Half-Runner Beans

 

When my mother moved down south into Dominion Senior Living in Hixson, Tennessee, we left her house in Maryland as it was for some time.  But to access needed funds, the three of us adult children decided to sell the old home place.  My brother in Maryland inventoried the household items and we all got whatever we wanted as mementos and keepsakes.  I received an old shoe-shine box that I had made in Mr. Swearingen’s shop class in 1961.  Inside of the shoe-shine box, my brother had added a few small items from mom’s house.  One item was a sealed mason jar with half-runner bean seeds in it that my Granny Whitely had saved from one gardening season to the next.  I planted one of those seeds and, to my surprise, it sprouted!  Granny had put a date on the jar of 1989!  Hey, the reason that the half-runner seed had sprouted was that it had life in it.  Paul put it this way in Ephesians 2:1, “And you hath he quickened (made alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins.”  Just as moisture, sunlight, and warmth made that half-runner seed to sprout, the blessed Holy Spirit has made us alive in Jesus Christ!  Our salvation is bought and paid for by the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ! Hey, have you become part of God’s forever family?  Why not make your decision for Christ today?  You’ll be glad that you did.

Woodworking

 

I don’t know why, but I just like to saw wood.  I like the smell of western cedar and the smell of yellow pine.  I like sawdust and shavings.  Woodworking seems to be in my blood.  I have made some nice pergolas in my day, and each one that I make has slight improvements.  But I also have made some old-school Lincoln Logs that are teeny-tiny.  The pergolas are made of rough-cut lumber with six-inch posts, but the Lincoln Logs are made with tiny notches within two thousandths of an inch.  Each has a different challenge requiring different skillsets.  One is big and heavy while the other is little and detailed.  Hey, that’s a great picture of each of us as humans.  We are each different; we are each individuals; we are each unique.  The apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:10 that “… we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus …”  Hey, each of us are made by Jesus Christ individually!  You receive half of your thousands of traits from your father and half of your thousands of traits from your mother.  But God alone determines your mix of genes and which ones that you get!  You may be designed by God to be careful and detailed when you go about your work, while your brother may be careless and happy-go-lucky.  You may be sensitive and caring with others while your sister may be more of a big picture person, good at running a company.  But each of us must realize that God made us exactly how we are for a specific purpose.  And that purpose is to give God glory and praise.  We are God’s beautiful pergola, or we are God’s detailed Lincoln Logs.  Hey, what gives you pleasure?  What do you enjoy doing?  Then do it to the best of your ability … to the glory of God!

The Good Old Days

 

Marleen, Kat Sinclair, and I drove back from a 4^th of July picnic on Whitwell Mountain with Ron and Liz Kuhns Saturday evening.  On the way home, I enjoyed the fireworks all around us.  Thousands of dollars went up in smoke, no doubt!  I am 76 years old, and when I was young, I asked my Granny Whitely (who was born in 1901) how she celebrated the 4^th of July when she was a little girl.  She said, “Well, we hoed corn all morning, like we did every other morning.  Then we went home and ate dinner (lunch).  Then we got out a little American flag that we had and waved it and said, ‘Hurrah for the 4^th of July!’ and then we went back to the field and hoed corn for the rest of the day until suppertime.”  Hard times but pleasant memories.  Memories of family, work, and country.  Psalm 77:11, "I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old."  Remember the good old days and thank the dear Lord for them.