Surprised by Joy

God is Good

Last week, after a rather rigorous bible study on baptism, I promised today’s substack would be “lighter and shorter”. So here it is…

C.S.Lewis wrote the Narnia tales, which were made into some fun movies for kids. But he also wrote many other books. One is a short autobiography called “Surprised by Joy”. He started as an atheist but finally figured out that Jesus is real, and boy, was he surprised. He expected Jesus to be only the religiously meek and mild (and boring; not fun, he thought) Christ as He is sometimes depicted. But when he encountered the real Jesus, he was surprised by JOY. Here’s a short video about it.

blessings

My wife Bev and I live out on a few acres, not far from Mt. Hood. We’re back about 600’ off a country road, and our neighbors’ houses on each side are barely visible because they have 10 to 20 acres each. There’s a wonderful southern exposure for a garden, and to the north a steep wooded slope that guarantees plenty of firewood. So it’s very quiet here. When there’s a north breeze, we can hear the rapids from the Sandy River way down below us. Bev often reminds me what a blessing it is that we found this place and were able to afford it*, and I agree with her completely. *We got it at a bargain price because there are 150,000 volt BPA power lines to the east and their easement cuts across the bottom corner of our property down in the woods.

We don’t deserve it. Oh, we’ve always worked hard and been careful to save, but what if we had lost our health and weren’t able to work? There are so many homeless people that would love to have a place like this, and we could just as easily be homeless ourselves, if we had lost everything due to sickness or financial reverses that can happen to anyone, whether from job loss, hospital bills, unwise investments, or who knows what?

sources of joy

So I was thinking about how much joy I get just from being here. After I built the pond, which in itself was a fun project, (with some help from a couple friends from Mountainview Church) what a surprise it was to find out how much fun it is just to watch these fish thrive and multiply. This morning I made a little video when I was feeding the goldfish, so you can enjoy it too. I love the way they come right over as soon as they see me. Like us, they like to eat! (Actually, they get most of their food from the pond’s own natural bounty.)

When we first moved out here, a widow named Jan from Crossroads Church in Portland gifted us with a gift that truly keeps on giving. She had to dig up her iris because she was moving into assisted living. She gave me a couple bulbs and I stuck them in the ground in front of the shop that I built. (also with some help from a friend.) Those iris liked it their new home. They’ve thrived and spread. Now each year when they bloom I think of Jan, and it gives me joy.

We’re not good at landscaping; our home is pretty rough and wild looking in spots. Our ‘lawn’ is really just a mowed former cow pasture with accompanying weeds. But there are surprises and joys even in that. I don’t remember ever buying any columbine seeds, but columbines started popping up here and there and now they’re blooming all over the place.

The garden supplies some of our food. We learned how to can, freeze, or dry fruits and vegetables. We have several apple trees, Asian and Bartlett pears, hardy kiwi, and even two fig trees. That was another surprise joy – I never thought figs could be grown this far north – but they do! The neighbor told me about them. They are so sweet it’s like eating candy.

Now I see why God had to make clothes for Adam and Eve - the fig leaves aren’t really that big

I didn’t know about hardy kiwis either, but the neighbor clued me in on those too – I like them even better than our grapes, and they’re much more productive – way more than we can eat. And the apples last us most of the year, because I made a little dugout for storage of things like apples and carrots. We also have several blueberry bushes – early season, mid season, and late season varieties, so there are fresh blueberries on my oatmeal for a good part of the year. The rest go into jam or they’re dried in the sun like raisins.

more projects

I’ve started a reforestation project where we used to have a few sheep and a llama. I love to hike in the national forest, and in some places it’s legal to bring back some baby (6” or less) native trees as long as they’re gotten from well off the trail. So it keeps me busy hiking, digging them up, replanting them in the field, and then watering them through their first summer. They don’t all survive, so about 10% of them that don’t make it through their first year need to be replaced, which also keeps me busy. But again – the joy of watching them grow! I love it. Of course it won’t be a forest until my grandkids’ time – so it’s really for them.  

future forest. come on, you have to use your imagination! besides, there’s a lot of little ones that you can’t see in that high grass, because I keep adding more baby trees every year- there are even about 20 tiny Alaskan Spruce that I brought back from the Anchorage area last fall after visiting our daughter Karen, by hiking, finding them, and bringing them back on the plane in a plastic bag sprayed inside with mist to keep them from drying out

baby spruce - don’t know exactly what species, so I just call them Alaskan Spruce

Another project that was fun to make is our ‘chicken tractor’, which can be moved onto fresh grass every day or so. Feeding and watering the chickens and getting the eggs keeps Bev busy.

Yet another project was the passive solar hot water heater that saves on our electric bill, along with our solar clothes dryer (it’s called a clothesline). You can read all about the solar water heater (it’s really a pre-heater) in this previous substack.

more things to be thankful for

I’ve been blessed with good health, another thing I don’t deserve. Why am I healthy when so many friends are not? I do try to take good care of myself, but still – there are no guarantees about tomorrow, for any of us. Doing chain saw work and carrying firewood up from the woods, splitting and stacking the wood, working in the garden and orchard, all help to keep in physical condition, but all it would take is one bad fall or injury or sickness and then when bedridden or hospitalized, your physical condition goes downhill and the impossibility of exercising makes it worse. We need to count our blessings every day, and for those who have had setbacks, remember that they appreciate the encouragement from a card or a visit.

I thank God for every breath I take. We are completely dependent on Him. Just ask anyone who’s ever broken a rib and felt pain with every breath, or anyone who had covid and could hardly breathe.

Where do all these blessings come from? From our Creator God. He’s the One who made the birds and the flowers and the fish and the apples and all the rest. And this is just a taste – heaven will be even better, and when the aches and pains of old age (and for some, serious illness and trials) come upon us, heaven starts looking better every day!

next week - working on a book review for you