Friday, April 29, 2011 at 9:56AM Last night the HoneyRock family held a farewell dinner for our wrangler of four years, Becky Webber. We're sad to see Becky go, but we wish her well on her next adventure. Becky will be working in Eagle River for All About Spelling.
Enjoy pictures from last night's event.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 9:25AM by Luis Cadena
The Marketing Guy
So lately I've been reading a thought-provoking book called Life Inc. It's one of those books I have to focus on because a lot of information is packed into a few paragraphs. I have a heart for social change and so I'm interested to see what the author will propose as his solutions to our materialistic, individualized and corporatism-centered reality / culture.
One of the themes the author touches on is how disconnected our society has become on the consumer level. We don't really know where our food (or other products we consume) comes from, like we used to only a few decades ago. When it used to be normal that people purchased locally from each other and had mutual, human relationships outside the business transactions, the new reality is that we don't know who the people are behind the products (can we put a face to those making our clothes, our electronics, our food?) and so we have to rely on advertising and branding to instill our trust in the corporations we "buy into" with our purchases (and our loyalty). As we've seen through the years, this system can sometimes be prey to dishonest business practices where corporations put on a "razzle-dazzle" mask on for consumers while simultaneously exploiting the people on the other end, the producers of the goods.
Now I'm only about a quarter through the book, but to be honest, I sometimes get pretty discouraged when thinking about this on top of the grim news headlines I come across every day. I think to myself — "now what?! What can be done about this?" While I do believe I can (and must) be a responsible consumer, that in collaboration with others on a common purpose real social change can happen, and that ultimately God is bigger —the information overload of the problems and issues we face today can be demoralizing.
I think this is a normal response when focusing only on what's wrong, and when not looking at how people are making positive change. Also, I think I have continued in my discouragement as a result of keeping these concerns to myself. I think talking about these things with other people who also have a heart for change and who want to seek to make things happen and make some serious Kingdom impact for Christ (and not for our own vainglory) can be a better, more fruitful response.
So the other day while looking through the Wheaton College website (one of those strangely timely but cool God moments where He's like — check this out) I came across a YouTube video of four students who are taking their Spring Break to be proactive by "following their coffee from crop to cup, exploring what can happen when a product’s consumer is connected to its producer." Check it out:
This was so inspiring to me. What an awesome example. I'm excited to see fellow HoneyRocker Yaphet and Co. taking some steps to:
1) partner with other people (in this case Growers First) with experience and momentum in their cause
2) make it personal by committing time, energy and resources
3) get the word out, not for a "look at me" but as an invitation to join and support the cause, and as a way to educate and spread awareness for the cause.
What starts out as an inspirational video / movement can have an empowering affect when you realize you too have the ability to make a positive change, big or small, every day.
The guys are currently in Honduras meeting the people who make the coffee. I've been reading their live blog on how it's going down in Honduras. Check it out at:
Be encouraged.
The views and books mentioned in this article, while they may be interesting, are only those of Mr. Luis and don't necessarily reflect the views or opinions of HoneyRock, although they definitely support Yaphet and friends. Mmmkay?
Monday, March 7, 2011 at 11:08AM by Becki Henderson
Administrative Assistant
Last week at HoneyRock devos we talked about who we are. We started the week off with questions regarding random facts about ourselves such as “Do you know what day of the week you were born? Do you know your blood type?” and then moved into more important truths about who God tells us that we are in His Word. (In an old Mother Goose rhyme it says that "Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is full of woe..." and I have tended to assume that when things go wrong in my life there's really no help for it, seeing as I am a Wednesday's child and am therefore "full of woe." So it was good to be reminded that when God looks at me He does not see me as a child of woe, but as His child, precious and valuable!)
On Wednesday each person wrote their name on a piece of paper and taped it up around the fireplace. Then we broke into small groups and looked up some different passages from Scripture such as Colossians 3:12-17, Colossians 1:9-14, Philippians 2:12-16, Ephesians 2:4-10, 19-22 and several others and found different words that God uses to describe us. We each wrote one of those descriptions on another piece of paper and taped it up by someone else’s name.
The end result was this:
Dell is His treasured possession
Karen is marked in Him with a seal
Mary Elise is a member of God's household
Luis is being used for God's good purpose
Dan is a son of redemption
Amy is alive with Christ
Dan is raised up with Christ
Bill is included in Christ
Brandon is blessed with every spiritual blessing
Liz is chosen
Micah is holy and dearly loved
Don is for the praise of His glory
Becki is a member of one body
Nikki is cleansed from sin
Rob is forgiven
Joseph is God's temple
Melissa is redeemed with the precious blood of Christ
Al is God's workmanship
Robyn is abiding in Him
Allie is an heir of the King
Rick is in process
Craig is made perfect in love
Dan is a son through Jesus Christ
Terri is redeemed
Liz is hopeful in God
Heather is faithful in God
Becky is holy and dearly loved
Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 2:18PM by Scott Eppler
Program Maintenance & Grounds Manager
One of the great benefits of living in the Northwoods of Wisconsin is that we are surrounded by trees. While the trees create a beautiful environment at HoneyRock, we often have over-mature and blown down balsam fir trees all over our property. Over the past few weeks, HoneyRock had a timber harvest and 1525 trees were cut down! Just to give you an idea:
1525 trees = 5690 8-foot pieces of timber
5690 8-foot pieces of timber = 150 cords
150 cords = 11 log truck loads of wood that were delivered to a paper mill over two hours away to make high quality coated paper
HoneyRock’s main site includes approximately 192 acres of property which I would conservatively estimate hold 48,000 trees. So in this particular harvest we cut around 3% of the trees growing on our main site. Within the next 5 years, the trees that were just cut down will be replaced by natural regeneration started from seed that was able to establish itself in the forest floor because of the openings we created in the canopy. Benefits to the timber harvest include enhanced safety (as many of the trees were located along roadways, trails and adjacent to our challenge courses) as well as the reduction of fuel load for potential forest fires. The overall forest health was enhanced by removing dead and dying trees. We are also thankful for the revenue generated from the sale of the timber.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 11:34AM 
by Heather Ledbetter
The Word of God uses the phrase "unfailing love" 32 times and not once is it attributed to humans. Every single reference refers to God and God alone. As rich as the love of others can extend to us, only God's love is unfailing. It is constant. It is not conditional by our actions or lack of action. It is steady. Unwavering. Unchanging.
God is not only the answer to a thousand needs, He is the answer to a thousand wants. He is the fulfillment of our chief desire in all of life because whether we recognize it or not, what we desire is unfailing love and acceptance.
"What a man desires is unfailing love..." Proverbs 19:22
"Many a man claim to have unfailing love but a faithful man who can find?" Proverbs 20:6
I would describe unfailing love as.....faithful, purposeful, selfless, constant, unconditional regardless of performance, humble, full of grace, honest.
I Cor. 13:4-8 describes love and as hard as we can try in our flawed human state, as dedicated and faithfully we can strive to love others, we are going to fail at some level and at some point. Only God has perfect love and only He has the capability to love perfectly. Only He can fill the agape love-shaped hole in the heart of every human being. He alone has the ability to fulfill our hearts desire to receive unfailing love. No one else can give us that. We have to find our fulfilment in His love.
The entire chapter of Psalm 136 speaks of God as the Conqueror, the Creator, and the Compassionate One and how His love endures forever. It is not dependant on anything, anyone, or any situation. It is not a respector of persons and His perfect love alone can mend a broken heart. It spans all of time and is extended to every single one of us.
What joy and peace this brings to my heart because I know and can trust that ....
*When others fail me, His love still endures forever!
*When I fail and hurt others, His love is forgiving and endures forever!
*When I'm faithful to Him and even when I am not, His love is pursuant and endures forever!
*When I'm filled with self-doubt and I believe the enemys lies, His Word speaks Truth and His love for me endures forever!
* No matter how much I mess up, His love undures forever!
God's unfailing love is what our souls want,what it desires, what it longs for. A love that won't ever let us go.
Monday, February 21, 2011 at 1:59PM 
President's Day weekend is one of the busiest weekends at HoneyRock. In addition to the many great groups that come up to HoneyRock at this time of year, the Wheaton College Concert Choir (with director Dr. Paul Wiens) came up for a weekend of retreat, refreshment and rehearsal. The Concert Choir has a busy schedule, so they only get to come to HoneyRock every few years or so.
As a former Concert Choir member (of my own Alma Mater), it was a special treat to be able to listen to the choir rehearse. A few of us music enthusiasts on staff were individually blessed by the sounds, melodies and harmonies that Dr. Wiens himself declared "some of the most beautiful this side of heaven."
Of course, a trip to Wheaton's own Northwoods Campus isn't complete with a little bit of outdoor fun. I also had the special treat of spending time with the adventurous participants at the small tubing hill:
Visit our Facebook page to see more pictures of the Choir at HoneyRock.