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EPHESIANS 3:20-21
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Building Community.

7/22/2019

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Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. -Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (KJV)

As we have been progressing building our Homestead over the years, I have really been thinking a lot about building community with like minded families. Lately I have felt more of an urgency to community than ever before. Let me explain.


We believe that Biblically we are to prepare. Not just for ourselves, but for others as well. God has really laid it on our hearts to start preparing for hard times. Throughout Scripture the Lord has used famines, pestilence and the sword as judgement. We see those things in many places around the world now and in Scripture we see those things becoming more and more common as the end approaches. 

So are we to live in fear? Absolutely not! But we are to follow the Lord's prodding. Tonight we read James chapter 4 during our family devotions. The chapter ends with the following verse (17): 


Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. 

There has been a stirring in my heart for many years and it has gotten stronger over the past year. I know that the Lord wants me to prepare, not only for our family, but to help others as well. This is something that I know the Lord has laid on my heart. To not pursue it would be sin. That is why I will be actively pursuing like minded families. I will be starting a Homesteading group over the next couple months. This will be first and foremost a group of believers in Jesus Messiah! We will be focused on helping one another and to provide for each other. So what does that look like?

God has given each one of us talents. Those talents come in different forms. Together as a community those talents can be magnified. Imagine being with like minded believers preparing and helping each other. What a blessing that would be! 

We are friends with some Mennonites. I also know a bunch of Amish as we live close to a bunch of Amish communities. One of the things that I have always admired about those wonderful people is the sense of community they have. They meet each others needs. It is so refreshing to see them helping each other out. That is so lacking in most churches today. We have become a self centered culture. 

I will be doing some videos on this and will be adding some posts periodically. Check out our Facebook page HERE for more updates. I am so excited to see what the Most High will do with this group! If you are from north western Pennsylvania and are interested please send me an email. I would love to connect with you! 

More to come.....



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Peace. (A Cook Family Homestead Blog)

7/15/2019

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"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

I love that passage from Philippians 4:7 (KJV). Have you ever met someone who was going through a storm in life and they just seemed to have an unexplainable peace about them? I have experienced that peace in my own life. It is an amazing promise from God. Here's the good news....you can experience it too! You can have peace through a relationship with Jesus Christ!

Jesus Christ (Yeshua) died on the Cross for yours and my sin. He took the punishment for us. We were guilty but were justified and forgiven by His sacrifice. Accept that sacrifice, repent and turn to Christ. Trust in Him. The Most High is so merciful! Run to Christ. Embrace Him. Lay your burdens at His feet and be free. Experience a peace that no self help book ever written could give you. No amount of psychology could replace the truths that are revealed in Scripture. A burden will be lifted and you will understand what freedom truly is!

If you ever need prayer, or if you need a Bible, email me and I would be honored to pray for you. I will send you a Bible if you need one. Don't delay if the Most High is calling you. Heed His call and turn to Jesus! 

Below is a video I made while out playing in the woods this past weekend. There is a peace that only the Most High Father can give us, but there is also a peace the comes from being out in His creation! If you don't get out much, you're missing out! Check out my couple minute video below.

Thanks for checking in and God bless!  -Steve


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Chickens like Popsicle's! (A Cook Family Homestead Vlog)

7/10/2019

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It was a hot day out so the kiddo's wanted to help the chickens cool down! Check out the video below. 

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Loving The Homestead Life!

7/8/2019

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I had a "mini" vacation of 6 days that I am finishing up. It was a wonderful time with the family and I got caught up on a lot of stuff around the Homestead. I even got to get away by myself down to camp for a night. It was a great time to get away and spend some time alone and with the Lord. I had a lot of time to think and pray as well as journal and spend some time in the Bible.

I can honestly say that I feel totally refreshed after these 6 days. It was a rough month at work leading up to this time off. There is a lot of uncertainty with my job right now and it was causing me some stress. I really needed to just give it all to the Lord and lay those burdens at His feet. The Bible says in Psalms 55:22 (KJV): 

Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

I feel such a peace and I am perfectly content at where the Lord will lead me. I am so thankful to serve a mighty God who gives such peace that surpasses all understanding! The Lord has always supplied my needs and provided for our family and I can rest comfortably in that! I am also very blessed to go through this life with a wonderful woman of God who loves me and provides such encouragement to me! She lifts me up in prayer and is always there encouraging me. I am a blessed man! 

I must say that I am in a very good place in my life. I needed to take a step back and look at how blessed I am. Janel and I were out staking up some plants in our garden the other day and we just took some time to look around at our beautiful Homestead that the Lord has given us. We took in the scenery and talked about our wonderful family and our new baby girl coming soon. We talked about how far the Lord has brought us in this simpler lifestyle that we had prayed about for years. We talked about how wonderful our marriage is. We have so many things to be thankful for and I was letting worry and stress blind me to those things. 

Our Homestead is a true blessing from The Most High! He has provided us with abundance that we could of never imagined 10 years ago when we began praying for this way of life. The Most High has been so merciful to us and I had let that beauty escape me due to stress at my job. That stress and worry ended this past week. I needed to be awakened to the blessings that surrounded me. I needed to be reminded of the wonderful promises of God. He has ALWAYS sustained us. He has ALWAYS provided for us. He has ALWAYS loved us. And He will CONTINUE to do those things as we draw near to Him. 

So I am LOVING the Homestead life! Each day is a gift from the Most High and I will not waste them with worry!


In other exciting news....we are about 5 weeks from the due date of our precious little blessing that is about to enter our life! Janel is at the tail end of the pregnancy and we are getting everything prepped. Some precious friends of ours are having a baby shower (even though this is our sixth) and the response has been overwhelming. We are so blessed to have a great church family and tons of friends who support and love us unconditionally.

We have also decided to add some sheep and rabbits to the Homestead by this fall! We are so excited. It will take some work to get the barn ready, but that is something that I love to do. It is my passion. We will need to build a rabbit enclosure and my wife has been looking at designs for the cage, so this will probably be the greatest rabbit cage ever built! It will be fun. (Stayed tuned for YouTube videos of the cage being built!)

We will probably invest in 2 sheep. A male and female so we can breed and sell them. We have the stall all ready, but we need to enclose some pasture space. This won't take a ton of money, but it will be an investment and will take some time to get it all done as we need to clean up the area that we will be using for the pasture. 

So these are some exciting times! The Homestead is busy and I am loving it! 

Finally...I do have one prayer request. I hurt my back a few weeks ago. I have a large 17 foot hardwood pallet that I use as a bridge over my creek. With all the rain we had a few weeks ago, it washed the bridge out. We used the winch on the side by side to pull it back, but we had to lift it as well. This bridge easily weighs 500 pounds. I was lifting a corner and really hurt myself. I went to the doctor and am now seeing a chiropractor. I had my first session last week and will be back this week. I felt a little better after the first adjustment, but I am still in a lot of pain. I'm hoping over the next couple weeks of treatment that I will feel better. 

It is amazing how a hurt back can limit you in almost everything you do. It has been horrible! If you could, please pray for me to respond to the treatment plan. I need to get better! 

Thanks for checking in and God bless! -Steve

PS...check out my latest video with the chickens below! 


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    Authors:

    Stephen and Janel Cook from The Cook Family Homestead

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Ephesians 3:20-21

20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.


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