I don't understand my wife.  The other day, she was bemoaning the fact that she's getting older, and I told her that she's not getting older-- she's just getting better.  I'm kind of romantic like that sometimes.  "You're getting better," I said, "just like a big ol' hunk of cheese."  Now, I ask you, how could she possibly have taken that the wrong way?  There are few things that I love more than a nice piece of twenty year old cheddar on a Triscuit.  You'd have thought that I had just made a derogatory comment regarding her personal hygiene or something.

Normally Heidi edits these letters.  She jokingly says that it's to "keep me reigned in," or something like that.  Anyway, I sent my last letter without the "benefit" of her critique, and after reading it, Heidi said that she would have made some changes to make sure that everyone understood that I was joking about Barb and Mike Allard.  Now, I am confident that you all know me well enough to know that I would never seriously say anything harsh or unkind about anyone in The Craig Chronicles, but to satisfy certain people with whom I live, please let me assure you that Barb and Mike Allard are very close friends, and they have been a tremendous source of help and encouragement since we've been up here.  We love them like family.  As proof that it was all in fun, I offer the fact that Mike did not carry out his threat of cyber-terrorism.  Few things make one's hair stand on end like being threatened by a computer geek.

Let's move on to a more serious subject:  golf balls.  As a result of one of my letters a few months ago that told about a certain young man from Quincy, Illinois maliciously whacking the city golf ball into the deep rough (aka the fairway), I received many kind offers from folks willing to send golf balls to the children of Fort Yukon.  One offer stood out from the rest and got me thinking about the game of golf in general.  The offer came from Pastor Ron Burnet of Berean Baptist Church in Bunker Hill, Illinois.  Pastor Burnet offered to send me some "Arminian" golf balls.  He said that they were saved.  They were once lost, but now were found, but could be lost again.  Anyway, it got me to thinking about whether or not there could be such a thing as a Calvinist golf ball.  Personally, I don't see how-- I mean, yes, every golf ball that I've ever owned seems to be totally depraved, but I just can't see how irresistible grace could apply to any of them.  All of my golf balls definitely seem to have a free will, and it's all too apparent that they would rather hide in the rough than be smacked up and down the fairways. It also seems that the golf balls' depravity is not only total, but irresistible.  Come to think of it, I've often had a whole herd of balls rush down a steep place and choke themselves in the sea.  The possibility of demonic ties are obvious.  And how about this:  aren't the golf balls that Pastor Burnet has in his golf bag that he referred to as "once lost, but now found" really only reserved in chains in darkness waiting to be released from the pit for a short season to do more mischief?  If that is true, and I must say that the conclusion seems inevitable, then it would appear that all golfers are dabbling in something inherently evil.  The bottom line?  Golf is satanic.  I welcome your comments.

We had a great summer.  Even after taking the time to lose our golf ball, the group from Quincy helped us get the foundation of our new fellowship hall completed.  It was exciting to see the Lord supply the materials that we needed to build after a misunderstanding with Lowes which left us without floor joists.  We headed back down the river to Fort Yukon with a barge full of supplies, but without one of the main items that we needed to work.  When we got back to town, however, I did some digging around and found the exact number and the exact length floor joists stacked behind the new clinic.  They were left over after the work was done on the clinic-- they had been lying there for three years, waiting for our project.  We had to replace them, but the Lord has supplied the funds that were needed for that as well-- many thanks to all of you who helped out with that.  Next, we had evangelists Dave Young and Dave Corn for a week of VBS and revival meetings.  Twenty-five children trusted the Lord as their Savior!  That's exciting!  Please pray for those kids.  Many of them were from out of town, and we have no way of following up with them.  Finally, we had a group come up all the way from Winkler Road Baptist Church in Fort Meyers, Florida.  We had a great time cutting logs for the new building, introducing Oscar to hotdogs cooked on a stick over a fire, and again watching the Lord work as He provided the permits necessary to cut the trees-- at the very last minute while we stewed about it.  Will we ever learn to relax and trust the Lord?  Anyway, we made it the whole week with only one fatality:  one of my chainsaws.  One would think that Stihl would construct their saws so that they could withstand the impact of a two-ton tree falling on them.  I guess some engineer just wasn't thinking.

As soon as the river freezes solidly enough, I'm going to try to haul the logs off of the island where we cut them to our yard beside the new building.  Please pray that I'll be able to get all eighty-two of them moved, and also that I'll be able to get the last hundred logs cut before next spring.  They need to be drying for a few months before we use them.  The high temperature today was nine above zero, so it won't be long until the river is frozen over.