Like always, there’s lots going on with us! We’re still plugging away here in VA at Cedar Ranch Retreat Center/Calvary Crossroads. The calendar says it’s spring and it’s come once or twice and then left, but today it looks like Spring, so we’ll see if it decides to stay!
We had a great time of fellowship and refreshing at the SECC Pastor’s Conference in FL last month. Great teaching, here’s the link if you’re interested, SECCPC 2024 - Calvary Chapel Merritt Island (subsplash.com). The theme was “Hold Fast”. Time for any of us is short and there’s so much this world and our flesh tempts us to do that will keep us from doing all that The Lord has for us to do while we’re here. We need to remember that many around us are on their way to hell and we need to focus on doing all we can to live our lives for Jesus so that they see Him in all we say and do as we share the love of Christ with them! That’s the only way for a Christian to live their lives, right?
We also spent some time with friends and family and especially enjoyed our time with our grandkids! I was also able to help with a couple of projects and of course spent some time with Nick, Brittany, Melissa, and JJ! CC Savannah is growing and there’s lots of discipleship going on there. Please keep them all in your prayers!
While gone I was able to lead a Men’s Bible Study at Calvary Chapel Savannah, teach a Bible study at Faith Community Christian Fellowship in Nokomis, FL, and had a few mornings doing some one-on-one discipleship with several friends while in Sarasota.
I was blessed to get some much-needed rest and great fellowship while we stayed at Jim and Kelly Burke’s, who graciously hosted us while in Sarasota! Always love being at our home church and seeing so many of our friends and catching up! We managed to squeeze a few meals in here and there, a couple of sunsets and beach walks with some friends! We even made some new friends if you can believe that!
When we got back, we got right back to work and discipleship! Our Thursday morning breakfast and devos is going great. We usually have 10+ as we’re slowly going through Galatians as we allow The Holy Spirit to direct our conversations to what’s going on in our daily lives and then apply the principles we learn to our daily walk!
Tiffany’s trailer, the single mom with 5-year-old Liam, that flooded, finally dried and I’ve begun putting the bottom back together. There’s two layers of insulation and plastic that need to go back and a couple small plumbing issues that need fixed along the way. I got a little over half of the 1st layer done. Between the cold, rain, and other commitments here on the ranch, it’s taking longer than I anticipated, but she understands and they’re able to live in it so they’re happy.
We thought we had the leak in The Fisher’s roof fixed at the home that got flooded a couple months back, but it’s still leaking, so I get to go back up there soon to give it one more try before we start replacing the ridge vent. It’s got me baffled! Pray we’d figure it out this time!
We’ve had lots of extreme winds the past couple of months. Our trailer seems to be doing fine with it, but the skirting has had a couple of issues. Once it warms up enough and looks like it’s staying that way, I’ll need to secure it better. It’s also time to do my annual roof maintenance on all 3 trailers, and then check all seals, and clean everything. This is quite a process and depending on what I find, may end up with some repairs that take even more time and money! Trailer living at its best!
We had a couple of trees that blew over in the winds and were able to get them cut up and moved. Thankfully there was no damage to anything!
We’ve done a lot of things around the ranch as weather has permitted as we’re getting ready for summer. There’s been a few retreats and we’ve got a few more coming up before summer camp kicks in. If you’ve got Jr/Sr High aged kids in your family or church, you might consider sending them. Early registration ends at the end of the month. Here’s the link for more info, Cedar Ranch Retreat Center - Camps
This past Saturday we had over 100 volunteers come for a day. Some of them were local from church, we had about 35 students from Liberty University fulfilling their community service hours, and a group of about 25 from Grace Built Church, a CC in Waynesboro, VA doing a group mission trip, all show up to help.
We spent over 2 weeks, in between rains, getting the property prepped and ready so that when everyone was ready to go on Saturday, they could just grab what tools they needed and get busy. Some of the prep work involved initial landscape trimming, and prepping, purchasing materials and some tools, getting 15, 23-ton, large dump truck loads of 3 types of gravel delivered, the new parking areas prepped with a bobcat, and on and on. Most of that was done by me and 3-5 of the guys who are part of the programs here. We also had Andrew, who goes to church here and owns a landscape company, bring in his Bobcat, mini Ex, and part of his crew on Friday. They did some other landscape prep stuff and Andrew and I got the parking spots ready to put in stone and then laid the plastic and first level of stone Thursday and Friday.
Grace Built worked with some of the men from church to expand the obstacle course that is used for youth camp and put a huge dent in the project. We’ll need to finish that soon!
The rest of the volunteers worked on the following:
- Meal prep for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We had Danny’s famous pulled pork for dinner!
- Extensive indoor house cleaning
- Mulching and landscape lighting wiring around the front of the house
- Helping with the 3 new parking areas and installing the stone patio foundation and laying most of the stone at the cottage
- Extensive pool area cleanup and getting a few areas ready for new concrete
- Redoing 5 horse stalls at the barn
- Clearing both sides of the front and rear drives off all debris, trash, branches, vegetation, etc., to allow better mower passage
- Walking about 40 acres of land, picking up all debris, etc., to get ready for mowing
- Stump removal
- Tree/bush trimming throughout property
- Some electrical troubleshooting
It was a great day of The Body of Christ in action, all serving The Lord in tangible ways, but also Spiritually. It was great seeing folks getting alone with God early Saturday morning. Then during the day I saw some praying together and others encouraging each other with God’s Word. True discipleship lived out, which is the focus here at the ranch!
It was a great day, and there’s still plenty more to do. We’re always looking for folks to come in and join us here, whether it’s for day, week, or even if your interested in some long-term discipleship and while you grow in your faith with Jesus you can learn some handy skills serving alongside of us!
We’ve got a few ministry friends coming for a visit soon. Rolf and Emily from Lyons, CO will be here for a couple of days next week to give us a hand and an excuse to do some sight-seeing in the area! We also have the 7th and 8th grade classes from Calvary Chapel Christian School in Sarasota, coming for a few days at the end of the month. This is our home church and where Mary Jo taught 7th grade for 7 years before she went crazy and married me! Next month we’ve got Rob from St Louis, a long-time ministry friend, joining us for about 10 days as well.
Our physical issues remain, it just is what it is. Still don’t know how to do “light-duty” and live life for Jesus! We don’t have any desire to quit serving The Lord and are doing all we can with preventative maintenance on our bodies in the mornings and then in the evenings, try to keep things as limited as we can and get more rest, etc., so that we can keep pressing on until calls us home!
If you’re interested in growing in The LORD as you selflessly serve others alongside of Calvary Relief for future disaster relief or at Cedar Ranch, please let us know! For more info on joining us, click here.
If you’re interested in helping with any of the expenses with Calvary Relief, please click here.
If there’s ever anything you need prayer about or just need to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and let us know!
Here to serve and disciple until He calls us home,
Curt & Mary Jo
