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LITTLE FELLOWS, BIG THOUGHTS!

8/28/2022

Art Linkletter once entertained the masses with his show titled “Kids Say the Darndest Things”. Back in the day, I snickered along with everyone else. But nowadays, with grandsons of my own, I really appreciate the subject.

For instance, as we passed over a bridge spanning the lake near our house, one of my grandsons noticed a river barge tied up at a nearby dock, and called our attention to the “aircraft carrier” down below us.

Not to be outdone, his cousin, who has just started pre-k this year, happened up on his mother putting on deodorant (apparently in a green container) and asked: “What’s that do? Turn you into the Hulk?” His brother chimed in, saying: “No! Only Gatorade and Dr. Pepper turn you into the Hulk!”

My daughter and two daughters-in-law have accumulated journals full of such gems. I hope they will consider collaborating and publishing them some day.

But the best came from another grandson, who recently started kindergarten. He was watching a nature show on television, and suddenly blurted out: “Jesus tells snakes what to do.” His mom (my daughter) responded by saying, “Yes, Jesus is in charge of everything.”

He then asked: “What happens when you don’t obey Jesus?” Her reply was: “That’s called sin.” To which he responded: “Yeah, I already know that’s venomous.” “Yeah, mom has to ask forgiveness a lot,” she said, “and we can ask God to forgive us and give us a new heart.”

What came next was priceless. He thought about it a minute, and said “Yeah, take the venomous away!”

Wow! Talk about truth coming “out of the mouth of babes!” In that one conversation, he grasped and verbally summarized the most fundamental of all Biblical assertions. And what is that assertion?

It is that the old serpent injected the poison of sin into the lives of Adam and Eve and all of us as their descendants in Genesis chapter 3, but that this poison has been undone by Jesus as recorded in John chapter 3, which tells us that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life”!

A theology professor of mine once said that the message of the Gospel is so profound that the greatest of human minds can never fully grasp its fullness; yet it is so simple that even a child can understand it!

Thankfully, we don’t have to understand every single theological component of our blessed redemption; we just have to believe the simple message of the Gospel, and accept Jesus for our personal Savior.

Little wonder that Jesus told us unless we become as little children, we can in no wise enter into the kingdom of Heaven! In childlike faith, we believe. In childlike obedience, we confess this. And as we do, we meet God’s requirement of us.

What more need be said?!

SCRIPTURE SOURCES:

https://biblehub.com/john/3-16.htm;

https://www.biblehub.com/matthew/18-3.htm.

ENGINEERING (DE)FEATS!

8/23/2022

While convalescing during my recent summertime cold, I viewed an “Engineering Catastrophes” marathon on the Science Channel. Some of the calamities were simply unbelievable. To list but a few…

Entire skyscrapers sit unused because they are considered unsafe. Multi-million dollar highways abruptly stop because they came up against unforeseen natural obstacles.

A huge stadium roof collapses; only to be rebuilt “correctly” and then collapse all over again. A brand new four billion dollar airport still sits unopened in Berlin a full decade after its construction because it has over 30,000 structural issues.

The $36 million Hubble telescope launches and sends back blurred pictures because the lens was ground wrong, necessitating astronauts to transport and install a new lens in orbit. But my personal favorite is…

A $327 million NASA spacecraft crashed into Mars because engineers failed to realize they were tracking it in metric units, but the information it was sending them was in imperial units! No one had remembered to make this simple conversion in the software.

Now, I only watched two or three episodes. But it appears there are enough of these catastrophes to fill fifty plus episodes spread over six full seasons. One shudders to think that so many significant such mistakes costing so much could have been made. And sadly, the cost involves more than mere losses in property. A series of dam failures in china resulted in one flood that killed over 200,000 people.

In case after case, the cause is invariably traced back to the simplest of mistakes – a flaw in design or materials or construction. When the cause is revealed, it leaves the viewer asking, “How could someone be so stupid?” And yet, if you think about it, it is this very notion that keeps any of us from throwing stones! For who among us has not made countless such mistakes in life?!

As I sat viewing the program, I thought about my first full time job just out of high school. I got a position washing cars at a local Chevrolet dealership. When a car was sold, I was to clean it up get it around front to the customer. I must have had enough of a work ethic that my employer took notice. I soon got a promotion checking in cars that were delivered from tractor trailer haulers.

My job then consisted of checking the new deliveries for damages, affixing appropriate stickers, and then driving them to the pump and putting in two gallons of gas before parking them on the lot for sale. One Friday, the owner asked me if I would like to get some overtime on Saturday. He needed me to take a car he had from our dealership outside Atlanta to a dealership near Augusta and swap it.

The Augusta dealership had a customer for our car and vice versa. It was a simple two hour trip out Interstate 20 and then two hours back. I readily agreed. The next morning, I got in the vehicle and struck out on I-20. Unfortunately, never having travelled much, I headed west on I-20, away from Augusta. Two hours later, I stopped at the Alabama line and called the dealership and learned a valuable lesson about responsibility!

What should have been a four hour round trip turned into a six hour trip. I barely made it to the other side of the state near the South Carolina border and the Augusta dealership before they closed. To his credit, the owner, who had been forced to await my return, did not fire me. But I did become the laughing stock of the entire organization for the next few days!

That is not the only bone-headed mistake I have made in my life. In truth, I have made more than I can even begin to recall. Nor was it the most costly one! But I do cherish the thought of it because it reminds me of another disappointment I brought to authority.

You see, the Bible tells us that there is none who is righteous, not even one! The reason for this is that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And that includes me!

I do not even remember the first time I disappointed my Heavenly Father. Given that I am a sinner by both nature and by choice, it was early enough in life that I cannot even remember it. But the consequences were just as serious. For the same Bible that tells us that we are all sinners also tells us that there is a consequence for our sins; and that is death. Yet, even while we were sinners, God gave His Son to die on our behalf. And because of this, we can find forgiveness and restoration!

I’ve never engineered a catastrophe on the scale portrayed in the television series. But I have engineered enough failures in my own life to guarantee that, apart from the forgiveness of others, I would be in difficult straights.

For this reason, I am thankful for those who have chosen to overlook my shortcomings and extend me grace. And chief among those individuals is God Himself!

SCRIPTURE SOURCES:

https://biblehub.com/romans/3-10.htm;

https://biblehub.com/romans/3-23.htm;

https://biblehub.com/romans/6-23.htm;

https://biblehub.com/romans/5-8.htm.

THE ORDER OF THINGS

8/20/2022

Perhaps because I grew up on a farm as much as anything else, as a child, I quickly learned to understand and appreciate the rhythms of the seasons. Everything operated according to a given order. Thus, spring, summer, fall, and winter were each accompanied by their own respective weather, events, and/or pursuits.

In the spring, the temperatures moderated. In the summer they grew hot, before moderating again in the fall, and plummeting in the winter. Likewise, the spring brought Easter, the summer Independence Day, the fall Halloween and Thanksgiving, and winter Christmas and New Year’s Day.

In the spring, we planted, in the summer we bush-hogged and gathered hay, in the fall we harvested crops, and in the winter we repaired implements and mended fences. The undertakings of the year were clearly defined and dictated by the respective seasons in which they unfolded.

As a child, I saw this system as fairly entrenched, and rarely questioned it. So much so that when the Women’s Missionary Union in our little Baptist Church put on a program titled “Christmas in August”, complete with a Christmas tree in the vestibule right in the midst of the summer, I was greatly disturbed.

Christmas was great. I longed for its coming all year long. As was August, with its long days and warm nights. But in my mind, the two were incompatible. One did not belong with the other.

I share these things because of what happened to me this week. My wife and I spent an entire day the first of the week putting a new set of shingles atop her “she shed” out in the back yard. The following day, we cut grass. The next day, we mowed off and trimmed the trees behind our house. All these activities are perfectly suited to summer.

But about halfway through this process, I began to feel a certain tightness in my chest. 24 hours later, it had grown into a cough, then a sore throat, a gravelly voice, a headache, and general tiredness. Naturally, given the times, I found myself fretting the possibility of Covid. Fortunately, I tested negative, and soon realized that I had somehow just come down with a good old fashioned summertime cold.

All of a sudden, things are out of place. I cannot breathe through my nose, and must use my mouth. I cannot sleep at night, and cannot stay awake in the day time. In the midst of the heat of August, I find myself shivering with chills. Thus, I find myself inside under a blanket when others are outside in shorts and t-shirts. And I am eating hot soup in a time when people normally desire ice cream.

The point in all of this is that I expect to undergo such things in the midst of winter, but not in summer. Obviously, something is out of kilter. Things are clearly out of sorts. The expected order is gone.

In all of this, I have been reminded that what I am undergoing is really just a picture of what happened to men and women as a whole in the Bible. Genesis, chapters 1 and 2, tells us that God created the world, and filled it with all sorts of good and wonderful things before placing Adam and Eve within it. At that time, all was right with the world – literally, as all was in order.

But then came Genesis, chapter 3. A terrible sickness, as it were, suddenly invaded this world. The Bible calls it sin. It is a sickness, not of the body, but of the soul. It infected Adam and Eve and all their descendants right down to this very day. And the entire world has been out of order ever since.

Fortunately, for me, my doctor diagnosed my illness and prescribed just the right prescription. So, in the end, I will invariably pull through. Even now, I feel like I am on the mend, and I cannot wait to be whole and find my world right-side up again.

What my doctor has done for me physically is nothing compared to what my Lord has done for me spiritually. In the fullness of time, the Apostol Paul tells us, God sent His Son to redeem us and to put our world in proper order again.

Thus, when we come to the end of the Bible, in the last few chapters of the Book of Revelation, we find that what was made and then broken in the opening chapters of Genesis is ultimately remade in the form of a brand new world.

When that day comes, never again will things be susceptible to decay or destruction or death. By God’s grace, things will once again be as they should be. The world will finally be in order once again; and it will stay that way forever!

Amen! Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!

SCRIPTURE SOURCES:

https://biblehub.com/kjv/genesis/1.htm;

https://biblehub.com/kjv/genesis/2.htm;

https://biblehub.com/kjv/genesis/3.htm;

https://biblehub.com/kjv/galatians/4.htm.

WALKIE TALKIE

8/16/2022

While visiting the local do-it yourself warehouse earlier today, I parked next to a car that had its entire back end covered with stickers. I’m not just talking about the rear window, which was completely covered, but also the rear bumper and even the trunk. In fact, the only things not covered over with stickers were the tail lights and the tag. Clearly, the driver was intending to make a statement.

As I read and reflected on a few of the stickers, I was reminded of an “oldie but goodie” that Paul Powell once told. It seems that…

A man was being tailgated by a stressed-out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection. The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk and there the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, “I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, shaking your fist at the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the ‘What Would Jesus Do’ bumper sticker, the ‘Choose Life’ license plate holder, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday-School’ bumper sticker, and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car.”

In his letter to his young protégé, Titus, (chapter 2, verses 6 and 7) the Apostle Paul admonished him to to be sure that “in everything”, he was to make himself “an example of good works with integrity and dignity”. That applies to all who profess faith in Christ Jesus.

I have no problem with free speech, or even with voluminous amounts of bumper stickers espousing one’s perspectives. But it will always be important for those of us who claim to be Christians to practice what we preach. Put another way, we must walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Otherwise, we hurt not only our testimony, but also the very faith we purport to practice!

JOKE SOURCE: Paul W. Powell, Laugh and Live Longer: Good Humor to Brighten and Lighten Your Life (Tyler, Texas, 2008), p. 27. Available online at:
https://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/66830.pdf.

SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/titus/2-7.htm.

OWNING IT!

8/12/2022

After much anticipation, my oldest grandson started kindergarten this week. As the summer wound down, the process of preparing for school began in earnest. First, their “Yaya” (my wife) took him and his brother, who started pre-k this year, to shop for new shoes. Thereafter, their mother (my daughter) took them clothes shopping, as well as to get the requisite school supplies.

While he certainly enjoyed all these newfound possessions, and while he was increasingly excited as the momentous day approached, I do not believe he fully appreciated all that it entailed. Heretofore, he had only attended pre-k for two days a week. This year, of course, things would be different.

On his first day, amidst much fanfare, his mother and father both took him to his new school. The video my wife received that morning showed him to be all excited, shuffling around nervously and jabbering nonstop as his dad walked him into a strange new building full of hundreds of new people.

This was quite a contrast to the follow up video we received later in the afternoon, which showed him to be absolutely exhausted as he slouched in his car seat and, amidst yawns, in response to his mother’s prompting, muttered “I had a good day…” We were told later that he was ready to turn in much earlier than usual that night!

Fast forward to day two (earlier yesterday) … His dad had now gone to work; and he was being driven to school by his mother, who also had his two little brothers in the van. As she could not leave them, she told him he would have to get out all by himself and meet the teacher and then go into the school without either her of his father. With great trepidation, accompanied by brewing tears within his eyes, he was suddenly forced to contemplate the gravity of his mother’s words.

A moment of silence ensued. Then, driven by sheer determination, he literally willed his body to leave his seat and the van and then take the necessary steps up the sidewalk. It took a full minute; but he eventually entered the building. My daughter fought back her own tears as she put the van in gear and pulled away.

Still, she was manifestly proud. And with good reason, for in that single moment, something magical had happened. Her first born son had met one of life’s greatest challenges - all by himself, he had to get out of the car on the second day of kindergarten and boldly walk into the building. And he had done it! He had manned up and owned the whole thing!

Later, when his mother picked him up from school, he was all excited. He acted as if the earlier episode had never even happened. There is little doubt, therefore, that when the time comes tomorrow to exit the van and make his way inside, he will do so with the confidence that says “I’ve got this!” After all, he’s now “been there and done that”! From this forward, his attitude will doubtless be “Bring it! It ain’t no thing no more!”

I know this because I myself once travelled the very road he is now travelling. I too faced the first time I entered kindergarten by myself. I did the same for first grade, and later for the junior high, the high school, the junior college, the university, the seminary, and the graduate school I attended. Each time, it carried a new sense of dread. Yet, each time, I got through it. And each time, it also got a little easier.

No doubt you too can relate. Even if you did not choose to further your education beyond high school, you still understand the significance of travelling this road. The simple truth is that life continually presents us with challenges which we must overcome in order to grow and mature. Whenever these challenges present themselves, we must either face up to and win out over them, or else shrink away from and be defeated by them.

The more challenges we face and overcome, the more our confidence grows, as well as our skills! Conversely, the more challenges we face and shrink away from, the weaker our confidence grows, as well as our skills. It therefore behooves us to “man up” in the face of life’s challenges and, no matter how difficult, own them!

Biblical examples of this abound. Whether it is Moses standing before Pharaoh, or David standing before Goliath, or Elisha and Gehazi standing before the hosts of Aramites, Daniel standing before the lions, Peter and John standing before the Sanhedrin, Paul standing before Agrippa, or Jesus standing before Pilate, each, in his time, faced life’s challenges.

And so do we! The question is: “How will we respond whenever we do?”

The answer is simple. Even though we might have great trepidation, and even if we find ourselves fighting back tears in the process, we must boldly step out and face life’s challenges! How can we do this? By adopting the attitude of the Apostle Paul, who (in his New Testament Letter to the Philippians (chapter 4, verse 13), said: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!”

And if anyone had the right to say this, Paul did. In his Second Letter to the Corinthians (chapter 11, verses 23-27), he gives us a brief list of the challenges he had to face…

“(I have) been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely (then false apostles), and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.

I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.”

And yet, in each situation, he rose and met the challenge. In each situation, he mustered the courage to stand firm. In each situation, he was more than victorious! In short, he owned it! Not by his own strength, nor by his own skill, nor by his own cleverness, but by Christ who strengthened him!

And what God did for Paul, He will do for us. For we, too, are His children. We, too, are His servants. And if God be for us, who can be against us?!

Given this, I encourage you to remember that life will continue to present you with challenges. Tomorrow, and everyday thereafter, they will surely come! Whenever they do, “man up” and boldly face them. Once you do, you will quickly conclude that “they ain’t no thing no more!”

SCRIPTURE SOURCES:

https://biblehub.com/philippians/4-13.htm;

https://biblehub.com/niv/2_corinthians/11.htm.

A CHANGE OF MIND…

8/9/2022

While out walking this past week, I happened to encounter a dog out on the road. I had never seen it before; so I can only assume it is new in the community. At the same time, it has been several days since this transpired; so the poor creature could have simply been lost.

In any event, it saw me about the same time as I saw it, at about a two hundred yard distance. I continued on my walk; but it became aggressive and quickly closed the difference between us. I kept an eye on it until I had passed it up, and then continued on my way assuming the little crisis had passed.

But after I had ventured another hundred or so yards down the road, I happened to hear the pat of footprints quickly approaching form behind me. I immediately wheeled around and confronted the creature, whereupon he stopped and growled. I turned to walk away; but he came on again. This time I turned, and raising my arms to make myself appear bigger, I charged him. At this, he backed away.

I backed away from him, making my way down the road. I soon came to a crossroads, where the road I was on crosses a main highway. As traffic regularly roars up and down this road, I was sincerely hoping the dog would not follow me. The last I saw of him, he was standing at the corner of that intersection, assumingly trying to decide whether or not to cross and pursue me further.

As I made my way along, I wondered whether or not I would encounter the dog again. I also thought about how I would respond if the dog came at me again. I was some ways down the road and fairly deep in my thoughts when a local farmer pulled up and stopped me.

I initially thought he might be about to inquire about the dog. So I was caught off guard when he asked me if I had seen a calf. He gave a description and told me where he last saw it. He had apparently been hunting it for several hours. I assured him I would keep an eye out and let him know if I came across it, which is precisely what I did all throughout the remainder of my walk.

The good news is that, while I never saw the calf, it was found. I talked to the farmer by phone later that evening; and he reported that the calf was safe and sound and back in the pasture with its mother and herd.

I can also report further good news in that I never encountered the dog again; so he did not accost me. Nor was he run over by traffic. He simply disappeared; leading me to hope he made his way back to his own home.

But upon further reflection, what has struck me is my own perspective changed once I met the farmer. Up until then, that which had occupied most of my thinking while out walking was my encounter with the dog. Viewed as a threat to me and my safety, it had thus consumed me. Justified or not, my thoughts at the time were more for and about me than any other situation.

But that all changed once I encountered the farmer. His concerns, by contrast, were not about himself, but about another. He was concerned not for his own safety, but for that of a poor lost calf. At his behest, I too became concerned for the calf. I found myself thinking about it and its safety more than my own. And therein rests the point of my post this evening.

Jesus once told a story about a shepherd who lost a single sheep. In the New Testament Gospel of Luke, chapter 15, verses 4-7, we read:

“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’

In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent.”

From the time just on single member of his flock went astray, the shepherd in Jesus’ story, just like the farmer I encountered, had one agenda, and one agenda alone: to seek and to save that which was lost! By comparison, nothing else mattered. Certainly not his own safety! In fact, if need be, he would even be willing to place himself between any member of his flock and whoever or whatever threatened it!

As a follower of Christ, I have been called to participate in that redemptive pursuit, and to do so with equal attention and fervor. Of course, for this to be the case, I have to get my mind off of myself and my concerns and begin to think more about Christ and His concerns. Otherwise, how can I possibly have any effectiveness either on His behalf or for His agenda?

In his New Testament Letter to the Philippians, chapter 2, verse 5, the Apostle Paul told us: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” For this reason, I have now changed my mind! Accordingly, I will not soon forget the events of that eventful day this past week. Nor should I!

SCRIPTURE SOURCE:

https://biblehub.com/bsb/luke/15.htm;

https://biblehub.com/philippians/2-5.htm.

Good Night!

8/6/2022

All I can say is that it was one wild and crazy night – one the likes of which my wife and I have not had in quite some time. When I awoke this morning, my head was spinning, my eyes were bleary, and my ears were ringing. She was in much the same condition.

But lest you jump to conclusions, the cause of all this distress was not what you might be thinking. The only thing we overindulged in last night was the pure enjoyment of four rambunctious grandsons!

Proverbs 17:6 tells us that grandchildren are like a crown for their grandparents. Last night, the Queen and I went to bed reveling in the jewels with which God has now adorned our hoary heads.

Upon their arrival yesterday afternoon, we played on the swing set, then on the trampoline, and then out in the yard, all before transitioning inside to gorge ourselves on pizza and cookies and Sunkist Orange Crushes and Sprites and Dr. Peppers.

Recharged, we next assaulted the plastic bin kept under the coffee table and chock full of Matchbox and Hot Wheels leftover from their fathers’ childhoods. We drove muscle cars, dragsters, monster trucks, construction equipment, and motorcycles all over the living room. We even “launched” air planes and had dog fights all up and down the hallway.

Afterward, we settled down to watch Spiderman defeat the Green Goblin and Doc Oc before we witnessed the Incredible Hulk singlehandedly overcome a whole host of bad guys. Of course, these movies fired up our imaginations, and we restaged these titanic battles between good and evil with action figures retrieved from the toy box.

Following this, we popped and then consumed massive amounts of popcorn together with Fruit Roll Ups and Cheetos while we watched the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles display their impressive martial arts moves. Unable to restrain ourselves, we concocted and then donned our own handkerchief “masks” and armed ourselves with home-made versions of Ninja bos, nunchucks, sais, and swords.

This led to a philosophical discussion on the nature of the four Turtles themselves. In the end, inspired by their names - Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael - we were led to drag out poster paper and colored markers in order to create our very own modern day masterpieces. What we eventually generated can be said to rival anything ever produced by the great artists of the Renaissance. Eventually, through the magic of Scotch tape, one entire wall was plastered with these newfound works of art.

I have to admit that, as the night progressed, the sheer volume and speed of the unfolding activity was somewhat dizzying for me. Doubtless, we engaged in several other similar undertakings that now elude my memory. At some point, I seem to recall that we managed to slow down long enough to brush our teeth and put on our jammies.

About the last thing I remember is the sweet sound of little voices as they lay there in their concocted “camping” set-up, complete with a tent made of sheets, and uttered their prayers, thanking God for their parents and their siblings, and their cousins and their friends and for pizza and cookies and popcorn and Fruit Roll Ups and Sunkist Orange Crushes and Sprites and Dr. Peppers and for Spiderman and the Incredible Hulk and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all having defeated the bad guys.

Oh, yes… I seem to recall that they also thanked God for their “Yaya”, and lastly, for me, their “Granddaddy”.

Of course, unbeknownst to them, at that very moment, I was thanking God for all these things as well. Plus a few other things – among them, four little grandsons full of life and wonder and excitement, along with the infusion of these things that they and their three younger brothers bring into mine and my wife’s life together whenever we are with them.

Selfish as it may have been, I asked the Good Lord for many, many more such wild and crazy nights in the future!

SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/proverbs/17-6.htm.

APPLE TURNOVER!

8/1/2022

In previous posts, I have written about my first ever venture into the world of growing fruit trees. I thought I would give an update here. To date, I have place thirty trees in the ground. Of these, all but four have budded and shot forth leaves. I have been assured by the company who sold me the dormant young trees that the remaining four should bloom by the end of the summer.

Of the twenty-six trees that did put out foliage, twenty-five are progressing well. I readily admit that I had no prior knowledge in this endeavor, and have relied entirely on the advice of others. Neal Denton, Extension Agent at The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture and local television personality, has been particularly guided me through the process of nurturing them along.

As the attached pictures show, at first glance, they look a bit comical. But everything has its purpose. The trees were placed in the ground at regular intervals. After one was dug up by vermin, I then placed bricks around them to keep them for protection. In addition, I added tomatoes plant cages to keep browsing from deer to a minimum.

After planting, I purchased fruit tree nutrient sticks, containing ideal amounts of fertilizer and minerals needed to enhance development and produce growth in fruit trees. These were then hammered into the ground approximately two feet uphill form each tree. In theory, the saturation of the ground by ensuing rains would then slowly deliver these ingredients to the trees’ roots.

Initially, I watered them every day. After a few weeks, I transitioned to every third day. But later, when the heat of the summer set in and temperatures soared into triple digits, I was advised to place two by four supports across the top of the cages and place five gallon buckets there. By drilling a very small hole in the bottom of each bucket, and then filling each of them with four gallons of water every other day and allowing it to drip down on the plant, the exact amount of water needed was supplied.

As you can see, a lot has gone into my little fruit orchard. Trust me; while it has been a labor of love, it turned into a little more than I originally anticipated. Still, I am encouraged, as I am told that future years will require far less attention than has this initial one. Plus, I am looking forward to many years of rewards with everything from peaches to pears and plums.

There will be apples too; only not as many as I had hoped. You see, that twenty-fifth tree, the one tree in all the thirty that actually died, was my Red Jonathan Apple. And I reminded of it every time I visit my little orchard. For it is situated front and center on the very first row. Its ugly, dried, and swiveled leaves remind me that even though it was given the same amount of careful attention as all its comrades, it still failed to produce.

I have already made up my mind to replace it. Sadly, though, I cannot even order a replacement for it until the fall of the year. The extreme temperatures will not allow for doing so until then. For this reason, whatever replaces it always lag a year behind the other trees – in size, in output, and in whatever reward its fruit will eventually give.

As I have reflected on this, I have been reminded of the story that Jesus told in the New Testament Gospel of Luke, chapter 13, verses 6-9, commonly referred to as the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree…

“A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the keeper of the vineyard, ‘Look, for the past three years I have come to search for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Therefore cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone again this year, until I dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine. But if not, you can cut it down.’”

As heartbroken as I have been over the demise of a single apple tree, it surely cannot compare to how the Lord feels about us when we enjoy his favor, yet fail to flower! In Jesus’ story, the fig tree, though given a position of prominence and allowed to use up the soil, was nevertheless barren! And as such, it pictures far too many individuals.

Let’s face it, the Lord has blessed us in so many ways – with life and talents and skills and untold potential. But what have we done with that favor? Have we lived lives merely of consumption, with little or no production? Have we “used up the soil” without ever bearing fruit? If so, it behooves us to beware. For the owner of the vineyard in Jesus’ story made plain that the clock was ticking on the fruitless fig tree!

It would be given one more opportunity, but if it continued to consume valuable resources without giving back anything back in return, it would lose the owner’s favor and be plucked up and burned in the fire. Another tree would be given an opportunity in its place!

Surely such a story speaks to you and me today! Surely it reminds us to take stock of just what all we have been blessed with. And also to remind us that the same Jesus Who told this story also said: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from him who has been entrusted with much, even more will be demanded!”

May we bear fruit in our lives just as God desires!

SCRIPTURE SOURCES:

https://biblehub.com/bsb/luke/13.htm;

https://biblehub.com/luke/12-48.htm.