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Think on These Things: Youngsters help keep ranch going

Born in an old log house and growing up on a ranch, I learned at an early age to love and appreciate the beauty of the outside world

Barbara Ferguson

“When we walk with the Lord in the light of His word, What a glory He sheds on our way.”

I thank God for a very active, nourishing childhood and for His guidance along the way.  Born in the old log house and growing up on a ranch, I learned at an early age to love and appreciate the beauty of the outside world. My parents were Christian and there was a small Anglican church in Princeton, our nearest town. But until the Second World War, we had no vehicle except teams of horses, sleighs and wagons, so we only occasionally were able to attend a church service, usually at Easter or the Harvest Festival.

My mother read to us from the Bible, and sang hymns softly, to herself and to me. My father played Christmas carols, once or twice a year, on his squeaky old violin, probably out of tune.

The only occasional Sunday School we had was from the Sunday School van for about a week in the summer, parked in our field, and from David Somerville, a young Anglican minister whose first parish was Princeton, and who drove to the ranch occasionally for an informal service.

With the war, everything changed. My father and elder brother were both overseas with the Canadian army – we prayed for their safety. My mother kept the ranch going with my younger brother and I (ages 11 and 12) to do the work, caring for the livestock, putting up hay, hauling and cutting wood for our wood cook stove and heater, obtaining water from the well, and finishing our education as best we could, some of it by correspondence.

My father and brother came home safely, thank God.

My parents and I moved to Chilliwack, where we attended St. Thomas’s Anglican church, a large part of my spiritual journey. I began to know God in a more real, personal way.

I decided to take nurses’ training, and had quite a firm plan to become a medical missionary, but after three years of training in Kamloops, my life changed direction and I came to Clearwater instead.

Life is like a river sometimes, with smooth, placid sections alternating with tumultuous rapids, waterfalls and stormy , rocky parts, where you can’t see around the next corner. I am very thankful to God; He gave me direction, the opportunity to learn and grow through adversity. I thank Him regularly for my salvation and the promise of resurrection, for His grace at all times, for the warmth of the sun, for music, for color, for the ability to enjoy the seasons, properly timed, for the privilege  of sharing in singing His praises with the congregation and with the residents at Forest View Place.

“Thank You, Lord, for saving my soul.”