their life! We allow our occupation to define us too much I think. Without Christ, that is probably the best we can do.

Since becoming a Christian, a whole new world of living has been opened up to me! The knowledge that God loves me so much that He sent Jesus on the cross to die for me is exhilarating! The first and foremost purpose for my life involves asking for the forgiveness of my sins and repenting, and accepting the free gift of salvation offered by Christ through the cross! The knowledge that I was created in the likeness and image of God, on purpose and for His purpose, is liberating for me! I know that whatever occupation I may currently hold, the real purpose for me is to serve God by serving mankind, wherever I am! Jesus had a purpose for those early disciples and He has a purpose for my life as well. Without Christ, I was without any real purpose, and I was miserable, not understanding what my role on planet earth was supposed to be. Solomon summed it up this way in the beginning of Ecclesiastes:

"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher , vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?" Ecc. 1:2-3
But by the end of the book, he understood what the proper purpose of man was intended to be:

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Ecc. 12:13

V. Without Christ, we are without Forgiveness
As we continue in the passage from John 20 we see that Thomas was not with the other disciples when Christ appeared to them. He is still without Christ a week later. Not only is he a doubter at this point, but he is without courage, peace, joy, or purpose!

V24,25 “But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Did’-y-mus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
We refer to this disciple often as “Doubting Thomas” but he was really “Unbelieving Thomas” which is far worse. The sin of unbelief is the sin that causes a person to be damned in Hell! We all love John 3:16 because it is so uplifting and encouraging. Read John 3:18, just two verses later in the same passage:

“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
So at this point we could call Thomas “Condemned Thomas” instead of “Doubting Thomas.” I am glad that the verse also said, “He that believeth on him is not condemned.”
You probably know the rest of the story about Thomas from the passage we are looking at in John 20. In it I see forgiveness that can only come from Christ.

V26-29 “And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
Without Christ in our lives, we are without forgiveness. This is very bad because we know from the Bible and through observation that “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”( Romans 3:23) and “The wages of sin is death”(Romans 6:23).
Without forgiveness through Christ we are found guilty in our sins, and in no way worthy enough to enter heaven and be with God! But just like Jesus gave Thomas another chance, He also will give us another chance. The Bible tells us that God “is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2Peter 3:9) Longsuffering means that He is patiently waiting for you to see your need for a Saviour and come to Him. We need the forgiveness that only comes from repenting of our sins and accepting Christ as our Lord and Saviour!

There is one last verse in this text that we need to look at, and it is a fitting conclusion.

V31 “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
With Christ we can have real life! A life of courage, peace, joy, purpose and forgiventss!

Without Christ, we are without courage, peace, joy, purpose, or forgiveness. With Christ in our lives we have His courage, His peace, His joy and we can take part in His purpose! All of this is possible because we have His forgiveness!

So why are so many people set on living life their own way? They have nothing that really matters! You can do without many things, but you should not do without Jesus Christ as your Saviour! Repent of your sin and accept Him today!

And why are so many “Christian” people living their lives as if they do not have Christ on their side (or inside)? They have no courage to stand up for what is right and they live their lives in fear and anxiety. They are stumbling around without God’s purpose in their lives and some even go back to a life of sin as if they had not experienced His forgiveness. This should not be! Even though you call yourself a “Christian”, if you look like the world, act like the world, and live like the world, then you might just be, in fact, without Christ in your life! Repent of your sin and come to Him today!

My wife, Life, sings a song you may have heard before:

Without Him, I could do nothing,
Without Him I’d surely fail;
Without Him I would be drifting
Like a ship without a sail.

Without Him I would be dying,
Without Him I’d be enslaved;
Without Him life would be hopeless,
But with Jesus, thank God, I’m saved.

Jesus, O Jesus!
Do you know Him today?
Do not turn Him away.
Without Him, how lost I would be.