Back to Blogging

After a hiatus of several weeks due to my computer being on the fritz (AND I fixed it all my byself) I'm back to blogging.  Duke (my yellow lab) is snoring on the floor next to me as we both try to stay warm by the fire.  Speaking of Duke,  I finally bit the bullet and bought an invisible fence to keep him contained on our property after getting at least 10 calls from neighbors... "Um, I have your dog here at my house; what should I do with him??"  I've never used one of these devices before, but even when I turn the collar up to the maximum setting Duke just strolls right across the wire without so much as a flinch.  I've thought about putting the collar on myself to test the shock, but in the end I'm just too chicken.  I've watched the YouTube videos and that's enough proof for me.  got to think on that some more.

The town of Bailey and the Bailey Country Store still take up most of my time now.  In the last 30 days we initiated a Christmas decorating contest among the businesses in Bailey, for which I created a "fitting" trophy made of a deer antler strung with battery-operated Christmas lights; I was elected to the board of the Platte Canyon Area Chamber of Commerce (think Mayberry);  and I wrote an article for one of the local mountain newspapers about "new beginnings" and the country store.  I was particularly happy about the article and several people commented on it last Sunday at church (I'd forgotten all about it by the time it was published).  The article describes well what the Lord has put on my heart for this little town and this forgotten country store.  So here it is:

She’s 130 years old, built when Bailey was young and steam trains still rolled past along the Platte River.  One of the first buildings constructed in the town (1878) the Bailey Country Store has always been there – providing not only groceries, but also a sense of history and stability to this little mountain community.   The past few years have not been kind to this old girl, however.  When the store was closed in late 2009, Bailey lost not only a town icon but the only functioning grocery store as well.  She’s sat quiet, dark and cold for almost three years – the paint peeling from the walls and the sign that once proudly announced her presence vandalized by bored teenagers.   Tourists would occasionally stop by for a few staples on their way to go camping, but the locked door and butcher paper covering the windows left no doubt that it was either back to Conifer or on to Fairplay to buy their marshmallows, graham crackers and Hershey’s chocolate. 

Until now.  Three months ago we ( The Journey Community Church) leased the building from its new owners with the goal of re-opening the Country Store to provide a much-needed and sorely missed service to the town of Bailey.  If you drive to the bottom of Crow Hill today and look to your right you’ll notice that the store has a new paint job and a brand new sign… and a life-size Sasquatch holding a cup of coffee.  The new Bailey Country Store and Sasquatch Outpost Coffee House are on-target to open their doors in early February.  The exterior looks great now, but inside there’s still lots of work to do.  The original floor is rotten and unsafe so a whole new floor must be built above it for the old girl to be useful once again – not to mention painting, repairing pipes, fixing the heating… and the list goes on.  It’s a time of new beginnings, not just for this old store but also for a community that’s been hit hard in recent years by tragedy and recession.  Bailey folks need a fresh infusion of hope: hope that better days are ahead and that their lives – like the old country store – still have value.  We can all start over again if we just have a little faith in God and in ourselves.

I believe in Bailey, and it’s time for this community to stand up tall and declare: “We are strong.  We are resilient.  We are community.  We are Bailey!”