Bittersweet Farm – Page 152

Bittersweet Farm Journal (Number 3) The Boy Was Born With A Deformity

February 19, 2018 Filed Under: Bittersweet Farm

On Bittersweet Farm

Things are peaceful on Bittersweet Farm. It almost seems the deer in the fields around us are beginning to trust us. The creatures feed closer and closer to the house every week. While we are pushing snow off the drive we are planning our bird-feeders and thinking about our flower beds and what else we may try to grow when winter leaves and spring arrives.

Bethel Church has been flourishing of late. Yesterday we welcomed nine new members and received membership applications from a couple more. I’ve joined the choir. Saturday almost every seat in the church was filled for a memorial service for Linnea Strauss, the daughter of one of our elders and a young mother who died of cancer at 35. She had a dance studio and a number of her students paid tribute to her at the service dancing beautifully with tears streaming down their faces. Linnea is in the presence of the Lord, but she left behind a young husband, four children and hundreds who loved her and mourn her passing.

Saturday evening Lois and I drove over to a little berg south of Battle Creek and I spoke for a delightful Valentine event at North Athens Baptist Church. The pastor there Mark Bher is married to a young lady named Rachel who grew up in the church we pastored in Fremont. It was a pretty drive over and a delightful evening. There was a warm spirit in the church that night. Lois and I drove home in a light snow eager to be with our own people at Bethel in the morning.

If you can’t join us at Bethel my messages are archived at BethelJackson.org in audio and video. I hope they will be a blessing. My current series is called Growing a Family with a Life-Long Love for God. I’ll attach the video to this e-mail.

The Boy Was Born With a Deformity

Years ago a lad was born in Belfast, Ireland with a minor physical deformity. He was born with only one joint in his thumb. He would later tell others that he was extremely clumsy in sports because of the deformity.

A failure in sports can be a painful thing for a young person. I’m not sure how he felt about it. I do know this: Because of his inability to excel in sports he begin to write.

He died in 1964 and almost everything he ever wrote is still in print and selling very well today. They make movies out of his stories and he is admired around the world.

He may be the most popular Christian apologist of all time. But if he had not had a physical deformity he may never have published a word and the world would not recognize the name C. S. Lewis. We would never know the land of Narnia or the clear compelling logic of Mere Christianity or the wit of The Screwtape Letters.

What must have seemed a bitter providence for a few years has brought great sweetness to the world.

Lewis applied to study at Oxford in 1917. He would need to pass to “Responsions” an exam required for all students. There was a math portion and Lewis was strong in humanities but weak in math. Apparently he spent his time reading and writing and not ciphering. Lewis failed the exam because of the math section. He was not accepted to study at Oxford.

He volunteered to serve in WWI. He was wounded in battle on April 15, 1918. He lived, but would not return to the war. About that time Oxford, in a show of good-will toward veterans, suspended the Responsions exam for soldiers returning from war. Because of that he was able to study and eventually teach of Oxford.

He wasn’t good at sports. He wasn’t good at math, but his gifts continue to bless the world. Don’t mourn what you can’t do. Use the unique gifts God gave you to do what He put you on earth to and trust in his providential care even when things are dark or difficult or confusing. Sometimes what seems good is bad and what seems bad is good.

Ken Pierpont
Bittersweet Farm
Summit Township, Michigan
February 19, 2018

Bittersweet Farm Journal (Number 2) You Need a Plaid Couch

February 11, 2018 Filed Under: Bittersweet Farm, Current Thoughts

Bittersweet Farm Journal
(Number 2)

This weekend a hearty snow storm swept across the southern part of the state covering our part of Jackson County in nearly a foot of fresh snow. I was away speaking at a retreat up in the tip of the Mitten at Camp Barakel.

As always, it was delightful to be at Barakel even though I miscalculated the starting time of the last chapel and they had to come get me out of the shower to preach. Still, I was invited to return.

It’s been my privilege to speak at Barakel for 20 years. Since December my brother Kevin and his family have been serving on staff there. I was able to share some meals with them in their home on the camp property.

I arrived at Barakel after dark and stepped out of the cold and snow into the circle of warmth of a crackling wood fire in my brother’s home. It was sweet to think how kind God has been to give the Pierpont family so many opportunities to serve in such a blessed ministry.

It was my first Sunday away from Bethel. I missed being with the Bethel family and it’s good to be home. I returned early enough to enjoy the beauty of the snow storm, but late enough to miss it’s danger.

This weekend I spent some time working in the Conference Room at Barakel. This is a photo of Uncle Johnny and his Alumnus of the Year Recognition and chair given to him by Moody Bible Institute.

Lois did some decorating in the Farm House while I was gone.

You Need A Plaid Couch

In 1985 I was the Associate Pastor of Youth and Music at Loomis Park Baptist Church right here in Jackson. When we came to serve at Loomis Lois was pregnant with our third child, Chuk. The church provided a nice parsonage for us, and a full time salary including health benefits. They promised to cover the cost of our baby’s birth.

When the time of his birth approached we discovered a mistake had been made and there would be no insurance coverage. The good people of the church promised to take up an offering to cover our expenses. We were grateful.

One afternoon I went home for lunch and Lois was worried that our care would not be good because we would be coming in without insurance. We had met with the hospital administrator who promised that we would be treated well. We agreed to pay $200.00 ahead and the rest we could pay after the offering was taken.

I reminded Lois of our arrangement, She said; “I know honey, but we don’t have 200.00 dollars.”

As a young husband I wanted to comfort her and I wanted to be a man of faith, but I wasn’t very experienced in these things yet. The only thing I knew to do was pray.

“I said, let’s kneel down here and pray.”

We knelt there by our humble plaid couch and committed our worries to the Lord, then I returned to the church.

Within ten minutes of my return to work the faithful church custodians, a couple named Earl and Verlie Wedge, came in and stood at my desk. They said; “We know the church is going to be collecting money to pay the hospital bill but we thought you might be able to use a little before the baby is born.” They laid a check on my desk. I thanked them and prayed with them and they left.

The check was for $200.00.

Chuk was born healthy and he was paid for. He’s all grown up now with children of his own and he is a youth pastor about an hour from here. He and his wife Cecilia have another baby on the way soon.

I tell him, “God will take care of you, son. You can count on Him. You just need an old plaid couch where you can kneel and turn your burdens over to the Lord..”