My friend Bee,
I hope that you are beginning to see that this entire enterprise truly is all about you. Is it evident to you that I am not trying to glorify myself? This is all a pretty strange way of going about things, if that was my intent.
Please understand that I have never wanted to cause you stress, anxiety, fear, anger, or any other unpleasant feelings or emotions. I know that many of the things that I have written to you have caused you grief, sorrow, and pain. There are certain things that I knew at the time that I wrote them would be a discomfort to you, but there are other things that I have written where I did not foresee tears in your eyes. However, I have always been careful to be as truthful with you as I could possibly ever be to anyone. I have leaned very heavily upon God to lead me as I write to you, to be certain that I really am being truthful with you.
This is the problem. Often times, the truth can be painful, but it is only by facing up to the truth that we can understand what is wrong and where the deception, the lies, and the subtlety exists in our lives. The truth is a light that reveals the darkness. Without the truth, we are unable to see the darkness in our lives.
In all soberness and sincerity, I have never knowingly allowed myself to say anything to you that I thought would cause you pain unless it was for the specific purpose to help you understand the truth. It is out of love that I have thought to cause you to suffer, so that you might know the truth and to be able to see the darkness and to be free from that darkness. Is it not better that you suffer sorrow and pain for a season in order to discover and to take hold of eternal joy and light, than it is to live in an undisturbed darkness until you finally realize that you will never ever be free from that darkness – a adarkness that continually becomes ever more dark? I have only ever wanted you to be happy and filled with joy, but you will never be able to find true happiness and to live in untethered joy as long as you are living in darkness.
God wants you to have this joy and happiness, just as I do. Actually, He wants it for you in ways beyond my understanding, for all these wishes that I have for you are born of and given to me by God. If my desires towards you were manifest from my own heart (and not from God), then you would have had a much different encounter with me, and you would have done well to fear me. However, I am no longer my own. I belong to God, and He has given me a new heart, a pure heart and a righteous heart. It is true that the old nature does still live within me (as it does with everyone that has been baptized by the Spirit of God), but the Spirit of God is infinitely more powerful than that old nature. When I put my trust in God that old nature of mine can never prevail. Therefore, when I tell you that my love for you is pure, the reason that it is pure is that I trust in God. He makes my love for you as pure as His love, because it is His love. bHe gives to me all the love that I love you with.
And what is God’s pure love? A very very long time ago God designed you, He thought of you, He articulated you by the Word of God. God did not tell one of His petty ministering servants to go off in a corner and draft up a template for the random creation of several billion life forms, or any other fiction of such speculations. No, God, Jesus Christ – the Word of God, articulated all of your parts down to the smallest detail. Then when all of your parts were designed, He articulated you and every single last infinitesimally small detail of your person. Not only that, but He fit you into His created universe, and He shaped his created universe around you. This world not only accommodates you, it provides for you, and it responds to you, just exactly the way that God planned for it.
There are so many people that you have in your life that you love and care for, and there are so many that love you. God planned for all of those people and for the love that you share with them. Now, the love that you share with all these people may not be perfect, but the God that created them is perfect, and the love by which He loves them and He you, also, is perfect. It is only man and the devil that corrupts God’s perfect love.
Bee, I know that I am misunderstood, because I speak as God leads me, and the world and the darkness in the world cannot comprehend the light. Therefore, the light that God reveals through those things that I tell you cannot be comprehended by those that are in darkness. Only the Spirit of God can reveal the light to those that He wills. Therefore, if you go to someone that is living in darkness, and you say to them, “Dale says that God is real and that eternal life can only be found in Jesus Christ,” they are not going to have any idea what you are talking about. They are living in darkness. They cannot comprehend the Words of light. To them, such words are foolishness.
This is why I keep telling you to ask God yourself. If you go to God and ask Him to show you the truth from the Word of God, He will do it. It is a very simple test. You ask God to show you the truth. Then you read the Bible. If God is real, and if God is who I claim Him to be, He will make the words that you read real and living in your heart. If God does not exist, (as some of your loved ones claim,) then nothing is going to happen. The words that you read will seem like nothing more than idle words. This is all that I am asking you to do, and I am willing to lay down my life for this single purpose – for you! … not for someone similar to you or that looks like you – it is all for you! … all of it!
Now that we have removed all doubt that this entire enterprise is for any other purpose than to lift you – my dear friend Bee – up to God, let me continue to explain what “all of it” is.
All of It … ?
As we well know, “The Quest for Bee,” is a whole lot more than just the conquest of the polar circumnavigation of the Earth. There is a great deal of preparation that must happen before hand. Moreover, there are aspects of the Quest that are foundational (management, finance, Patents, engineering, fabrication, etc.). Then, of course, there is the whole health situation with me and the deliverance from not just one, but two major health issues. Most importantly, there is you. You most certainly do not yet realize how significant of a part you are in God’s plan and purpose, nor do you yet understand how many lives are dependent on the decisions you make in light of this quest.
At this juncture, I have identified no less than 25 different aspects of the Quest that are essentially impossible for me to accomplish. Eleven of these things are aspects that I might be able to pull off, if I were focused only on that one aspect alone. However, the other fourteen aspects are all things that I deem to be outright impossible, regardless of effort.
… the First Ten, perhaps
One – Muscle Gain & Conditioning
Let me briefly explain what each of these different aspects are, starting with ten of those items that are partially plausible. The first item is the muscle gain and the physical conditioning; although, this item is quickly approaching the impossible, assuming that it has not already reached that point.
If I were delivered from both of my heath issues as of this moment, I think that there is a good chance that I could gain the muscle mass that I need to gain, in time enough for my scheduled departure. That, of course, is a very big “if,” and there would still be a very slim chance of reaching the point that I need to be at. It is not simply enough to gain the muscle mass. I need the muscle mass in the form of highly conditioned muscle mass. I have done this before, but I was a whole lot younger, I only added about 12 lbs. (5 kg), and I did not have two major health issues adding to the complexity. I may have had one, but not two.
It is, also, well to note that I need to be able to accomplish this conditioning without any significant setbacks from injuries or any other sports related medical issues. Moreover, every other part of my body must be able to support this additional musculature structure, so it is conditioning of the entire body, not just the muscles. I have gained a little weight the last few weeks, but I still have 30 lbs. (14 kg) to go to reach my target of 190 lbs. (85 kg). I have 12 months remaining.
Two & Three – Blog Maintenance & Development
These next two items pertain to media communications. The first is the maintenance (the care and feeding) of this blog site. The second item is the continuous development of the blog site. I have managed to perform these two roles up to this point, but I have done a lousy job of it. Then when I started producing the Bible studies, I completely lost my grip of the blog site maintenance and the development work came to a practical standstill.
Adding to this problem is the fact that the blog site, as it currently stands, is no more than barebones. There are several critical features that need to be added to the site, such as a searchable media gallery that is capable of hosting thousands or tens of thousands of terabytes of high-resolution images and videos. (I will explain the reason for this in a moment.) Moreover, there is no shortage of user interface optimizations, infrastructure/component upgrades, and framework and content improvements that need to be implemented. I might be able to handle the oversight of this work, if that was the only thing that I was doing. Alas, how could I possibly be anything more than a bystander when I am rowing my ark across the ocean?
Realistically, the only way that this work is going to get done is if God provides a solution for it, but hold onto that thought, and we will come back to this topic for a few more details.
Four & Five – Advanced Materials Development & Patent Documentation
The fourth and fifth items pertain to the materials for the construction of the ark and the cycle. As I have explained in my past blog posts, “The Difficulty of my Errand” and “Treasures New and Treasures Old,” these materials are light weight, strong, and they possess excellent thermal insulation properties. Unfortunately, I am still working on the Patent documentation for the technologies behind these materials. Therefore, there is not very much about this technology that I can divulge, at this current time.
What I can say is that the underlying technology and structure of all these materials is the same. It does not matter so much what compounds and structural elements that we use; the technology and structure is fairly consistent and follows the same pattern. These materials are essentially a highly advanced material matrix that yields extremely high strength, with minimal mass. Moreover, the manner in which the matrix is engineered and manufactured affords incredible thermal resistance. Therefore, when we manufacture the ark out of these materials, there is no need to add any thermal insulation whatsoever. The materials that we use to manufacture the hull of the ark provide all the thermal insulation that is necessary for the Quest. You can think of it as something kind of like Styrofoam on steroids, stronger, more durable, lighter, and greater thermal insulation … and a lot more expensive, of course.
As I said before, the idea behind these materials is not something that conjured up on my own. It is something that God gave to me. It was a moment where I nearly fell to the ground by the sheer amazement of how incredible the idea was, and I knew instantly that it was an idea that I did not work out on my own. It was a brilliant flash of revelation. Nevertheless, the effort to transform the idea into reality is no small problem. I have been working on the research and development of this stuff on and off for three years, and we have a very long way to go before we have a working prototype of the base material. Simultaneous to that work is the Patent documentation. Following that we have manufacturing techniques, technologies, and processes, which involves more Patent documentation. Then after we figure out how to manufacture it, we still have testing, re-engineering, more prototypes, and, ultimately, the manufacturing of finished products: the ark, the cycle, and all their related parts and components.
Most of this work falls under the scope of UNIT Materials & Science. Obviously, I cannot fulfill the role as leader of that organization when I am out in the wild traversing ice fields and rowing across oceans. God will have to provide a faithful captain for that effort sooner or later. Otherwise, I will not have an ark, and I will never be able to leave Singapore.
Six – Food & Water Systems
The sixth item on the list is the “Development and Fabrication of Food and Water Systems” and their associated prototypes. It is a big enough problem to be able to carry a sufficient supply of food and water for the different legs of the journey, but being able to carry those items is only part of the equation. The other aspect is the environmental controls of those items, as well as the protection from contamination. At any given time, I will need a certain quantity of liquid water. In certain situations, there will be food supplies that need to be kept frozen, while, at the same time, the temperature of other foods will need to be kept above freezing temperatures. Moreover, most anything that is in an unfrozen state will need to be kept cool (or cold) enough so that it will not quickly spoil.
In addition to food and water supplies, there is the whole matter of sanitization. The compartments and the containers these supplies are stored in need to be sanitary, and there must be some means of keeping them sanitary. Furthermore, certain food compartments will need an adequate supply of temperature controlled fresh air circulation (incorporating heat and humidity exchangers), as well as the canopy of the ark itself. Lastly, there is also the matter of waste products. I cannot dump my garbage alongside the road in Antarctica. All of the residue from my food prep, all the wastewater, all of my bathing water, and all of my body refuse has to be reduced and stored onboard the ark.
Again, God has blessed me with solutions for all of these things. A large part of these solutions involves the ark and the materials that the ark is made from, but there are several other components that are required to complete the solution, and it all must be engineered, integrated, fabricated, tested, reconfigured, and tuned for operation. It is all work that is doable, but the effort is quite extensive and time consuming. It is doubtful that a single individual could do all of this work alone. It is certain that I cannot do it all.
Seven & Eight – Cameras & Data
The seventh and eighth practically impossible aspects of the Quest are all about electronics. Modern communications technology has reached the point where high-quality video and sound communications can be carried about in very small lightweight packages and into very harsh environments. One of the most important features of this quest is the communications media. Presently, there is really nothing for me to show everyone on the blog site; it is largely all words and audio tracks for the Bible studies. I have begun to produce some video documentaries from my kitchen, but that is so completely embryonic, not to mention a bit boring.
At some point, in the not too distant future, I will begin fabricating things, and that activity will be documented largely with video. More importantly, the video and the photo images will become quite abundant when I begin my training activities in earnest. By the time that I depart from Singapore, the steady flow of video and photo media coming from my little ark should be quite staggering. All of these things are in addition to what I am already doing, the blog posts and the Bible studies. Besides the communications media, there is also voice communications, scientific data, and navigation data.
Here is an abbreviated list of components required to make all of this work: satellite phones, satellite navigators/beacons/locators, cabin/exterior/camera lighting, solar panels, windmill, several cameras, camera lenses/filters/mounts, SWIR Camera, flight drone, WiFi AP, DVR server, cell phones, tablet, laptop, HAM radio, antennas/amplifiers, storage media, and lots of batteries.
All of these components must be ultra-lightweight, durable, and they need to be able to operate in extremely wide temperature ranges. The problem is that none of these components will operate in temperatures colder than about 40° below zero, which means that they need to be insulated somehow. Again, the ark comes to the rescue. Most of these components will be integrated within the hull of the ark, which will protect them from the extreme temperatures and other elements.
But why all of this electronic stuff?
Some of it is critical, but really it is all critical. The whole purpose of the Quest, Bee, is to communicate to you the love that God has for you. God is not content with me continuing to post blog articles and Bible studies, alone. He wants me to communicate His love for you in the most impressive ways possible. He wants you to be able to feel the drama, He wants you to hear the fear and the wonder in my voice, and He wants you to be able to see the stunningly awesome beauty of His creation, from the ocean whales surfacing to heave their great expanses of air to the rumbling crash of calving glaciers to the peaceful trickling serenity of the most lush and remote island mountain streams, and He wants you to see and hear the excitement, the wonder, and the smiles on the faces of the many people that we will meet along the way in this journey, from the silk donning masses of Asia to the barefooted children of South America.
I cannot share all of these majestic sensations and splendors with you, unless I have all of these systems onboard the ark to capture those moments and then transmit them to you and the rest of the world to see and hear. Of course, this all requires a more significant infrastructure and a more robust and capable Website for all of this media and for the blog, as well.
But how does one accomplish all of this?
Incredibly, the technology exists to make this all possible. I have been researching it for the last 15 months; it is all there; it all exists. The difficulty is integrating it all into the ark and applying the required modifications to make it all work and to withstand the harsh environments. It is no small task. I know that God wants it to happen, but He must provide a way to make it come to pass. I simply do not have anywhere near the time that I need to make this all transpire by myself.
Nine & Ten – Public Relations & Business Management
The last two practically impossible items concern management. After reviewing the first eight items, it is fairly evident to recognize that there is a going to be an enormous amount of media that will be generated from all the video, audio, and still image footage that will be captured. Moreover, there is also going to be a substantial amount of additional scientific data that will be gathered. Therefore, we have a fairly large audience of potential consumers of the material that we will be generating. Obviously, the more interest that is generated in the work being produced the greater the demand will be for that material.
Knowing that God does not do things in small ways, I somewhat expect that the appeal, the fascination, and the draw for the media and the information that gets generated will be no less than unbelievable. Even if it were only to become mildly popular, the media relations and program communications would quickly become overwhelming for most anyone.
Additionally, there is certainly going to be no shortage of diplomatic relations (i.e. science diplomacy) as I travel from country to country and into managed habitats like Antarctica, where my ability to operate the expedition will be highly restricted by the established conventions of the prevailing Antarctic research organizations. There is no possible way that I could ever hope to undertake hardly any of this burden. This kind of work is completely out of my wheelhouse.
Similarly, there is the overall general management of the entire enterprise. 4BQuest is a non-profit organization. It is a business. It is surely going to need a few paid staff members and plenty of volunteers. The financial budget will not be small. Someone must manage this business. I cannot do that when I am in the middle of nowhere. I have got news for you. I seriously doubt that I could handle it if I never left my office, not that it really matters.
If Each One is Partially Plausible, Would Not the Sum of Everything be Impossible?
I can only get so far with all of these different aspects. I can get them started, and I could even recruit some staff to help. However, at some point I will run out of money, or I will lose my wits or both. Furthermore, there are, at least, fourteen other aspects of this quest that really truly are impossible, plus, there is the one that I left out of this list and there are many other smaller things that I have not included in either list.
No matter how we want to look at the situation, my Quest for Bee is utterly impossible. I cannot do it! And, I am convinced that there is no other person ever that could do it, regardless of how much money they might have. So you see, my dear friend, you have nothing to worry about. If this quest is not of God, then it will fail … probably sooner than later. However, if it is of God, then you can know for certain that God loves you far far more than you could have ever imagined. It means that you will have every reason to put your trust in Him. Thus, when you do trust in Him, His blessings upon you will be greater than you could ever hope for.
Yet Other Things are Impossible
Indeed, all that we have to do is to look at the first two items on the list of things that are unquestionably impossible for me to accomplish: Deliverance from my Gastrointestinal Affliction and Deliverance from my (newly discovered) Metabolic Disorder. These two problems go hand in hand. The two problems essentially need to be solved at the same time. The only solution that has ever progressively diminished the Geotrichum infection, while simultaneously allowing me to gain weight, resulted in a nearly catastrophic breakdown of the metabolic balance of my body. Conversely, there does not seem to be any way for me to correct the problem with the metabolic balance while keeping the Geotrichum under control.
Both of these problems are immensely complex and they both span multiple medical disciplines. It has proven to be exceedingly difficult to find anyone that genuinely understands the situation with my gastrointestinal affliction, and from I have been able to determine thus far, it is equally difficult to find the same for the metabolic balance problem. How could I ever hope to find two such doctors that would work together to solve both problems in concert? There really is not any chance of that at all. My only hope is God, the Great Physician! He is the only one that can lead me out of this mess that I have made for myself. It is only by His great mercy that I have any hope at all. It is by His infinite mercy that this ctabernacle (this tent, this temporary abode, this vessel, this body) of mine can be made fit for the Quest for Bee.
I am dust and ashes
I know that I have stated this in some manner of words before, but please let me say it again. Am I better than you? Am I better than my doctors? Am I better than the pimply faced bagger at the neighborhood Trader Joe’s grocery store? Am I better than the drug addict? Am I better than the vagrant bag lady? Am I better than the murder on death row? Am I better than Judas Iscariot?
No
I am better than none of these, and I am most certainly not better than you.
I am a sinner, and I have the past to prove it. I am probably a bigger sinner than you, the drug addict, the bag lady, and Judas Iscariot all four put together.
Freedom
I have been made righteous only by the saving grace of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by His shed blood upon the cross.
If you have ever found anything in me that is worthy or good or enjoyable, it is there because God gave it to me as a free gift of mercy. I can tell you without hesitation, I did not earn it. I did not earn my righteousness. I did not earn my salvation. I did not earn eternal life. I do not deserve any of these gifts from God. It is only by the redemption of Jesus Christ that I have found grace and mercy in God’s eyes.
Oh! Bee! God so loves you! He wants you to be free! Take His hand and be free.
Perhaps you look at me and you think to yourself, “Dale, you do not look all too free to me!”
Oh! But I am free!
I have been freed from the burden of my sin. Though I have not deserved to carry on living from the earliest days of my sinful life, God has continued to keep me alive for many years passed my time to die. Sure, these medical issues that I am still battling with are difficult, but I have them as a result of my own sin and disobedience. God had every right to remove me from this world, because of that sin and disobedience, but He did not. Instead, He kept me alive and kicking, and He has blessed me with the greatest blessing I have ever known in this world. God has given me the priceless gift to know life, love, truth, mercy, and grace like I never imagined existed. Is this not freedom?
He is the Way
Life without Jesus is like being sucked into a black hole. It is a valley of death that keeps getter perpetually more narrow as time goes on, until death comes … then eternal darkness.
Life in Jesus is the opposite. Jesus is the doorway to eternal life. He is the only way. But once you enter in, life blooms into all of its fullness and it continues to grow and blossom forever.
“13Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 15Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
– The Gospel of Matthew 7:13–20
I will tell you more about this ever-growing radiance in my next letter, and I will explain a little about what these unquestionably impossible aspects of the Quest are. I just want you to understand that with men all of these things are impossible: The Quest for Bee, ever-growing radiance, forgiveness of sin, and eternal life.
But with God, nothing is impossible.
Love Always,
Dale 😊
a In the words of Jesus:
“42And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. 43And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 44Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 45And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 46Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 47And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: 48Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 49For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. 50Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.”
– The Gospel of Mark 9:42–50
In verse 42 where is says “little ones,” Jesus is not limiting that to children. When He says, “little ones,” He means those that are “little in belief.” That can mean a child; however, it can also mean a person in their nineties that has been a Church member for 50 years, but who has never really done anything other than to follow along with the ritual of each Sunday service that they attend. They are a person that does not know and understand what is in the Bible.
If I did not tell you the truth, I would be offending you … or rather, I would be causing you eternal harm.
The Greek word for “offend” is “σκανδαλίζω” (skandalizō), very much like our English word “scandalize.” It means, “to lay down a stumbling block,” “to entice to sin,” or “to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey; to cause to fall away.”
Salt is the truth. It is not enough to sacrifice myself for you. I must season my sacrifice with truth.
If I were to let you continue down the path to eternal darkness, without saying a word to warn you, I would be offending you. I would be scandalizing you. My sin of omission would cause you to be enticed to an unforgivable sin, a sin unto eternal damnation. The guilt of that sin of omission would by itself be worse that if a millstone were hanged on my neck and I were cast into the sea. I would rather that I were drown in the sea by a storm in my ark than living with that guilt upon my head. It is far better that you cut off your own hand or foot or that you cut out your own eye than to face that darkness, my dear dear friend.
Let the truth be in you, and you will have a peace that passes all understanding. A joyful peace.
b For more see my comments on YouTube and the program notes for the related Bible studies (search for the key word “friend”): Program 0031 (notes) and Program 0032 (notes).
c Our bodies are simply a temporary abiding place for our spirit and our soul. Those that have trusted in Christ will receive a new perfect and eternal body in the coming rapture of the Bride of Christ (which is the true and the unseen Church, a completely different thing than what man calls a church). See 2nd Corinthians 5:1-4 to see how the Apostle Paul talks about out present carnal bodies.
Photo of children provided by “bossa67,” Wikimedia
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