THE NEW EWE

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"

Luke 15:4-6

July 8, 2020

LIFE IN THE FOLD:

This past Sunday afternoon, Jon and I stopped by a local produce business and bought a bushel of sweet corn. Before it got hot on Monday morning, I sat outside and shucked the corn. I then brought it inside to scrape off the cob, put in freezer bags, and into the freezer.

As I was shucking the corn, pulling the husks and silk off, most of the corn looked great. But there was one ear that looked like a worm or bug had eaten on the kernels. Another looked like it had been malnourished and only had maybe 12-15 kernels of corn on the entire ear. A couple were light yellow, with small kernels on it, looking as if they weren't quite ready to have been harvested.

I'm sure the farmer had planted the seed for his entire field on the same day. The entire field had been fertilized and watered. All the plants were given the same opportunity to grow and mature, bearing ears of healthy corn.

When the field looks ripe for harvest, the farmer may check a few ears of corn throughout the field, but if it's a large field, he cannot check every single plant and ear of corn to see if they are ready. They all had enough time to bear healthy ears of corn, so the farmer will harvest the entire field. A combine is used to cut the corn stalks down, the ears of corn are separated out and goes onto a conveyer belt and dropped into a large trailer on back of the combine. When the trailer is full, the farmer will transfer his load into the bed of a large truck. When the field is harvested, there will be a few ears of defective corn in with good. That's not a reflection on the farmer or his skills, but on the quality of the plant and conditions that may have hindered its growth. Bugs, worms, hail, and various other thing may have caused the plant to become weakened and not produce as it should have.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, and told them that he had given them (spiritual) milk, not solid food, because they were not yet ready. In fact, they still weren't ready, for they were worldly and there was jealously and strife among them.

Some were saying, "I follow Paul," and others were saying, "I follow Apollos." The truth was, God was using both of them to bring spiritual nourishment to the people there.

Paul wrote, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So neither the one who plants, nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow."

Paul then told the church that he and Apollos were co-workers; and they were God's field, God's building.

The people in Corinth had heard the messages being spoken to them by both Paul and Apollos, and all had the opportunity to respond in faith and grow. Those spiritual seeds had been planted and watered, but they were more hung up on which man they were following than spiritual growth. They were allowing strife to come between them, when there was no reason for it. Jealousy was causing divisions that shouldn't be there.

We have each been planted and watered in God's "field", so to speak. We have the Word of God to read for ourselves, spiritual teachers and preachers whom we can listen to and learn from, prayer and communication directly with our Father, individuals whom God places in our lives to bring about spiritual encouragement. We have the choice to place our faith firmly in God and allow our lives to be watered spiritually, so that we can mature and grow in our faith. We can allow the Son to give us nourishment and strength to endure whatever storms may come our way. And we can choose to stay connected to the Vine, Jesus, and abide in Him. We, also, allow Him to prune us when needed so that we can be even more fruitful.

The alternative is to disengage from the Vine, Jesus, and try to grow on our own; which will never work. To allow strife and jealously to hinder our spiritual growth; arguing about things that really don't even matter and are unimportant. We can choose to allow clutter to fill our hearts and minds, that distracts us from God. We can become content with a few drops of spiritual water from time to time, or we could have a refreshing spring of living water flowing over us at all times. We can allow the worm to inch its way inside our heart and eat away at what God is trying to build inside of us. We become spiritually malnourished and weak.

The thing is, harvest time is coming! I know that the scriptures in John chapter 4 speak of harvest being a time of reaching the lost. But I also want to think of harvest time as being a time when Jesus comes and reaps those who belong to Him.

At that moment, all that's going to matter is what is in our heart. When Jesus peels back the layers to reveal what is in our heart, what is going to be revealed? Is He going to see a healthy, mature soul or one that is weakened and malnourished? Will He find someone who is ready and ripe for harvest; or one that has allowed the "worms" to eat away at them?

Let's vow to stay fully committed to Jesus! Let go of those piddly things, that really don't matter in the grand scheme of things. Stay connected to the Vine and allow Jesus to prune, when we need pruning. When Jesus returns, may He find us spiritually heathy and ready for to be harvested!

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

This reminds me a lot of the old science fair project where the student grows two plants, and talks kindly to one, but harshly to the other. Or using music, or some other environmental influence.

The plants don't have any choice whether they are spoken to kindly or angrily. But we commonly do. We can chose who we listen to, whether those who speak blessings or those who spout anger, distrust, and hatred. Choose well.

ON THE MENEWE:

Homemade Ice Cream

Mix together 1 quart liquid coffee creamer (any flavor!), 1 quart half & half, sugar and vanilla. Place in ice cream canister. Some creamers seem to be a little sweeter than others, so start with 1/2 cup sugar. Add whole milk to fill line on ice cream canister. Mix well. Taste to see if the sugar amount is to your liking. You can add more until it gets to the desired sweetness. 1/2 cup was plenty for my family, but the recipe calls for 1-1/4 cup because the person who shared the recipe with me said that their family likes their ice cream super sweet. Follow freezer directions.

I've made French Vanilla and Chocolate Carmel. My friend said that they've made butter brickle and almost every flavor of creamer flavors.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

With my birthday and July 4^th being this past week, it has brought up some memories for me. I remember one year for my birthday, an aunt and uncle bought me a swimsuit and kids-size blow up air mattress. Even though we lived by Table Rock Lake, my family never went to the lake to go swimming. In fact, swimming was not something that we often did. We certainly weren't wealthy enough to have a pool! When we did go swimming, we would go to a creek that was nearby. I think our parents probably felt safer taking us there. We were always the only ones there swimming (as far as I can remember) at that particular spot, and the water was deep enough to splash and play in; but not over our heads.

I also remember the first time that I ever saw sparklers. We went to visit another aunt and uncle around July 4^th and their son and his family were there visiting from Kansas. They had bought their two boys, who were a little younger than me, some sparklers to play with. I was a little afraid of them at first with the sparks coming off them, but also thought they were fascinating to be able to wave that little lit stick around and see the sparks coming off.

Another July 4^th, my family all got together at my dad's house out in the country in Arkansas. My nephews used to love bottle rockets. My sister and brother-in-law, who pastored a deaf church, had a young deaf man who was doing an internship with them that summer. He had never seen or played with bottle rockets. He thought it was great fun and was having the time of his life playing with them; but was more daring than what we were comfortable with, and had the adults a big concerned! But it all turned out great and I'm sure was a highlight for him that evening!

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

Forgiveness is about empowering yourself, rather than empowering your past. - TD Jakes

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org