Bittersweet Farm

Bittersweet Farm

Archives for May 2019

Bittersweet Farm Journal (Number 44)

Filed Under: Bittersweet Farm

Last week I enjoyed a three-day pastor’s conference with Leo Cumings (Bethel’s pastor for 23 years) and my brothers Kevin and Nathan, our brother-in-law Jim, and a nephew, Zach. It was an enriching conference. I wrote about it here. I worked hard on Thursday and spent my day off Friday “birding” with my friend David Parsons. We visited “The Biggest Week in Birding.”

This beautiful photo was taken by my friend David Parsons.

Spring is coming slowly out on Bittersweet Farm. It is the 12th of May and this morning I noticed the furnace running. The leaves are budding into a beautiful canopy of green. The white and pink dogwoods and purple redbuds are opening. Lilacs are flowering. Hope and her boyfriend Tim were out on the evening porch the other night and heard the call of the Barred Owl from the woods across the road. There are other noises in the dark that I hope to be able to identify some day.

It’s Mother’s Day in America. Lois was/is a mother of eight. That is not a misprint. She bore eight children into the world. I had a front-row seat for the last almost 40 years to watch her serve and work and cook and clean and organize and forgive and love and listen and teach and work and work and work, oh, and did I mention, work?

She is loyal. She is always working to make a little money to help out. She never let the children leave the house in an unpresentable way. She never let anyone ever go hungry. I have stories I could tell that would make grown men cry of this woman who is not at all afraid of letting you know exactly how wrong you are, but she would not let you go hungry. I always tell people, if I left an important file at home I would never call her and ask her to bring it to me. I would call her and tell her I was hungry. She would offer to bring me food and then I would ask her to pick up the file on the way and bring it along with my food.

One day I was an hour from home and had no way to buy lunch. I went to a favorite book store to spend some time and distract me from my hunger. I felt a feminine presence and a soft hand on my back and heard a familiar voice. I turned to see Lois standing there. She had come into a bit of money and she drove an hour away and an hour back home to see to it that I would not have to miss lunch.

She made clothes for the girls. She sacrificed so we could get to our home-education conference every year. She did whatever needed to be done to get our family the conference that was so important to us at the time. I taught all the children to be readers, but she taught all of them to read.

This year we were blessed to fly out to Oregon and spend a week of vacation with our daughter Holly and her family after Holly had a baby girl (Miss Bella Allene). Every night she prepared a beautiful meal and special dessert and coached Holly in nursing. It was wonderful to be there and see her simple mountain-woman ways and, of course, enjoy the meals. The other night one of our daughter Heidi was ill, she got in the car late in the evening and drove five hours to her home to be with her and nurse her to health.

Around Bittersweet Farm she is constantly making home. She is reclaiming things, making candles, taking pictures to support her hobbies and interests, plotting vintage shows with her sister and puttering around with things that bring beauty to our lives. She has simple tastes.

As a pastors wife, she is quick to remind me of my duties, even when I don’t feel I need it. There are many times over the last 40 years we have been in the ministry that she has pointed out a needy parishioner I might have overlooked. My attention to them was timely and God used Lois to lead me to be in the right place at the right time. We are in a beautiful season of fellowship and flourishing right now at Bethel Church, but there have been times over those four decades that people have been fickle, or unkind, unfair or downright depraved or cruel in their treatment of me. She is not shy about letting me know if I need correction, but she is loyal with a fierce loyalty.

She is not quick to speak publicly but she would never deny her Lord and what He has done for her. When I call on her to give a testimony the whole church grows silent and we all learn things about her heart that we didn’t know. I once saw her, in a few simple, logical sentences silence a professor who was unconvinced of the reality of hell. It’s a story I love to tell. Ask me some day.

I could write more but I promised to take her to ice cream and she just called up the stairs and said; “It’s time to go.”

Bittersweet Farm
May 12, 2019 (Mother’s Day)

Who Really Cares?

Filed Under: Bethel Church-Jackson

It is a question that lies just below the level of conscious thought for most of us most of the time. Who really cares? Plenty of people act like they care, to sell us something or to get something from us or to get us to do something, but the question remains, “Who really cares?”

We can ask this question of the people closest to us in the world, as painful as that is. The answer to the question “Who really cares” is often, “not many.” That’s the harsh reality.

Some people step into the room and everything about them says, “Here I am!” You notice them, even if you don’t admire them or particularly like them.

Others come into the room saying “There you are!” These people are hard not to like.

Another way to say the same thing would be; You tend to like people who like you, not just people who want you to like them.

The question hangs in your heart, “Does this personal really care about me? Do they love me?”

The holy ambition of every member of the Church of Jesus Christ should be to communicate with genuine clarity, sincere love. Our words and prayers and actions should say sweet and clear; “Among these people I am loved for who I am.”

The Apostle Peter wrote to the church; “Love one another with a pure heart fervently.” He wrote of “…sincere love of the brethren…” No program or curriculum can accomplish that, only living, breathing human beings filled with the Spirit of God.

Once an old Sunday school teacher who had influenced hundreds of boys for Christ over the years was interviewed. So many men had followed Christ because of his influence, someone looked him up and asked him the secret of his success. He looked thoughtfully away and said, “Well, I’m really not sure.” Then, after a long pause, he said. “I really did love those boys.” Maybe that was the answer… The secret of his influence was the sincerity of his love.

May Bethel always be a place where people really do care. How rare and how wonderful it that? That can of love is rare and it’s wonderful, it’s almost irresistible.

Alistair Begg and the Basics Conference for Pastors

Filed Under: Current Thoughts

1. Fellowship

I’m here at the Basics Conference for pastors conducted by Parkside Church in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, where Alistair Begg is the pastor. I’m with Pastor Leo Cumings, my brother-in-law Jim, a nephew, Zach, and my younger brothers Kevin and Nathan.

There are about 1,500 men who are “in the trenches of ministry” in close proximity for part of three days. The fellowship in the gospel among these men is sweet. It is enriching to be among men, many who have served faithfully in the cause of Christ for years.

It is a powerful experience to sing with hundreds upon hundreds of men. The music is a part of the fellowship and it is a part of the influence of the conference. The songs are chosen with pastoral thought and care to enforce the rich biblical teaching in the conference. The worship leaders are skilled and devoted brothers and sisters. The audio and video and state-of-the-art.

Of course, there is a bookstore, well-stocked with books carefully chosen for their faithfulness to truth. All of them discounted 30%. A pastor’s joy.

2. Food

The food is healthy and plentiful. It is served within two hundred yards of where the sessions are held around round tables perfect for conversation. Healthy snacks are included in the price of the conference. At this conference a man can eat right and he can eat well.

3. Value

The conference is affordable. One reasonable price includes all sessions and all food, three meals a day including a Chik-fil-a meal in a bag to take on the road after the last session on Wednesday. That is a nice touch.

4. Humor

Alistair Begg is a bright, humorous fellow. He is obviously a man of intensity, strong conviction, and I suspect, strong opinion, but his humor runs just below the surface of the conference bursting into plain view with delightful regularity.

5. A Local Church

It is heartening to spend a few days on the property of a flourishing local church and be served by people who are united in purpose and heart. You can feel it in the air. You can see it on the faces of the people eagerly and joyfully serving.

6. Theological Faithfulness without Sectarian Crankiness

The conference always reinforces my convictions about Scripture, preaching, the importance of theological fidelity without going beyond the Scripture or descending into sectarian pettiness. This is strengthening to my soul. I am charged with faithfulness to Christ and to his Word. This conference strongly reinforces that.

7. Basics without Trendy Gimmicks

Some conferences can get you into trouble with your local church. At the conference you pick up the latest ecclesiastical gimmick and you take it home and push it upon your people. Often these are trendy gimmicks that have little scriptural basis… The Basics Conference is basics, the preaching of the Word, the fellowship of the saints, meaningful prayer and corporate singing. These are things that travel welll. If a pastor takes them home to his church it will be good for the church and likely strengthen his influence for good upon his people.

Thank you Parkside Church.
Thank you Pastor Alistair Begg.
Thank you, Lord for the sweet privilege of such an enriching conference.

Chagrin Falls, Ohio
May 8, 2019

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