Bittersweet Farm

Bittersweet Farm

Ken

Bittersweet Farm Journal | November 14, 2021 | Are You Ready?

Filed Under: Bittersweet Farm, Current Thoughts

We moved from Central Ohio to Northern Michigan late in November of 1996. It seemed so far north to us at the time. It felt like we were driving to Siberia… One thing I noticed right away was how seriously Michiganders up there took their winter apparel. People in Northern Michigan didn’t just wear a cap or a thin stocking hat. They broke out the serious winter head-gear. I have a bit of an eccentric friend who lives up near Alpena and actually owns glacier glasses and headgear made of animal fur.
?The men of the church up north showed up in Stormy Kromers made of thick wool. These men wore big furry, fluffy, funny-looking headgear without any shame or apology. I hadn’t lived here long before I owned a thick balaclava myself that covered everything but my eyes.

When winter comes, real Michigan people are ready for it. Up in Newaygo County the average snowfall was over five feet but our first winter there it snowed more than ten feet. You want to be ready for that kind of thing… The year Lois and I met Michigan saw 355 inches of snow… I don’t suppose there is a human way to be ready for winter on an apocalyptic scale like that.

Out on Bittersweet Farm we like to say, “Every day is a beautiful day.” ..and it is. But beautiful winter days, snowy days, icy days, dark frigid days—let’s just say they require more “adjustment” more preparation than the golden afternoons of autumn, or the fragrant mornings of spring, or the gentle evenings of summer.

* Here in our Pleasant Peninsula it would be a critical mistake not to prepare for winter. I have a mental checklist.
* Remove the mower deck after the last of the leaves is clear and hopefully before the first plowable snow.
* Prep and install the snow blade.
* Check the furnace filters and function.
* Properly dispose of the flowers after the first hard frost kills them and prep the flower beds.
* Winterize… isn’t that a wonderful word… “Winterize” the water faucets and hoses.
* Check the anti-freeze and be sure you have winter stuff in each of the cars.
* Get out your Shackets and sweaters, hats and mittens, scarves and caps and scrapers…
* O and do you know where your boots are, and your snow tires —and your tire chains?

Hey winter is coming to stay for a while and unless you have found a little place in Florida for a few months you need to get ready. If you are a wise and experienced Michigander you are serious about preparations for winter.

This is the time of year when, even when you know it’s coming, you get out of your car to pump the gas and you are shocked by how biting and old the wind can be. It will be six months until you can walk out and get in the car in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops again. Let’s be realistic, people. If you are wise you have a checklist for winter preparation. Wise people anticipate what’s coming and they prepare for it like good Boy Scout.

I just wanted to encourage you with this words.

I say all this for a deeper reason than you might think. At Bethel Church I often preach through books of the Bible a “thought-chunk” at a time. I pray for wisdom about which books to preach through. This fall I’m preaching through 1 Peter because Peter was preparing the believers in Asia Minor to prepare for a season that was coming, not a cold season, but a season of misunderstanding, misrepresentation, pressure, and eventually outright deadly persecution.

Here in America, those who are followers of Jesus should be aware and prepared. Most thoughtful leaders see a season of misunderstanding ahead, pressure, even persecution for those who believe the Bible and follow Jesus. If we are going to follow Jesus we are going to have to take up our cross daily. That is what Jesus told those who would follow him. A pastor friend wisely says; “We don’t follow Jesus to get where WE are going. We follow Jesus to get where HE is going.”

Are you ready for when things get hard? Are you ready to be a misunderstood and mistreated minority? Are you ready to face material loss, inconvenience, misunderstanding, discrimination and rebuke? Are you ready to stand alone, even when friends and family-members turn away from following Jesus. Are you prepared to be faithful when you are tempted to re-interpret what the Bible plainly says?

A hard season is coming. God help us to be faithful when it is God’s will for us to suffer.

Bittersweet Farm
November 14, 2021

Bittersweet Farm Journal | November 3, 2021 | The Quasimodo Shuffle

Filed Under: Bittersweet Farm


It’s 5:30 am. I get up and start into the bathroom. The house is dark and quiet. Halfway there I begin to chuckle when I realize the I am shuffling exactly like Quasimodo in the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

It’s my birthday week and I started a new year and my body objects to the passing of time, but my sense of humor is keen even stumbling around in the dark early morning.

Even more than New Year’s Day I have a strong sense of new beginning today.

I rose in the night my mind exploding with ideas and I keyed them as fast as I could into my digital journal so that I wouldn’t lose a single one. I will tell you all about them when the time is right.

I smile when I remember I have fresh coffee beans to grind and apple butter from a recent trip to the Ohio the Amish Country for my toast this morning. God is in his heaven and all is right with the world.

I get out and take a brisk walk in the frosty early morning. It rained the entire month of October but it’s November now and the sky is deep blue above the bright yellow maples. Looks like this weekend and early next week will will enjoy a bit of Indian Summer.

I visit a woman adjusting to her new phase of life—likely her last, and then drive to visit my niece in the hospital with all her life before her.

Lois has an appointment for a root canal but still manages to arrange a wonderful birthday for me including steak and chocolate cake. I enjoy calls from the kids and greetings on-line all day long. They sing to me at AWANA and that brings me joy.

A fresh new year lies ahead and I’ve never been more clear and certain about what I am to do with my life. I have an active parish to serve snd people far and wide to nudge godward every day. I love among thousands of people who need to know how beautiful Jesus is.

I hope you have a strong sense of the goodness of the Lord and an idea of your place in His great Kingdom and what he wants you to do. There is something about knowing your God-given assignment that puts a spring in your step even if you are slower than you used to be.

God has been very good to me and that’s a comfort when you get old and shuffle around like Quasimodo every morning.

Bittersweet Farm
November 3, 2021

Will We Be Faithful When We Are Called to Suffer?

Filed Under: Current Thoughts

Once there was a small boy named Tommy who was always tagging around with the older boys on the farm trying to do what they did. He was usually a step behind. Most of the farm chores and antics were things he was not really big enough to participate in, but he was plucky and always tried. 


One day the older boys had an idea. They would take an old hay wagon, drag it to the top of the hill, and ride it all the way down into the pasture in the valley. At the top of the hill all the boys got on the wagon and they pushed off. The thing began to thunder down the hill gaining speed at a frightening rate, careening out of control. It was impossible to steer. The boys just assumed the wagon would go strait down the hill and rest harmlessly in the pasture below. That is not at all what happened. The wagon veered off and headed for a rocky stream. Some of the older boys were able to jump free. Only a few clung to the wagon careening wildly down the hill, including little Tommy. 


The wagon thundered through the rocky steam knocking a couple of the remaining boys off into the water. Tommy held on. The wagon headed for a patch of briars further down the hill beyond the stream. The rest of the older, bigger boys saw the briar patch coming and dove off the wagon. Now Tommy was alone and everyone watched the wagons slam into the briar patch. Tommy tried to cover up but the briars and thorns tore at his clothes and face and hands and arms and head. 


Finally the wagon came to a stop on the far side of the briar patch. The rest of the boys were silent. Tommy and the wagon were out of sight. All was quiet. No one spoke. Finally Tommy came out from behind the briar patch wiping blood off his face and said, “Well, when the wagon goes through the briar patch I guess you find out who is really serious about riding it, don’t you?”


Folks, I have a feeling the wagon of Christianity in America is about to go through the briar patch and we are going to find out who was really serious about riding it.


Things are changing fast in America. Christianity as we know it in America is changing fast. The world and the way the world understands Christians is changing. Various factors have converged to change the way the common man sees Christians. Most thoughtful people believe the misunderstanding will turn to mistreatment, even open persecution. In some cases, it already has. It is going to get worse. Church-goers are going to have to decide if they really are Bible-believing Jesus-followers. Will they change how they understand what the Bible says or will they continue to obey even when they are misunderstood or mistreated? What will we do when loved ones and even family members pressure us to compromise our biblical convictions? What will happen when our convictions begin to cost us friends? What will happen when our convictions begin to cost us significant amounts of money? Who will still follow when “taking up our cross daily” is now longer a distant possibility but an immediate reality? 


The New Testament was written to Christians who never experienced the popularity evangelicals in America have enjoyed or the freedom of worship we have known all our lives. Our brothers and sisters around the world have already been called to suffer outright persecution. Around the world many Christians have died or suffered for their faith while we have enjoyed unbroken ease. 


This is why I have chosen to preach through the Epistle of 1 Peter at Bethel Church this fall. Peter wrote to the Christians he called elect exiles—people who were rejected by people but chosen by God—to prepare them for the fiery trials they were about to face. I trust if we study it with open hearts it will help us and those we love to finish faithful even when we are called to suffer. 

Under the Mercy;

Ken Pierpont 

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