Sitting here sipping a beer and thinking how funny it is that I used to day dream about one potential outcome of our throw everything to the road (and YHWH’s loving care) life on the edge, traveling with minimal resources… and I used to wonder if we’d ever break down in a tiny little community that Father had a purpose for us invading, with no money to fix the truck and get stuck indefinitely. Well, things aren’t quite that desperate, but it’s kind of starting to take on some of that flavor. And although I’m confident our stay here will be temporary (well, at least exactly as long as YHWH desires), it certainly is starting to stretch on longer than I had hoped.
My diagnosis and efforts to swap the crankshaft position sensor this morning (though the procedure itself was a success) turned out to be quite ineffective. But like every good story, the replacement sensor itself – as the next piece in my attempt to solve the puzzle – led to the next piece of the plot. It turns out that the parts place I bought it from – 10 miles back west along I-70 in Flagler, CO – also has a full-blown shop and a couple diesel mechanics. They also have their own wrecker, and Shane came out to pick up our truck. I turned it on for him and let him see what it was doing. He just shook his head and smiled. I could tell he shared my appreciation for the magnitude of the puzzle. Here it is getting loaded up:
So, I guess at this point our plans are on hold and we’re having Sabbath here. We always say that our Father’s plans are far better than ours, and I guess we’re getting to walk that out in this tangible way. With labor day approaching I’m hoping they figure it out quickly and that it’s something simple / easy and they can get it done before the holiday. But no guarantees. And it would be really nice if they could even tackle the leak in the steering system (hopefully it’s not the gearbox) as well as the alignment + 4 tires that we’ve been overdue procrastinating on with such limited resources available. Shane was looking at our front passenger tire (you can kind of see it in the pic) and thinking it’s a blowout waiting to happen. I’m pretty sure it would get us at least to PA, but maybe better safe than sorry.
I feel completely tacky doing this, but I’m just going to throw myself out there and slap a donation button on this post. If you know me at all you know how self-reliant I like to be and how hard it is for me to ask anyone for help. I’d much rather be on the giving end than the receiving end, and so maybe Father is also using this situation to kill more of my pride. Oh yay 🙂 I still want to figure out a way to ask without asking 🙂 but I will say it this way: if our heavenly Father puts it on your heart, any tiny amount towards our truck repair fund would be a massive blessing. We still have other repairs sitting on our credit card from before. But please do not feel obligated in any respect. Father will provide, and your prayers are even more valuable.
Even in the midst of all this I’ve been realizing how much we have to be thankful for. We have electric and A/C keeping the inside of the trailer about 79 F (26 C) while it reads 102 F (39 C) outside – YIKES! So – shelter: check. We have water. We have food. We have internet so I can post this and work and stay connected to find out about things like crazy Hurricane Isaac hitting seven years to the exact day that Katrina struck (if that isn’t a wake up call I don’t know what is, but how many will notice?). There’s a playground close by. Jim (the Shady Grove Campground owner) has been super helpful: he gave me a ride to Flagler this morning to pick up the sensor, provided a tour of the town, said he’d just open up a tab and we could settle before leaving when the time comes, and told me to ask if we needed anything). And the kids finished school today in really good moods. Even though it’s hard work, homeschooling our children is a bigger blessing than we normally pay attention to.
For example: I was talking with Shane and Jim after Shane had the truck all loaded up on the wrecker. They were briefly comparing notes about changes that have been happening in the school system here. I’m not sure if this is Colorado-wide or maybe even the whole country, but among other things the government has capped calorie consumption for children at school and it is a fixed number for all kids regardless of build, metabolism, athletics, etc. This is enforced primarily through the lunch portions, which are now very small. Shane and Jim said their kids always come home really hungry. Of course, some parents don’t do enough to manage healthy amounts of the right kind of calories for their kids. But government stepping in and regulating it is an entirely different thing. And the more sinister aspects of this that come immediately to mind:
How closely is this related to the current food shortages and famine in this country (which you probably won’t hear about on mainstream news nor get an impression of by walking into a grocery store)?
What are the impacts of caloric shortages on a child’s learning capacity? This will
What about other implications like a child’s energy level, vulnerability to suggestion, etc. when they aren’t getting enough / proper nutrition throughout the day?
There’s probably more thoughts that should be probed there, but this is really just another area where we see the erosion of all things as we used to know them. I shudder to consider what my children’s generation is facing, but I also get excited to think about and anticipate what their Creator will do in their days!
Well, here’s to the adventure! Looking forward to continuing the exploration of WHY we are here and posting updates about what we discover as well as (hopefully shortly) recording our epic departure.
I’m going to take things in a radically different direction here for a moment. This post is for anyone who might be just a little too comfortable in their perfectly conceived lifestyle cocoon (including myself). And it is ESPECIALLY for anyone who relegates conspiracy theories to Hollywood and nut cases. Near Elberton, Georgia I have seen THE Conspiracy written in stone with my own eyes. Many of you might not be aware of the monument that stands there on the highest hill of the countryside in the middle of nowhere. Ever since I found out about it a few years ago, I have been extremely curious to see it for myself. In March, as we were travelling from Florida to Pennsylvania via Georgia, we added a little detour away from the east cost to check it out.
There’s a short video below from clips that I took while we were there, with a brief narration that I added later – but I wanted to expound in greater detail some additional resources for the rightfully curious as well as some of my own thoughts that I’ve collected along the way.
The Georgia Guidestones are an arrangement of massive, granite stones weighing nearly 120 tons and standing over 19 feet tall which have been engraved with 10 directives in 8 major world languages. The directives are these:
Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity.
Unite humanity with a living new language.
Rule passion – faith – tradition – and all things with tempered reason.
Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
Balance personal rights with social duties.
Prize truth – beauty – love – seeking harmony with the infinite.
Be not a cancer on the earth – Leave room for nature – Leave room for nature.
You might find yourself thinking that some of these sound a little creepy but others seem like good, sound principles. But do not be enticed! Remember that a full glass of water with only a drop or two of arsenic in it will still kill you.
There is a much bigger picture at work here. These counterfeit 10 Commandments are also internally inconsistent and deceptive. They publish the agenda while attempting to temper and even conceal it with falsehood. A prime example is #1. In order to justify a philosophy that wants to eliminate roughly 75% of the entire world’s population it plays the “ballance with nature” card. But think about it logically. Population management is inherently UNnatural. Any intervention to change natural processes – from contraception to fetuscide / abortion – is in fact OUT OF BALANCE with nature!
In addition, when we critically examine the mechanisms of population reduction that are currently employed throughout the world we find a massive body of evidence that proves directive #1 has nothing to do with nature and in fact is quite detrimental to nature:
War (Self explanatory)
Foreign Corporate Water Control (For years corporations have been maneuvering to privately control the drinking water resources around the globe – particularly in third world countries where supply is limited and demand high – in order profit massively from controlling the most critical element necessary for human survival. Through the WTO and the World Bank they have been largely successful).
Engineered Famine (Global markets and regulations artificially restrict production by influencing prices and import/export law; genetically modified terminator seeds sold to third world countries have been engineered to be sterile – planting the seeds that come from the crop will not result in new crops; U.S. government subsidies favor farmers who grow crops for purposes other than human consumption, etc.)
Disease / Pollution / Contamination / Health Destruction (Vaccines, Engineered Viruses, GMOs, etc… If you think I’m off the deep end here, just read the quotes below… and then go do your research. There is almost nothing safe or healthy about our current medical establishment / FDA / Pharmaceutical superstructure. Not to mention the toxins and viruses deliberately developed and administered through a variety of subtle means to subdue population immune systems and result in sickness and death.)
Fetuscide (The semantically correct term for the misnomer “abortion.” Language is manipulated to confuse and deceive. What does “abortion” mean? Go look it up in an older dictionary. By definition, an “abortion” is a natural process and includes miscarriage. Fetuscide or Aborticide on the other hand are the willfull destruction an an unborn person.)
One might take issue with me connecting these atrocities to the 10 “guidelines” above and try to make the argument that the authors would also have been opposed to such morbid means and results. But I submit that the authors of the directives would have to be either completely ignorant and naive or overconfident in their cause to attempt avoiding the logical conclusions of their principles encapsulated in the 5 mechanisms above.
War is an inevitable result of at least #4, #5, and #6, because who exactly gets to determine what is reasonable, fair, and just? For instance, much of the Islamic world thinks it’s entirely fair and just that all Christians, Jews, or other infidels either convert to Islam or die.
Guidelines #7 and #8 – when considered together – reveal that the authors’ definition of “petty laws” are rather the Common Laws of inherent Creator-given rights that should otherwise protect the individual from being enslaved by the relatively modern concept of “social duties.” The very existence of “social duty” must by nature infringe on personal freedom because it requires that a fallible human source determine what is socially required, rather than every individual on a level playing field being accountable to their Creator for their conduct towards other individuals. Thus, Creator-given rights are usurped and replaced by Socially Granted rights and duties.
As characteristic of every man-made law, the lawmakers assume their laws do not apply to them. This fact is exposed by and reveals principle #9 as a complete fraud. The authors were not interested in absolute truth, but in a truth of their own fabrication. Cases in point: The mysterious spokesman for the organization that commissioned and funded the Stones used a fictitious name in all his dealings and never revealed the organization he represented. As if this wasn’t “priz[ing] truth” enough – the spokesman claimed he took the fictitious name R.C. Christian because he was a Christians himself and that the 10 guidelines were based on his beliefs. I have no idea what Bible they were reading, but maybe they should have considered the fate of Nimrod’s Tower of Babel before they added #3 to their list.
Do you think I am being extreme, even paranoid? Actually my words are too soft! The threat can only be truly driven home by the searing words of the world’s elite themselves. Go back up and re-read the list of 10 directives. Then re-read my list of the 5 mechanisms by which these directives are being achieved (just read the 5 concepts in bold). Now ponder the perceived gap between the two lists. Now, read the quotes below and marvel at the way the dots connect:
“Society has no business to permit degenerates to reproduce their kind” Theodore Roosevelt
“A total world population of 250-300 million people, a 95% decline from present levels, would be ideal.” Ted Turner, in an interview with Audubon magazine
“There is a single theme behind all our work–we must reduce population levels. Either governments do it our way, through nice clean methods, or they will get the kinds of mess that we have in El Salvador, or in Iran or in Beirut. Population is a political problem. Once population is out of control, it requires authoritarian government, even fascism, to reduce it… Our program in El Salvador didn’t work. The infrastructure was not there to support it. There were just too goddamned many people… To really reduce population, quickly, you have to pull all the males into the fighting and you have to kill significant numbers of fertile age females… The quickest way to reduce population is through famine, like in Africa, or through disease like the Black Death…” Thomas Ferguson, State Department Office of Population Affairs
“The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood
“In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill…. But in designating them as the enemy, we fall into the trap of mistaking symptoms for causes. All these dangers are caused by human intervention and it is only through changed attitudes and behavior that they can be overcome. The real enemy, then, is humanity itself.” Alexander King, Bertrand Schneider – Founder and Secretary, respectively,
The Club of Rome, The First Global Revolution, pgs 104-105, 1991
“In order to stabilize world population, we must eliminate 350,000 people per day. It is a horrible thing to say, but it is just as bad not to say it.” J.Cousteau, 1991 explorer and UNESCO courier
“A cancer is an uncontrolled multiplication of cells; the population explosion is an uncontrolled multiplication of people…. We must shift our efforts from the treatment of the symptoms to the cutting out of the cancer. The operation will demand many apparently brutal and heartless decisions.” Stanford Professor ” Paul Ehrlich in The Population Bomb
“The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.” Dr. Henry Kissinger New York Times, Oct. 28, 1973
“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac,”  …  “The elderly are useless eaters” … “World population needs to be decreased by 50%” Dr. Henry Kissinger
“We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order.” David Rockefeller
“War and famine would not do. Instead, disease offered the most efficient and fastest way to kill the billions that must soon die if the population crisis is to be solved. AIDS is not an efficient killer because it is too slow. My favorite candidate for eliminating 90 percent of the world’s population is airborne Ebola (Ebola Reston), because it is both highly lethal and it kills in days, instead of years. “We’ve got airborne diseases with 90 percent mortality in humans. Killing humans. Think about that. “You know, the bird flu’s good, too. For everyone who survives, he will have to bury nine” Dr. Eric Pianka University of Texas evolutionary ecologist and lizard expert, showed solutions for reducing the world’s population to an audience on population control
“No one will enter the New World Order unless he or she will make a pledge to worship Lucifer. No one will enter the New Age unless he will take a Luciferian Initiation.” David Spangler, Director of Planetary Initiative, United Nations
Women in the Netherlands who are deemed by the state to be unfit mothers should be sentenced to take contraception for a prescribed period of two years.” Marjo Van Dijken (author of the bill in the Netherlands) in the Guardian
Childbearing should be a punishable crime against society, unless the parents hold a government license. All potential parents should be required to use contraceptive chemicals, the government issuing antidotes to citizens chosen for childbearing.” David Brower, first Executive Director of the Sierra Club
“The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes.” Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.” Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“The Planetary Regime might be given responsibility for determining the optimum population for the world and for each region and for arbitrating various countries’ shares within their regional limits. Control of population size might remain the responsibility of each government, but the Regime would have some power to enforce the agreed limits.” Obama’s science czar John P. Holdren: From a book he helped write ‘Ecoscience’
“The drive of the Rockefellers and their allies is to create a one-world government combining supercapitalism and Communism under the same tent, all under their control…. Do I mean conspiracy? Yes I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent.” Congressman Larry P. McDonald, 1976, killed in the Korean Airlines 747 that was  shot down by the Soviet Union
“Today, America would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order. Tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told that there were an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well-being granted to them by the World Government.” Dr. Henry Kissinger, Bilderberger Conference, Evians, France, 1991
So, as you can clearly see – the sole motive is control and power. It has nothing to do with nature or any other “noble” cause. It is their quest to achieve absolute, god-like control over every facet of people’s lives and decisions.
Do not fear. Be aware. Be alert. Be sober. KNOW YOUR CREATOR AND BE KNOWN BY YOUR CREATOR! The only other option is to be a slave. In truth, you are already enslaved in so many ways that you cannot imagine. But there is such thing as complete freedom. And Kissinger was wrong about pretty much everything – including that “every man fears the unknown.” Many might fear the unknown, but you do not have to be one of them!
Well, we made it! We’re in Winnipeg! (12km west of the perimeter on #1, anyway, but that counts!) We’re settled in our cozy warm trailer (heat cranked as it’s down to 35F / almost 0C outside now, and judging from the ice on the ground around our water hook-ups it might get even colder yet tonight). Hmmmmm….
We wanted to call you all (yes even you strangers who might happen across the blog), but we haven’t figured out how to get our cell phones switched over to Canada roaming yet [Verizon gave us an access code to use once we got here but it didn’t work and we don’t have a cell phone signal to speak of at the campground]… BUT our handy dandy AutoNet Mobile router has 40% signal to some other cell network and that’s enough to get this post out as a close second and regrettably impersonal alternate option.
Thank you for all the comments! I wish I could respond to them all in depth. They’re so fun to read and it’s encouraging knowing others are traveling with us.
Long day… We hit the road at 8:30am and had several stops along the way, but we rolled into the campground right around 9pm after an hour or so of driving through the flooded southern plains of central Manitoba, which was actually a perfect backdrop for contemplating an upcoming post that will probably be titled something like “Death by Bureaucracy: Archetypes of the Hidden Worldwide Slave State that permeates everything and can be found in something as simple as trying to legitimately cross the longest undefended border in the world…” It will ramble on about how we’re all slaves to a system that controls us far more than we realize until little moments give us glimpses, but then the glimpses pass and we forget again… about how – even with the level of freedom we seek to attain in our travels – there is yet a strong opposition in the world to anything that resembles true freedom (not freedom of “choice” to do whatever one wants, but true freedom)… about how there is a spiritual freedom that should be impervious to such encroachment – that certainly goes far deeper than any physical freedom to do or say – but how even that can be stifled if the mind gets in the way… about how odd it is that so many people can’t fathom or process or even contemplate that some crazy folks (like us) would actually NOT want to live in one place all the time… (the simple question, “Where do you live?” in fact belies how narrow minded people can be)… and, how foolish it is that every modern societal construct in our fancy western culture is wired to the fundamental assumption that one must have a home address (not merely a mailing address mind you) where they can be found most of the time… how silly would the Bedouins or other ancient and modern nomadic peoples think you were if you asked them “Where do you live? … Where is your home?” …….. After today I can completely relate, and I’m sure none of the 3 border crossing guards at each of the 3 levels of redundant-question-asking-security (2 of which were completely new to me in crossing) had any idea how silly I thought their questions were. Ah…. it was once such a simple thing to cross the border. I did it every weekend for a year (give or take a few weekends and most of those when I was in Mississipi) when Renee and I were engaged and I was stationed at Minot, ND. And as long as you seem “normal” and they can measure you and quantify you and rely on you to act predictably (like pretty much everyone else) you can slide right through no problem. Well, no such simplicity here. HOWEVER, we did get through, and YHWH can certainly provide crossings in even more impossible scenarios in the future.
There, now I don’t even need to write that post after all.
So, after a cruise around the campground and an hour and a half setup (connect electric, off the hitch, level front to rear, slide-out, stabilize and level side-to-side, connect sewer line, connect water line, etc etc) while Renee got the kids tucked away in their beds it will finally feel like we’re here after a couple “normal” nights’ sleep that aren’t followed by driving days. YEA! See some of you soon! Although we are thinking that we might just lay low this weekend and get some rest, recover from travel, settle in, tend to some loose ends (like showers and laundry), that kind of thing… if we can get away with it 🙂 We’ll see how it goes.
Since I’m posting this, we do / should have normal email access, which might be the best way of contact until we get the cell service figured out… ok… supper and then bed!
This was the picture I was taking after bailing off my bike ride home from the metro today when a lady not-quite shouted across the road “Who are you and why are you taking pictures?” About a year ago, when I decided I was going to get serious about pursuing this photography thing that I was enjoying so much, I knew I had a LOT to learn, but I never would have imagined the persecution that would come with it. Ok, I’m being dramatic, because if I had my druthers I’d hardly interact with people… ever… well, there are a couple exceptions, but you get the idea.
I tried to inject a little excitement into my reaction this time – “The sunset! I’m a photographer and I’m just taking a picture of the sunset. Do you want to see?” I approached her and could tell she was starting to let her guard down a little. We chatted for a bit, I showed her the shot, and she explained why she was suspicious even though I had already guessed as much. Apparently that “private” neighborhood (which had the misfortune of being directly under that sunset at that moment) had seen its share of suspicious characters driving through taking pictures of people’s property. I told her I had no problem with her asking what I was doing and said I was sorry to cause her any concern. I hope I left her with the impression that people taking pictures aren’t necessarily up to no good.
It’s not just the terrorists. Other evil morons are picking away at that fabric of a reasonable society through their stupidity, selfishness, and greed. I never blame the people who challenge me when I’m taking photos in public. It’s not their fault. I might hold a grudge for two minutes if they’re rude about it, but I’m always aware that the blame really falls at the feet of those who abuse our freedoms; providing the impetus for authorities to take away (and the populous to surrender) our normal expectancy of independence and openness in our own society. How much sense does it make to give away something so that it can be protected!!!??? Hello? It’s all fine and dandy that our freedom is protected, but when it doesn’t even belong to us any more what good does it do?
I photograph in DC a lot, so these kind of challenges are something I experience often (I’m a little too interested in things other than the monuments to blend in with the tourists). I find it incredibly ironic that some people get completely bent out of shape because I like to take pictures of interesting things in public places when their picture was taken a million times that day by the bastions of security cameras peppering the city buildings and streets. Just look around some time when you’re in a big city: overhangs, street corners, building walls, every dark half-ball shaped thing the size of a grapefruit is a camera, and of course there’s the older, more obvious long brick-shaped ones. Shouldn’t we be objecting to having our picture constantly taken all the time like that? Oh, right, but it’s for our protection. And not for commercial use anyway.
Do I hate security cameras? No. I’m making a point. We are just as quick to throw the rights of others away as we are to throw our own rights away. Sometimes I’m surprised by how quickly that is, that’s all I’m saying. Then again, what if I was a bad guy and Joe Citizen never reported me? There are always so many sides to everything. I guess I just never would have thought that the steepest learning curve in photography would be the people skills (especially when people are the last thing I’m interested in photographing). I want to learn how help people see in ways they’ve never seen before. I’m getting a lot of practice anyway… one day maybe I’ll be able to turn a confrontation into another person’s excitement at opening their eyes wider to the world around them just as easily as I pointed my camera at the sky and pressed the shutter release tonight.
