Another one bites the dust.

No more Bitteroot Resort.

Will Melton comments on the financial demise of the Bitteroot Resort in the High Country News.

Get more details at The Missoulian.

Since the runs are already cut in, perhaps we should make an offer?

"Wanna buy a ski resort?"

If you follow me on Twitter, you've already seen my re-tweet (RT) of today's Summit Daily News' scoop on the sale of Copper Mountain by Vancouver-based Intrawest to Utah-based Powdr Corporation.

I'm bummed that I missed out on buying Copper Mountain myself.

Does anybody else remember when Copper Mountain was owned by St. Louis-based Apex Oil Company? (That was back in 1980, the year that the Obsessive Skier first put on a pair of downhill skis.) If a guy like Tony Novelly can own a ski area, why can't the Obsessive Skier?

So I've been doing a little online shopping. Here are some options:

Elk Meadows Ski Resort, Utah - Minimum Bid $1,000,000

Snowy Range Ski Area, Wyoming - Bank Owned & Operated Again This Season.

Big Horn Ski Resort in Wyoming is for sale for $20-35,000,000.

Mount Waterman in Southern California is For Sale for $1,650,000. (But, no snowmaking options.)

Maybe we could form a partnership with the investors who bought Ski Rio (Northern New Mexico) back in 2008. I drive through Costilla, NM a couple of times a year and wonder if things will ever turn around for that town.

The ABC News blog reported earlier this year that the Stowe, Vermont Ski Area was on the market.

Hemlock Valley Resort in British Columbia has been looking for some investors.

And if you can get your hands on a lot of kronor, this Swedish town and ski resort is for sale.

Oops...almost forgot this: Clear Fork Ski Area in Butler, Ohio is on the market too.

Interested parties, please contact the Obsessive Skier as soon as possible, as these prime ski resort investment opportunities are bound to move quickly, especially now that Copper Mountain has changed hands for the umpteenth time in recent years.

When it comes to Ski Areas, it looks like a buyers' market these days.

Did I ever tell you that I used to be a real estate broker?

Let's Pray for the Muslim Nations

I came across this today, thanks to Kairos Journal.

A Prayer for the Muslim World—Samuel Zwemer (1867 – 1952)

The great historian of Christian mission, Kenneth Scott Latourette, once said that no man deserved the title “The Apostle to Islam” more than Samuel Zwemer.¹ The 13th of 15 children born to a Dutch Reformed immigrant family in Michigan, Zwemer gave his life to the evangelization of Muslim peoples. For 40 years he worked in Iraq, Bahrain, and Egypt. In his extensive travels throughout Asia, India, Africa, and North America he presented the needs of Muslims to Christians and the gospel of Christ to Muslims.

A plea for persistent prayer for Muslim peoples and lands was a constant theme in his public speaking and writing.

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who hast made of one blood all nations and hast promised that many shall come from the East and sit down with Abraham in thy kingdom: We pray for thy prodigal children in Muslim lands who are still afar off, that they may be brought nigh by the blood of Christ. Look upon them in pity, because they are ignorant of thy truth.

Take away pride of intellect and blindness of heart, and reveal to them the surpassing beauty and power of thy Son Jesus Christ. Convince them of their sin in rejecting the atonement of the only Savior. Give moral courage to those who love thee, that they may boldy confess thy name.

Hasten the day of religious freedom in Turkey, Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and North Africa. Send forth reapers where the harvest is ripe, and faithful plowmen to break furrows in lands still neglected. May the tribes of Africa and Malaysia not fall prey to Islam but be won for Christ. Bless the ministry of healing in every hospital, and the ministry of love at every church and mission. May all Muslim children in mission schools be led to Christ and accept him as their personal Savior.

Strengthen converts, restore backsliders, and give all those who labor among Muslims the tenderness of Christ, so that bruised reeds may become pillars of his church, and smoking flaxwicks burning and shining lights. Make bare thine arm, O God, and show thy power. All our expectation is from thee.

Father, the hour has come; glorify thy Son in the Muslim world, and fulfill through him the prayer of Abraham thy friend, “O, that Ishmael might live before thee.” For Jesus’ sake. Amen.²

Footnotes:

1	In the preface to J. Christy Wilson, Apostle to Islam (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1952).
2	Samuel M. Zwemer, Islam and the Cross: Selections from “The Apostle to Islam,” ed. Roger S. Greenway (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2002), 153-154.

The Church can Learn from Sesame Street

By Russell Moore:

Sesame Street turns forty this week. And, if you’re under forty, I’ll bet just seeing those words in type means a theme song is now running through your head. That’s because the children’s educational television show has worked itself through an entire generation of American popular culture. There’s something here I think the church can learn from the Children’s Television Workshop.

Now, as I soon as I mention Sesame Street, I know some of you will balk about its educational value. You’ll point me to studies suggesting that learning the alphabet from singing puppets actually shortens kids’ attention spans. No argument here. But simply learning facts was never the primary goal of the program.

Read the rest of the article here.