The long white winter has passed and northern Michigan is green again...
The long white winter has passed - all the snow banks around the house are gone - and northern Michigan is green again - very green, and it probably looks greener this year because of not seeing it for so long. We are still waiting for the leaves to emerge and surveying the winter kill damage from the extreme cold and also the critters eating the bark off the trees and shrubs 2 to 3 feet above the ground.
Garden update is that our greens are bursting through the ground and we also were able to transplant some that come up from last years stalks. At the church boxes we picked a bag full of collard greens that made it through the winter. It is the time to start picking dandelion greens, wild leeks, and lavage (sp). A good friend today is giving us our annual sample of morel mushrooms today so we are looking forward to a special dinner tonight. Notification of our organic seed potatoes are coming on Thursday and the ground is ready to plant. The garden will be much smaller this year and we do not know where we will be for the fall but we just couldn't let the land go without putting something in it to grow.
I am very excited about the study of the book of 1 Peter. There is so much packed in each phrase that Peter uses to encourage the persecuted Christians in the Roman provinces. His introduction to them in the letter form gives them 7 things to remember...
1. Remember this is not their home - keep an eternal perspective on life - aliens, foreigners
2. Remember that they are not alone - others scattered abroad are enduring the same
3. Remember that they were chosen by God - on God's team, picked & selected
4. Remember that the choosing was done with God's forethought - God know what they face just as He knew and had prophesied about Jesus' life
5. Remember that they have the Holy Spirit in them who will guide them but also grow them through this
6. Remember to simply obey Jesus - let Him continue to be their prime example to follow
7. Remember the covenant made between themselves and Jesus - take up that cross daily
All this was happening just because they called themselves Christian. The easy thing would have been to say that they were not Christians anymore but Peter calls them to make more of God rather than make Him smaller. I see a huge correlation with our world today. We may not be going to a cross or being beaten or burned for the faith (I know this is happening in places around the world) but as Americans we have been reducing the size of our God by disregarding His Word to us. It is going to be great to learn from "old" Peter whose God grew in his own life from denying Christ to dying for Christ.
Prayers for our week coming up. I have a skype interview and a phone interview with a couple churches. This is the first "official" contact beyond email correspondence over the last 8 months. I have learned so much through this process and am calling on God to continue to give us discernment and direction for the future.
Adam
Garden update is that our greens are bursting through the ground and we also were able to transplant some that come up from last years stalks. At the church boxes we picked a bag full of collard greens that made it through the winter. It is the time to start picking dandelion greens, wild leeks, and lavage (sp). A good friend today is giving us our annual sample of morel mushrooms today so we are looking forward to a special dinner tonight. Notification of our organic seed potatoes are coming on Thursday and the ground is ready to plant. The garden will be much smaller this year and we do not know where we will be for the fall but we just couldn't let the land go without putting something in it to grow.
I am very excited about the study of the book of 1 Peter. There is so much packed in each phrase that Peter uses to encourage the persecuted Christians in the Roman provinces. His introduction to them in the letter form gives them 7 things to remember...
1. Remember this is not their home - keep an eternal perspective on life - aliens, foreigners
2. Remember that they are not alone - others scattered abroad are enduring the same
3. Remember that they were chosen by God - on God's team, picked & selected
4. Remember that the choosing was done with God's forethought - God know what they face just as He knew and had prophesied about Jesus' life
5. Remember that they have the Holy Spirit in them who will guide them but also grow them through this
6. Remember to simply obey Jesus - let Him continue to be their prime example to follow
7. Remember the covenant made between themselves and Jesus - take up that cross daily
All this was happening just because they called themselves Christian. The easy thing would have been to say that they were not Christians anymore but Peter calls them to make more of God rather than make Him smaller. I see a huge correlation with our world today. We may not be going to a cross or being beaten or burned for the faith (I know this is happening in places around the world) but as Americans we have been reducing the size of our God by disregarding His Word to us. It is going to be great to learn from "old" Peter whose God grew in his own life from denying Christ to dying for Christ.
Prayers for our week coming up. I have a skype interview and a phone interview with a couple churches. This is the first "official" contact beyond email correspondence over the last 8 months. I have learned so much through this process and am calling on God to continue to give us discernment and direction for the future.
Adam
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