Van Roekel Christmas House Fire

Let me tell you a true story, that should send shivers up your spine. It did mine.

It was a few days before Christmas day of 2021. December 23, to be specific. A warm southwest
wind blew in at about noon and I went for walk with my good friend (basically my father) and
owner of Harvest Haven, Victor Hafichuk. It had been quite cold, and the warmth was a relief. It
was beautiful outside.

As we walked the wind shifted from southwest to straight south. Suddenly, our whole farm
reeked of death. It was putrid.

I was angry. I spend all this effort making our farm healthy and beautiful, and my neighbor gets
to chase me inside on the nicest day that month, with his disgusting and ignorant farming
practices. I didn’t know where the foul odor was coming from. It smelled like a hog lagoon
crossed with rotting corpses.

I looked over at Victor, and said, “I’m angry. Maybe it doesn’t seem very Christian, but I feel like
cursing whoever is making that smell.”

Victor looked at me, and said, “I’m with you in full agreement. I do curse them. I curse them in
the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The foul odor ended our walk, chasing us back indoors, which was also beginning to smell
awful. It was better anyway.

Fast forward 3 days to the morning of Dec 26 th . It was -26C and worsening with the windchill.
The Van Roekels were at church for the Christmas service on Sunday morning. Their large log
home, with pets inside, burned to the ground. It was too cold to put out the fire. There was
nothing left.

I didn’t put the pieces together until it was all over near dinner time that evening. The Van
Roekel’s feedlot is the only one that’s due south of us. He later told me, that he hadn’t had time
to bury a few animals.

Jesus Christ, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, heard our cry for justice and answered. We
thanked Him for it.

Years later, I spoke frankly with Henk Van Roekel about what happened and why it happened.
He told me that he had wondered why it happened and never received an answer. I told him
that I didn’t want to smell his farm or have chemicals sprayed anywhere near our property. He
confessed that it had been in the back of his mind that an organic farmer would one day
confront him on his farming practices.

He told me he would talk to his sons and call me later that week. It never happened. So,
whether out of resentment, cowardice, laziness, apathy, or carelessness, he broke his word. He
lied to me.

Do you see the problem here?
When I told Henk how bad his farm smelled, he just callously said, “well at least the wind
doesn’t blow from the south too often.”

Was that supposed to satisfy me? Every warm winter’s day on our farm is tainted by the smell
of thawing shit, but, hey, at least we don’t get too many of them. What a consolation!
And what about the folks living east of them? The Van Roekels built their home to the
southwest of their feedlot. Too bad not everybody gets that option.

So, while we may not have legal rights to oppose this feedlot development, we are cursing this
plan in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will not allow violence against His children or his
creation unpunished.

Be warned, there is always a price to pay for selfishness.