The cabin. Ahh, the cabin. Seems that no matter where I am in the world, my thoughts often turn to our little cabin in the Chihuahuan Desert. It has become my place of guaranteed solitude, silence, and simplicity — monastic disciplines that help to reset a busy soul.

The past year has been intensely busy with travel, mobilizing thousands of volunteers to serve others both domestically and internationally, and strategically planning for the challenges and opportunities of the coming year.

That’s why our retreats to the cabin are so important to me. Our cabin is a place where I relax by working. I know that sounds strange, but the work is therapeutic. Because so much of my life is given to tasks that are open-ended, it is nice that at the cabin I can start a project and complete it. Done. Checked off the list.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not wall-to-wall work at the cabin. The evenings in the Big Bend of Texas are magnificent and call for a warm campfire — a place to have pleasant conversations or to just sit and stare at the dancing flames. And then, peaceful sleep in the deafening and cradling silence of the desert. Always good.

But, back to the projects. Because home is ten-hours away, we have to make every trip to the cabin count in terms of making progress, however small, on the things that need to get done. Our current priority is working to complete the interior of our guest cabin.

Our friend and neighbor, Joe Pound, agreed to stop by to wire the cabin for our off-grid solar powered electricity. He will later install the solar panels and mini-split unit in the cabin. Joe is an off-grid guru with a remarkable skill set. He has been a part of our journey from the start. We owe a lot of our progress to his help and counsel.

It took Joe no time at all to pull all of the wire in the cabin. Now that this task is done, I will plan on insulating the interior walls with R-13 insulation on our next trip. Once the cabin is insulated, then I can start installing the beadboard paneling.

I did manage to install paneling on the interior bathroom wall. We wanted to do this to get a glimpse of what the finished walls will look like. Cheryl painted the panels with “Sands of Time” paint accented with white baseboards and trim and door casing.

I then installed the sliding barn-door hardware in preparation for hanging the old door that I prepared for the cabin. A few weeks ago, I picked out an old vintage door from my uncle’s inventory of old building stuff on a trip to South Texas. I sanded the door smooth and then added the stained glass Texas flag to complete the rustic look of the door.

I then hung an old piece of art that was displayed in my grandparents home when I was a kid. Lots of memories associated with this old piece and with the door. As my friend Mike Aronson said to me when I told him about my plan for the door: “New things are nice but old things tell a better story.” I totally agree.

On Sunday, we tuned in to Kingsland’s Live Streaming service and then got dressed and drove to Terlingua Ranch Christian Church — our church away from Kingsland. We always enjoy our visits to TRCC and to reconnecting with so many friends we first met in 2018 when we started our desert adventure. Wonderful folks.

I also took a few minutes to swap out our old propane heater with a new ventless indoor unit. It kept the cabin cozy warm on the cold nights this week — on the lowest setting. Nice to have a new heat source for those really cold desert nights.

Cheryl worked on defining a path to the peaceful spot where we buried our little Biscuit one year ago. Biscuit always enjoyed her visits to the cabin. She ran free and enjoyed every inch of this place. Cheryl’s path will wind its way to Biscuit’s grave and the bench that I made for her to sit and enjoy the view of Nine Point Mesa and Black Hill to the East.

As on all of our visits, we always have a gathering of our closest neighbors — those who live within a few miles that we have come to know. It’s always fun to share a meal and to get caught up on things while sitting around the campfire. Wyatt, the youngest son of our good neighbors to the south blessed us with his sweet words, “You all are like family to us.” Wow! Touched us deeply.

At the end of the day, the sweetest thing of all is making meaningful connections with others wherever God leads us. The world is so crazy-full of hate and anger that we need more people like Wyatt to cut through it all to what really matters — being a good neighbor to those around us.

And now, it’s time to return to the suburbs but, as always, with deeper gratitude for the blessing of our little place under the magnificent Big Bend skies. Thanks for following our adventure.