Shaun Newman Podcast - #659 - Harold Stephan

Episode Date: June 13, 2024

Journeyman plumber, fully licensed chaplin, father of 6 kids and happily married. Harold tells the story of how God led him to build the Battle River Ranch Camp. Let me know what you think. Text me 587-217-8500 Substack:https://open.substack.com/pub/shaunnewmanpodcast E-transfer here: [e-mail] Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/ Email: [e-mail] Text: [phone] – and be sure to let them know you’re an SNP listener. Ticket for Dr. James Lindsay “Parental Rights Tour”: https://brushfire.com/anv

This is Tom Bodrovics. This is Alex Kraner. This is Sean Alexander. This is Tanner Nadegh. This is Tom Romago. This is Mokabezergan. And you're listening to Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks.

Happy Thursday. How's everybody doing today? You know, before we get to Silver Gold Bull, I think this adds in to silver and gold. You know, if you've been paying attention, which I think all of you do, you've noticed that Russia now has ships you know, 25 miles off Florida coast.

So we are getting very close to, I don't know, I don't know where we're at on the old World War III stage, but when Russia's got ships there, we're awfully close. And, you know, anytime I'm feeling a little bit like, I don't really trust the government, which you can imagine with me at this point is awfully high, especially with Mr. Trudeau leading our country, I lean back to, I don't know, a company that's here in Alberta.

Yeah, I'm talking silver gold bull, because when times get real strange, I want some money that can't be printed. Yeah, silver and gold. They're my favorite precious metals dealer. You know me. I enjoy companies that got their start here in Alberta or Saskatchewan, for that matter, Western Canada.

And silver gold bull is exactly that. I don't know why I'm so disappointed, you know, I can hear it in me right now. I'm trying to get excited. It's Thursday. It's just Russian ships are sitting in Cuba. Yeah, yeah, yie. Well, silver gold bull,

they can ship a metal discreetly, fully insured, right to your doorstep. I've done it many a time now. And I tell you what, it's quite the experience to finally get it in your hand for the first time. and if you've never done that, I challenge you to go do it and it doesn't have to be a giant order by any stretch.

Side note, if you're not interested in anything I'm talking about, you could also just text or email Graham down on the show notes, Silver Gold Bowl, and just say, hey, thanks for supporting independent media. Yeah, they've been amazing to work with, and I don't use that word lightly. Silvergold bowl here in Canada.ca, silvergold bowl.com down in the States. it's North America wide, you can get it shipped right to you. Parental Rights Tour featuring Dr. James Lindsay, Bonneville, Eminton, Red Deer, Calgary, Brooks,

June 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th. I'm going to be in Bonneville Friday, June 21st. I hope to see you there. And if you've never seen Dr. James Lindsay speak, he's fantastic. I've seen him in Calgary last year when he came. He's got his Ph.D. in Mathematics, hosts the new Discourses podcast. He's been on Joe Rogan multiple times, and he's just excellent, excellent speaker. You can get your tickets today.

Just scroll down on the show notes and they'll be there. McGowan professional chartered accountants, that's Kristen and team. She's been in the financial industry since 2009. They offer accounting, bookkeeping, business consulting, and training, financial planning, and tax planning. They are wonderful. For more information, visit them at McGowanCPA.ca.ca. CA. If you haven't flipped over to substack at any point here over the last little bit, we just released all four parts of the Cornerstone Forum and you can see it all in its entirety there.

All you got to do, once again, show notes, substack and sign up today and you can go take a peek at the Cornerstone Forum. All right, let's get on to that tale of the tape. He's a journeyman plumber fully licensed chaplain, husband and father of six kids. I'm talking about Harold Steffen. So buckle up. Here we go. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast today. I'm joined by Harold Stephan.

So, sir, thanks for hopping off on for a second time. You know, it's interesting. Oh, it's great to be here. You know, I was just telling you had Gary Mosterd in. And, you know, Mancamp was interesting because, you know, like in parts of it, I knew parts of the stories. In parts of it, there was guys there that I had no idea who they were. And then I got this story told to me about, you know, you specifically and I'm like, how do I know Harold this long, which hasn't been that long,

but I've never heard this story. I've never heard anything about it. And I'm like, well, I might as just have you in and you can talk about it because I would love to capture it and allow people specifically from our area to hear it firsthand, but also, you know, the greater world to hear the story for itself. Now, before we get there, it's your second time in the studio, but I, sir, appreciate you coming in, which means You know, you told me last time, there's a silver coin for you. You told me last time what you see is a whole bunch of things to do with basically taking that down to its particles and silver. What is it called?

Colytal Silver. Colloidal silver. Thank you. But regardless, it's a silver coin for you. I appreciate you coming in. And here's a new one for you. You see all the SMP cups over there. Clonny Sportswear wants to get.

give away one, what color do you like? Well, I gotta go with blue. I really do. That blue is kinda, yeah, you bet. Well, thank you very much, Sean. That is excellent. Nice. It's something neither one of your sons can say that.

Yeah, no. It's pretty fresh. Well, between Silver Gold Bull and Clonny, two Alberta companies that have given me a lot of time. And so, well, we're just trying to have a little of fun and trying to show some appreciation for people stepping into. Exactly. Thank you so much. Yeah. Yeah. Now, okay, that all aside, I wanted to get that out so I don't stop you mid-story

and have to worry about it. Let's talk about this chunk of land. You take as long as you need for this story because I just want to hear it in its entirety. Well, well, I do have to go back. I've been really praying about it since you asked me on Sunday afternoon and it caught me a little bit guard but I love the story and I honestly I just love where God kicked in and how everything that people thought I was nuts and I should go see a shrink and everything else about this ranch but I got to go back a little ways if you don't mind sure no do you take as long as you want you know there was a time when tequila and cocaine and and a Canadian beer was my you know what I'd love to

live off of and it wasn't doing me any good my the tequila was killing my liver and I was in trouble my health-wise and even going back further. I got involved in an incident where I was charged with drug trafficking when I was 19. And so, you know, I didn't make a lot of good choices. And, you know, I was sort of, I guess you could say I was addicted to all of those things and addicted to pornography and all the garbage that was just rotting me out. Anyway, we got married in the summer of 1976, July 24th, which is coming up. We're going to be married 48 years here.

Congrats. Yeah, thanks, Sean. It's great. And Diane is just incredible. We've been through as much as anybody in any marriage, if not more sometimes. We've been through near-death experiences and cancer and all of it, eh? And, you know, children that have struggled with things. But today, it's great.

It is. But anyway, our marriage started out in 76, and we thought we were just normal people. We got married. and we were still into our addictions and everything. And probably halfway, well, about three years later into our marriage, you know, I got introduced to cocaine. And when I drank beer, my sinuses would plug up and I'd get kind of groggy. And I just my evening could get spoiled easy.

And I didn't know that I was allergic to something in the beer. Well, doing a few lines of cocaine cleared it right up. Not only cleared up the stuffiness, but you had more energy. And I was ready to go for the rest of the night. And honestly, it was. It was incredible. And I never did tell my wife about her. Never told Diane about it at all.

And she found out eventually. And that's when she kind of, you know, stuck me to the walls. And we had to do something about this because this is not good. And so then as time went on, all these people talking about God and Jesus and jeepers, I was so tired of hearing it. And I threw them out of my office and some of them visit our house. And I'd tell them to get out of my house. I don't want to believe that kind of crap.

If you're going to say that about people, you know, I'd get out of here. And, you know, it just kept on and on until we were doing a big plumbing job. And if you ever go through Kindersley, there's a beautiful shopping center on the north side of the highways. You're going through on Highway 7. And we're doing all the mechanical work in it. And we didn't know at the time that the company, the contractor, was channeling all the funds out of there into a super mall in Colonna. And the contractors or the concrete guy, the paving guy, the seal guy, none of us were getting paid. and it was really getting really getting rough and he took down seven of us it through that that company

anyway one day I'm in my office and and I get all my guys going we had a relatively new building and I had about 20 guys working for us and I got everybody working and I was heading back to my office and Ethel our secretary says Harold we got payroll Friday this is Monday morning she says we got payroll Friday and we got like $250 in the bank. And we need about $15,000, $16,000 just for payroll, let alone the other payments, eh? So anyway, I go into my office and I closed the door, and I didn't know what to do.

You know, I felt like kind of a failure, you know. My dad went through a lot of struggles. My mom was taking our home when I was 12, and so our home was kind of a very dysfunctional in a lot of ways, eh? And I know Diane, who helped us a lot of times find my dad when he got discouraged, be trying to, you know, he just felt worthless and done. And here I am. I got all these payments.

I got this business, all these guys, and I can't make payroll. And I thought, what am I going to do here? And so for some reason, that day, for the first time ever, I put my head between my hands and I just leaned over. And I just cried out. You know, I just said, God, if you really are real, I need you. And I need you now. And then I just sort of, I just sort of, I just, I went numb and I started to bawl like crazy and I just shaking and everything and I you know I never knew a head could hold that much snot in it you know but I was just leaking everywhere and anyway then as I'm sitting there all of a sudden a knock came at my door and that's odd because ethel our secretary outside always lets me know if there's somebody and and so on so anyway I blow my nose

and white my eyes and everything and I say yeah come in and it's a guy standing there about 40, 45 years old and had the coolest nice military crew cut. And I said, yeah, can I help you? Yeah. And in a really strong kind of a Polish accent, he says, yeah, I wonder if you're hiring anybody. I says, no, I says, I'm not hiring anybody. I said, sorry about that. And I expected him just turn around and leave. But he didn't. He stood there, Sean, and he looks at me. He says, well, you know, he says, if you can give me a job, I can help you out with money if he needs some help with money. And I said, pardon me? And he said it again. I said, have a seat. So he sat down across from me and he explained that he was from some other country and he had some investments in

property in Alberta, which was only 30 miles from Kinnersley where we live. And he says, if I don't have a job, they can send me back to the moon country and so on and on. I don't know the exact how he said it. But anyway, he says to me this. He says, you give me a job. and I'll do more for you than any man can ever do for you. And I thought, jackpot. And so him and I got up after a bit and we walked out in front of Ethel, our secretary, Ethel Jensen,

and I showed him in the whole showroom of our new shop. And then I took him into the back area where our streetman, first went through the parts department where Darrell and Charlotte were doing our inventory and working on the computer. And I kind of had to sneak by them. It was a little tight where they were working. And so anyway, then I went into the back where we had our sheet metal shop and other things and our equipment,

and then out to the very back where we had cold storage and we had a back hole out there and bobcat and stuff. And I explained to our problem with this shopping center and where we're struggling for cash at the moment. So anyway, and that whole time we went out there, walked right by all the same people up to the front end, passed Ethel and out the front door. And he was driving an old kind of a real wreck of a Dodge vehicle. It had an orange front fender or something on it. And anyway, he says, can I start work next Monday? That'd be a week away. And I said, well, I said, yeah, that'd be all right.

But I said, you know, I could sure use some help with some cash by Friday for payroll. And that guy grabbed my hand and looked me in the eye and said this, if you need the money, it'll be there. And that's it. And he got in his car and trouble away. Well, that week went by. And somehow, for some reason, enough resources came in that week from people who owed us money in different jobs, that we were able to cover payroll and pretty much every one of our other

expenses for that day for the first time in three, four months. So anyway, that was great. And I forgot all about my prayer thing totally. Like that was not even anywhere in my sphere of thinking at that point, but Monday come along. And I looked around, the guy wasn't rounding, but I have a lot to do on Monday. a lot of my guys don't show up on Monday. A lot of them are hungover bad,

and a lot of the guys I had working for me were pretty rough characters, and they were great, but they were just living rough lives. So anyway, Tuesday come along, and he still didn't show up. So I go out to Ethel, and I say, Ethel, I said, you know the older guy that was here last week with a nice crew cut and everybody was going to come to work for us

and everything, we were walking around out here? I said, did he phone or leave a message with you? And Ethel looked me, and she said, Harold, I didn't see anybody here like that last week. I said, Ethel, we were right here. And I talked to my father-in-law who was there at the time and Diane about it right after the guy was there. And so they know that it happened.

And she says, honestly, Harold, I didn't see anybody here like that last week. So I go over to Daryl and Charlotte in our parts area and I just said to them too. I said, hey, guys, you remember the old guy that squeezed by here with me? We were looking around. I said, did he phone or leave a message with you guys? because he was supposed to start work yesterday. And they looked at me the same way and said, Harold, there was nobody here like that last week.

And so, Sean, I don't understand much about anything about Christianity or religion at that time. I just didn't know any of the depth of it. And I go into my office and I close the door and I just sat there. And I could not figure out what the heck was going on? Like, I didn't know what was happening. And so a month later, August 3rd, that was in July, in August 3rd, 1983, I'm in my office, and a guy who's the name of Doug Klan, who's a pastor in

Edmonton now, and he's a farmer then and a biker. And I'm at 7.30 in evening, and I'm loose in our business. You know, I'm trying to think, how am I going to save my nice Mustang convertible and you know how you go through these weird thinking, you know, and how am I going to feed my family, what are we going to do, where we're going to live, all the crazy stuff. And anyway, in walks this Doug Klan at 7th or an evening. And he's got this big. Bible in his hand and he's just a big guy and he always got a big smile on his face and he sat there and he's listening listen and he just finally comes to a point where he said you know Harold you ain't got a lot of choices here it's killing you your health is shot your business is going down

everything he said and he said you know he says uh I think you need to give Jesus a chance because if you don't things aren't looking good and he said what the heck he says give him a chance for six months let him be Lord of your life. Go hard all the way and give him a chance. And what the heck he said? Six months if you don't like what you got, what he's blessing you with, you can go back to the stuff. Maybe there's better cocaine. Maybe it was better everything then.

Well, that night, August 3rd, 1983, I gave my life totally to Jesus. And we've never looked back. Diana, I argue with it. She thinks it was a little bit before. I thought it was a little after. But whatever, we both gave our lives the Lord there. And we've never, ever looked back. I've not done any of this backsliding stuff.

And, you know, he took, Diane was smoking hard, and she lost that right away. I had a filthy mouth. I was on a train one time out of Prince George coming down to Saskatoon on a train, and the conductor come over to me when I was talking to somebody, and he said, young man, he said, you don't shut your filthy mouth.

I'm having you removed from this train. Well, you know, you live in a sawmill, and you work in the bush for a while, and you don't know how to talk any different. But anyway, I ask God to take that, and he took it, and I don't need to swear anymore. I need any of that. You know, people, here, let a few cuss words go.

You'll feel better. I don't need that. I say people who haven't got enough brains to know better, because there's a lot of better words than that crappy talk. I said, you know, and so I've just never had that problem with that filthy stuff anymore. And I've been able to be clear of that, and people don't believe it. Because like I've said, I'm going to share a deal. You could go to my hometown and they'll tell you that I was a mess.

And nobody would have thought there any hope, eh? but anyway as we got after that diana and i moved ahead with our marriage and our life and then we got asked to to speak at a camp and oh i wanted to help at the camp i knew blaine went there and uh it was kind of new to us because we were in the catholic church then and we're comfortable and everything was good and and blaine got this scholarship through awana to go to camp and so he goes to camp and i don't think he was at camp more than four hours and he gives me a phone call on the phone and he says dad you get in the truck You come here right now and get me out of here. I don't want to hear nothing else, Dad.

You just come and get me, Dad, because I am not going to stay here. Please come and get me. Well, a beautiful lady by the name of Peggy Crenelson got on the phone with me. She says, Mr. Stephan, if you'll just leave him here, he'll be all right. Trust me. And I did. And we got there a week later, and Blaine's standing out of the road and a nice suit on that he had and everything. And he said, Dad, thanks for not coming and get me.

And so that camp, we started to work on it. I started to help cleaning, fixing bathroom stuff and plumbing stuff and whatever. And then one day they asked me if I would share my story at the fireside, eh, which we're talking about. The fireside's powerful place to share and talk about God. It's just a, there's an atmosphere there of peace. And, you know, people are standing, sitting there and you're just listening and sharing. We did some great music. They did some worship music. And then they asked me to share my story. And I honestly, like I said to earlier, I was scared to because I know how important it is. And when we speak words, it affects somebody. And you better be listening to God and letting God lead you in whatever

you're saying because of life, lives are sitting on the balance. But then not long after that, after a year two, they asked our family to direct the camp. And so for 10 years, our family would go over there. We owned a big semi. We had a stage on it. And we did, had climbing walls on it. And that's not the reason I really bought the semi. The reason we had the semi was my wife hauls a lot of stuff. And we always bugger about it. My wife, I tell you, can she pack a vehicle full of stuff? But anyway, her stuff was in.

And we had worship music in there. We had bad instruments. We had a stage for doing dramas and stuff. And that big stage that fell down off the side of the semi. And it was just a great vehicle. And we had a lot of fun with it. But anyway, one day I'm sitting in the middle of the activity. area at camp and I found that if I sit on the ground and come down to the level of these kids,

they just come to you like crazy. And they sit with you. They sit on my knee. They want to talk, but it means so much to come down to their level. Look them in the eye. And there was kids that would come to camp and they'd become 16, 17 years old. And that was the end of their camping career. But they didn't want to leave. How many of them came to Diana and I and says, can I come back next year? Can I help? I'll do anything. I'll haul slop to the slop thing and I'll clean the furnace. I'll do anything.

But I just don't want to be at home in the summer all the time because they, where they were living was not. I had one dad said to me, hey, yeah, Harold, it's all great, but now they've got to go to the real world. I don't believe this is the real world. I think that was the real world right there. Those kids were blossoming. Those kids were being real.

And you could see so much in them. And I thought, you know, God, why can't we have a place where we can take these kids once are done here, help them find their God-given gifts and move them into a career with good employers where they'll be encouraged and helped to become real strong men of God and women of God with a trade. And I hone on to that, I think, for probably, I'm not kidding, 20 to 25 years. And there was people that really thought I was crazy, you know, and my wife humored me and people said, yeah, who's ever going to fund something like that? Like, that's crazy here.

I'll just give it up and on and on. And so I never let go of it. And I just hung on to it. And it just seemed like everywhere I went, I'd share about this ranch and helping these kids. And it really was because Diane and I and the boys, anybody needed a job. We'd always give them a job.

And we have a lot of people out there today that are in the trades because, you know, well, we really didn't need them, but they were desperately needed a job. And so I'm driving down a road one day, south of Lloyd and my wife needed me to pick up some supplies. Diane, and I've told this before, she had cancer years ago and so she really watched us what we eat. And this lady had some beef that was natural grown beef without any addage or whatever, all antibiotics and stuff. And so I pulled in there and I grabbed the meat that she had for Diane and she says to me,

did you want a coffee or tea or something? I said, yeah, sure. I said, I don't mind. I don't mind. I And anyway, went in, I had a coffee with her, and she started to ask me about what we're doing because we're fairly new to the area. And I don't know why it came to it, whether she asked me what God's doing, because she was a Christian lady. Anyway, she said, what's God doing it? I said, well, I guess something that God's really been doing me is that I've really, I've really had plans, and I'm hoping God would provide me with a place for young people. to learn life skills and trades and to help to move ahead in their lives in an

atmosphere that they feel strong and they feel confident and they can learn and after I was done sharing with her all about this she she says to me you know she says I knew you were coming and I said pardon me she says I have 80 acres of land where I've laminated and pasted and taped her on every post of that land Bible verses and I've been praying over that 80 acres of land because God told me someone was coming to change lives and build a kingdom of God and she says that's you and that land's yours today now build that ranch could I talk no I couldn't even hardly breathe you know and I just it was all coming together here you know the old guys who always said to me Harold don't stop sharing God'll be there if it's meant to be

it'll happen you've just got to be patient and wait and and and she gave us that land that day and it was phenomenal and then I'm in Dwayne Beckson's shop one, a yard one in his office one day and we're talking about the ranch and I'm telling him about this land and that it was given to us and he says well you're going to need a building out there he says let me see I can help you with a building of some sort so he says draw me a drawing of something so I drew a drawing and I do some grafting for the boys and I drew a drawing of a about a 1,200 square foot garage. And I thought, oh, should I push my luck

and see if I can get a 10-foot ceiling because it's nice up headroom. So I drew this thing up and everything had a nice overhead door in it and a walk-in door and that night. I took it over to Duane's office and he looked at it and he says, hey, give me a few weeks here

and I'll give you a call and we'll see what I can do for you. And so it was almost a month later and he called, the secretary of call and says, yeah, Duane wants to talk to you. And Duane takes him his office and he says, you know, he said, this building, it's nice and everything, but he said, you know, within a matter of months, you're going to be tripping over each other in there.

He says, come here. And he takes me over to a big drafting table, and he opens a big blueprint up. And he shows me the drawings of a six, seven thousand square foot, steel building. The best of the best, 24 feet high in the middle, huge building.

And he says, here's what I'm going to donate to that ranch. you know, a kid who come from my background and have people starting to do this, you know, God's working on people's lives. Like who gives you 80 acres of land with two gas wells on it right along the highway? And then, you know, it just gives you a building worth half a million dollars. Like the guy who erected, like Joe, what's Joe Stang who put it up for us? You know what? I went to Joe, Tim Horton's over here one day. And I said, I seen him there and I said, Joe, I know you got extra cranes and stuff.

I said, can I borrow one? I got to put up that building out at the ranch that Duane gave me. And he says, well, let me think about it here for a few days here. I'll get back to you. So it was about a week later, I'm driving out to the ranch, and Joe calls me, and he just rips me bad. He said, who the hell do you think you are? You don't know nothing about putting up a building.

You're going to kill somebody doing that. And I says, you know, Joe, I'd have to be real careful, and I know I could probably do it. But you're right. It could happen. But I know something else too, Joe. I know that God's put it on the heart of somebody to put that building up for us. And if they won't listen and do it, then I've got to do it because I've got to get that building up.

I says, you know how that works, eh, Joe? Yeah, damn it, I know how that works. Okay, give me a week or two and we get out there and we'll put that building up for you. And as he's putting it up, he calls me over and he's in one of the forklift things, the genies. And he says, Harold, this building that Dwayne gave you, this isn't just some cheap building he picked up somewhere. This building is the best of the best. That roof on there is not an ordinary.

That is a great roof, everything. So, you know, for us to be blessed like that, and it kept on and on, Sean, I had an opportunity, a guy who represented Mr. Nelson, phone me one day. And he says, Mr. Ray Nelson would like to have coffee with you. I've never met Mr. Nelson before. I've heard about him and everything, even back in Moosea. We live there.

Somebody messed out of drink of water. But anyway, Mr. Nelson wanted to have coffee with me, and he loved Rickies. And so I had an appointment, and I had to meet him at Rickies. And so I go to Rickies, and I'm sitting there, and I got to share with him, and he just listened and listened again. And I told him about what God's done and how he's got this far and everything else. and he says, I've always wanted to be a part of a project like this for our young people in our community.

He says, our young people are so important to me. And I've helped camps all over the place. And I found out later he has. He has invested in a lot of places around Canada. But, and so anyway, he really liked what we're doing, that we got the building done donated by Beckins and so on. And he wrote me out a check there, like a check that was. it was phenomenal.

Like it just would boggle your mind. And I'm looking, I'm thinking, what in the world? And that was all starting to happen. And then we needed a church. We wanted a church. And so one day we're out there after the lodge is up and everything. And the resources from Mr. Nelson helped build the lodge and his lumber and everything all come from there.

The lumber for the lodge come from Nelson lumber. Anyway, we're sitting having lunch. maybe around the 20th or 22nd of December. And I'm getting knocked at the door. And a lady comes and she's there. And she says, I'm from just outside of Nealberg, between Nealberg and the ranch, Marsden. And she says, my father and grandfather built the church there,

the United Church, and they want to put up a new municipal building on that property. And either I get somebody to move that and take that building, or they're going to bulldoze it into the creek out back. There's a phenomenal building. went looked at it very solid great his beautiful high steep line you've seen it when you go by and anyway i said we'll take it and i just thanked her over and over and i thank god for that building because it was just exactly what diana and i had envisioned would be the church on the hill and uh so i thought nothing of it she said but i have to have it moved in the next three months well i thought

that should be no problem but i checked around you can't find a mover for six months and there was some big convention going on in the next month or so in some state and they're all down there on this convention and I couldn't find nobody. So I put the word out and I found 10 guys that had enough equipment and trucks and were willing to help that we're going to move it ourselves. And so I got these guys all together and I said, meet me in Marsden at the coffee shop and I'll buy you breakfast and we're going to look at the project and see what we have to do to get this moved. And they all agreed. And so Thursday morning, I told them this and we're supposed to meet Friday morning. Well, Thursday afternoon around 3 o'clock, Sean, I get a phone call from a guy in Dresden Valley.

And he says, hey, I hear you got a church that needs moving. And I said, yeah, why? Well, he says, I'm not a very big outfit. And he says, I love Jesus. And I've always wanted to save and move a church for God. And he says, I'm a small mover, but can I please move that building for you? Holy mackerel. I think God was watching it what we were planning and he thought, you know, I got to do something here because these guys are going to kill themselves moving that building because we really knew nothing about moving a building,

but we were just going to do it. And yeah, that guy came out. And not only did he move that building and that church over to the ranch, but he gave us a $2,500 donation. Like, all of that just boggles my mind to this day to watch it. And that's what happened. Miracle after miracle. We needed an approach to the land.

And there was one way up on the edge of the hill, but it was dangerous because people come flying over that hill. And in the winter, you couldn't stop. And I went to the county and I said, we need a different approach down at the bottom where nobody's going to get up. Nope, can't be done. You got an approach. That's all you're getting.

Well, I took them. I drew up all the plans. I drafted up all the plans for it, all the elevations, everything. And they said, fantastic, but no, you're not getting it. So they wanted me to put a service road in, a massive thing. would it cost us unbelievable money to put a service road in and come off of that and on and on and and so anyway i was heading over one day to asphalt services to talk them a little bit about help a bit in some ways and and i get a call from kevin over in the vermilion county of the rm office

and he says to me mr stephen i just got a notice today that came in and i cannot explain this at all but I got to notice to let you know that your application for approach has been approved, and you can go ahead and build that approach. Well, there's neighbors around there that were so upset because they've been trying for years to get a new approach, and they couldn't. And yet we put it in God's hands. Some of them, they were mad at me, and I said, well, I said, you know what, I think I filled the same form out you did.

I did everything the same as you, but I said, did you put it in God's hands and trust him for the results? Well, they'd get mad at me when I'd say that. But that's all we did different than anybody else. We just said, God, you got to look after this. We need this approach. And he would get us that approach and get everything cleared. So it's just one miracle after another.

We wanted to have cattle. And we waited and waited. And all of a sudden, three days before Christmas one year, somebody phones me and says, Hey, Harold, this is so-and-so over at Provost Livestock. I hear you want some cattle over there. And I says, yeah, we sure do. Well, he says, I've got three bread, here. You want them? I said, you bet we want them. Okay, he says, we'll have our truck

deliver them here in the next couple days and they're yours. I said, well, you need a taxis here or something? No, we don't want to. Just, glad you're taking them. Christmas has come. We need to clean things up here. So we took them and they brought a big truck, dropped off these three cows and they went into the corral and everything was good. But I didn't have enough feed for them. I didn't expect it. You know, I had enough feed for about three weeks and that was it. So then I got a hold of Eric Davidson and Rhonda was at Man Camp there this weekend cooking and getting everybody fed. And I just phoned Eric and I said, Eric, I got three cows, bright cows donated to the ranch. But I don't know what I'm going to feed here.

I says, can I buy some feet off you? And you always says, he says, Harold, I'll do you a little better than that. I says, well, what's that? He says, I'll come there. It's more of my trailer. I'll pick up those cows and I'll throw them in with all mine. It'll make no difference to me. But he said, and then I'll bring them back to him the spring when they've had their calves and

everything. Like just one thing after another when you, you know, just walking and trusting God for the results and knowing that if we just would go that direction and just watch him work, you know, the ranch is worth today, three, four million dollars. And we've never borrowed a penny. We've never not been able to pay a bill. It's always been there for what we needed. Spring came and he didn't deliver the cows. And he said he won't deliver him until the grass is at least three inches high, because that's when the nutrition is in the grass. Well, he didn't show up, and there was already about five inches tall. So I phoned him, and I said, Eric, what's happened with the cows in that?

I know you're busy, but, well, he says, Harold, I'm not going to bring them back. I said, what? You know, I said, why's that? Well, he says, the reason you've got them is because they are mean cows. Those are the meanest cows that I've ever seen. In fact, my daughter named one of them Hillary, because he said, it's just so mean. If you turn your back on that cow, she'll kill you. She'll be after you.

Great name for a mean cow. Yeah. It was so funny. And Eric says, what we're going to do is, I'm going to take these cattle. I'm going to get rid of them, sell them, or whatever, and I'm going to bring you some nice ones. So it was probably two or three months later.

He shows up and he opens the gate and outwalk three nice calves, three cows, and those cows are pregnant. So I've got three, six, nine animals that show up from a guy. And then he gives us a donation. So you know what? When you're following God's will and doing what he wants, you know, it's like our family. Who would ever think I'd have today, six great kids and all beautifully married and 25 grandkids today. And they're all healthy, well, and doing phenomenal.

You know, it's hard sometimes from my mind to wrap around that, you know. what have I ever done to deserve that, but trust God and walk with him and watch him do the work. You know, so, you know, the ranch had got built and things are happening, and it was good. The church was opened up. We had church services out there. We had people coming out to help. Our building got blown down in our tornado back in about 2011 or 12, that horrible thing that went through and flattened the lodge.

It just flattened it. well, I was supposed to have a big biker retreat out there two weeks later and I just phone the organizers. I said, you know, there's just no way that we can have this. I said, we have a massive mess out here. And I said, I just can't get focused on doing this biker retreat. And so our leader guy there who was working with us and, oh, shoot, I don't leave his name now. But anyway, he said, Harold, let me see what I can come up with and see if we can help you in any way. in. So anyway, he calls me a week later and he says, we're still going to come. Now he came and we're

expecting about 30 or so bikers to show up from around Saskatchewan and maybe a few from Alberta. We ended up with over 100 and some bikers coming from all over some from North Dakota, Manitoba, Saskatchew, and they filled that place. A semi came with equipment and tools and everything and a picker to help us move stuff. And the newspaper came out from Lloyd and they said, you know Harold how does that feel look at them they're just coming and coming and I said well that's God's hand working and that's the miracle of God that we're helping us and that weekend we were able to clean up everything and start rebuilding the lodge and you know just stuff like that that happened all the time and I go to Harris Electric one day because I need some electrical

for the lodge and I go in there and I asked for I didn't want to go in I really didn't I drove right by Harris Electric because I knew nobody in Harris Electric I knew the first founders, but they were long gone. So I drove right by on a cloudy, foggy day one in the spring, and I got about a half a block away, and it's, I don't know, it's like, it's like there was a wall in front of me, and I couldn't push through it. And I just felt God saying, you get the heck back there. You need to talk to them. So I cut a Uey over there by ADM, and I go back over to Harris Selector where they used to be. And I go in the front door, and I say, can I talk to the manager please and here this guy standing kind of to the right of me that girl says oh yeah that's uh ken right

there and ken looks at me and he says hey harold come on in i didn't know ken he invites me into his office and you know ken has been a real friend of the ranch and i'll tell you he encouraged me so much he um i started telling him about the ranch and he says you know harold you don't have to tell me much i've been listening to the radio and watching you on the newspapers and and i know what's happening out there he said and i'm thinking oh oh what and He says, I'll tell you the truth, that ranch and you have changed my heart. And you've changing the heart of the people of Lloyd Minster too. Because many of us think it's all about us and our empire and our big trucks and our business and our retirement and everything.

But that ranch has changed a lot of hearts where we realize now that it's about the future and making a difference in the lives of enough young people to help them move ahead with the life skills and trades. that for me to be able to help you do that. That's huge because I'll tell you he said honestly six months ago I'd have told you you're a charity good luck with that. I'm not into no charity crap and yet now he said I'm looking forward to helping you. He says give me a list whatever you need and I gave him the list and he said boy I like this he said you're not asking for a whole lot of everything you're just asking what you need don't you? I says well that's what I need right now and that's what I want and he said I want to let you know this when you need electrical supplies, phone in your list, we'll get it ready for, and then you

just pick it up. I want to be your go-to guy for electrical. And you know, how crazy is that, eh? Like, you know, for him to say you're changing the culture of Lloyd Minster with that ranch and how beautiful that is, you know, to hear that, to know that, you know, I'm trying to help some kids out. But really, it's much greater than that and bigger than that. Jerry Ritz, he did so much to make that ranch happen. He helped us get a charterial status. He worked hard on it. Like he sacrificed time and everything and his resources.

He put on fundraisers. He would phone me, says, Harold, I'm going to be in town for a couple of weeks here. Get everything organized. Let's do a men's breakfast. And he paid for it all. You know, and he gave me a nice saddle for the horses out there and everything. And he just gave and gave.

And he even said to me one time, he says, you know, I'm getting a little bit, what do you call it, something about this ranch? Because he said, a week or two. so go, we're in a big meeting and Stephen Harper says, hey, Ritzie, how's that ranch going out there? You know, so that was kind of cool, you know, like even Stephen Harper was watching that for it, you know. So anyway, we, it is, it was one miracle after another to build that ranch and to make a difference in lives. And we just visited a young man in Toronto three weeks ago, Sasha Bartley.

And Sasha came to us and he didn't want to come that badly. His parents said, you got to go. We're going to pay for it. You go. and Sasha was working in a Toyota manufacturing place building cars, eh? And you did the same thing every day. Lean over, go up, put a few bolts on it, tighten it, and then go down.

Everything. And his back was given out on them. So, and he knew nothing else. He knew nothing about trades or nothing, eh? Well, his parents told him, uh, they heard about the ranch and they told him, you're going here. And they put him in his car, loaded it up, and he made the three, four day trip to Battle River Ranch at the, you know, the valley in Alberta. And today we went to visit him. And he has a beautiful acreage now outside of London. And he's running his own company. He's married to a beautiful girl who's a nurse, and they have two beautiful children, and just sat and had supper with him and his family on this

little farm. And he's got a nice truck, and he calls it, oh, kingdom plumbing. I think it was. It's a little guy with a crown on and a cross on and everything. And he is just swamped. And his mom says she'll never be ever grateful enough and let us know how important that time at the ranch was for him to figure out that he had a skill that he could do and he loves it and he raised a family and on and on the different stories of the young people a young levi he came to us and he was very timid and a little overweight and his parents sent him here from kindersly levi was working at walmart staying with his grandparents in swift current and um he was getting bullied a bit and so on. Well, Levi come to us, and the day he drove in the yard, I kind of watch

and see what kind of kid I'm dealing with, eh? And he drove into the yard in a wee little, nice little Chevy vehicle with a standard transmission. And that, oh, that tells me a lot. He's buying a vehicle standard. He's willing to learn. But also the fact that working at Walmart, that vehicle was paid for. Like, that's pretty cool to have that kind of work ethic. Well, he came to us and he had no work. He didn't know how to use a drill. He didn't know how to use a quit, none of it. But after six months, he could run the back hole. He could run the bobcat. He could, he knew how to run a drill and how to put screws in and how you skill saws. And and he just knew how to work hard. And he wasn't afraid to try anything. Well, one morning,

Diane and I are getting ready for the day. And Diane says, hey, Harold, um, Levi's on the phone. It was about seven in the morning. And so she said, he wants to talk to you. And so he gets on the phone me, hey, Mr. Stefan, it's Levi here. And I'm in Australia. I know, what the heck? He says, I've always wanted to travel.

There's no way I thought it was ever possible. But today, I'm in Australian. No matter where I go and I tell people what I can do, I got a job right away and I always get paid great. And I'm going to take a week off and go to some islands and check things out and then coming back. He said, but I just want to thank you for taking time with me. and teaching me that there's hope and that I can do stuff because today he said I can do anything

I want and there was a time his dad said that he was worried about Levi because he had two older brothers that were way ahead of Levi and how would Levi ever function and get make it and yet he said his dad says now I worry about his brothers because Levi is miles ahead of them that guy is just moving so you know it doesn't take a lot to help a kid and you don't want to not to not the wind out of their sails. I see too many journeymen today say, oh, what the hell do you know? You'll never be nothing. Let's get the hell out of your sort of thing, you know? And that's horrible because somebody who's learning, you know, just a little bit of patience, take time and work with them, walk with them, you know, show them how to use a skill saw.

Show them how to solder a pipe or how to cut a piece of ABS. And you know, young Chuck come from Moose Jaw. And Chuck was raised by a grandma and a mom. He had no dad in his life at all. Chuck come to us. He was, had gone to a few years of. Breyer Crest to be a youth pastor and well he was married and he could hardly make rent payments and life was tough. He sold everything they had him and his wife and they came to the ranch. Today he's a journeyman interprovincial electrician. He had no idea. He could do electrical. He had just no idea and yet he had such a gift for it. And he asked me when he was done his training at the ranch, he said, Mr. Sevin, how do I get a job? I just don't know who to go to or whatever. And I said, well, I'll tell you what,

shop. This is what I tell everybody, I say, is you find the best electrical shop in town, the very best. And you decide that you want to work there. Then you go to them and you say to them, are you hiring? And you know what they're going to say? They're going to say, well, what experience have you got? And you're going to tell them you're at the ranch and so on. But they're going to say, well, have you got any real practical on job? No, nothing. So they're going to say to you at this probably. Well, no, we're not really looking for more experience with somebody with, a little more experience, maybe first or second year, and that'll be it. And they want you out of there. But I want you to stop and change the dynamics right there. I said, I want you to look at the eye and

says, listen, sir, I want to work here real bad. And I would love to work for you for a week at no charge. I don't want a penny. I just want to work for you for a week because I want to show you what I can do and the kind of employee all be for you if you decide. And when you decide to need somebody, I want to be on the top of the list. So anyway, the guy was shocked. Bill, the owner, he says, what the heck, you know? Because who wouldn't, hey? And so he gave Chuck the job. Well, Wednesday or Thursday of that week comes along and Chuck notices on the table where he usually sits, there's an envelope. And he opens up, there's a check for him. So he goes over to the boss, Bill, and says, what's this about? I said, I'd work for nothing. Oh, yeah, Bill says, I've been watching you. And he says,

you're an incredible tradesman. He said, you carry a box with you, you clean up after yourself. I can't get my journeyman to do that. And he says, every screw on every cover you put on is exactly the right, same direction. He says, you're on. You're full time.

I'm going to apprentice you and we'll get you your benefits right away. And everybody I've told to do that, if you're willing to step out and if you've got enough backbone and gall and you're confident enough to do that, there's no right-minded boss. It's not going to hire you because how do you find people like that? You know, so anyway, there's probably, you know, if I may, there's probably like a hundred parents, thousand parents.

I don't know how many people live in that. I heard part of this story of Man Cap and I'm like, Randt, what the heck are we talking about? Where? I'm like, I've driven by that thing my entire life, well, not my entire life, but you get the point, a lot. I didn't realize what it was. I thought it was a church. I honestly, you know, like how naive I am.

or how misinformed or I just don't pay attention. Yeah. So I guess my first thought is, because there was a lot there, Harold, I'm like, okay, if someone has a child that's interested in what you just laid out, how do they become a part of the Battle River Ranch? Well, they get a hold of after 12 years since 08 it started. And after 12 years, Diane and I, our grandkids were coming like crazy. and my wife stood by me for 12 years building and developing and speaking every weekend and raising funds and getting trainees from teen challenges and I you know we'd go anywhere to talk you know we spoke

all across Canada and I even spoke in Germany about it and everything and and we had lots of support coming but getting people and so we're so busy we're missing out on the lives of our kids and our grandkids and it come to a point where Diane said Harold we need to have time with our kids Mark, our grandkids need us and our kids. And so after 12 years, Ernest Salman and his wife, Shannon, they were in helping us and volunteering for years. And I just went to him and I said, would you be interested in taking over?

Because we have to back away right now because it's just, Diane needs a break. And I have to honor my wife and be there for her and stuff. And, well, they prayed about it for a couple weeks and said that they would do it. And so he's a rancher. He's an incredible pastor that if you ever want to stop into a great church, church service. Stop at the ranch Sunday morning at 10 and boy I'll tell you you'll be blessed because he really knows the word and he really gives a good message. And anyway, so they took over

for us. But if you want to get out there, phone Ernest at the Battle River Ranch, Ernest Solmond. It's almond with an S. That's how I remember it. And Ernest will let you know. They just got another new trainee here in the last few weeks from Yorkton, Saskatchew and he's out there doing great. And we had a lot of people coming and going. We always had a good steady flow field, but it's COVID thing, that COVID weird stuff, it just screwed stuff up for a bit. But we're getting all back on track now and things we're getting. So how many, how many kids, apologies, how many kids go through this in a year? Well, right now we've, we get groups coming out. We've got schools that will bring a group out for a day or a group for a weekend and parents that will bring a son out. So

we'll probably try to get through, oh, maybe a dozen to two dozen a year. And it's not high volume, but it's high impact. We just want to make a difference and help them get through and into a trade and so on. And it's doing it. And now, it seems now we're getting back into the six month program. We've got the new guy and we've got a couple other people looking at coming. And so it's starting to come back to where it was, but honestly, that was a mess what it did. And nobody wanted to come to a place where they lived there. You live there for the six months. It's, we're charging an 1800 months room board and training. I know that Ernest has got a few other different angles in case somebody can't,

but I told every kid that came there that, well, the parents said, how can they afford that? I says, maybe you can't now, but God can. And I said, if your son or your daughter will go, and I just challenge you to this, make 12 presentations to 12 churches, to the Legion, to the Lions, whatever. But you make 12 presentations, and you let the passion in your heart, you tell them what you've come out of and what your life was like, and you want to get a trade.

I said, nobody's ever. made those 12 presentations have not had their funding. And that's for sure. And it did. It works great. People want to help if you sincerely want help. Especially when it comes to kids. Yeah, exactly.

And it did. It worked well. Now, if I go, you know, if I don't ask another question on this, I will forever regret not going back to you at the start of the story, head between your legs, crew cut shows up, and nobody saw him. I assume you have spent a lot of your life thinking about that moment. Because it's funny, I've had lots of different conversations with your kids, your two, well, Blaine and Joy, specifically,

about different things about the Bible interaction, on and on and on and on it goes. And I didn't, to me, I can't wait a second, what happened to your father in his life? I just cannot wait. Because to me, that's a wildly cool story. Now, you've sat and thought about that for a long time. Do you just like, well, you know, I've just, that's God working his way and I haven't get more thought, or have you wrestled with that for some time?

Well, I have wrestled for a while after that, but I did come to, do you ever watch that show on TV called It's a Wonderful Life? We're, oh, I forget the actor, tall, skinny guy, and he's going bankrupt. He developed this big property thing, and he's going bankrupt, and he's losing everything, and his wife is at home waiting for Christmas, presents and everything, and he invested all his money and lost it all. And he's so defeated.

And he goes to a bridge, and he's going to jump off a bridge. He's going to end his life. And as he's about to jump off the bridge, he looks in the water, and there's a guy in the water, and it's icy cold, and he's drowning. And so this guy, oh, I wish I could think of his name,

Stuart, I don't know. But anyway, he jumps in, and he rescues that guy. James Stewart. That's George Bailey. It's just wonderful story. And so he brings this guy up on shore and there's a little house up on top of the bridge in the old days

and he puts him in there and he rims him out. He said, what the heck were you doing down there? You could have died down there. I saved your life. Now what's going on? Well, no other guy says, I saved your life. And he says, what do you mean you saved my life? Well, he says, I know what you're thinking.

What do you mean what I was thinking? He says, I know what you're going to do. How would you know that? Well, he says, I'm an angel. And God sent me to save you. And the Bible tells us that God sends ministering angels to prepare those for salvation. And that was an angel that walked in my door. I've never seen him again.

But I know that was the second time he visited me. Because when I was four years old, I got poisoned. I ingested kerosene somehow. I was very sickly. And somebody said, give me a shot of kerosene. And my mom did it. I was dying. I was peeing black. I was listless. I was unconscious a lot of the time. And my mom wrapped me up in a towel, a blanket, and started carrying me to the hospital 20 miles away.

And she always tells me that he picked me up. This guy picked her up and gave her a ride to the hospital. She never knew who it was or anything. Nobody ever knew what it was. And she never saw him again. So I do want to encourage everybody to know that God does have angels out there looking after us. Don't ever underestimate it. Don't let anybody tell you it's not because it is. God sent an angel at least twice in my life, not more, because you get busy with life. You don't notice how many times, you know, he stalls you at an intersection or you can't find a sock for an extra five minutes and it happens to be enough time that you're going to miss out on something or something, eh?

but God sends ministering angels to prepare those for salvation and it was a month later that I did accept Jesus as my life. Can I tell you about the homeless guy? I've ever told you the story of the homeless guy in January this year. It's 4.30 in the morning I'm heading off to a meeting with your sons and I've been I haven't read the Bible. I'm actually irritated and I've said this a lot. I got through the stories of Matthew Mark, Mark, Luke,

John. And then, of course, Jesus dies, right? Yeah. I mean, I realize he's resurrected, but, you know, in the stories, he's dead. Yeah. Like, I know he's resurrected, folks. I know it's like a kind of contradiction. I hope that makes sense. Anyways, I'm just not reading the Bible. And I'm, I can't remember if I was angry or confused or, you know, so many different thoughts.

Regardless, it doesn't matter. So I get up. And the night before, I'd had a cowboy preacher, send me a, something along the spirit of fear. And I was going to read it and I was mad at it. I was like, I'm not going to read this. I'm not in the mood to be told in whatever form about whatever. So I didn't.

And then it was, I believe it was Ken Rutherford sent me another one, almost at the same time. So you can imagine they'd each talk to me, got the same thing for me, and then send something along the lines because we're not created in a spirit of fear. So anyways, I'm driving along that morning. And I open my phone and there's this text that I didn't read

and I just started reading it in spirit of fear or whatever. whatever. And so I'm fine. So I'm like, I'm praying as I drive, right? And it's minus 38 out. It was a frosty morning. It was that stretch this year. It's cold. And I pull on a refinery road. And ahead of me is a guy who's definitely homeless, definitely on drugs, definitely about to die. There's just so many definitely he's there. And he is like, to this day, I've never seen another person at that time of the morning.

walking in the middle of the road where you should you're probably going to boat to get hit by traffic honestly because I just I wasn't even fully awake at I drove by him and I was just like

I'm not picking them up and you know you kind of get that nudge like probably Sean you should probably pick him up not picking them up not picking them up

and I was having this conversation and I stop in the middle of the road and I'm sitting there and then I pick the phone back up you should not you know living a spirit of fear Fine. So now I'm praying on the way back to pick him up.

I'm fine. Yeah. But if he knifes me in the neck or wherever, you know, like, this is your fault. You know, and I'm like talking to myself. I'm sure, like, you know. And I pick him up. And, you know, he wants to go to the hospital. So I'm talking to him.

And I said, you know, I've been having a conversation with God about you this morning. And I said, I didn't want to pick you up. And so I'm telling him all this. And he starts talking. And for the life of me, I cannot remember what he said to me. But it was the most surreal moment I've had probably in the last eight months. And I started, like, bawling like a child. I get him in the hospital.

And I said, man, I think this was more for me than you. And he says a couple other things. And thanks for the ride and gets back, you know, and he goes to the hospital. I'm like, what the heck was that? Yeah. Like, definitely could have been a homeless drug addict for 100%. But the things that came out of his mouth, because I was really frustrated. and he's almost like

oh you need you need a little a little nudge in the right direction Sean and I got it I mean I don't know how the heck that stuff happens so when you tell your story I'm like that's wonderful you know Don Cherry go back and listen to Don Cherry and I talk about this a lot you glaze over what he says

but he literally in his movie in his book in his podcast on here he'll talk about being a car salesman and how he sucked and what he does next is he goes to his bedroom and gets down on Bend and Neen and praise. It has to be more. And it's like three weeks later,

is it three months later, one of the two, he's coaching Bobby Orr. And, you know, I don't know if my brain just skips every time, you know,

growing up listening to Don Cherry tell that story and not putting any emphasis on the fact that he asked God to intervene and give him help and all of a sudden, you know,

often running. Like, I mean, he had the skill set for it. I mean, it's not like you can be a homeless guy and ask to be coach and Bobbiard.

Bobby or and get it. I mean, I think you have to be within your realm of possibility of your skill set. But like, that to me is wild. And I go listen to that and I'm like, man, I glased over that a lot. So hearing your story, I'm like, that's wild. That's a wild story. I mean, in the best possible way. But then I think I was driving at 4.30 in the morning to go to a men's group meeting. It's minus 38 outside, probably minus 40th of the wind chill. It's freezing cold. I was arguing. I was praying and arguing all at the same time. And I drive by a homeless guy. he gets in and says one of the most profound things that I can never remember, which makes zero sense to me because I wish I would have just had a tape recorder. You know, what did you say?

Can you say it one more time? And it gets out, and I'm like, what was that? And so I get it, in a sense. Well, you know, that's exactly what happens when you walk this walk that we've been allowed to walk with Jesus. Things are going to happen that it's hard for us to explain. But I'll tell you, I've never regretted a moment. My wife will tell you our life has never been boring. it's just been incredible to watch what God's done.

And, you know, I don't know how much time ago, but one little story I can maybe share with you is that I woke up one morning and we're living at Cairnport and I was really distraught and my wife knew it and Diane says, what's the matter of you today? I said, Diane, I think God gave me a message

to give to somebody. And she says, well, what kind of a message? And who is it? Well, it's to Stephen Harper. And she says, well, what message? And I says, he told me, to tell Stephen Harper that he needs to stop listening to man as much, and he should be listening more to God,

and God will direct him and let him be the leader that he needs to be, and he's got to repent of what he's allowed to happen under his reign already. And Diane says, what the heck? How are you going to do that? I said, I don't know. And we weren't a member of the Conservative Party then. We were already president of Saskatchewan Christian Heritage Party and involved in that for several years.

So anyway, I go to our church after this at morning, and I stop in at our church at Moose Jaw, and I go into the prayer room to pray. And I just had to deal with that. And anyway, I'm praying about it. And this girl, Angela Stonowski's in there, and she's praying, and she's just a massive prayer warrior. And I'm all kind of done and getting ready to leave,

and she says, Harold, can I talk to you for a minute? I said, sure, sure, what's up, Angela? She said, God just told me to tell you, that if you don't deliver that message, it's going to be worse for you than for the guy that you're supposed to give the message to. I said, what?

And she phones Diane a little later, and she shares Diane the scripture where it says that in the Bible. Everything like, I never said a word to her. I never prayed out loud. I just went in to pray. So anyway, we let that go. And a couple weeks later, I come home from work.

And Diane says, Harold, you're not going to believe what I got today in the mail. I said, what? I got an invitation for you and I to a meeting. in Regina where Stephen Harper's going to be. I said, what? How come? I said, I don't know. She said, so the time come, and we go traveling into Regina, and Diane says, how are you going to give that message to him? She said, there's going to be a thousand people there. I said, I don't know, Diane, but if God planned it,

there's going to be something there, but I said, I don't know, maybe we're going to be in jail by night, but I got to give it to him. Oh, she says, what do you have to say that for, you know? But it could have. You know, I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen. So we get this event, and Diane and I are dressed up like we always dress. We're just in our bike or stuff, maybe, and casual and we go in, everybody's in a suit and tucks. It's just a real formal thing. Her cousin is at the door and he's a conservative candidate and everything and he looks at us. What are you guys doing here? Ticket. What? Where'd you get that from? Came in a mail. We go in and we sit down about five rows back from the podium and maybe five to the right or his left, eh? And we're sitting there and a lot of people are coming in. I'm a chaplain for the

Gideans and there's Gideon people coming in and other people that know us and they sit down and we're talking, you know, a lot of them ask, what are you doing here? Sort of thing. Hmm, I've got a ticket. And so anyway, a guy comes up and said, Mr. Harper's late, but he'll be here shortly. And finally he comes and he said that he's not got time to talk to anybody. He's going to come. He's going to do his media report right there where they had all set up.

And then he's out of here because he's got to get going. He's heading for Vancouver. So anyway, he shows up and he gives a great message. And Diane keeps looking at me. And I, and later on, we got saying, you know, I said, Dan, do you notice he kept looking at us? And she says, you know what? I thought that too, but I wasn't sure. So anyway, after the meeting was all over and people started to disperse and he was overdoing

the media thing, the crowd dwindled down from around 1,000 to maybe 3,400 and then down to about 50. And they started heading for the door. And he had at least a half a dozen people around him. And they started heading for the door to the left. of us. And so Diane and I just kind of followed along with this crowd. And as we got closer to the door, the crowd got down to about maybe 20 or 30 people. And then it happened. An elderly lady, I'll guessing she wasn't a day under 80 and her husband wasn't a day under 90. She's got a, he's got a

hold of her and he's sort of dragging his feet and all hunched over. And she grabbed Stephen Harper's arm. And we watched this. And, uh, and then his people all trying to, he's sort of dragging his feet. And he's sort of tried to push her away and he said no stop and so he talks to her now we're in a circle and he's at this side of the circle we're right across the circle on the other side and just going back diane says to me when we're talking in our bedroom that morning she said how are you supposed to do this i said i'm supposed to reach my he's going to reach his hand out to me i'm to take his hand hold it give him the message and then let him go and i just freaked her right out so we're there and he's over here here talking to that elderly lady and when he's all done with her he says his crowd says we got to go we got

to go and he says no not yet and he walks around all those 30 people and shawney comes right to us he reaches his hand out to me and i took his hand and i said mr harper i've got a message for you and i gave him that message from god and he said thank you very much for that he said keep praying for me he says i appreciate it so much and he shook our hands diane too and he left like how crazy is that i don't know i don't put the word crazy i just how incredible then incredible yeah it's just so incredible what god does when you he can use you and you're willing yeah but i one of the things i don't understand maybe your wisdom can can uh uh put a little bit of light on that you can uh put a little bit of light on this, trying to be a bit of light on it.

He's like, why doesn't that do that for every person? This is people who believe. Maybe they say they believe. I don't know. I don't fully understand it. I just, I'm like, I'm on my wild ride. I'm like, some days I'm like, I don't know what on earth is going on. But I think, you know, for the podcast listener who's been, you know, who's been tagging

along for the ride since we began, like, I think they've heard the journey as best as I can get it out in podcast. and then I just share some of the experiences and it just goes on and on and you know and you just I don't know at times I feel like I'm on a bullet train at other times I'm like it's as peaceful as it ever can be

and I hear those stories and I go listen I got my own set of stories some of them are dark some of them are like the coolest experience I've ever had but they're there and I know they're real and so when I hear your stories I don't go well maybe that happened I go oh no that that happened I'm like I'm not

I don't think Harold's on here trying to pull my leg on any of it, right? But I don't understand why certain people can have that interact in their life that way, or is it because you're good at seeing it, or is it because you understand dreams, or I don't know, I don't know. You know, Diane and I get up every morning, and we pray together every morning. We do a devotional together and everything. I've been writing out the Bible for many years, and one thing we do before we leave the house, we know it's a mission feel out there, and we ask God, because we know, that with only 2% or 5% of people being believers in our community, and 95 not,

there's people out there that need to hear Jesus. And we ask God to prepare us to share for him and share the love of God to people every day. Every day we want to be ready that when we step out of our house, prepare me to be a sanctuary. Help me to be there for you, Lord. Help me to share. And you know what? There's not a day goes by.

I don't think, Sean, where we don't get chance to share with somebody. It's just when I get off an airplane and the lady in the airplane says to me, what kind of, to Diana, what kind of marijuana do you smoke? And we can, what are you talking about? Well, she said, it's such an aura about you guys and you got such a piece about you. And we said, we don't touch that. We don't touch that in 35, 40 years. It's Jesus.

So we got to live it. We've got to be it. And I think when people see that, I go to get gas at the gas station. And honestly, every time our guys coming over, girls, they want to pray. You know, so, and they know that about you. They listen. And people want that desperately. They want people to pray with.

They want to see the hope we got. Well, it's a strange thing on this end because I'm sure, you know, like one of the things I admire about Harold, and I think I've told this the first time you're on, right, the moment when I walk into your son's office back when it was before that their new spot. And you pulled me out of the, you know, I was about to leave. Hey, could I have you in here? Everybody was like, what? Yeah, sure. Sure, Harold.

I was like, yeah, sure. You're like, can I pray for you? I'm like, uh, sure, you know, it was in a string, and I think I told you that at that time.

It was in a string of the most random things happening, not just from a Christian viewpoint, from a spiritual viewpoint, from like, you know, ghosts to, uh,

energy people, things, I think, I don't know what to call it. I just, the group of people that were reaching out to me, you were just in a list of them at that point. point, you know? Oh, Harold wants to pray for me? Yeah, I could probably take that. I mean, at this

point, I'm like, I got ghost dealing with me. I got, I got shaman's coming at me. I mean, you was just on and on and on. I'm like, this is, this is, as a friend once told me, once you start to see it, it doesn't slow down, it only speeds up, but I felt like I was living it out. And, you know, you pulled me aside and prayed for me. And it was like, I mean, I look at that moment, and I'm like, hmm, I think about that from time to time, right? Like, how important a moment that actually was. And when you talk about going out every day, it's funny. I sit here, I do not have all the answers by any stretch of the imagination.

I do very simple things. Read the Bible, pray, and try and put what's in the Bible into my life, which is harder to do than one thing's because there's a lot in there. You're like, man, that's tough. And then just see what happens. and so every day you go out and every day it can be an adventure. Every day.

It's a wonderful adventure. And I find that the faith, the Bible, Jesus and all that, it just keeps oozing out. I try not to, I'm like, I should probably stop talking about this.

And then, you know, the tighter I try to hold on to it, it just kind of starts squeaking out everywhere because people start asking. I'm like, yeah, it's going on here. I'm not trying to go around talking about it. But, I mean, I just had a conversation with the guy yesterday. And now he's like, it's not for me.

I'm like, oh, that's totally fine. But he's the one to brought it up. I didn't bring it up. I know. I'm like, I'm not the one walking out going, hey, this is what I want to talk about today. It's like, it all comes. I'm like, I don't know what's happening here.

Yeah, no, that's exactly right. But we just have to be open to it and just to be able to share and not be afraid of it. You know, when somebody punches you in the chest and Tim Hortons and says, what's that cross all about? Well, you know what? It's not a short answer. I'll buy your coffee. Let me sit and tell you about it.

And say it loud because it ended up not being about that guy. It's about somebody in there that needs to hear about Jesus. And you'll get somebody coming here and say, hey, can you tell me about Jesus? I got to go for lunch with Gary Moster. And I've got to go for lunch with lots of different men. But he reminds me so much of Joshua Island and how loud they are. I'm like, this is no longer for me.

Some poor soul is sitting around just thirsting for something that he's about to say. Because he is a giant of a man. You walk around with that guy and everybody looks. I mean, he's six, what do you say? six foot seven, six foot eight, one of the two? He's a monster of a man. He's a monster, yeah. And he's so full of Jesus, it just oozes out of him everywhere.

Yeah, no, it's great. He's great to know. No, Sean, great to know you too. And I'm glad to be a part of your life. And I just, we just, Dan and I both, we just love the Lord, and we just love to be able to share. Well, I appreciate you coming on and sharing the story about the ranch, because I've driven by it, I don't know how many times.

I just never even put one in one together, like not even remotely close. I don't even know if I'd given a second thought other than the church on the hill. I was like, oh, okay, yeah. And I feel like there's been some concerts go on there. Oh, yeah, sure, whatever. Like, you know, it's funny. I relate it to the Bible. It's literally there.

I don't know how many Bibles my mother gave me. And how many times I just put it on the shelf and just never even looked at it. And then you started looking at you. Wait a second. There's a story here. Right of all places to come out of man camp. And for not you to be the one telling it is a bit wild to me. I'm like, well, we just got to get this story on the podcast.

You know, now it's captured. So other people in the area who probably have zero clue this has gone on can have that story captured and told. I appreciate you for answering me when I'm like, you got to come on. You know, some people would be like, man, maybe not. Well, it was just, it's a great story. And to Diane and I, it's overwhelming too. And right from the day when Blaine, when he was eight years old

and we're building a bunk bed and he says, dad, I was getting frustrated. I think we need to pray about that. I was first a Christian, and to now to have those kids all so involved and how they worked hard to help that ranch happen. And it was a big part of our lives. And this weekend's Father's Day. So I'm just to say happy Father's Day to all the fathers. But we do a project.

Happy Father's Day, Harold. Thank you very much. We do a project every Father's Day. Last year we built a chopper. The year before, we built up something else. And this year, Diane's dad's old grain truck is in our shopyard. And it's got a great motor and everything. and we're going to try to change that into a bit of a rat rod.

And, you know, it's a 1961 Dodge, and we are looking forward to getting that running. And my grandsons, they just can't wait. They love, they can't believe that thing's going to come to life this weekend. But it will come to life this weekend. And so when we do stuff with us with our boys and our girls, it honestly, it builds life into them and an excitement. And it don't take much.

You know, you don't have to go to some fancy place or anything to make a difference in your kids' lives. Just do something with them. One of my favorite stories of dad was riding. He used to long haul truck across Canada. I mean, Hurley, we didn't have much in the way of money back then. And we literally rode in the semi with dad across Canada and back. We didn't have TV.

Like, could be wrong. Maybe there was a TV in there. I don't think so. Maybe we had some. Yeah. Like, we didn't have iPad. No, this is well before iPad. He had the old box phone for, you know, and everything else.

The bag phone, thank you. And he had the CB. So he was teaching us the waves, how everybody had a wave. And so me and Harley started our own waves. And just like spending time with them. When you talk about it can be the simplest things. It's just spending time with your children is really important. Now as a father, I see it.

But it's funny the memories that stick out to me. Seem almost like the most harmless memory. Right. across Canada and a semi for while dad's working and you know you're not stopping at every park on the way we didn't have time to no it's like we're driving we got to go and yet that's one of those fun memories where you're like that was a lot of fun and I dad taught me so much without having to teach you know yeah yeah no it is and that's exactly right and that's all there's to it and there's so many young men and women today that have never had that you know I get a little hard

on dad sometimes but so many of them have dropped the ball they get so wrapped up in their own uh agenda and their own mission and everything else, the kids get left behind and that's not good. That's terrible. You know, and how many young people, you know, I'm mentoring right now probably half a dozen young guys that are just struggling because they've never had a dad pour into them. And I'm just saying, dad, stop. Stop and go back. You know, even if you're a Christian, you're going to church, maybe you're focused too much.

When I was a kid, my dad put me on a tractor. I was about eight, 10 years old. Put me on a little tractor with a 12, 14 foot disker behind. and he said, you keep that front right wheel in that furrow. I don't want you to miss anything. And he says, keep an eye on the gas gauge and on the temperature gauge. And he let me go. I went round and around, and then one time he comes running out there kind of,

I'm thinking, oh, he's going to be proud of me. And he comes and he says, look behind you. I forgot to put the discer in the ground after I turned the corner. So I did round after I'm without a discer in the ground. But I kept my focus on that furrow. And sometimes we get our focus. on something in front of us, and we're not leaving what we should behind. We're not tilling properly.

We're not planting the seeds properly. There's so much that we get focused on being this perfect Christian, this perfect doctrine and everything's so perfect in the eyes of the people in the church. And we forget about our boys and our girls and our wife even. And things fall apart. Get your focus on what's beside you, your wife. Get your focus on your kids that are following in your footsteps. They need that.

And that's how they're going to survive. I got nothing else to add to that. That was beautiful. Thanks for doing this and coming in again. And happy early Father's Day. And you too, Sean. God bless you.