The Family Tree

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." - John 15:5

We all have a family tree. Some are big, some are small. Some have lots of branches while others don't have many at all.

When a family tree first starts out there aren't many branches at all. Just a couple of little leaves and a stem. That's God's Biblical concept of a marriage.

"And the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” - Mark 10:8-9

It's not long before branches form and take off in their own direction. These are like the children of the marriage. And then the branches bear fruit (grandkids!).

Some couples choose not to have kids. Their family trees resemble telephone poles. When the couple grows old and dies, so does their tree. That's it. Sad.

Sometimes our family trees can also suffer loss. When a child dies it's like a branch breaking off in a storm. The tree lives on but it's never quite the same.

A tree that is firmly anchored in the ground by a strong root system can handle just about any storm. But a tree with weak or shallow roots will not last. It's like a family without a common faith in God.

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." - Colossians 2:6-7

Is it any wonder that God chose The Tree of Life "to enhance and perpetually sustain the physical life of humanity?" (GotQuestions.org)

"And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." - Revelation 22:1-2

May your faith roots sink deep into His soil. May your roots drink deep as you nourish and strengthen your family. The love of our Savior is all the sustenance a family tree needs to survive in this world, and in the next. Drink deep.

The more mature a tree gets the closer it gets to heaven. Let it be so with us as well.

The Parable of The Master Gardener

I wasn't sure what I was going to write about this morning until I watched my wife transplant a bush in our yard last night. It was quite a chore for her but she was determined to move it. There were lots of roots to be cut and lots of dirt to be dug. But by moving that plant my wife also provided a deeper, more meaningful lesson to be learned about life.

The bush wasn't really producing where is was so my wife bought a new plant for that location and moved the original plant to a new spot in our yard. Painful for the plant being moved I'm sure but my wife moved it to a location where she hoped it would thrive.

God provides so many lessons to be learned in our lives. Many of them can be learned simple by observing nature or the relationships we have.

Have you ever heard the phrase "Bloom where you're planted"? It means to "take advantage of the opportunities we have in life and be grateful in our present situation."

The bush in our yard simply did not bloom where is was planted so it was replaced and moved to a different location where it was given another opportunity to bloom. I am convinced that God does the same thing for you and me.

^"20 Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them. ²¹ Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you - although if you can gain your freedom, do so. ²² For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave. ²³ You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. ²⁴ Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them." - 1 Corinthians 7:20-24

When I reflect on where God has planted me in my life "when I was called" it is easy to see the Master Gardener's overarching plan in my life.

There have been several times in my life at work when relationships have bloomed because of God's foreknowledge and plan. God planted me at work and He gave me two gifts to help others grow - fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). They are compassion (mercy) and encouragement (exhortation).

This past week I used those gifts and prayed with and comforted a friend at work who was suffering trough the loss of a close friend. The month before I prayed with a life-long friend and co-worker who was undergoing some life-altering surgery. I have prayed with another who was going through a messy divorce and another who struggled with the death of a mentor.

I tell you these things not to brag  but to show you how good God is when He can use even a wimpy, spindly plant like me for His ultimate glory. And God, in the amazing way He does things, has turned each of those "acquaintances" in to dear, precious friends.

Where has God "planted" you? Is there a situation at work or in your life where you could use the gifts God has given you? I encourage you to keep your eyes open. God provides opportunities nearly every day for us to honor Him by our showing His love to the people in our lives.

I have a friend who is a master gardener. She likes to take strolls through her garden and take pictures of her plants for all to see. I that any different from what God does with us?

God is the Master Gardener. We are His plants. The way we bloom is a reflection of The Gardener's skills. May we bloom brightly and beautifully where we have been planted. And may God, the great Master Gardener, continue to water us and nurture us to produce a bountiful crop of fruit in this amazing garden He has made.

I had all
But given up
Desperate for
A sign from love
Something good
Something kind
Bringing peace to every corner of my mind

Then I saw the garden
Hope had come to me
To sweep away the ashes
And wake me from my sleep

The Garden - Kari Jobe

The Parable of The Beans

My wife and I used to have a garden many years ago. We enjoyed planting things and watching them sprout and then grow. Our only problem was the soil where we live is really sandy. It drains well . . . TOO well. Our plants suffered greatly from lack of nutrition and lack of water. Eventually our plants would wither and die. We gave up trying to grow anything. Until THIS year!

Very early in the spring I bought and planted some seeds - green bean seeds - and started growing them indoors. The cats enjoyed eating those. So I planted some more seeds, this time in the safety of box with a lid. Lid off during the day, on during the night. That worked. Yay!

When my green bean seedlings were ready I planted them outside in containers. The containers were filled with rich, nutrient-filled soil. The bean plants thrived and I was getting pretty excited about the possibility of eating our own green beans. Then one night while we were away, a cold front moved in and froze all the plants. Everyone of them died. I was sad. But I had some more seeds. There was hope.

So I planted those seeds right next to their dad friends. They too sprouted and soon they were overflowing the containers and were producing beans. I love beans!!

My wife and I go out to the containers every other night or so and pick beans. We gather a handful, bring them in and cook them up. The new beans plants are producing well, making far more beans than we had originally planted. Reminds me of a story . . .

"13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.” - Matthew 13:1-9

Jesus could have been talking about growing beans, but He wasn't. He was talking about you and me - the people of this world - and our receiving God's Word. When my wife and I planted beans in our poor, sandy soil, the beans never did very well. They shot up quickly, but without nourishment and water they died.

Some of us hear God's Word and reject it, their hearts becoming frozen. They ultimately will perish just like my beans did in the frost.

But when God's Word is planted in the hearts of His chosen ones, it causes that person's faith to grow and flourish, WAY beyond what they might have had if left unattended in a dark and barren world. Here Jesus explains his parable.

"19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” - Matthew 13:18-23

Back in Jesus' day people depended on their crops to keep themselves alive. A killing frost or planting seeds in poor soil had real life or death consequences. The parable is difficult to understand is you've never plant seeds, or if you don't love beans, but God wants to see us grow in our faith . . grow closer to Him. Examine the "soil" YOU are planted in. Is it making you grow tall and strong? If it's not, perhaps it's time for a transplant. It could literally save your life.

Climbing Bean Time Lapse

Listen To The Sound

My wife is away on vacation this week. Usually, we tend to go places together but one week out of the year we take separate vacations for a short amount of time. She goes to Door County on a shopping, hiking and reading trip. I attend Lifest, a Christian music festival - an eating, worshiping, sleep deprivation trip. Each of us is doing something we like, but something the other spouse does not.

Although I like hiking and reading, shopping is WAY down there on my list of fun things to do. On the other hand, rock music doesn't thrill my wife either. Nor does hanging around with a bunch of teenagers. So we have chosen to spend some temporary time apart, to better enjoy our times together. Does that make sense?

As I write this I am sitting in a screen tent at Lifest. The sound of a mini-generator running next door, a distant train whistle, and the constant thumping of the bass drum sound check from the main stage. Pretty quiet compared to Thursday night's Newsboys concert.

There HAVE been moments when it has been quiet too. There was one at 3:47 AM and another at 4:23AM but other than that there is always some kind of noise present.  Do you have a lot of "noise" in your life? To me noise is something you don't necessarily want to hear.

My alarm clock is "noise." The generator running next door to our tent is "noise." What about last night's speeches here at Lifest? Noise? No. More like . . . music." Tony Nolan, Michael Tate and Matthew West all gave amazing talks last night. Reminders of the sweet music of God and His Word.

So how can we get rid of all the "noise" in our lives. Several three-word combinations come to mind.

1. "Turn It Off!" - Many things can actually be turned off . . . like the annoying generator next door. I am seriously just about to get up to practice what I preach! With love of course.
2. "Drown It Out!" -Replace the "noise" with something else. I think this reason is why we see so many people walking around with headphones and ear buds in their ears. Listening to something other than what the world wants to hear.
3. "Turn It Up!" - Some people love the "noise." I am not one of them, but there ARE people who actually love the annoying "noise." And actually, they like to make the annoying noise themselves. They tend to compound the noise.
4. "Rebel Against It" -  Some people don't like the noise and let people know about it. They have their own opinion of how much "noise" there should be. Unless the ambient noise level matches their expectations, they complain and attack. They don't like things that are different than them. And they let people know about it.
5. "Rejoice In It!" - We have all had people in our lives who are rather negative. They produce a kind of "negative noise" all on their own. We could fight back in anger but what's the point? If we can find joy in the "noise" it is much easier to survive

Everyone makes their own kind of "noise." How we choose to deal with it defines who we are as a human being.

Recently, someone attacked me for what I believe. My faith was "noise" to them. So what did I do? First, I tried to convince them that my faith wasn't "noise" at all. That failed. See Point 4 above. So I chose to embrace this person's "noise" as a learning experience - a means of growth in an entire world of "noise."

We Christians are here to learn and to grow. We are often given "noise" so God can see how we handle it. When things don't go your way, what do you do? Whine and complain? Just try to ignore it? Or do you try finding the silver lining and use the "noise" to your advantage.

How we react to the struggles we have in this life define us. We can tell a lot about ourselves if we examine how we react in "noisy" situations. We need to examine ourselves and ask these question in ANY noise-filled moment in our lives:

"How is God going to use this to teach me something?"

"What can I learn from this that will help me grow in Christ?"

God's will for us is to grow into the image of His Son. We all learn and grow through experiences. If the end result of some "noise" we are encountering is that we will become more like Jesus on the other end of things, how can we do anything else other than to embrace it!

We all make "noise." Examine yourself. Is the noise YOU are making a pleasing aroma to the Lord?

"14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?" - 2 Corinthians 2:14-16

Listen To The Sound - Building 429