Standing in the Gap for Oregon

Goose Lake, Lake County, OR But He made his own people go forth like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock. Psalm 78:52 We are looking at a new region this week. The southeastern corner of Oregon is unofficially called the Oregon Outback and is the most uninhabited region in the state. It is traditionally Harney and Malheur with parts of Lake and Klamath counties. We will focus on Lake County , but first we will look at the region as a whole. Statistics can be interesting, and sometimes put things in perspective. The entire state of Oregon is 95,997 square miles. The total area of Lake, Harney, and Malheur Counties is 28,488 square miles. That is roughly 30% of the state by area. Our total population (2022) is 4,259,743. The total population for the three counties is 47,103 (and 31,623 of that is Malheur County). That is a little over 1% of the population of Oregon living on 30% of the land area. The area is high desert, about 4,000 feet in elevation with mountai...

Signing of the Magna Carta But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men."  Acts 5: 29 I don’t believe I’ve ever done a book review on this blog but couldn’t resist when I read this book.   The book is The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates by Matthew J. Trewhella. Lesser magistrates are officials under the authority of a greater ruler. In government, for example, the governor of a state would be a lesser magistrate compared to the President of the United States. All authority, according to the Bible, is delegated by God and this includes not just governmental authority, but church, family, business and so forth. Every organization has leaders. As long as such authorities make decisions or decrees that align with what is good and right, obedience is expected and should be observed. However, the controversy arises when those in authority make demands or decrees that violate the law or morality. Some argue that obedience is al...

De Sales Cathedral, Baker County, OR (We are on vacation this week, so revisiting parts of an earlier post. ) The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.   Psalm 23:1-3   The second anniversary of the 2020 Labor Day fires was this month, so many Oregonians are on high alert. Recently I-84 between Baker City and Pendleton was blocked due to wildfire. Continued prayers are appreciated for the entire state, as well as Baker County.     In 1811 Wilson Price Hunt was sent by John Jacob Astor to lead a group overland to establish the fur trading post of Astoria. Another group had been sent by sea. Hunt was young, fit and capable as a leader, but he lacked experience and underestimated the time it would take to get to the Pacific. The Overland Party followed the trail blazed by...

Fox Community Church, Grant County, OR Sing praises on the harp to our God, who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains.” Psalm 147:7-8 We are still in the Northeast Region of Oregon, which includes Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Grant, and Baker Counties. We are going to take a closer look at Grant County, which includes the city of John Day. The County seat is Canyon City. Grant is an amazing place, home of the John Day Fossil Beds, the site of a major gold rush in the 1860’s that transformed the area, and the location of Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, among other scenic locations. We looked at a lot of Grant County history here . Grant County population is 7,233 which places it at the 4 th least populated county in the state. On May 10 th , the City of John Day voted to disband the city police department, which was established in 1952. The Sheriff’s Office has assumed responsibility for the cases and files for the Cit...

Old Joseph Gravesite, Wallowa County, OR He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. Psalm 23:2 Wallowa County is in the upper right corner of the state, the northeastern-most county. It ranks as the fifth-least populated of the Oregon Counties, with around 7,200 people. Mountainous and beautiful, it was home to the Nez Perce Indians, who were removed to the Colville Reservation in 1877 after a long battle with the U.S. Army cavalry. There are four incorporated towns, including the county seat, Enterprise. The other are Wallowa, Joseph, and Lostine. Recently (August 11 th ) the county and the town of Wallowa, which was in the direct path, were hit by a severe thunderstorm with high winds and hail the size of tennis balls. All the buildings in the town of Wallowa were damaged by the hail, the wind/hail combination breaking every window on the west side of every building along a five-mile stretch. Construction workers on the high school gym were ...