How does one fill the shoes of a giant? Oh, not the “FE FI FO FUM” kind. I mean the kind of ordinary everyday people that take their tasks as anything but everyday and ordinary. “FE FI HO HUM” is not part of their life. Everyday, ordinary, humble, modest unpretentious, unpretending, unassuming, unostentatious people that go beyond average, the norm, the status quo, excel the standard, and do not measure life's accomplishment in the conventional, typical, prevailing, usual way of doing things.

Some of these giants don’t measure very well by standards of the time. My Aunt Ila was one of those kind of Giants. It bothered me to see that “picking on the short little fat kid” mentality didn’t cease at the playground of youth, but oftentimes grew more sly, but just as vicious under the mask of human maturity. Yet this little lady, who never married, etched on her many nieces and nephews and hundreds of Sunday School students the Word and Love of God. I remember many times walking to the park with her. It was my Aunt Ila that showed me how to follow the hymns when we would sing at Church.

Most of these giants don’t mind living in the shadows. Mrs. Hoeg was a prayer warrior and such an encouragement to folks by her little notes. I saw her handwriting slowly become more jagged with age. You knew that when she said she prayed for you on Tuesday, it was a guarantee.

A giant is not limited by seasons of life. My Grandpa Bangert showed consistent support of Rainbow. I can still hear him say at the age of 100, “ Ah, you are doing a good work out there.”

These Giants are continually looking for ways to serve. One of our former harvesters of wheat was Mike and Beth Meloy. In her periodic letters, I can still hear her sing the precious words that we heard from her as children, “The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows.”

These everyday, ordinary, humble, modest, unpretentious, unpretending, unassuming, unostentatious “Giants” are different because they made themselves completely open and vulnerable to the ways of God Almighty. When God is on the throne of one’s heart, only then will there be footprints that seemingly come from nowhere. There is only one way of filling them and that is ordinary people willing to be used in an extraordinary way. Footprints that will not wash away with the sands of time, but rather leave an indelible mark that will lead others to a glorious life with Jesus Christ

In the twenty years of Rainbow Bible Ranch, I have had the opportunity to be around many of these “giants”. It is easy to take these ordinary people for granted until you stumble into their footprints. One realizes the great impact that they carry when you try to fill those huge footprints that they have a way of leaving.

I have seen giants this past summer. My staff are go-getters in every sense of the word. (You may see a picture of them on page four.) It has been a joy to work with these young people, most of whom I have known for years. Almost all of the staff have been coming to camp at Rainbow for years. We had a number of fine teenagers that put in their first summer on staff, but I am always tickled to tell about how many of them have been on staff for four, five and even six years in one capacity or another.

Kristi Friederich is a great example of one our “Giants” . Kristi has been on staff for six years. She began on our all around crew and for the last couple of years has been our head girls’ counselor. I could always feel confident when I knew Kristi was there. She is a lady of good principle. She loves Jesus with all her heart. During the winter months, she is a violin teacher in Rapid City.

During our recent summers, we have put an increased emphasis on the need to tell others around the world of their need to be saved. Our missions highlight was focused on four families and individuals this past summer. They were the Rocky Schmied Family in Kansas, Dan Eisenhut as he is preparing to go to Africa, the Len and Janie VanWingerden family in Indonesia and Rilla Springstead in Germany. A special treat was when Bob and Veronique Clifford and their son Daniel were able to be with us the last week of camp. They shared with the staff and camp about the work in Chad and their future work in France. These folks are truly “Giants” for God.

I must give tribute to some other ordinary people that are giants in God’s ways. That is my family. My wife, Robin and our two little girls exhibit a willingness to be used by God in any way that He desires. Chris and Lana Morris exhibited that “giant capability” in such a great way by their long hours in the kitchen. We get so many compliments on our food. Chris does a fine job of Bible teaching and that is central to our operation.

A big thank you goes to a couple that have left huge footprints that are leading in the right direction. Tige and Vicky Reinhold do such a great job. They are some of the finest examples I know. They have been with Rainbow for the entire 20 years. I almost dread filling the footprints that they will leave behind

Finally, there are “Giants” out there that have answered the call to praying and supporting the ministry. Unassuming folks that contribute in ways that are not noticed, but so very much needed. They are willing to go beyond the measure and good sense of today’s “correctness”.

In the Bible the giants of this world always came crashing down. That was the case even in fairy tails. God’s Giants are different. God’s Giants will stand tall now and through eternity.