Liberty Cross Ranch
  • Home
  • LCR Retreats
  • Country Store
  • Grass Fed/Pastured Meat
  • Tower Garden
  • Home School Consulting
  • Our Chickens
  • Jesus on the Farm-By: Ann Lindholm
  • LCR K9 Training

Barn Swallow Tactics

7/18/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Jesus on the Farm:


Have you ever seen a barn swallow nest? We have barn swallows that nest on both of our porches so we can watch and study them from the living room and the class room. Let me share with you what we have learned about the family of barn swallows and what the family of Believers can learn from them.


First of all, it takes a whole crew of at least five adult birds to build the mud nest. Once the nest is built they seem to watch over the nest and the area for several days, perhaps for potential predators or dangers. Then, they lay the eggs. Once eggs are in the nest there is always one bird that stands guard over the eggs and keeps them warm, two more that stay on guard somewhere nearby, maybe perched on a window sill or gutter. If the one on the eggs needs a break one of the other swallows will take her place while she goes to eat, then rushes back. While that one takes her place another mysterious swallow appears and takes the place of the one that moved to the eggs.


Once the eggs are hatched the same process continues except that now they all take turns feeding the babies. They literally move in a rotational form, moving from post to post. One will go grab food and fly back to the nest to feed while the one that was at the nest moves into the next position. We began to notice something even more amazing. Off in the distance in nearby trees there were so many other swallows perched, watching and waiting. We began to recognize the birds. We also began to notice how intricate their system was. These guard birds seem to hang out in the perimeter watching the outer zone for threats as well as watching out to see if the inside birds need a break. When one of the insiders needs a break, they swoop out, the next layer of protection moves in, and then the outer perimeter moves in to take the place of the second layer.


One of the jobs of the second layer is to watch the babies as they grow and begin to test the waters. If they get to close to the edge of the nest and occasionally nearly fall out, one of the birds from the second layer swoops in and pushes them back in the nest until they are ready to fly the coop. While that bird swoops in to save them, another bird from the outer perimeter swiftly moves into that birds position. They truly are amazing creatures.


What can we learn from this? It takes a whole family to raise a flock. It takes several layers of support and protection. Everyone in the family takes part in feeding them, raising them, protecting them and then helping them prepare for the real world. As God's family we must raise our children and families in the same way. This includes the children in our Church family. We all have a role to play and that role can change.

By: Ann Lindholm, Liberty Cross Ranch


0 Comments

Don't drink from the trough of the world

7/11/2015

0 Comments

 
TODAY'S FARM LESSON: 

One of our favorite roosters decided to take a dip in one of our larger troughs.  I'm sure the sparkling goldfish swimming about in there caught his eye.  He probably couldn't tell the real depth of the water from above.  Not considering the depth or the consequences and hastily responding to temptation, he went for it.  I'm sitting in the living room doing my bible study and hear our dogs barking their real bark, indicating something might be wrong.  I walk around the house looking out the windows to see if anything of consequence is out there.  I don't really notice anything.  The barking continues. I notice their hanging out at the back corner of the yard near the pasture gate.  Then I see it, a bright red comb and waddle bobbing up and down in the trough.  I race out there to rescue Dr. Doolittle from the water.  He waddles away, drenched, soaked, and shivering.  I check on him for about fifteen minutes.  His condition hasn't changed much and he may not make it.  He took in quite a bit of water.  

Like the tempting water, decorated with sparkling gold fish, sin can entrap us quicker than we realize it.  It may look beautiful. It may sparkle.  It may be calling our name.  We often can't tell the depth of the sin when we first start stepping into it.  We often can't tell that there are very few ways to get to safety.  The only way Dr. Doolittle was going to survive was for someone to come to his rescue in time.  If he had just resisted and stayed out of the trough and drank from the chicken waterers he would have been fine.  He wouldn't have taken in too much water.  His only hope was being rescued.  If we would just resist sin and stay away from it we could avoid the pain and suffering.  If we just drink from the Water of Life and not from the trough of the world, we'd be OK.  But like the dogs warned me that something was wrong, our brothers and sisters in Christ are here to warn us when something's wrong.  Jesus can and will rescue us.  But, it takes time for the weight of our sin to be removed, we have to dry out, like Dr. Doolittle.  The affects of our sin often hang around a little while and we have to deal with the aftermath.  But there is grace and mercy to be found in our Redeemer.  The moral of today's farm lesson, drink from the Living Water, not from the dirty trough of the world, and brothers and sisters, keep an eye on each other.
0 Comments

Make me a sanctuary...

7/2/2015

0 Comments

 
I have sinned. I have made some huge mistakes in my life. I constantly work at becoming more like God's will on a daily basis. I have struggled I battle on a daily basis. I've committed some of the most detestable acts. I repent. I seek His forgiveness and His instruction. I don't want to make anyone stumble. I'm sure I have wronged some of you somehow at some point. Please forgive me. 

I believe I'm a child of the One True King. I believe I'm forgiven. I believe I must conscientiously make a daily effort to choose good. I believe God will use me to be the salt and the light only if I let Him. 

This world is getting darker. I desire peace. I desire eternity with Christ my Lord. I desire this for my family and my friends. God's word makes it very clear, we are not only to seek Him, but we are to live for Him. Our bodies are HIS temple. We are to treat them as HOLY. Any sin conducted within the body is absolutely detestable. 

Father, my Lord, please forgive me for having sinned against You and Your temple. Please purify me, cleanse my heart. Help me each day, hour by hour, to conquer the flesh and this world. Use me to be the salt and the light to those around me. I pray for all of my family and all of my friends, that You will touch them in a mighty way. Show them Your face and your grace. Let them know You my Lord. I pray that anyone who reads this will feel a touch by the Holy Spirit and that their heart will be prompted to meet with You and to seek You more deeply than ever before. Heal us oh Lord, with the blood of Jesus, amen.

1 Cor 6:18-20
18 Run from sexual immorality! “Every sin a person can commit is outside the body.” On the contrary, the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body. 19 Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.








0 Comments

    All posts by: Ann Lindholm

    Author

    American Soldier's Wife, mom, farmer, investigative researcher

    Archives

    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.