Standing in the Gap for Oregon

Ontario, OR park The   stranger  who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were  stranger s  in   the   land  of Egypt: I  am   the   Lord  your God .  Leviticus 19:34   We briefly mentioned the eastern Oregon town of Ontario when we wrote about Malheur County. Today I want to delve into the history a little more, and to honor one long-term resident, my mother-in-law Ila Mae Mills, who passed away August 13 th  at the age of 97.   Ontario is a town with which I am familiar. My grandparents lived there for many years, from the 1940’s until the 1970’s. My parents were married there, as was I. My in-laws lived in Ontario from 1948 on. My father-in-law, a local bookkeeper, passed away in 2013 at the age of 95.    Ontario is the largest town in the far eastern portion of Oregon and sits right up against the Snake River and the border with Idaho. P...

The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.  Isaiah 35:1   We have covered ten of the thirty-six Oregon counties in our blog so far. This week we are looking at the county just to the west of Wallowa and Union Counties in the northeastern section of the state.     Umatilla County was established in 1862 out of part of Wasco County. Its northern border is the Columbia River. Like many places in Oregon, it was gold that first drew pioneers to the area who then realized the country was a good place to raise cattle. By 1868 the town of Pendleton had become the county seat and remains so. In 1881 the arrival of the railroad made dryland wheat farming practical. Other types of agriculture were limited, however, in an area that grew sagebrush best until the Umatilla Irrigation Project was established early in the 20 th  century. Then "the desert bloomed" and the economy began to grow, especially in the western section ...

Image by  ljlabarthe  from  Pixabay                    Shaniko,OR Trust  in   the   Lord , and do good;  Dwell   in   the   land , and feed on His faithfulness.  Psalm 37:3 We began by praying for Clackamas, a county with a lot of early history. Wasco county is just to the east of Clackamas and was also created early in the formation of Oregon state by the Oregon Territorial Legislature in 1854 out of the parts of Clackamas, Marion, Lane, and Linn counties that were east of the Cascade Mountains. It was named for the Wasco, a Chinook tribe that lived in the area. Celilo Falls, on the Columbia River in Wasco county, was a gathering place and trading center for many western tribes for thousands of years. Celilo Falls was flooded by the creation of The Dalles dam in 1957. I have a family connection with Wasco county, since my father, as a young boy, lived with his family on...

Image by  Free-Photos  from  Pixabay   Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows . (Isaiah 53:4) Today’s post is somewhat personal, perhaps a bit of a tangent, but please indulge me… We lost a member of my church yesterday, a woman my age whom I had known for over twenty-five years. She taught several of my kids in Sunday School. I often sat in the pew just behind her and her husband, and we had a “special” connection in that we had each battled cancer.  It was in late March. Church services had just been cancelled due to the coronavirus. I had gone to the church on an errand and she also happened to be there. Known for her industry and faithfulness, she was often there, cleaning, working on something for church. We talked for several minutes in the parking lot. Good conversation. God is good, as she had a doctor’s visit just a couple days later and learned the cancer was back. They moved swiftly into treatment, but things did not...

Image by  Pexels  from  Pixabay   O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.  Daniel 9:19 What does it mean to “stand in the gap?”  The basic meaning is one of “intercession,” or the act of intervening for another. Very quickly, when we begin to unpack the details of interceding for our state or “our people,” we find ourselves face to face with one of the most difficult concepts for all people on the planet: repentance. Repentance means more than sorrow and regret; it means a complete turn around, a change of direction away from our own ways and toward God. However, as difficult, as humbling, as repentance is, there is no escaping it. II Chronicles 7:14 says if we turn from our  wicked ways , He will  forgive our sins , and then – only then – will He heal our land. The truth is, genuine repentance is a bitter pill. We try ...