Welcome, Amanda here! Names are important to our family. For each of our children, we prayed for God to give us a special name for their middle names.
Jade's middle name is Victory as she came to us in a time of great joy and answered prayers.
Charlie's middle name is Courage, because he was a reminder during difficult times that we trust and move forward, despite our doubts and fears.
Fletcher's middle name is Pilgrim, because our family had been called away from the comfortable 'forever home' kind of life, to be sojourners. Little did we know when we named him, that God was preparing to move us on again much sooner than we thought.
Similarly to the way the kids middle names seem to just arrive in our hearts, this name also took up residence as the unquestioned name of our property. Rise Again Ranch. Along our journey, we have laid many dreams to rest. Starting with the dream to own and train horses with the sudden death of both of my (Amanda) horses in 2010. The 'Penner Pumpkins' family farm and agri-tourism dream died with it's matriarch Shirley Penner in 2016. Then this last year, being laid off and suddenly displaced from what seemed like the ideal job and home for our family left us confused and discouraged.
But here we are, most unexpectedly thrust into something new, and something also old. Old dreams and hopes revived.
Jesus, after years of teaching and infusing the disciples with hope, tragically dies. We read about his followers, how it crushes their spirits. And yet, He rises again! He restores his disciples from their devastation and gives them purpose, assigns them territory, and most importantly gives them the power of the Holy Spirit. This is not just an ancient story or fable. The resurrection power of Christ is alive and relevant. Meeting people in their brokenness, he continues to bring life out of death; light out of darkness; hope out of despair. We commit all we have to Him who is able to use what little we have to work miracles. At Rise Again Ranch, we seek to bring humbled souls back to the hope in the resurrected Jesus Christ.
- Amanda
Howdy, TJ here! We serve a God who specializes in redeeming broken things! The bible is full of stories of him redeeming the old, the young, the weak, the strong, the lost. The Lord has helped me 'rise up again' after two really hard experiences in the last 4 years.
When we were expecting Charlie, Amanda, Jade and I moved in with my parents to take care of them while my Mom endured treatments for Cancer. We were praying that our new baby (Charlie) would come early so they could meet each other! His due date was close to her date to say good bye. It wasn't meant to be, as she passed away 2 weeks before he arrived. We even see a bit of Ma (Shirley Penner) in Charlie! Going through this time really rocked me emotionally. I found my weaknesses coming to the surface in many areas of my life and i needed help. Praise the Lord for godly counselors!
A little while later, we found ourselves in an awesome place near Entwistle Alberta, working at a kids camp! What a blessing living and working at Brightwood Ranch was! We learned so much about hospitality from the community, and about leadership from working with staff. We were very caught off guard when we got laid off and asked to move off the property in 7 weeks. At the time Alberta was forecasting the Covid peak and shutdowns to be the worst during that time period... It did not make any sense to us ( I do not know if it ever will fully, but we are certain the Lord was in control) Thus began another extremely challenging time of our lives. In many ways it was harder than the experience of living with my mom while she was dying.
Amanda and i had dreams of leading our own camp-like ministry one day, but that was way, way, way, way, way out in the future!!! Lord, we were not ready! He thinks differently, and he is always right! So... Rise Again Ranch. It comes from all the times we see in the bible where the Lord raises up his people! Again and Again! Life is hard, life is challenging, life is also good. We have experienced many ups and downs, and we want to walk alongside other people going through similar ups and downs. We want to offer them (You!) a place to come and rise again in the strength that the Lord gives, surrendering together to His plans. It does not matter how well you know us, give us a call or email and we would like to connect!
Spending time with the animals, riding horses, having adventures, sitting and talking around the fire, making + eating food together, watching kids play, doing farm chores, and having meaningful conversations! These are the simple but surprisingly effective tools we use.
So for a quick summary! Names are very important to the Penners! We get to name our own home and land (Just for fun!), and that's pretty awesome! My main job and focus when we go to the Interlake Region, will be at Gimli Bible Camp. Rise Again Ranch is a side thing that will hopefully grow in time, and fit in nicely with what is all going on at the camp! There will be more posts coming about Gimli Bible Camp next! The camp is close to 100 years old!!!! Talk about some history!!
- TJ
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