Rubs and Scrapes

We like to go on long walks at Whetstone Boys Ranch.  Long walks are good for the soul.  In addition to pondering the meaning of life and the mysteries of nature, we enjoy looking for signs of deer.  More specifically, we like looking for signs of “the big buck.”

He’s out there…teasing us.

We sometimes see this buck in the morning, during our devotional time, through the large glass windows that enclose the living room area.  Through the binoculars, it almost looks like he’s sticking out his tongue at us.  On the few mornings that Brandon has waited for him in the tree stand, this buck has artfully avoided the trap.
So on the last walk, our first young man was intent on finding another place to set up “Mr. Maxwell’s” stand.  I was amazed at his ability to effortlessly identify the small signs that had slipped my attention:  bark rubbed off a tree, hoof scrapes in the dirt, tiny little droppings no bigger than a rabbit’s, and to my astonishment, a wispy tuft of hair caught on the barbed wire fence.

I’m still a bit of a city boy, so the hunter’s sixth sense for such things is still beyond my powers of observation.  But I’m working on it, and I’m sure that in time, I’ll be able to track a deer in the dark…by mere scent.

What I’m getting at here is that second nature is exactly that.  Second.  It doesn’t come natural.  It’s learned.  Many things that a healthy person takes for granted are actually behaviors learned from parents, mentors and siblings who have guided us along the right path.  Not all boys have these role models.  And even if given the opportunity, not all boys pay attention long enough to learn from them.

I’m picking up a lot about hunting and tracking at Whetstone Boys Ranch.  Our boys will pick up more important things.  Trophy deer are nice, but treasures in heaven are better.

Good Fences

Good fences makes good men.

Because good men don’t let their horses run into the road.

Because good men take time to build something that lasts.

Because it takes manly strength (and a good sense of humor) to clear and tighten a barbed wire fence without the fancy tools…and when your chainsaw breaks down.

Because there are few greater pleasures in life than spending a sunny fall morning in the woods;  and men who understand this have a better chance of being good.

Good fences make good men, because good men learn from other good men how to do stuff the right way…and when things don’t go right, they learn how good men handle getting angry.

Whetstone Boys Ranch has 280 acres of opportunity to build good fences…and good men.

When Life Gives You Walnuts...

Twelve giant walnut trees stand guard at Whetstone Boys Ranch, their huge arms framing almost any view from the house.  In addition to providing shade and shelter, they are beginning to take on the added responsibility of therapy for our boys…or for the time being, boy.  

One activity we’ve begun since moving operations from downtown West Plains, which has a noticeable lack of trees and an abundance of glass store fronts, is throwing walnuts.  (Boys will be boys, after all.)  In a few shorts weeks, we have devised a number of engaging games with the thousands of walnuts which make routine walking a health hazard.  There is horse-shoe walnuts, where we try to hit a 50 gallon red feed bucket:  1 pt if you hit it, 2 pts if it bounces out, and 3 points if it lands and stays in the bucket.  There is around-the-world walnuts, where you try to hit three perimeter tree trunks in succession.  If you miss any one of them on your second “chance,” you go all the way back to the beginning.  

And there more walnut games in the works:  a version of Frisbee golf played with walnuts, stick-ball played with walnuts, lawn-bowling/shuffle board version to be played by rolling walnuts on the smooth concrete of the wrap-around porch.    

  

Maybe this is a bad idea.  I can see at some point having to discipline a boy who throws a walnut at me, or through a window.  Maybe gathering walnuts into buckets and transporting them to a shelling station will be better, since it allows opportunity for both work and revenue.   But the fact remains that we can’t eliminate every loose impediment from our 280 acres.   On the whole, walnut competitions seem like a good example of clean, healthy fun.  Better to teach boys how to act responsibly within their surrounding, than to ban them from interaction.  

Seen from this perspective, the physical universe God has created is a perpetual playground for mankind.  All He expects is that we use a little imagination and follow a few basic rules.

In other words, when life gives you walnut… aim them at something non-breakable and devise a point system.     

The Book of Firsts

 

On the Whetstone Boys Ranch kitchen counter, there sits a notebook which we have dubbed the “The Book of Firsts.”   Since this last week was our first week, we made a lot of entries.

Below, I have copied one of the first journal entries from our first boy.  As his teacher, I am proud of his descriptive writing.  As his mentor, I am proud of his introspection.

Yesterday morning, Mr. Maxwell popped on the lights around 6:00 o’clock and said, “We’re going.”  Excitedly, I jumped out of bed and into my camo, then threw on my  boots. Within moments, Mr. Maxwell and I were out the door and off to the stand to scout some deer.  The ground was saturated with dew, and it made me look as though I had been wading in a pond.  Trampling through the thick pastures, we spooked 3 deer which gave us both a bad feeling that the deer were moving early.

As we walked through the woods down an old road, memories of hunting with my dad ran through my mind, and I couldn’t stop thinking about all the mornings before sunrise I had followed my dad through the woods on the way to the stand.  Whetstone’s so-called “buddy stand” turned out to be an ancient single stand that had grown into the tree.  So, we thought it through and decided I would sit on the ground, a couple trees away from the tree stand.

As the sun rose through the trees, birds started singing, turkeys chattered off in the distance, and squirrels fought over acorns.  All of this combined gave me a warm feeling.  It made me feel nothing but happiness; all my worries were swept away.

I think we’re off to a good start.

It's Official!

 It’s official!  Today, Whetstone began “sharpening” its first boy.  In our first ceremony, during which he symbolically branded his own pair of leather work gloves, we began the process of refining through holy fire.

For privacy reasons, I won’t share much about him right now.  Just imagine him as your teenage son, or brother, or nephew or neighbor.  He’s a boy who needs help at a crucial juncture in his life.  He’s a boy with God-given talents, who is searching like all boys, for his role as a man.

If nothing else, Whetstone Boys Ranch will present him with an authentic vision of what this looks like, according to God’s Word, God’s Son, and God’s Holy Spirit.  Please pray that in the coming year, he and the others who will hopefully join him soon, will be convinced, “that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate [them] from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Toilet Paper

Some little things are big things.  Like toilet paper.  Toilet paper is a little thing, but without it, you’re in big trouble.  

One week ago, we were about to be in some big trouble.  We had been so preoccupied with issues like insurance and intake, that we had run dangerously low on White Cloud.  Each of us had commented on the fact that something had to be done – and each of us probably thought someone else needed to do it.  

Not my job description. 

About this time, a total stranger burst into our office with a bag of goodies.  She had heard of Whetstone Boys Ranch, and she had immediately begun acquiring items that she thought would be useful:  a spare garden hose, old textbooks, clothing, washcloths, sheets, and…you guessed it, toilet paper!  At just the right moment, and in the fullness of time.  I mean, we were literally down to the last sheet.  

So she bursts in, drops off two black garbage bags of household items that she had carted over in her rolling basket, and without making any eye contact or small talk, declares to no one in particular, “I thought you guys could use this stuff.”  She then elbows her way out as fast as she had come.  

Now I’m not saying that God is working behind the scenes to guarantee we have toilet paper.  I’m not saying He isn’t.  What I am saying is that we serve a God who created the biggest of the big and the smallest of the small.  Size is no issue to Him.  From the furthest star to the tiniest particle – neither of which we can fathom or measure – He designed it all.  He cares for it all.  He sustains it all.  

And if He should choose to withdraw his breath, it will all disappear in the blink of an eye.  

It’s all a part of His job description. 

Pool Tables

 Recently, during one of our weekend work extravaganzas, we had to move a pool table.  Ever been involved in moving one of these beasts?  If not, count your lucky stars.  It’s nothing I want to do again, any time soon.
The first thing you need is about 6 guys.  No more, no less.  If you have more, you run the risk of having too many Chiefs and not enough Indians.  The entire experience can quickly devolve into a nasty power struggle about the best way to get the job done.   Alliances are formed, back room deals are struck, and before you know it’s turned into a bad episode of Survivor.  Quite unpleasant…although the TV ratings might justify another season…or eighteen.

If you have less, the obvious drawback is the increased risk of casualties and other collateral damage.  You don’t just bounce back from a half ton of marble slate landing on your foot, or from getting pinched between it and a door frame.

Fortunately, we had 6 dependable guys (and one dog) who weren’t interested in drama and who were happy to carry their load.  We did have a few scary seconds when it looked like the driver of the pick-up truck we used as a make-shift dolly, might lurch forward too quickly and leave us hanging, but everything turned out alright in the end.  The pool table that was in the middle of Brandon and Laura’s dining/living room, is now safely stored in the garage.

The metaphysical reality is that we all have “pool tables” cluttering up our living space, don’t we?  Most often these live-in elephants are invisible, like guilt or repressed anger.  Sometimes, like with the at-risk and troubled boys in need of residential treatment at Whetstone, they are unavoidable – like a felony offense or a drug addiction.

Regardless, these things can’t be removed by ourselves.  We need help…and lots of it.  Beginning in October, Whetstone will be a place where such assistance will be available 24/7.  Our treatment program will involve not just the three staff already in place, but the resources of this community in Howell County, and of churches and communities around the country.  There are literally thousands of people praying for these boys right now.

What’s a little pool table when you have that kind of support?