Week of August 14, 2022

Thank you to Randy Lee for leading worship yesterday as Pastor Brad lead worship for the London and Azalia churches.  Yesterday’s worship can be seen on our Facebook page or YouTube.

Many of the analogies in the Bible that describe what God wants people to know and understand center around farming.  So very many people at the time were involved with farming that these analogies made God’s word much easier for them to understand.  The scriptures talk frequently about reaping what you sow. 

Plant seeds of faith, hope, charity, and love and the results produced will be what God wants.  It won’t happen right away, but whatever you sow is what you get.  We need to focus on planting good things, because it is so much easier to plant seeds of bitterness and anger.  If you don’t like what you’re reaping, you need to change what you are sowing.

I listened to Randy talk about how much easier it is to plant seeds of bitterness and anger and I was thinking, okay, but I’m getting a handle on that…then I did something ridiculous.  I went grocery shopping.  About 6 aisles in and the item I’m looking for is on the shelf, on the other side of the employee pulling groceries for someone who ordered online.  I’m waiting quietly for them to finish while someone behind me says, loudly, “EXCUSE US”.  The employee moves, the person who said that zipped around me, someone cut in going the other direction, a third group cuts me off again from behind as they move past me and I still can’t get to what I’m there to pick up.  All of a sudden any grip I had on faith, hope, charity, and love got kicked to the curb by anger, frustration, impatience, and just general meanness.  The bad things that can be sown often sneak up on us in such a hurry.  And this was just grocery shopping, not truly difficult interactions with others.  How very much harder that can be.

God tells us to sow the good things because it is the best for US.  Be intentional in your thoughts…every day we have a choice.  What seeds are we going to plant today?  It really is up to you and up to me.  We are chosen by God’s hand and He doesn’t make mistakes.  He has given us everything we need to plant His vineyard.  Let’s get to work!

Have a blessed week.