Happy New Year 2023

As we begin a New Year I like to look back over the past year... Last New Year's eve Shirley slipped on the driveway, fell and broke a tiny bone in her hand, the metacarpus... it's the bone just below the little finger.

It took her most of the year to recover from that fall. In addition to the hand mending, her back was damaged. Nothing broken, just painful bruising. Much better now. 

We also started the New Year without water. We found there was a hole in the well pipe. So we ended up replacing the submersible pump along with 560 feet of well piping. 

You know how things happen in three's? Not that long after I heard a different sound in the tractor... so thought I should have it checked out. The tractor was 20 years old, so it was time for a new one anyway! 

This broken chair, which we inherited from my father years ago, reminded me of the way life seemed to be going. It was beyond repair, so I cut it up for firewood. Fortunately, God has blessed us this year despite the broken things. I was encouraged by this verse in Ezekiel 34:16 where He said,

“I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with judgment."

In August we got delivery of our repaired tractor along with the new one. It only took a day to sell once Shirley posted it on Marketplace. Amazing!

Our neighbours, Russell and David agreed to go 50/50 on the purchase of a log splitter.  Before we even picked it up we had three more neighbours who were interested, so the cost of the splitter looked really good split by five.

You can see by the size of this tree how difficult it would have been to split these huge blocks by hand.

I had so much split wood on this load with my bucket extension the tractor could hardly move this to the woodshed!

We like to celebrate our anniversary with my sister Rose and husband Morian at Butchart Gardens. We were married five years and one day after them.

Our grandson Seth brought his soon-to-be bride, Barbara, to visit us, and we did the Edith Point hike together. They are now officially engaged.

Our family all gathered together at Cannon Beach for several days for Thanksgiving. How lovely to walk on the beach and see the sunsets.

This blue heron was walking with a purpose! We never had a day there when we didn't walk on the beach.

As we all left to return to our homes, we stopped for breakfast at Camp 18.  They call pancakes "Flatcars." They are huge! ...and be warned. Three is too many! Especially after we shared 2-12" cinnamon rolls.

For us to get about 15" of snow overnight is nothing like Buffalo, New York... but some years we don't even get snow. The good news it didn't stay too long, and once it warmed up and started to rain it disappeared in a day.

The most "Life Changing" thing for us this year was a decision we made in June to begin writing out the Bible. Before Gutenburg invented the printing press in 1492, the only way that the Bible was available to people was that portions of scriptures were hand written and shared. "What a great job," we thought, "to spend your life writing out God's Word!" 

So I Googled it up and was surprised to find there are people today who love writing out the Bible. It is a beautiful way to spend time with God and grow closer to Him. We decided that we would like to do it too. As soon as we wake up we start the day with prayer and writing scripture. We cannot believe how much we have learned. 

We are looking forward to the New Year with great faith that our Lord will continue to lead us to accomplish His plan. 

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; and give you peace."  Numbers 6:24-26

Sherwin & Shirley Goerlitz

778-922-6750.   778-922-6751

Glad to be Back On Mayne Island

This started out to be my Friday evening "Grateful Post," but it has taken longer to do than Friday evening. We most certainly have a lot to be grateful for, and coming back to Mayne Island tops the list. It has been four weeks now since we set foot back on our island property.

On Friday June 25th we had ferry reservations for the 6:00 pm sailing back to Mayne Island. 

Stopping at the Quay Market, we picked up a couple of slices of vegetarian pizza before boarding the ferry.

On board it felt to us a lot like being on a cruise ship. The ferry was loaded mostly with people who were on holiday enjoying the trip... and for the moment we felt like we too were on holiday!

As we were walking laps around the upper deck to get a little exercise, a young lady kindly offered to take our picture with the two of us together.  

I watched this super ferry gaining on us, and as it was passing us, I caught it with Mt. Baker proudly showing off in the background. 

The red and white light house on Mayne Island was a welcome sight. We were almost home again!

As soon as we got home in short order we started unloading... and used the tractor to save a lot of lifting. I never anticipated how much the tractor would help us.

The width of the tractor bucket was just 2 inches less than the landing at the front entry, and with Shirley's guidance I drove as close as possible and never left a scratch on anything.

I think our first night here was the hottest night we have experienced in a long time.

The sunset is always awesome... 

But the second night we opted to set up the blowup bed on the deck to beat the heat. I was awakened just after 12 midnight by the brightness of a full moon... which could easily be mistaken as a sunrise! Each night became cooler and cooler, until we were so chilly sleeping outside we moved the blowup bed into the living room and slept there until the Big Steel Box arrived with our favourite bed.

The next day, being Sabbath, we went for a little drive around and took a very enjoyable tour of Mayne Island's Japanese Garden... about which I will do a separate blog post. It is amazingly beautiful!

The Big Steel Box with most of our stuff did not arrive until July 13. We watched it coming from our deck. That big white box on a Totem truck was right on the front.

The tow truck driver was amazing. He had to back up the hill from our front gate so he could drop the box and still get out. He did that 500 feet without stopping to readjust for the curves.

What took us the better part of a week to load up, we were able to unload and stack into the house in a day and a half.... thanks to Mr. John Deere.

We never planned to unload this by ourselves.... but the tractor took the hard lifting out of the job. I kept track of how many loads it took to empty the Big Steel Box... it was 32 tractor loads. The last 21 bankers boxes we took three at a time with a wheelbarrow.

Unfortunately, the tractor died one trip short of emptying the entire box. It took me longer to figure out how to get it running again than it did to unpack the Big Steel Box.  Turned out there was an electrical short at the battery. Even after cleaning the battery posts and the clamp, I didn't realize there were two small wires that connect the starter to the side of the battery clamp. When all else failed I took them apart and scraped them clean. At last it finally worked! 

Praire Coast Equipment, the John Deere dealer, has an amazing service... they have retired service men with many years of experience who work remotely to help diagnose problems. He sent me diagrams. He helped me find more fuses than the main fuse box, and all of them were good. Ben told me after we finally had it running again that he usually doesn't spend much more than half an hour with each customer... but since I was so remote from a John Deere dealer, he stayed with me longer than usual. He was Great!

While looking for the "in line" fuses, I discovered something very unusual. I found a hammer that appears to have been lodged in the engine for many, many years! See the rusty hammer head?

It was wedged between the firewall next to the fuel tank and the engine... and it was difficult to remove. So I put a rope around the handle and pulled sideways on it, eventually getting it out.

Once removed, it became apparent that it had been there a long time rubbing against the flywheel. A notch was carved out of the fibreglass handle as well as the iron hammerhead, but it didn't seem to affect the running of the tractor. Pretty crazy, eh? I have no idea how it ever got there.

Our life here has new adventures every day. 

Some of My Best of 2020

It is interesting how journalling my prayers every morning evolved into a daily devotional... and how after doing this for five months, I started to create graphics on photos for each devotional... and then to share them with a few friends.

Here are a few of my favourites... in no particular order.

God is Giving

God is Immutable

God is Infinite

God is my Rock

God is Gentle

God is Unchanging

God is Love

Let Go and Let God

God Speaks Without Words

The whole world speaks to us through everything that God created. There is beauty in each of the changing seasons. May we take time to be with God in nature where He speaks to us without words.

Just one closing thought:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." -2 Corinthians 5:17

May God bless you with good health, good things to do, and the opportunity to share His love with those around you. Our best wishes to you in this New Year.

Sherwin & Shirley

Prayer -Word of the Year 2019

At the beginning of 2019 on the inspiration of my daughter Sherilee, who has been picking a "Word of the Year for more than 10 years... and my good wife Shirley, who has been doing this even before Sherilee started, I did my first "Word of the Year."

If you decide to pick "Word of the Year for 2020" take enough time to consider more than one possibility and the right word will soon show itself as the overwhelming favourite for you.

I could not have predicted the enormous blessing that doing this project has been to me. In a sketch book with 72 pages I have filled it with quotes on Prayer from a wide variety of sources and friends.

Oswald Chambers devotional book, "My Utmost for His Highest" has been my devotional book this year... and has been a rich source of inspiration.

I left out about 20 quotes and tried to pick the very best ones for this blog post. With the sketch book on my lap and my iPhone camera, I snapped the photos sitting in our family room. I hope this helps you get the idea.  Without further dialog, just browse through my quotes on Prayer and enjoy.

Tim Keller is the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City... he has several great YouTube sermons on Prayer.

Oswald Chambers devotional book.

Michelle Ule has been a disciple of Oswald Chambers and provides a daily spin to help apply each days devotional.

This is the first part of Jeremiah 29:11-13

Amazing commitment to Him!

This leads into...

My daughter Sherilee shared this choice quote with me by Mary Oliver.

The answer may not be what we think it should be.

The chapter "Asking to Give" in Christ's Object Lessons is a rich source of wisdom on prayer.

The YouTube video "Life Changing Prayer" was a game changer for me. I pray Colossians 1:9 for someone every single day now.

From another great YouTube video on prayer.

Several sources advocate using 4 or 5 elements in our prayers... Starting with Praise and Adoration, then Confession, followed with Thanksgiving and Gratitude, and the finishing with Intercession or Supplication and Petition.

Shirley and I have been writing out our prayers most every day, and she tells me she not only starts but also ends her prayers with Praise and Adoration. There is no wrong way. Do what feels right to you.