Category: singing (Page 5 of 5)

Twice a year we gather as a community for a week to work on projects for our teacher, Michael, and his family; and to provide an opportunity for guests to come by and help out and meet the folks here, etc.

And so, it was that time again for “Ranchfest” — Spring 2012!

The men had two projects they were working on throughout the week: building a cabin for the community’s betrothed couple; and doing finishing work on the inside of Michael’s cottage.

The Cabin

For the cabin, we started on Friday with a concrete slab pour. This was the group’s first real concrete pour on the land, and the guys did a lot of study and prep work in getting things ready. Here is the area formed with the rebar:

And here begins the concrete pour:

And more of the pouring and after “screeding” (or spreading) it out with the long 2×4 that spanned the whole width:

Here the concrete is tamped lightly by what they call a “jitterbug”, and a “bull float” is used to smooth out the concrete surface:

And then it was edged so the edges are rounded, to help keep them from chipping. One fellow also went around the sides with a hammer, lightly tapping the forms to help keep the concrete from “honeycombing”:

Here’s the groom-to-be and his improvised concrete texturizer:

And finally, the betrothed couple thought they’d mark a memory of the event:

Friday Night Sermon

On Friday evenings, Michael is going through in an in-depth way the last chapters he included in a book he wrote, which was an article series he wrote called “What is the Gospel?”:

Passover

Ranchfest times are often planned around the Passover time, which we observe as a teaching method for the children (and as a memorial for the adults) of the types and shadows used in the Passover feast representing Christ.

Here is the Passover “ceremony” time:

And the seder plate, with each food element representing some part of the event of the Passover time of the Hebrew people in and leaving Egypt:

We also sang Psalms 113-118 from our psalters, and here is a video of a few of those psalms being sung:

The Cottage

As I mentioned, the other project was working on the internals of Michael’s cottage, putting up insulation and siding.

And here is some of the completed work:

Here are the men cutting the siding:

And here is some staining work of the siding being done:

More Cabin

Once the concrete slab was completed, it was time to build and raise the walls. Here’s the cabin with two of the walls raised:

And then with all four walls in place:

Apparently, the plan is to have a second story; and so, they are using a 10 inch I-beam spanning the width, which will be the support for the upper level floor:

More Cottage

Back at the cottage, after the siding was in place and stained or painted, the window sills and trim were cut, installed and painted with a clear wood protector:

And here are a couple of final pictures of the cottage work for the week:

Ladies Work

Besides all of the group meal preparations the ladies did for the week, they also had other projects, which this Ranchfest included sewing for the Michael’s family and snapping mesquite pods, which they use for their mesquite coffee.

The main sewing project was for curtains for the cottage, although there was some clothing-making worked on. Here are some sewing preparations being done for some clothing:

And here, even the younger ones helped:

Seems to be a fun time too!

And here, one of the mothers is functioning as a seamstress and a lounge chair 🙂 :

And finally, here are some of the ladies and children helping with the mesquite pods:

All in all, it was a very nice time of fellowship, community and work. It’s tiring, but rewarding as well. We did have a few guest families that visited this year, and it was a pleasure to see them again or meet them, and we thank them for the help and work they provided.

We are grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to gather in His name to work together, and we’re thankful for the teacher He has granted us.

— David

In a past blog post about fellowship activities around here, I mentioned the singing we do together on the Lord’s Day. We had recently gone through our “hymnal” (which is just a collections of hymns we had put together) and removed probably 2/3 of the hymns as they were either doctrinally incorrect or just fluff pieces with no real spiritual meat; and now, it seems over time we’re leaning more toward the singing of the Psalms from our psalter as our preferred song choices, given that they are based on God’s Word, where we believe God has dictated how He should be worshiped (see the regulative principle of worship).

In our singing of the Psalms, we’re also trying to learn them by heart so that when the Psalter is not around, either at times during the day now, or perhaps if we’re ever prohibited from having it, we will be able to continue to make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

We’ve recorded our Psalm singing a couple of times now (which we hope to continue to do), and since some of you might be learning from the same Psalter we are, or even if you’re not, I wanted to share them with you. I look forward to listening to them myself as hearing songs repeatedly helps me memorize them:

(This is not the performance-oriented “worship” that occurs in most “churches” today; it is just simple a capella Psalm singing.)

It is our prayer that God glorifies Himself through us, at times of singing His praises, and throughout our lives in any way He might.

— David

Although the work we do on the land is important, one of the main reasons we’re all here is because the Lord has graciously granted us the fellowship of like-minded brethren. While some of it is serious, some of it is not so much; and God has afforded us the opportunities for leisure-types of fellowship with each other and with some of the events and people in the local communities.

Lord’s Days

On the Lord’s Days, we meet in the morning for singing (shown in this picture to the left) of Psalms (which for us are the Psalms from a psalter we purchased here), hymns and spiritual songs (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16); and then midday we commune around the table to enjoy the Lord’s provisions together in representation of being nourished by the spiritual provisions from God. We usually meet at different peoples’ homesteads each week, but in this picture we decided to go to the park in our town for this time of fellowship:

And after eating, the guys enjoyed some throwing of the horse shoes:

On a different day, the adults joined the children in a game of kick ball:

Community Work Days

We have set aside every first Wednesday of the month to be a community work day, where we all gather to work together in fellowship around the land, either on things that benefit the community in general (like working the roads) or to assits someone who might need help with a specific project:

This pair looks like they’re having way too much fun for pulling fence! 🙂

The ladies will get together during work day to help outside or to work on inside projects:

And then it’s time for some leisure together:

Means of Grace

The Lord has blessed us with a gifted teacher in Michael, for whom we are very thankful. In a given week, we will typically meet together as a group to be nourished by the means of grace God has graciously granted us.

The first meeting is a sermon, where Michael teaches. After an opening prayer, we sing a Psalm from memory to practice learning the psalter songs by heart, and then Michael preaches.

And the second is Saturday evenings, where we again sing Psalms from the psalter, and then have a question and answer time with Michael, which is followed by general fellowship time:

Childrens’ Plays

Several times since we’ve been here, the children have put together plays on various subjects (like Esther’story and Passover) and then have performed them for the community. Now, this is not cheap “community theater”; this is the real deal! We have to buy tickets, and they offer a concession stand at the performance. And it is worth it!

Curtain call:

Preparation and Education

In light of trying to live a preparedness life-style, Michael thought it would be important that we experience and learn what to do if we ever were to find ourselves having to survive in a cold weather situation. Now, coming from comfortable California and comfortable city life, I have an acute aversion to being cold; and so this was not going to really live up to the “fun” part of “Fellowship and Fun”; however, after some exhortations I tried to have a good attitude about it. There’s me in the back and in black, frozen solid (or at least I thought I was):

This was my shelter the first night. All I had were my clothes and a sleeping bag, no tent. It got down to 17 degrees that night. I’m pretty sure it was the coldest I’ve ever been, as my shivering kept waking me up:

However, part of my “experience” was for me to be set up the next night in a different situation, where we made fire beds on top of which we’d sleep (actually we only made a couple of beds, but I was allowed to have one of them 🙂 ). Here’s one of the guys helping dig the bed out for me. Needless to say, that night I was quite comfy; and when I awoke the next morning, I was so warm I couldn’t tell in the slightest how cold it really was, which again was 17 degrees. It was very nice:

Overall we learned quite a few things. Thanks to Michael for taking the time to teach us those things.

Also, after reading a few of the slave labor camp “Gulag” books by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, I was thankful to not have it as bad as they did, where temperatures would get to 60 below zero; and only then were they not forced to go work.

Neighbors

Soon after we moved here, one of our neighbors came by and introduced himself; and he has since become a good friend of the community. His name is Homer, and he is a very nice and generous man who, after being reared locally, is retiring now out here.

Here is Robert getting to ride along while Michael’s field is being baled for hay:

And here, Homer is giving rides on his dune buggy:

He also purchased and gave all of Michael’s children bicycles.

We pray the Lord grants him and his family salvation.

Community Events

During the year, there are various community events, some of which we might attend. Here are a few to which we’ve gone.

Interestingly (and I don’t believe incidentally) in our life paths, directed by God, Sue and I both enjoy listening to and have sung in barbershop quartets; and so we have gone to the local barbershop chorus’ annual show for the last couple of years:

This was the Coleman rodeo from the first summer:

And from this year, this is the Coleman rodeo parade:

We always pray we represent the Lord well when out in the community, for His glory. May the way we live be a witness to those around us here in the world, and to the principalities and powers in the heavenly realms, as a testament to His efficacious work in the hearts of sinners and to so great a salvation. Amen.

(Thanks to Jordan and her The Ranch Weekly blog for several of these pictures!)

— David