Issue #16: An Offense Against God, the Community, and Me

My apologies to all. I’m breaking promises again, it seems. Angela Suntjens is put on the back burner again, though I intend to post more on her soon.

Meanwhile, I’d like to report on another incident people in Moon River Estates and around the world can learn from.

Mike Petty – Your Offense Against God, the Moon River Community, and Me

This letter is intended for the benefit of the community, yet another learning opportunity on how we ought to conduct ourselves with our neighbors in attitude, word, and action.

Mike, about one year ago, you and I had an incident that was unpleasant and revealed your selfishness generally, as well as in this community, and with me specifically.

Granted, by nature people are selfish, me included, some more so than others.

Fruits indeed tell the tree. It’s also true that those fruits become manifest for all to see. While witnessing evil with others, most may not wish to speak up, whether out of fear or lack of concern, interest, or bearing a sense of guilt for their own shortfalls.

However, there comes a time when God raises someone to speak up. That time is now for me. God has appointed me to tell the people their sins (Isaiah 58:1). Yes, it’s true. And who can differ with me or Him? On what basis?

Here’s what I have perceived with you, Mike. I’ll describe the incident we had. You and I are two of several people who have enjoyed the walk carved out in our prairie landscape voluntarily and freely by thoughtful, community-minded, considerate persons for the residents and others to enjoy.

On one of those days, after you returned from your walk with your dogs, you were at the turnaround at the bottom of the hill and parked on the opposite side of the dumpsters. As I returned from my walk, I spotted you in your vehicle pointing toward the dumpsters with a long stick. You didn’t say a word at first. It was very strange. I looked at the dumpsters and saw a folding aluminum stepladder someone had stuffed in one of the bins. The lid was barely closed to contain the ladder, though it was locked.

What a peculiar event! I have to believe it was a set up from above.

You and I engaged in a brief conversation as to what was going on. You took a picture of it and I assumed you were going to report it to Judith Kulig as an abuse of the garbage disposal rules of members. I looked at the ladder and said, “Well, why the waste? If whoever it was didn’t want it, perhaps someone could use it if there’s nothing wrong with it.”

We were able to pry it out of the dumpster. Sure enough. It seemed to be a useful and quality ladder. It was a mystery as to who would trash it, but there it was. Possibly, someone in the community could explain.

Now, I hadn’t immediately considered it for myself, probably because I already had similar ladders. Before there was time to discuss what to do with it, you grabbed it, saying, “Hey, excellent idea! I could use it to wash a window I can’t reach. Thanks, ‘ol buddy.” You immediately put it in your vehicle or went home and soon returned to get it – I don’t recall which. I don’t think you messaged Judith, the apparent supervisor of the garbage disposal, but I don’t know.

I, being slow on the uptake, looked back on the incident and thought, “There’s Mike. Yes, he’s the one who first spotted it, and I suppose assumed, ‘Finders keepers; I found it first, so I’ll take it’.” Not for a moment did you consider that, seeing I countered trashing the ladder and suggested it be used, perhaps I was equally entitled to it. No coin tossed, no discussion, no offer for me to own it.

Not that I wanted it so much, for 2 reasons. As I said, I already had similar ladders, and at the time, given the circumstances, I didn’t really know what the right thing to do with it would be, so I wasn’t too interested, and here was a guy who said he had a use for it and would take it.

But the event stuck in my head thereafter. How is it that Mike grabbed the ladder without any consideration for me or anyone else, perhaps even the original owner? I was annoyed.

Mike, you’ve been quick to claim benefits in the community but very slow to credit or share those benefits with others, especially those who have served and do serve.

I thought, “This is the kind of attitude I’m called to address, this selfish disregard for one’s neighbor.” Furthermore, did you ever participate as a willing volunteer in anything in Moon River Estates? You and your wife never attend Moon River Association meetings to discuss community issues. You have never served on the executive.

Being a member of the private Aqua Luna irrigation water association, never once have you offered to help volunteers manage or service the system.

No volunteer gets paid for their voluntary services but the usual few are there to ensure, without objection and seldom a word of complaint, that the system runs smoothly for the 30 members like Mike – people freely serving as mechanics, plumbers, electricians, grunt laborers, inspectors of the equipment, purchasers, pumps, pump shack, motors, filters, intake, valves, lines, etc. Not to mention the executive of Aqua Luna who take the time to manage the paperwork of the system and organization, people like the Grafs, for instance.

I commend and thank those who have willingly served without expecting pay or even appreciation, it seems, people like Paul and Yvonne, Allan and Michelle Jacobs, Maas and Tinie Brinks, Aaron and Dianne Hearne, Jay and Judith Pearson, Rene Barendregt, Les and Wendy Hilliard, Steve and Marquise Harris, Andy and Leah Dormaar, John and Isabelle VanderMerwe, Gerry and Valerie Prefontaine, those on the executive, Richard and Tracy Steeves (the “pathmakers,” with help?), Stan Cox, Erica Larson, Darren and Joan Kronlund, and others, who along with their supportive and sacrificing, though not visibly active, spouses. I expect there are “unsung heroes” and perhaps some undeserving mentions (God knows the hearts and rewards accordingly).

And there you are, Mike, not lifting a finger in anything in Moon River, not Aqua Luna or anything else, like even the annual volunteer garbage cleanup. Don’t get me wrong, you’re not the only such one but now I address you for the sake of others who also need to hear these things. Perhaps I’m not aware of many things but if I’m wrong, please correct me and I’ll gladly, publicly acknowledge my error and apologize, no problem. I can only honestly say I’m not aware of anything you do or have done for this community. Do you consider for a moment that anyone has done anything for you over the many years you’ve been here?

A note on Aqua Luna: Surely you realize we all, including those who voluntarily labor to manage and maintain the system, pay an equal amount in membership fees, so what makes you so privileged in your perspective and conduct?

I admit, I’ve been there, too, and came to realize how selfish I was, but thank God, He has been merciful and taught me that I needed to love (stop being selfish, freely serve, help, and care for) my neighbor.

How about the walking paths, Mike? You have helped yourself to them many times with your dogs, without permission or offer to help in any way. Nothing was required of you. Did you know it wasn’t a publicly funded or governmental project? Do you care? Did you not know that the path wouldn’t be there for your use if everyone thought and acted as you do?

Now, here’s the kicker, Mike. I’ve said, using someone else’s words, namely Stephen Harris’s, that God is my “Hit man.” More accurately, I am His “hit man,” in that He has commanded me to speak up where others are reluctant to do so. I’m here to address the “elephants in the room.” But whether I speak up or not, I have seen many times that God stands up for me even when I’m mostly unaware of offenses occurring against me or, more commonly, I am aware, but He takes up my cause.

As He has said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” It hasn’t been up to me to balance the books on my behalf; I dare not do so. He has marvelously taken care of that in astounding ways. He’s my Accountant, Lawyer, Manager, Shepherd, Army General, Counselor, Financier, Father, Brother, Lord, and Savior, my God.

I can name those many ways and times He has provided for and defended me, and I have done so in my writings to put the necessary fear of God in people. If I’m boasting, so be it. Aren’t there worse things to brag about? Just doing my job, though, and woe to me if I don’t. As I’ve said, God is not pleased with prevailing attitudes.

For now, I’ll only mention what happened in your situation where I perceive God acted, in a typical fashion.

It wasn’t that much later after the ladder incident that you had an “accident” (no such things, by the way) hit ice, rolled your vehicle several times, and seriously injured your back. These were things I was told by a neighbor and not by you. Correct me if I have something significant amiss here.

When I heard what happened, I thought, “There it is.” I made the connection between your accident and your conduct with me that fateful day, knowing how God worked with me and taught me His thoughts and ways.

Let me stir some serious thought and consideration in you: How many times have you had such a mishap? How is it that this “mishap” occurred after all these years so near the time of your conduct with me and in the appropriate sequence? Could there be a connection, after all? Did God “fire a warning shot over the bow” for Mike Petty or chasten him? Am I “making a tempest in a teapot” or a “making a mountain of a molehill”? Could be. What’s important and what isn’t?

Must I now speak to call your attention to your path of destruction? Will you scoff at me for “such silly notions” or assumptions, or will you seriously consider, before something worse comes on you? If I’m wrong, you may not have anything to worry about… but what if I’m right?

Still, even if I’m wrong in the details of how God works with me, I know He does work in the ways I’ve described. Prove me wrong. Our existence on earth is one of “live and learn,” of “learning the hard way,” of cause and effect, of good with sure reward and evil with the guaranteed consequence, of “karma,” of “what goes around comes around.”

So, while Victor may be in error on the specific application, he is not wrong in the principles of things and how God operates. I know he’s not.

I think you have a lot to seriously consider and to mend your ways, and soon. The Bible, the prophets, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His servants call it, “repentance.” I’m calling you to repentance, Mike. Not as your enemy but as a spokesperson of God for your sake because He loves you. He’s not willing that any should perish but that all should come to salvation.

As an aside, hasn’t your wife Marion taken up a pastoral position in Milk River with that infamous and corrupt religious organization, the United Church of Canada? Not that Marion’s to blame for anything here that I know, but maybe kind of ironic.

Why did I wait so long to bring this out? Not sure. Maybe, I’m just fearful of looking foolish, maybe unconvinced entirely that I was “right on the money,” or reluctant to socially jeopardize myself with others. I could have various reasons, mainly, I think, what the Bible calls, “fear of man.” I also know there are definite times appointed for everything, not according to our wisdom, but always His.

God has many times spoken to me, reminding me that “he who keeps his life shall lose it and he that loses it for My sake will keep it.” He has also promised that “no weapon formed against you would prosper.” And oh, do I have stories to tell there, but not for now. I’ve been growing stronger and wiser each day to perceive and speak when necessary.

One might ask, “Victor, whatever happened to ‘Judge not lest you be judged’?” Good question but likely misapplied. That question is most often asked by those who are guilty, resentful of correction, and full of wrongful judgment themselves.

There is a right judgment, too. Jesus said so. There is such a time when one comes to have that beam removed from his eye and is then able and authorized to take impediments out of others’ eyes. God does cleanse, heal, give sight, and then commissions those enjoying those benefits to go and do the same with others. “Pay it forward,” it is said.

How do we do that? Well, one of those ways is to speak the often-painful Truth to others even as He has spoken the painful Truth to us. I can say that Truth may hurt at first, but it makes us free in the end if we receive it; well worth it.

I’ve finally concluded I needed to speak to you. It’s your time, Mike. Why publicly? Hasn’t your lifestyle been public? Hasn’t God often said, “You may deny you do any wrong, but God knows your hearts and He will surely make them known to all”?

He has also said, “There’s nothing secret that won’t be made known, nothing hidden that won’t be uncovered.” People have led very selfish lives. God says, “No more. I’m done with that. Fed up.” In comes your vehicular “mishap,” and who knows what else? Perhaps you already know. Now, is the judgment.

You once said to Jonathan, my son, that you had hoped some of Jonathan’s favorable behavior and ambitious example would rub off on your son, Sheldon, that he’d get serious and make something of himself. Consider that you, as a father, needed to do your part to set Sheldon’s path on course. Might that be so?

You needed to remove the beam in your eye. Because you failed to do so, you couldn’t see to give your son the sight he so desperately needed. Think about it. Nothing escapes without correction. You were willing to be disappointed with him. How about with yourself?

Where I have erred, God has surely judged me, and if I should err now, He’ll continue His Faithfulness and correct me as needed. In all these things, let God be glorified.

Victor Hafichuk
November, 2024