Ruminant Covenant - Adaptability

For life, natural disasters, Y2K and beyond

22 September 1999

This week and for some weeks to come, in our look at God's ruminant animals and persons, we will look trait of adaptability.

Someone once said paraphrasing one of the beatitudes, "Blessed are the adaptable for they can be used by God. One of the things following God's way quickly lets us know, that is, He has a different route prepared for us than the one we envision.

As illustrated by ruminant animals God divides the sheep from the Goats in Matthew 25 verses 31 and following. His covenant people, sheep are divided from goats of this world, "when the Son of Man comes in His Glory." Until that time we are to live mixed together. Perhaps there is not a lot of eternal spiritual worth we can learn from spiritual goats, but there is sure a lot we can learn from the study and fellowship with actual goats. Matthew 10:16 says "Behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves."
Combining passages we have sheep and doves as well as goats and wolves. The wisdom of the serpent however is again a trait of God's people. That serpent in this world of course is symbolled as a goat and represents Satan. When we see how adaptable our real goat friends are to the wilderness and desert regions of this world, we can see how they in many ways reflect our worldliness, or our flesh, but also we learn as just as in Matthew 25 in real herds of mixed goats and sheep, goats protect and in many was lead the sheep. Interesting.

All this is leading toward a greater understanding of adaptability. If you look at his first covenantal people, the Jews, the one thing you find is their adaptability to the various cultures and countries in which they find themselves. They know how to travel light and they know how to survive while maintaining their cultural identity and heritage. Do we Christians know how to do the same? What follows are some of my ideas and related stuff I've gleaned over the years, just in case, is sort of a hobby with me. So utilize any or all of these in your potential, ruminant adaptability situation and watch to see what God may do.

When this Y2K preparedness thing was at its peak, many people would ask me for advise on what I thought they should do. Before I could answer however, they went into this explanation of "We have two cases of toilet paper and four 55 gallon barrels that we are going to fill with water so we can flush the toilet." They went on from there. Some of the stuff I've seen on television is even worse however. On Widbey Island we have all sorts of people with stocked freezers and generators to run them and their electric cooking stoves. In the context of adaptability I wonder if many of these people's electric elevators run clear to the penthouse. Cooking with electricity from a gas powered generator is right in their with thinking that putting your waste paper, cans and jars in a different garbage can, is going to save the planet so that their grand-kids can run around in SUV's, or a equally insane mode of transportation.

Rule 1. Adaptability is a state of mind it is not a bunch of stuff. The problem with stuff is that he who has the (fire)power can come and take your stuff. As a law abiding citizen you cannot arm yourself legally with enough (fire)power to protect your stuff from some mean old goat who doesn't obey the law. Now if God (or the devil, if you are into that line of thinking) allows on December 11th 1999 to fall that 75 foot Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas Fir) across your generator building, the house and the freezer, your Y2K plans are not good for much.

Oh, I got carried away with other peoples preparedness schemes. What I will probably do is get the vehicle gas tank close to full, buy one of those adapters to convert a Coleman stove to propane and the hose to fit it to a bulk propane tank. I will probably also fill the empty 20 pound propane tank I have and buy maybe a case of canned salmon or other fish. Along with seeing that most of the rest of the supplies I normally keep are closer to full than empty, that will be it. I plan to be leaving on a ship about that time anyway.

I am not making light of you trying to prepare for an emergency situation. Readiness is why this is all the stuff I believe that I need now to get by, no matter what the future may hold. I am prepared, just like an old goat no matter what the environment may hold in the way of survival, natural or economic. I'm a sly old serpent, so I will give you some ideas on things I have or I'm working towards to fulfill the earlier part of the Olivet Discourse beginning in Matthew Chapter 24. That is just in case Margaret MacDonald, John Darby and Dr. Schofield might be wrong on this rapture thing. Or in this Biblical context, that he (Jesus) is talking prophetically to future disciples who may be alive before his second coming, as well as those around in 70 AD during this present millennial age.

Rule 2. Don't believe what anyone tells you check it out for yourself. If you can detect smoke and mirrors, believe it. If your wrong, you have only yourself to blame and with Jesus as your justifier, redeemer and eternal salvation, its no big eternal deal.

The best way and the best universal survival tool available to help you live according to Rules 1 & 2 is to have a good Holy Bible. It works everywhere in all conditions, in prosperity or want, in sickness or in health. What a wonderful survival and well-being tool God has given to his covenant people. The whole book, not just the New Testament. I get very annoyed with people who call their New Testament, a Bible. In fact, I am really not even nice about it. "But the New Testament tells people about Jesus." In fact, the whole Bible is about Jesus, and perhaps if you spent a little more time reading it, studying it, and adapting it to your life, and less time preaching from part of it, the church wouldn't be in the mess it is today. See, I told you I can't even be nice about it.

A long time ago I took a survival course offered through Central Washington University. The teacher was a former Air Force survival instructor named Tim. Tim said that there was one thing, and one thing alone, that took place and stood out in virtually all, like 99% or more of all persons who lived through a severe survival situation. What was that one thing? Regardless of race, religion, national creed or other factors that may have been involved. The one thing every person did, was pray. The corollary I like to bring up is what happened to those 30 to 50 percent of the people who didn't survive?

Combining an understanding that salvation is because of grace alone, by faith alone, through Christ alone, you inherit your justification and your sanctification. And God the Father has also given you the opportunity in this life to begin to be conformed into the likeness of Jesus through what this old goat calls a walk of Obedient Faith (most everyone else calls it progressive sanctification) . Along with Bible reading and prayer, you have got it made in the shade. Psalm 91 is yours, baby. If the Lord takes you through death to an eternal rest, you still win. To God be the glory!

Rule 3. Have a good pot, knife and means to start a fire. The best pot man ever created is a cast iron Dutch oven. Period. It can be used as an oven, a pot and a grill or a griddle by using the lid inverted. The only problem with it is, a ten inch Lodge Dutch Oven (with legs and rimmed lid) weighs close to 15 pounds. That practical Dutch oven will last, should you really have to go through the great tribulation, for eternity. This oven is as bout the smallest practical size for an individual or a couple and is available at your friendly Wal-Mart for about $20. By far the cheapest place in the world. Elsewhere expect to pay up to $35. For a family, a larger Dutch oven is more appropriate, or get a second pot of another variety. Shallow 12 inch Dutch ovens are readily available, a more practical 14 inch or deep 12 inches are usually only available at hardware and other stores that handle more of the Lodge product line and other makes of cast iron cook ware. In the Seattle area, Chubby and Tubby, and McLendon's are sources. Many of these stores also stock lesser quality imports that will probably only last until the White throne judgement when the sheep and goats are separated. So perhaps you should get one of them and give it to some old goat, for his eternal needs and get a new one for eternity. You will probably save about 50 % buying one of these instead of a Lodge. I have seen and looked at the cast aluminum ovens and they look really nice and would save a lot of weight. I don't know anyone who has ever used one. Books either call them either, "God's gift of pots, or the devils," to use some Christianese. I do know that you can built a fire hot enough to melt or a least warp one of these, if you don't have them filled with something. So that is about all I want to say about aluminum.

If you don't want to buy a Dutch oven, or learn how to create family and community events around roast lamb, goat or other delicacies any old pot will do. One without long handles is nice, just in case you have to create a transportable life-style. Something should be said about pressure cookers also. Only buy pressure cookers in thrift stores, for they are prohibitory expensive anywhere else. Be prepared to spend a few dollars to replace the gaskets and other parts that may wear out. The advantage of a pressure cooker is that it is a nice heavy aluminum pot for cooking a lot of things, and if need be, you can use the pressure part to reduce cooking times and therefore greatly increase your fuel supply. If you should lose the pressure top, a thrift store is the place to buy a whole cooker and recycle or give away the rest of it. You may find a neat little pressure cooker with ECCO on the lid which will have short handles and would seem to be an ideal portable pot. These were of English design, if not manufacture, and have been discontinued in this country for 20 years or so, and parts are not available. One old goat that I know of however, not willing to be defeated by these details, adapted the pressure parts from a device of thrift store American design and combining two made one, using the American pot as a hot plate popcorn popper. The biggest single expense I'm told was the pipe thread tap to mesh the parts correctly. He seems to think that it will work well along with his Dutch oven and last almost that long. The last time I was in REI, they had in stock the new version of that particular European device now made in India. If you are truly interested in a fuel saving pot for backpacking, transporting or emergencies it might be worth investigating. It is called a Hawkins Climbers Pressure Cooker, it comes in either 2 or 3 liters (perhaps a little small if it is your only pot), they weigh a little over 2 1/2 pounds and cost $27 and $30 respectfully, which is about the cheapest new pressure cooker you can buy.

Since we are still talking about pots, it is quite handy if everyone has their own little pot of their own. We call it a cup. Many years ago I bought one of the original Sierra Cups. Out in the woods I still use it. It doesn't burn you lips with hot food like aluminum does. It holds enough to eat while it is still warm. Someone now makes a similar cup with folding handles, which I would probably buy if I wasn't so much into liturgical eating. Old traditions die hard. A few years ago I bought a Coleman version of my Sierra cup, which is just a wee bit bigger to use more like a nesting plate. I've now carried it around Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens and I have yet to use it, but someday. I also had a cheap plastic bowl, that I also gave away on the Mt. Rainier trip to a kid on a Tom Brown vision quest. He thought it would help him with his vegetarian diet. Along with some of the things we talked about a couple of rainy and snowy nights without a tent, perhaps it helped him see the light.

Spoons are more valuable than forks, but the most important utensil to go along with your pot is a good knife. My dad had a saying that went like this, "I eat my peas with honey, I've done it all my life, it makes the peas taste funny, but it keeps them on my knife." So see you really don't need a fork and a spoon at all, just a good knife and your fingers. It used to be when someone talked about a good knife they were talking about a sheath knife. In fact in that survival class, that was the one tool that we were told to get and always carry with us. Now however, we have evolved so that there is an array of lock back folding knives available. Get a blade length of three to five inches, or there abouts. Stainless steel blades on many knifes hold an edge a long time, but are virtually impossible to sharpen by ordinary means. A more steel than stainless, is easier to sharpen and more practical if you take along some sharpening devices. There are a lot of diamond and ceramic devices, as well as the old fashioned stone, that work well and are relatively inexpensive. The price for a knife will probably cost as much as the pot. Everyone who is of the age not to cut off some vital part, should have one. Perhaps not quite as efficient as, the guy knife thing, but when required, can serve a multiplicity of tasks including eating your peas.

Strike anywhere matches in a waterproof container and/or a butane lighter help you start fires. I had a working friend give me one of his old Zippo's so it has become part of my adaptability liturgy, even though lighting up, from the wartime "smoke um if you got um" really never lit up my life. You should always, in these type of situations, carry one of these devices on your person with backups packed with the rest of your gear. I now need to mention a general rule, with a lot of exceptions, hidden in or under our other rules, that relates to the cost of buying outdoor, camping, backpacking or expedition gear. That rule is for every pound saved expect to spend about $ 100. This relates mostly to backpacking and expedition gear you might want to buy, for your ego or something. But to keep things thrifty, cheap may be more than serviceable.

End of Part 1. Next Time we will continue down the survival, adaptability path as we work through these and maybe other rules. Wouldn't twelve steps be spiritual.

Rule 4. When all else fails cut wood. Saws, Axes and fossil fuels.

Rule 5. Get our of the weather and keep warm (or cool). Shelters, Tarps, Tents & Sleeping Bags.

Rule 6. Eat, drink and be merry. Water filters, grubstakes, Vitamin C & Oil.

Rule 7. Travel light. Boats and canoes; Goat walking and packing.

Rule 8. Hunting and gathering for fun and profit. Rifles and other means of mass destruction. Natural foods.

Rule 9. Sticking it out. Cabins and more permanent structures, your place in the woods.

Rule 10. Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

PRAYER PLANTS

I applied for a real job, that I think I may have an opportunity to get. Not that I don't believe in real jobs, with provided benefits and all. Its just that lets see, I have to take my shoes off. Yes using all my fingers and toes for years, I still have a couple left over. During that time I can testify to Psalm 37:25. "I have been young, but now I am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread." Along the way I have learned that Jesus Christ is the only righteous one not forsaken, but by God's grace. I am his descendant and my bread has been always provided. This is what ruminant adaptability is truly all about.

There are changes taking place so those of you who intercede, please continue. Being able to budget my time and finances would take some adjustment, but would be an opportunity that would be a pleasant change for a while. Pray as well for some relational personal matters and items related to ministry adaptability, ships and things.

Now as the really old covenant shepherd in the Bible said (Moses) from God to his ruminant flock,

"May the LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make his face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you shalom."

"So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them."
(Numbers 6:24-27)
Amen.