March and we are planting...

     I tilled up the garden on the first day of spring and today we planted some lettuce and spinach under some low hoops.  I guess we are trying to make up for some of the time lost last year because of the cancer.  We are so excited about trying some new gardening techniques that we hope to stretch our growing sessions.  Our goal is to erected a hoop house by the fall to see what we can do.  Stephanie worked the Boyne City farmer's market for a friend and bought some greens from a man in Harbor Springs who is successfully growing throughout the winter with the hoop house method.


     We are also 1 month into not eating any meat or dairy.  Some would call this a "vegan diet" but for us it is just a response to the many things that we have learned along the way.  The amount of chemo and radiation that I took on last year is the main reason to eat this way to not offer a body that would be open to some secondary cancer.  As far as we know from what we have been researching, this is the best way to ward off cancer.  It such has given us a challenge to rearrange our meals and routine but both of us are doing really well and thankful for what we can do to help with our health.


     Sunday was another banner day.  I finished up a mini-series on marriage that came out of the study of Matthew.  My favorite part was taking the congregation back to the Old Testament and the love story of Ruth and Boaz and painting the picture of Jesus' love for us.  We are so desperate as Ruth was and Jesus is so willing as Boaz was to pay the price to secure Ruth's life.  Jesus is our willing kinsmen Redeemer.


     This week we get to move onto the passage about the oaths and the "yes be yes" and "no be no."  Here is a great quote from William Barclay that I am going to use.

 "Here is a great eternal truth: light cannot be divided into compartments in some of which God is involved, and in others of which He is not involved. There cannot be one kind of language in the church and another kind of language in the home. There cannot be one kind of standard of conduct in the church and another standard of conduct in the business world. The fact is that God does not need to be invited into certain departments of life and kept out of others; He is everywhere, all through life, and every activity of life. He hears not only the words which are spoken in His name, He hears all words, and there cannot be any such thing as a form of words which evades bringing God into any transaction. We will regard all promises as sacred if we remember that all promises are made in the presence of God."

     Jesus is continuing to re-establish the Old Testament through His teachings and this week will be looking at what we say and how we say it.

So far we have looked at the...

• ancestry of Jesus - through His genealogy
• arrival of Jesus - through the virgin birth
• adoration of Jesus - through the wise men
• anticipation of Jesus - through the fulfilled prophecies
• announcer of Jesus - through John the Baptist
• affirmation of Jesus - through His baptism
• advantage of Jesus - through the temptations
• activity of Jesus - through the ministry and healings and miracles
• address of Jesus - through the sermon on the mount

And we are still in chapter 5!!!  I think this is going to take awhile.

Adam