Bittersweet Farm

Bittersweet Farm

Archives for June 2007

Sky Bridge

Filed Under: Current Thoughts, Pondering His Creation

skybridge.jpg This morning I wanted a special place to spend time with the Lord. I took a drive and a couple hikes in the Daniel Boone National Forest. I hiked to Princess Arch and Chimney Top Rock, then I drove to the Sky Bridge Area. In the first two places the dear flies were bad. In the third place there were only a few. I saw bats over Sky Bridge, maybe that’s why. I heard some cicadas that reminded me of home. I listened to a whippoorwill, a wood thrush and an oriole. Across the valley I could see gray smoke ascending from a camp fire it mixed with the morning fog and left a fragrance in the forest. When I checked the odometer on the Jeep I realized that all three hikes were within eleven miles of Campton in the Mountains.

(photo by Jeff Schaefer)

A Man Called Peter; A Romance Worth Reading

Filed Under: What I'm Reading

Peter_Marshall

I am among many, many thousands who love Catherine Marshall’s story of the life of Peter Marshall; A Man Called Peter. In case there are some of you who are not yet among them I would like to tell you some of the reasons I love this book.

Romance First, everyone loves a romance and A Man Called Peter is a beautifully-written romance story between Peter and Catherine Marshall, a Scottish immigrant and a pastor’s daughter from the mountains of Tennessee. It’s not the kind of contrived, one-dimensional romance that is the stuff of popular fiction, but a real romance described in the setting of life.

The Romance of Ministry A Man Called Peter is an inspiring story of the romance of Christian ministry. It is about the pastorate and preaching and being a pastor’s wife. It is a healthy look at what it should look like to shepherd a congregation. It is an honest but positive telling of the trials and triumphs of the pastorate.

The Romance of Living Third, Catherine Marshall is a very gifted writer and a good storyteller and the story of Peter Marshall is a good story. Catherine Marshall had a beautiful way of looking at life and a moving way of describing living and dying.

The Divine Romance Finally, the story–front to back–is a story of the providence and love of God in the life of one Scottish boy who overcame the loss of his father when he was young, his unrequited longing to go to sea, and the hardship of poverty, to become one of the most popular pastors in America and the Chaplain of the United States Senate.

It has one of the most moving endings of any book I have ever read. It is one of the books I read and re-read. I know it has influenced how I look at life and ministry. It is a rich, romance in the highest sense of the word. I like the movie but I love the book. I predict that if you read it you will read other books by Catherine Marshall.

Dairy Queen Diaries

Filed Under: Current Thoughts

kentuckygirls.jpgI am drinking coffee among the pleasant locals at the Dairy Queen in Campton in the Mountains, Kentucky. It’s real name is Campton, but I like to call it Campton in the Mountains.

I am preparing my heart to spend the week in Sacramento with the ATI families of the West. I will be speaking on Thursday on the Powerful Prayer of Moses. Good things always happen when you pray the prayer of Moses. I think good will come from it.

For the rest of today there is an amazing sale going on at www.desiringgod.org. WOW.

kentuckycabin.jpgWe found a perfect cabin in a place called Gladie in the Daniel Boone National Forest. Lois took the picture or she would have been in it.

Ugly Houses

Filed Under: Current Thoughts

Some Amish friends found the house for us. They made hay on the place.
We needed somewhere to stay for a few weeks.
It was an ugly house in a beautiful place, though it had once been pleasant.
The countryside that surrounded it was as beautiful and the house was Spartan.
A silver band of river wound through the valley far below.
Above the house there was a dark green wood of hardwood and pine.
Valleys plunged away in front of the house and behind.
Beside it a road ran along the ridge.
It was a pretty place to place a house.
It was green asbestos-shingled and the timbers were broken beneath the floor.
The floor of the bedroom was wavy as the sea in high wind.
A friend vented the hot-water heater so we would not die in our sleep.
There was a cistern over the hill and the furnace was fueled by natural gas drawn from a well on the property.
For some reason the water and the heat never seemed to work together.
It was free.
It was warm.
It was shelter.
It was private.
It was Christmas.
The children sawed the top out of the pine and propped it in the corner to celebrate – they were hardy souls – the children.
We nearly burned down the barn when the fire of Christmas wrapping got out of hand. We went away and came back to be greeted by a fleet of fire trucks and a blackened valley falling away behind the house. It was sobering. By the hand of God the wind shifted the fire away from the barn.
The ugly Green House on the beautiful ridge near Walhounding.
We lived there for a few weeks, visiting elsewhere as often as possible
We were all sick the entire time we stayed there.
It was as close to homeless as I ever hope to come.
After the first of the year we found a clean, cozy, temporary apartment and camped out there until the house we leased was available a few miles from the church where we lived for the rest of our ministry in Knox County.
Sometimes beautiful things happen in ugly houses.
Sometimes ugly things happen in beautiful houses.

Jesus, You are my life. You created our Home, thank you for the beautiful house you are allowing us to occupy. Help us make beautiful things happen there.

Ken Pierpont
Daily Queen
Campton in the Mountains of Eastern Kentucky
June 28, 2007

Kyle Kenneth Pierpont

Filed Under: Current Thoughts

If I have to explain this post, you would never understand. This is the first of our many grandchildren. Can you see the leadership in his eyes. He is destined to lead many others to honor the One who is Worthy! You wait and see!

I Liked This

Filed Under: Current Thoughts

Mark Batterson shared his life manifesto on his blog recently:

    Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshipping what’s right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don’t try to be who you’re not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away.

Follow Ken Here