Cat Stevens: "King of Trees"

Did you ever have a tree which was special to you? One tree at Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind was precious to me. I liked sitting in its branches, surrounded by its amber leaves. It was balm for my lonely soul. I felt heartbroken when the school cut it down to make way for a sunken garden.

Listen to this song about a special tree here:

Trees figure prominently in the Bible. For example, we know about the tree of good and evil which Adam and Eve ate of its fruit. What many believers don't know is the reason for keeping our federal parents from the tree of life.

Imagine the horror of living forever in a sin-cursed body. That's what God saved humanity from when he said in Genesis 3:22 (Bible in Basic English). "And the Lord God said, 'Now the man has become like one of us, having knowledge of good and evil; and now if he puts out his hand and takes of the fruit of the tree of life, he will go on living for ever.'"

Jesus likened us to trees in Matthew 7:18 (BBE) in regard to our conduct. "It is not possible for a good tree to give bad fruit, and a bad tree will not give good fruit."

We also see in Daniel 4:13 (BBE) how God gave Nebuchadnezzar a prophetic dream about a giant tree. "In the visions of my head on my bed I saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven, Crying out with a loud voice; and this is what he said: 'Let the tree be cut down and its branches broken off; let its leaves be taken off and its fruit sent in every direction: let the beasts get away from under it and the birds from its branches: But keep its broken end and its roots still in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass; let him have the young grass of the field for food, and let him be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his part be with the beasts.'" This was fulfilled when the King praised himself for making his great city.

A day will come when Christ perfects us and makes us fit for the new Jerusalem. As Revelation 22:14 (BBE) promises, "A blessing on those whose robes are washed, so that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may go in by the doors into the town."

If our blessed Saviour hasn't come for us by Monday, I'll show how cruelty can be kind.

The Bee Gees: "I Started a Joke"

This is one of many songs I related to when I was at Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind. Whatever I said or did seemed to go wrong. I could write whole chapters on the consequences of my well-intended actions. My classmates certainly latched on to any mistake I made. Children can be especially cruel with their teasing and particularly their bullying.

Listen to this song here:

Psalms 141:3 and 4 (Bible in Basic English) is one set of verses I pray. "O Lord, keep a watch over my mouth; keep the door of my lips. Keep my heart from desiring any evil thing, or from taking part in the sins of the evil-doers with men who do wrong: and let me have no part in their good things."

This foot-in-mouth trend carried on into my working life. I'll never forget the time I was sent by my supervisor at work to take an award plaque to be framed. As I walked, a blond prostitute sidled up to me and asked, "You want a date?"

Before my brain processed the question, a shop-worn comedy phrase slipped out of my mouth. "No thanks, I'm trying to cut down."

Later on, I had to laugh at the total look of incomprehension on her face. Of course the feeling of embarrassment took longer to fade.

No wonder then that Solomon said in Proverbs 17:28 (BBE), "Even the foolish man, when he keeps quiet, is taken to be wise: when his lips are shut he is credited with good sense."

Often times, our pride gets the better of us whom Christ has saved. The charismatic house church I joined made a big deal about speaking in tongues. I now know that we merely jabbered but we thought it was real.

Even so, we didn't ask for an interpretation as we should have done. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:28 (BBE) something even today's charismatics forget. "But if there is no one to give the sense, let him keep quiet in the church; and let his words be to himself and to God."

How wonderful it is that God makes use of our mistakes and foolishness. Someday we'll see the reasons for what we went through and give our Father endless praise.

If Christ hasn't returned by Saturday, I hope to post about the wish to be famous which we all have had.

Led Zeppelin: "Your Time Is Gonna Come

This legendary band of the late sixties and early seventies put out some of the finest rock music ever heard. This song is one example of that. It's about a man who warns his girl that he'll leave her if she doesn't stop cheating on him. Listen to it here:

This song reminds me of a cruel supervisor at Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind. After many complaints from us and after the school superintendent found her missing from the dorm one night, she was fired on February fifth, 1970. What revenge that was for all her mean words and heartless actions toward us!

Christ's harshest critics were, of all people, the Pharisees. Instead of recognizing him as the Messiah, they had him crucified.

We read in John 7:33 and 34 (Bible in Basic English) how he told the temple leaders their time would come. "Then Jesus said, 'I will be with you a little longer and then I go to him who sent me. You will be looking for me, and you will not see me: and where I am you may not come." Of course they didn't get his ultimate meaning that he would be in heaven and they would be in hell.

Neither did they figure that Jeremiah 29:13 (BBE) applied to them. "And you will be searching for me and I will be there, when you have gone after me with all your heart." No wonder the Pharisees missed that metaphorical boat.

Judgement Day will be a time of great horror for those who feign belief in our Master. As he described it in Luke 13:24 and 25 (BBE), not all who say his name will spend eternity in heaven. "Do your best to go in by the narrow door, for I say to you, A number will make the attempt to go in, but will not be able to do so. When the master of the house has got up, and the door has been shut, and you, still outside, give blows on the door, saying, 'Lord, let us in'; he will make answer and say, 'I have no knowledge of where you come from.'"

If Jesus hasn't returned by Thursday, I hope to post about how we can't escape God.

Saturday Song: Bobby Bear, "500 Miles Away from Home

When I was a boy, I was sent five-hundred miles from my home to a residential school in Vancouver, British Columbia. Fifty years ago, people assumed that blind and partially-sighted children needed to be segregated and taught by specialized teachers. I'm glad this is no longer the case.

Though Bobby Bear's song is about being a long way from his mom, I certainly understand the feeling. Check out his song here.

All born-again believers are far from the one we love: Jesus the Christ. We await his coming like a child wishes Christmas or the next birthday would hurry up and arrive. 

Ephesians 1:13 and 14 (BBE) expresses this wish in our hearts. "In whom you, having been given the true word, the good news of your salvation, and through your faith in him, were given the sign of the Holy Spirit of hope, Which is the first-fruit of our heritage, till God gets back that which is his, to the praise of his glory."

Though we now suffer in this sin-cursed world, a day will come when we and it will be liberated from the curse. Romans 8:22 and 23 (BBE) expresses this well. "For we are conscious that all living things are weeping and sorrowing in pain together till now. And not only so, but we who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we have sorrow in our minds, waiting for the time when we will take our place as sons, that is, the salvation of our bodies."

What a wonderful day that will be when our beloved Lord and Master returns to claim us for his own. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:52 and 53 BBE), "In a second, in the shutting of an eye, at the sound of the last horn: for at that sound the dead will come again, free for ever from the power of death, and we will be changed. For this body which comes to destruction will be made free from the power of death, and the man who is under the power of death will put on eternal life."

Just as I never went back to that horrid school in the autumn of 1970, so we'll never suffer and die after the resurrection. Rejoice in knowing that we'll be going to our eternal home once this exile of life ends or Christ returns.

Thanks to Roger Brannon in Tallahassee, Florida for tipping me off about this song.

On Monday, unless Christ arrives first, I hope to post about The new heavens and new earth God will give to us who love him.

Fifty Years Out of Jericho

To almost all Christians and Jews, Jericho was the first Canaanite city which the descendents of Israel destroyed. It's also the city which was rebuilt at the cost of the builder's first-born son. Jesus himself passed through that city of palms and healed Blind Bartimaeus.

For me, Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind was like a minimum security prison camp. I was only allowed to visit home at Christmas, summer, and three Easter holidays.

How I wished that Joshua would march around its walls and we could go home. As Joshua 6:20 (BBE) relates, "So the people gave a loud cry, and the horns were sounded; and on hearing the horns the people gave a loud cry, and the wall came down flat, so that the people went up into the town, every man going straight before him, and they took the town."

A clown visited Jericho once. After his magic tricks, he quoted John 3:16 (BBE). "For God had such love for the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever has faith in him may not come to destruction but have eternal life."

Sadly, it and the Bible stories a nurse read to me meant nothing. Like the stories we heard at the Anglican church Sunday school, those ancient tales didn't relate to us.

It was only at a vacation Bible school in a woman's basement that the Lord made the gospel personal to me. I believed in God but I never knew that I needed to repent and invite Christ into my life.

My education in secular subjects was Likewise stunted. Just as I never heard the gospel at the Anglican church, the curriculum at Jericho was a year behind that of public schools. As a result, I had to work doubly hard to get even average grades. And I had the haunting fear that I'd be shipped back to Jericho if I didn't do well.

Jericho is no more, and I praise God for that. You can read the history of that Institution here.

If Christ doesn't return on Saturday, I plan to post about being five-hundred miles from home. That's about how far from home I was at Jericho.

A Father to the Fatherless

I feel sad that the word "father" can trigger bad memories in some people's minds. The worst of it is that folks associate God with their earthly father. If only they could understand that the heavenly Father loves them far more than any earthly dad ever could.

According to Psalms 68:5 and 6 (BBE), God is, "A father to those who have no father, a judge of the widows, is God in his holy place. Those who are without friends, God puts in families; he makes free those who are in chains; but those who are turned away from him are given a dry land."

Likewise, the Lord cares for those who are downtrodden and unfortunate. Psalms 146:9 (BBE) tells us that, "The Lord takes care of those who are in a strange land; he gives help to the widow and to the child who has no father; but he sends destruction on the way of sinners."

But the Lord's fatherly love causes him to punish those who are wilfully and persistently disobedient. Isaiah 9:17 (BBE) explains, "For this cause the Lord will have no pleasure in their young men, and no pity on their widows and the children without fathers: for they are all haters of God and evil-doers, and foolish words come from every mouth. For all this his wrath is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still."

Even so, our Father in heaven opposes those who oppress helpless people. As Jeremiah 7:5-7 (BBE) declares, "For if your ways and your doings are truly changed for the better; if you truly give right decisions between a man and his neighbour If you are not cruel to the man from a strange country, and to the child without a father, and to the widow, and do not put the upright to death in this place, or go after other gods, causing damage to yourselves: Then I will let you go on living in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers in the past and for ever."

It's obvious too that God wants us to be conveyers of his blessings to the less fortunate. James 1:27 (BBE) is quite plain about our duty to them. "The religion which is holy and free from evil in the eyes of our God and Father is this: to take care of children who have no fathers and of widows who are in trouble, and to keep oneself untouched by the world."

If Christ doesn't return by Thursday, I hope to post about my fiftieth anniversary of leaving Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind. What a soul-crushing institution that was.

The Irony of Jericho

How curious that Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind, where I was forced to go from 1964 to 1970, was located above Jericho Beach in Vancouver, British Columbia. In the biblical Jericho, Jesus healed a blind man. Some three-thousand years later, sight-impaired children were sent to a school called Jericho.

We read in Mark 10:46 (BBE) of this man and how he was healed completely. "And they came to Jericho: and when he was going out of Jericho, with his disciples and a great number of people, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind man, was seated by the wayside, with his hand out for money."

The modern-day place where I was sent for six lonely years wasn't named after Jericho of old but for Jeremiah Rogers. He was a lumber man who had a camp in that area during the 1860s. Jerry's Cove, as the beach was called, soon had its name corrupted into Jericho and the name stuck.

I remember how we used to love the spiritual song about Joshua fighting the battle of Jericho. How we wished we could have Joshua rescue us, burn down the school, and take us to our homes. Our music teacher doubtless wondered why we sung that song with such earnestness.

And Just as we cursed our Jericho, Joshua cursed that city in his time. Joshua 6:26 (BBE) relates, "Then Joshua gave the people orders with an oath, saying, 'Let that man be cursed before the Lord who puts his hand to the building up of this town: with the loss of his first son will he put the first stone of it in place, and with the loss of his youngest son he will put up its doors."

Jericho of old was rebuilt, just as Joshua said. We read in 1 Kings 16:34 (BBE) that, "In his days Hiel made Jericho; he put its base in position at the price of Abiram, his oldest son, and he put its doors in place at the price of his youngest son Segub; even as the Lord had said by Joshua, the son of Nun."

And though some blind folks decry the lack of braille lessons being taught to visually-impaired children in public schools, I'm glad that Jericho was closed in 1992. Three-hundred deaf students and alumni filed a class action suit against the British Columbia government because of sexual molestation which happened in the school for decades.

As far as I know, no children died as a result of the new Jericho School for the Deaf which was built in the neighbouring city of Burnaby, I suspect that more attention is paid to the children and their situation.

I wrote my second memoir, Deliverance from Jericho, about the time I served at that institution and what it was like being there. You can order print copies directly from me through Messenger or by e-mailing me directly.

On Saturday, I'll be posting about the time of the school year which all kids look forward to. I had a special fondness for the end of June because I knew I'd be home for nine wonderful weeks of freedom from supervisors and bullies.

Saturday Song: The Marmalade, "Reflections of My Life"

This is one song which resonated perfectly with me, though I was only thirteen when it was on the air. I remember standing on the brow of the hill overlooking the classrooms at Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind one March afternoon. On my transistor radio came this song and I thought how it reflected my life.

Listen to the song here.

Like the person in the song, my life seemed terrible but I didn't want to die. I was as trapped in my misery as that character in the song was trapped in his.

Fortunately for me, God had my future in his hands. Had I known that I wouldn't be going to Jericho anymore after the school year ended, I would have felt more hopeful.

Though Jeremiah 29:11 (KJV) was addressed to the Israelite exiles, we can take it as our promise too. "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."

My exile ended in 1970. That autumn, I was sent to a public school in Edmonton which had disability counsellors to help us with reading print texts. I boarded during the week with a family and went home on weekends. Not only did I feel better about being in a regular home during the week but I was able to stay with my family on the weekends. The dorms at Jericho were so sterile and unnatural compared to a real home with a real family.

So, what do you think of this song and what I wrote here? Please drop me a note. Have a great weekend too.

Saturday Song: The Beatles, "There's a Place"

This was one of many songs I heard while I was in Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind. We had no privacy in the dorm so I often wandered off alone outside. A lovely forest behind the school grew wild and I often resorted there to get away from other boys. Being alone gave me some measure of comfort. In fact, I felt more lonely with those supervisors and children.

Hear this song here.

We who trust in Christ are never alone. As Jesus instructed and promised his disciples in Matthew 28:20 (KJV), "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

We also have the Holy Spirit who will never leave us. Jesus promised in John 14:16 (KJV), "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;"

We also have the promise of Christ's return in John 14:3 (KJV) which says, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

So, what do you think of this song and what I wrote? Please leave me a comment. But if you'd rather not, I hope you have a wonderful weekend anyway.

Saturday Song: Billy J Kramer, Trains And Boats And Planes

This song reminds me of being in Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind. When I heard it on my little transistor radio, I identified with it immediately. How I longed to be home with my family whenever I saw a plane fly over the dorm.

Listen to the song here.

In a way, we who follow Jesus Christ are stranded in this world. Our true home is with him but we have work and lessons to learn here.

The Apostle Paul summed up the yearning we all have in Philippians 1:23 (KJV)  "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:"

But just as Paul still had plenty of church-planting and preaching work to do, so we have our tasks from the Lord. As Paul admonished his spiritual son in 2 Timothy 4:2 (KJV), "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine."

I hope you'll leave me a comment about the song and what I wrote here. But if you'd rather not do so, have a pleasant weekend.

Saturday Song: The Poppy Family, "Beyond The Clouds"

Does this song resonate with you? It does with me. When The Poppy Family had this hit in October of 1968, I was at Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind. A bully made my life a living hell during those years and my one escape was my radio.

I identified with the person in the song. Life seemed to be one endless disappointment and nobody seemed to be on my side.

Listen to "Beyond The Clouds" here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du6U4pJFOv8



I'm glad I didn't commit suicide back then. Thoughts of ending it all were on my mind constantly that autumn. Thanks to forward-thinking educators, I was mainstreamed into the public school system two years later.

The Apostle Paul was no stranger to hardships. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:24-28, in defense of his ministry, "Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches."

How wonderful it was that God led him through all those trials and worked so many things out for good. Our heavenly Father does the same things in our lives. Let's trust him no matter how bad life gets.

Saturday Song: Big Brother and the Holding Company, "Piece of My Heart"

This song always reminds me of September, 1968. I was back at Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind, facing three more months of misery. My only comfort was a pocket radio which my parents bought me.

With some songs, I even remember the moment I first heard them. As I trudged up the grassy hill to the dorm after lunch one sunlit Saturday, this great song came blasting out of the speaker. I immediately loved it.

Hear "Piece of My Heart" here.

The woman in the song sure had a difficult time loving her two-timing man. She adored him but he was being an inconsiderate jerk to her. Sadly, this happens all too often.

In our Christian walk, we frequently encounter people who need plenty of forgiveness. Old habits die hard and we all slip back into them easily. Holding grudges is one bad habit we need to ditch immediately or sooner.

Neither is this a new problem. Matthew 18:21 (KJV) says, "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?"

But Jesus replied in Luke 17:4 (KJV), "And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him." In other words, there is no limit.

And why should we keep forgiving difficult siblings in Christ, apart from the fact that Jesus said so? 2 Corinthians 2:7 (KJV)explains,  "So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow."

So, what do you think of this song and what I wrote? Please comment in the box below. But if you'd rather not, have a great weekend anyway.

Is Life Our School?

It's that time again. Students, some of them reluctant, are heading back to classes. All the school supplies have been purchased and the names of the children enrolled. I dare say that many parents are glad to have the house to themselves during the day too.

I liken this world as our boarding school where we are prepared by God to enter heaven. Sanctification is the ongoing process of making us like Christ. As with microwave cooking, it works from the inside out. That's why we seem half baked to the world.

Through the Bible, we can see a progression from the primary law given from God to Moses to the advanced teaching of the apostles. Look at what Paul wrote in Galatians 3:24 (KJV), "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." Though Old Testament saints were justified by their trust in God, the law guided their understanding.

Christ's sacrifice and the gift of the Holy Spirit have allowed us to advance from rule-keeping to intuitive principles of obedience and love. Paul continued his thought in Galatians 3:25 (KJV) when he explained, "But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster."

Christ also obeyed the law perfectly, the first person on earth to do so. As Hebrews 5:8 (KJV) states, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;" This is our example on how we should obey God.

When Christ returns, this school of hard knocks will be over. I long for his appearing like I yearned to go home from Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind. As I joyfully returned to my parents and siblings during Summer, Christmas, and three Easters, so will those who place their trust in Christ go to our heavenly Father at death or when Christ returns.

By the way, I wrote about how I was sent to that blind school for six years and how I coped with that exile. Write to me for details regarding my memoir of those days.

FORTY-FIVE YEARS OUT OF JERICHO

Have you ever left some place and not realized you'd never return? It can be either a sad or happy memory, depending on how that place was for you. In my case, I wish I'd known I'd be leaving Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind for the final time.

On this day in 1970, my classmates and I felt jubilant that we'd finally be going home. Many of the boys in my dorm lived hundreds of miles away from Vancouver, British Columbia and were anxious to leave that wretched place.

We packed our suitcases and lugged them to the parking lot when the school bus arrived. Apart from some of my things falling out of a shopping bag on the bus, the trip to the airport was uneventful.

For the next two years, I dreaded being sent back to Jericho because some bureaucrat thought I wasn't adjusting well to public school. Labouring under this apprehension, I worked hard to get good grades and prayed often to be spared being exiled to Vancouver again.

When the two years had passed, I suddenly realized that I couldn't be sent back to Jericho. I was registered in high school and was living on my own. Had somebody tried to send me back, I think I'd have refused. Anyway, when I realized the fact that I'd never be sent to Jericho again, I danced a jig in my room. What a relief that was!

I did well enough in high school, though I never went to university. I had been burdened with homework and people told me University was even harder. Tuition also intimidated me since I lacked the money.

My work experience hasn't been noteworthy but I managed to stay off welfare for most of my life. I'm on disability now but I worked hard for my pension. Furthermore, I've written three memoirs and many freelance articles. Read more about my paperbacks at the Bruce Atchison's books page as well as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Powell's Books.

WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY SLEEPS

It seems like everybody has at one time played guitar, wanted to play the instrument, or hopes to learn it someday. I was no exception. The rock music of the sixties made me feel that playing guitar would make me one of the cool kids. I often dreamt of playing rock music in a band but it never came to be.

I learned just how hard playing guitar was when I was at Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind in 1969. The music teacher decided that we should learn to play the instrument. A dozen acoustic guitars were bought and we were allowed to take them to the dorm to practice them. My excitement turned to disappointment when I found out that the music didn't automatically come to me.

Sadly, my classmates and I soon lost enthusiasm for playing guitar. I remember one class where the teacher got angry when I told him that I hadn't practiced. His rant just alienated me more from his tutelage and from guitar lessons in general.

Five years later, a friend at church gave me a battered old guitar. With the help of another friend, this one from school, I learned some basic chords. I still remember the joy I felt when I learned to play the chords for the chorus of a song by John Lennon called "Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out" A year later, I needed to fill some time at school because I had to drop out of electronics class. I took the easy route, opting for Home Economics and Classical Guitar. While in that latter class, I found that my old Melody King guitar was perfect for playing classical pieces. The strings were the right distance apart and not too high above the fret board.

During the summer of 1975, I convinced the church I attended to let me strum along with the hymns. The woman who played the accordion thought there were too few singers but I said it would be my contribution since I couldn't read the hymn book. I played from then on until I left that house church in 1987.

It wasn't until 1986 that I bought myself a second hand electric guitar. There too, I learned something I hadn't imagined. Those instruments are heavy. They seem so light when in the hands of rock stars. I also didn't like its strings being so high above the fret board and so close together. Consequently, I didn't play it often.

It's been years since I played either my acoustic or electric guitars. Being busy with writing, I haven't had the time or inclination to dust off my instruments.

As for that house church I attended, click here to learn about a book I wrote regarding my spiritual journey.

A SACRED PLACE CALLED MILL CREEK

An article in the March edition of The Writer magazine got me thinking about "sacred spaces" in my past. After considerable thought, forests seem to be the places where I feel closest to God. There's something about being among tall trees, singing birds, and scurrying animals living out their lives that inspires a sense of awe in me.

As a child, I often played alone at Rose Creek, located east of the city of Fort Saskatchewan. Since neighbourhood children threw stones at me and called me "blindie" because of my thick eye glasses, I often explored the forest by the creek. Even today, the smell of the mud and the foliage evokes those long-ago memories.

When I was exiled to Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind for months at a time, I fell in love with the forest and muddy plain behind the school. My imagination carried me out of the lonely anguish I felt as I envisaged myself being an explorer of the wilderness or an astronaut on an alien world. The frogs and pheasants I heard drew my soul into the animal stories our teachers read to us. How wonderful it would have been, I often thought, if those creatures could talk to me and be my friends.

As an adult, the North Saskatchewan river bank became a place where I could wander amid the trees and wildflowers, losing myself in thought. Once I found out there were paths along both sides of the river, I used my Friday afternoons off from work to explore them. My photo albums are filled with beautiful vistas and close-ups of the greenery there.

Then I discovered Mill Creek. It too has walking trails. Long ago, a mill had been built there and a railway track connected it to the main line. Back in the nineteen-eighties, the tracks were torn up and a cinder path replaced them. Like the river bank trails, I felt a sense of sublime wonder. Walking through the tall pines and poplars felt like being away from Edmonton's noise and haste. Squirrels and birds filled the air with their cries while the creek babbled happily to itself. After walking the trails, I felt reluctant to return to the mundane setting of my home.

Though the forest on my neighbour's land here in Radway is far from grand, the scents and colours of the leaves evoke wonderful memories. Spring is my favourite time of year because the pale green foliage exudes a delightful aroma. Autumn is a sad time, yet the gold of the leaves against the electric blue sky brings back happy memories of Rose Creek. Even so, none of these places holds the charm and wonder for me like Mill Creek.

I wrote about my love for the forests in Deliverance from Jericho: Six Years in a Blind School. I also mentioned the pleasant walks I took through the river valley in How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity. Visit Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers to learn more about how God marvelously led me to freedom from blasphemous teachings.

STALAG JERICHO

Most of you folks reading this haven't had the sort of childhood I did so I'll explain. When I was seven years old, the government sent me 500 miles from home to a residential school for deaf and blind students. I was only allowed to return home at Christmas and summer, as well as three Easter holidays. Others who lived nearer could go home more often and the Vancouver students could attend classes like regular school children did.

Though it offended our supervisors and teachers, we called it a prison camp. In many ways, it was like one. Nobody was allowed to leave the grounds except when escorted by a supervisor or teacher. Our parcels from home were confiscated and any treats in them were shared out sparingly to all the kids. Worse yet, some supervisors kept money and treats from our "care packages" from home without telling us.

In January of 1970, a directive came down from the administration building that coffee and tea weren't to be served in the dining hall anymore. No explanation was given to us for this arbitrary decision either.

Naturally, us older boys were incensed by this dictate. One snowy day after school, Geoffrey walked up to me as I sat on my bed and said, "I've got some tea and sugar and cream. Would you like to have some after the night nurse wakes me up to go to the bathroom?"

I heartily agreed with him. Then he went around to the two boys in our bedroom and made the same offer. Nobody refused his generous proposal.

Once the night nurse left our bedroom at midnight and all was quiet, we crept from our beds to the bathroom. After running the hot water tap for a minute, we all filled our cups. Geoffrey then dunked a tea bag in each one a few times, much as we had seen prisoners of war do on TV. As soon as we crept back to our room, we added the sugar and cream.

That tea tasted wonderful to us. Added to the pleasure of its flavour and warmth was the knowledge that we got away with drinking it.

Our clandestine tea party continued night after night for a few weeks. No adult suspected we had engaged in a proscribed activity, making us feel all the more proud of our rule defiance.

Without warning, another edict was handed down from on high allowing us older boys to have tea and coffee with our meals once more. Again, no explanation was given to us by our supervisors or the dining hall staff for this change. Though we stopped having tea after midnight, I never forgot how we bucked the authorities in "Stalag Jericho."

I told this story, and other tales of mischief, in my second memoir called Deliverance from Jericho: Six Years in a Blind School. Read more about it, and my memoir about house rabbits, at the Bruce Atchison's books page.

I also have a new paperback out called How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity. Read more about this astonishing story of God's wondrous providence at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers.

MEMORIES OF TRAVELING IN STYLE.

Long distance public transit isn't what it once was. Passenger trains are almost non-existant and bus companies, such as Greyhound and Red Arrow, are cutting back on rural routes. If you're fortunate enough to have bus service, the ride isn't as pleasant as travelling by train once was.

I had the privilege of riding through the Rocky mountains four times during my lifetime on a train. In 1968 and 1969, my parents paid my way home from Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind so I wouldn't have to stay there during Easter. Though my vision was poor, I enjoyed the tall snow-covered peaks and icy lakes as they passed by. Even at night, I saw the moon shimmering on a river and similar delightful scenes

Though I had to sleep sitting up during the first two trips, the experience of train travel thrilled me. Instead of tinted green or brown windows like the busses had, the train windows were large and clear. Instead of crampt seeting, I had plenty of leg room. Being able to visit the dining car also relieved the boredom when I couldn't pick up any stations on my radio.

The dining car was like a restaurant on wheels. It had white table linnen, real china plates, and metal cutlery. Sitting on real chairs at proper tables added to the feel of being in a restaurant. Watching the mountain scenery as I ate added to the feeling of luxury.

Though the prices of the food shocked me, it tasted very good. On my first trip, my parents skimped on the ticket price. They also sent me a five dollar bill and expected that to suffice. By the time I arrived in Edmonton, I had spent all the money and eaten very little. Mom was astonished at how much the food on the train cost. She gave me a ten dollar bill when I boarded for Vancouver but I still couldn't eat my fill.

The second trip home was nicer in that my parents paid for a berth in the sleeping car. I had heard about falling asleep to the rhythm of the train wheels but I hadn't experienced it properly until then. I slept well on both the trip home and back to Vancouver.

Even the daily passenger train trips were pleasant. Having room to sit properly and watching the countryside passing by the large clear windows was a welcome change to riding a bus. Back in the nineteen sixties, most rural towns in Alberta had train service.

One by one, towns lost their daily passenger trains. Busses charged less for their trips than trains so people flocked to them. As more people bought their own cars, trucks, and vans, even the bus companies lost money. One by one, rural towns lost their stops. Even Radway, the hamlet I live in, no longer has Greyhound service.

I wrote more about my two Rocky Mountain train trips in Deliverance from Jericho, a memoir of my years at British Columbia's infamous deaf and blind institution. Please check it out at the left side of this page. How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity is my newest book. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers distribute e-book and paperback versions of it.

WHY CRYSTAL SETS ENTHRALLED ME.

I feel sad for today's children. With all the electronic gadgets they have, they miss the simplicity of the radio that needs no power source. A friend introduced me to these amazing receivers back in the autumn of 1969.

On certain weekends, the parents of a school friend would invite me over to their home for the weekend. I treasured the temporary escape from that uncaring institution called Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind and into a regular family dwelling.

One evening, David showed me something called a crystal radio. It needed no battery, something that amazed me. I thought every radio needed some sort of power. Crystal radios use only the signal they receive as their power.

We tried listening to both of his radios on one antenna that night. It didn't work out as we hoped as both radios took too much energy. Consequently, the sound in the earphones was very weak. We decided to take turns connecting each radio to the antenna for a while.

When I attended a house church, Sister Roberta gave me her son's electronic projects kit. One circuit included in it was for a crystal set. My joy was boundless when I assembled it and heard my favourite station loud and clear in the earphone. I often lay in bed at night and listened until sleep overtook me.

Having enrolled in electronics class, I decided to build a crystal set from scratch. Instead of a galena crystal, I bought a signal detector diode from Radio Shack. I scrounged the wire from an old transformer to make the tuning coil and a strip of aluminum from a TV dinner tray as the tuner. Borrowing the earphone from the electronic projects kit, I discovered that my simple home-made radio worked. It could tune in only the upper half of the AM band but it worked.

Through the years, I purchased several Science Fair kits from Radio Shack. Each one contained a crystal radio project. After constructing every project in each kit, I decided to build another receiver from scratch. I bought an old pair of earphones at a garage sale and made the rest of the radio from scraps and a signal detector diode. It too worked but, like the first radio, only tuned in the upper half of the AM band.

Though I live a fair distance from the nearest large city, I still feel the urge to connect my crystal set to an antenna. There's something magical, for lack of a better word, in hearing signals picked up by a home-made radio. The sound is surprisingly crisp when compared to ordinary radios too.

I've written extensively about my fascination for radio in my memoirs. Check both of them out at the left side of this page. My newest paperback, How I Was Razed, can also be purchased through Barnes & Noble as well as Amazon. Virtual Bookworm stocks the paperback version.

MISSING THE YELLOW SUBMARINE.

One of my many childhood regrets is that I missed the original showing of The Beatles' movie, Yellow Submarine. I could have seen it in October of 1968 but the school bully insisted we refuse the offer. In my Deliverance from Jericho memoir, I explained how this came about. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Charlie not only bullied me but he dominated the entire dorm. One cloudy October Saturday afternoon, I stood with a few boys in the parking lot. Suddenly Geoffrey ran up. "Tell Mr. Dunston when he comes that you don't want to see that Yellow Submarine movie. Charlie says it's stupid." We reluctantly complied, knowing he would make our lives miserable if we defied him. Having to refuse this offer depressed me. I particularly wanted to see this Beatles cartoon, being a devoted fan of theirs. Though the band members were involved in some peculiar activities of late, I still loved their music. When Mr. Dunston strolled out of the dorm and offered to take us to the movie, we all refused. "I don't understand. I thought you kids loved rock music." As he turned and walked back into the building, I wished I possessed the courage to buck the trend and go with him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deliverance from Jericho contains many more vignettes of life in Canada's infamous school for the deaf and blind. More information about this book is available on the links at the left hand side of this page.