March Round-Up
Wind, Books, and Baby Calves
Ranching
Part of my March weather forecast came to fruition - we had approximately two weeks of continuous 35-45 mph winds - but thankfully not three feet of snow. The first calf was born 10 days earlier than expected, the first meadowlark showed up right around the Spring Equinox, and the first rainshower occurred on the 30th. Everything in agriculture is a bit like Gandalf’s famous words in The Fellowship of the Ring film: "A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.”
Reading
This month, I finished The Familiar Stranger: (Re)Introducing The Holy Spirit To Those In Search Of An Experiential Spirituality by Portland pastor Tyler Staton. I didn’t give the Holy Spirit much thought until about four years ago. I knew He was there, but I really didn’t get Him. When I saw on Instagram that Tyler Staton (author of Living Like Monks, Praying Like Fools) was publishing a book about the Holy Spirit, I immediately clicked “preorder.”
The Familiar Stranger discusses who the Spirit is and what He does using Scripture and stories from Staton’s personal life. I particularly enjoyed the chapter “Water.” Much of the book is dedicated to explaining how the Spirit empowers spiritual gifts and gives practical ways to grow in them. If you fall into the Cessationist camp, take what you like and leave what you don’t - it’s still a book worth reading.
When we did our four-week study on fasting for Celebrate Recovery, the book God’s Chosen Fast: A Spiritual and Practical Guide to Fasting by Arthur Wallis was recommended. I procured a copy just in time to read it during Lent. Even with the dated language (published in 1968), it was an easy read with short chapters. I liked the guidelines on how to properly break longer fasts and the chapters outlining the reasons for fasting.
Ministry
Our community youth group band put on a worship concert to raise money to attend Camp Electric in 2026. I am so proud of them. They put in a ton of work to perform in front of a crowd of 200-ish people. That’s roughly 8% of our county’s population!
I taught at youth group the last Wednesday of the month. I’m usually thinking about what I want to talk about for weeks prior, but I may have kind of messed up the schedule, so when it came to my turn I wasn’t super prepared. But God is gracious, and the Holy Spirit worked through me to deliver a message about correctly handling the Bible based on 2 Timothy 2:15.
Theology on the Prairie
This month featured posts about Bible translations, generational sin, and how fasting and prayer work together.
What I’m most jazzed about is Stephanie Cochrane’s guest post, How Ignoring Our Bodies Is Harming Our Souls. Be sure to read it and check out Stephanie’s Substack, The Paradox Paper .
Guest Writer: Stephanie Cochrane
As a preteen girl on the frantic cusp of puberty, the worst thing to shop for was pants. I grew to my current height of five feet eight inches at the age of twelve, with nary a fat cell to soften my bones. In the era of low-rise jeans (so low they almost had a zipper) my hip bones jutted into my waistband so aggressively that I often had friction burns.…
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