A Time for Everything

Hello friends and family!

The last few weeks have given new meaning to the expression ‘hurry up and wait.’ Baby Girl’s arrival is imminent and never far from our minds, but in the meantime, we have been doing a lot of hurrying up! It’s a relief to know that God’s sovereign timing is perfect, even when it includes more than we think we can handle all at once.

Camp News

For a little over a year, Ironwood has been exploring the idea of a remote facility that could be used to expand summer camp options for churches. God provided an opening to grow in that direction! Halfway through this summer, the board of directors voted to take responsibility for Sequoia Meadows - a tiny camp in the middle of a national forest. This property can only be used seasonally, but it provides a perfect setting for high desert churches to get away from the heat and enjoy a more rustic camp experience. It also allows Ironwood to facilitate family camps without interfering with regular summer camp programs. We’re excited to see how God uses this new opportunity to reach people for Christ, strengthen families, and serve local churches!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Ministry Crew of 2025-2026 has arrived! Our final roster includes 3 Defined girls, 4 Defined guys, 5 Ministry Bound girls, 4 Ministry Bound guys, and 2 CORE families. After a full week of orientation, they jumped in with both feet as every cabin was used during the first weekend of the off-season. And it won’t slow down any time soon! If the projected camp attendance doesn’t change, there will be as many campers on property during the first two months of the fall season as there were over the entire summer of 2025. Pray for this crew and the Resident Staff team! We need endurance, health, wisdom, and (most of all) hearts that want to serve God.

Palkki News

Our visit to Alaska was full but refreshing. The wedding was beautiful, the family time was sweet, and the fishing… could’ve been better but we had fun anyway.

Gabe jumped back into work as soon as our break ended. Sequoia Meadows added a vehicle to his list, and it presents unique challenges because it doesn’t match the rest of our fleet. There were also a few repairs on road vehicles due to the many trips up to the new facility. Great opportunity comes with a lot of extra work! Orientation week brought another round of camp prep training and getting a new assistant settled into the shop.

I’ve been in full nesting mode since coming back from Alaska. The room is set up, there is food in the freezer, the car-seat is installed, and I attended not one, but two baby showers! We are so grateful for all the gifts, words of encouragement, and prayers that have poured in from the body of Christ. Our cup overflows!

Time is a funny thing. All humans are completely bound to it in this life, moving in a straight line from past to future. And yet, even we know that there’s more to it than a straight line. C.S. Lewis said, “It was Theologians who first started the idea that some things are not in Time at all; later the Philosophers took it over: and now some of the scientists are doing the same.”

Theologians may have expressed that idea in the beginning, but they got it from their subject of study. In Isaiah 44:6, God says of Himself, “I am the first and I am the last; besides Me there is no god.” He goes on to point out that He is the One who chose Israel in time out of mind, and He is the One who orders the events of their nation. The LORD is the only one who can authoritatively declare what will happen and when, because He is there at the beginning and the end simultaneously.

Obviously, this is too much for our finite minds to comprehend. That was the whole point. But God also tacks a command onto this revelation of His nature. “Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there any God besides Me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”

Because God stands beyond time and from there directs every aspect of our lives, nothing can ever happen outside of His schedule. So I don’t have to be afraid. Even when every cabin is full, and the Ministry Crew is brand new, and there’s an extra facility to care for, and our whole lives are shifting into a different gear - all at the same time!   

Love in Christ,

Gabe and Cheyenne Palkki

PS: If you want to see a video that more fully explains God's provision for Ironwood during the last several months, check out the Gallery!