In early 2009 I wrote this. Why recycle things? Because some times our revisit of history reveals things. At least it does for me. It may show me “son, this is not the first time I have talked to you about this.” Or it may show that things happened the way I or others saw it or perhaps they happened, not as we might have seen. Continue reading How Has Your Garden Grown?
Sixteen years ago I wrote the following article. Amazing how much has changed. I value “why” more than “how” or “what”. I value action because “I can” and not because “I have to”. I control my time and not the other way around. I love more.
5/14/98 Action/Reaction
Yesterday, Tina and I had a conversation over action versus reaction. I told her that I wanted to be actionary, as so much of what I do as a pastor is from a reaction position. Continue reading The Whys Of The Wise
Continuing on with the “garden series”. Thank you so much for the comments and thought process you have shared. To read others, simply click the “garden” category at the top. Continue reading Pick A Place. Location, Location, Location
Continuing on with the “garden series”. Thank you so much for the comments and thought process you have shared. To read others, simply click the “garden” category at the top.
To have an garden, you have to have an idea for it first. And before any garden can be put in place, someone has to have an “idea” for garden. Now God was the original “I want a garden” someone. One day (Well, before time was “real” …) God decided He would create a garden called Eden. And in that garden He had a plan for people, specifically Adam and Eve. A garden with people. He had an idea for it. Continue reading Someone Had An Idea For A Garden
Another piece in the garden series. No topic in recent days has been more in need of wisdom than this one for me.
Living In New England, you often get the opportunity to smell the fresh manure that has been moved about at a farm or spread on a field. (And truth be told, some farms smell better than others!) Well, no story of a garden can take place without fertilizer and that means even the “spiritual garden” we often speak of. Continue reading Have You Really Thought About What Helps You To Grow?
On Monday I am going to post a full tribute to Memorial Day and what it represents. I will be posting a vision I had later on today, but honestly, I am just enjoying kicking back a little today.
I sometimes post older pieces. I amazed at the timelessness of some of them. I see how I had “no clue” about the actuality of what I was seeing and how I see it now as it unfolded. And there are somethings, like wine and cheese, that just get better with age. This is one of them. As I put together a teaching and book on gardens and Christ, I found this piece.
Today on this Memorial Day, I want you to have time with friends and family, but it is my hope that you will remember those who gave their lives.
I was talking to a new friend at work, from England and somehow God has connected us in this season. He has lived in the USA for 10 years. Yesterday, He asked me why we have Veterans Day and Memorial Day. Memorial Day is for those who have died serving our country. Veterans Day celebrates the living servicemen. (More about this at the bottom of this article.)
Continue reading The Memorial Day Weekend Thought
As a child one of my enjoyments was working in a garden. My parents loved to garden and it rubbed off on me. At one point I was working for a handicapped man down the street who taught me how to raise vegetables, strawberries and the like. All summer long he sat in a chair at the edge of the garden and coached me. “Put more manure in the base of that hole!” he would shout across the garden. And during that summer I watched magnificent produce come from that garden. Squash and beans and lettuce and spinach. I was amazed as I recalled the seeds that came out of jars from the past year’s harvest. And the strawberries! I would pick quart upon quart and 25¢ a basket just saying “grow!” so that I would receive more money and more work. It didn’t matter how hot it was. It was just an incredible existence. Each day I would head to his little farm, to feed the chickens, pick up eggs and go pick the first strawberries of the day. Later in the summer I would pick vegetables for hours so that he would sell them. Each fall we would collect the leftovers and he and his wife would gather the seeds for the next year’s plantings. Continue reading Just A Garden Variety Kind Of Person
A seed planted
This morning as I was traveling back from Boston, I was caught up in the idea of seeds. I thought about all the things a seed will do and what it can hold or contain. Depending on the seed, it has potential to grow trees and create children and supply food.
One of the most amazing things is that the seed is not representative of what the final product looks like. Unlike an Erector Set or Lincoln Logs or Legos in which you can “tell” where the result is headed, when you see a seed you do not know necessarily if it will be big or tall, green or red or pretty much anything else. Continue reading A Seed Planted-Potential At Hand
Suffice to say groundhogs are not my favorite friend. Whether they are woodchucks or groundhogs. I have shot them, eaten them and made serious efforts to evict them.
I wrote this article in August of 2005. Continue reading Memories Of Woody – Groundhog Day!
At 3AM I heard this statement, “When in Rome do as the Romans do. When in heaven do as the heavenly do.” Wow! Where are you seated? And even as I say it out loud, I wonder is there something to “do as the heavenly dew.”
I am a word person. Not just from a biblical or faith perspective, but from a “what does it mean” perspective. Words have meaning and they have power. It is not about semantics (Now there is a Greek word. It deals with understanding based on historical or psychological emphasis.) but more importantly, the reality, getting the full flavor out of a word or it’s understanding. Continue reading When In Rome Do As The Romans Do – When In Heaven…
