Bittersweet Farm
Series: Knowing God by Heart
Title: Two for a Penny and Five for Two
Place: Evangel Baptist Church–Taylor, Michigan
Text: Psalm 139:1-6
Date: May 31, 2015 AM
Speaker: Pastor Ken Pierpont
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Thanks to Jim Evans for snapping this recent photo of the original FBC Wayland building. I helped build this building with my own hands–when I was six.
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Lois and Hope and I are in Oregon visiting Jesse and Holly this week on a vacation. We have seen many of the local sites, Cannon Beech, Haystack Rock, the Astoria Column, Mt. Hood, and Multnomah Falls. There is much, much more to see. Our first morning we had breakfast at a coffee shop built out on an old cannery built on pilings over the Columbia River. We sipped our coffee and ate amazing lemon and blueberry muffins overlooking the vast waterway. Out in the mouth of the Columbia River huge ships were at anchor. It is a place of stunning beauty.
Yesterday we enjoyed a great service at Coastline Christian Fellowship then strolled along the streets of Astoria’s Sunday open-air market among sounds of a folk band and smells of street-vendor food. Today we are spending time with Jesse and Holly and some of their friends, quietly remembering the war dead, and longing for our nation to return to God.
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Thank You, Jim Parmalee
by Ken Pierpont
Jim Parmalee was a Marine ROTC from Wheaton College. He was a farm boy from Michigan. When I was a boy of about 6 years old. He and his family owned the house we lived in. It was the home-place of their family farm. They donated it to the church to use as a parsonage. The lived just down the road and we saw them every day and worshipped with them on Sunday. My Dad was the founding pastor of the church First Baptist Church of Wayland, Michigan.
Jim was a strong, athletic young man. I remember him leaning a ladder against a shed and going up and down the ladder like it was a staircase without using his hands. In my six-year-old eyes he was a young man of heroic qualities. In just a short time he would be a hero to everyone. He went off to Vietnam. He never returned.
One day Dad was walking me through the church building and pointed out the new carpet. He said; “Kenny, when Jim Parmalee died his parents used the insurance money to donate the carpet for the church. That was in 1963. My Dad told me it was anonymous. Jim’s dad, Russell died last year at 102. Today is Memorial Day. I thought it would be O.K. to tell our secret today.
I’m remembering First Baptist Church in Wayland, Michigan and the Parmalee family and the sacrifice Jim made so that we could enjoy a strong, free nation today.
Ken Pierpont
“Seaside Bed and Breakfast”
Seaside, Oregon
May 25, 2015
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My friend Adam has moved to Miami, Florida. He had his devotional time on the beach at sunrise this morning. He grabbed his phone and shot a video of the sand and water and palms bending in the gentle breeze to send to his wife. It was a beautiful scene. He knew I loved nature and beauty and he knew I was praying for him as he tries to get a foothold in Florida and he sent me a copy of the video including a close up of his Bible and a promise underlined there from Proverbs 13:4 “A sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” I will follow his story with interest as he does what he has to do to make his vision for his family come to be. He will have some hard days ahead. I hope he also has time to walk the beach at sunrise and know that his Heavenly Father watches over him and he keeps his promises.
I walk out into an unusually cool May morning here in Michigan—the other Peninsula. As beautiful as his video is—from May to October, Michigan is my favorite peninsula. It’s refreshing and rarely so hot that by evening you cannot stroll out on the street with a glass of tea and chat with neighbors. I will have a few chances this summer to have my devotional time watching the sun come up over a northern lake. If all goes well I may even get to hear the call of the Loon on a summer evening or watch the stars appear in a darkening sky. I will knife through the clear waters in a kayak and in the evening I will aim all my stories at the great story of Christ and his plan to redeem and restore this earth and everything in it and all who believe in Him one day.
This morning, after many years of walking with the Lord and many years of trying to write a beautiful story for my family I especially need the assurance of his presence and a fresh reminder of his promises. I step out onto the porch. It’s a cool, green, refreshing May morning. I turn to the 19th Psalm and to the Proverbs. I drink in his promises. I trust Him to do what only He can do. He is the Author of Life (Acts 3:15) the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2) and the faith of each of our children.
When I face hard challenges, when I am wrestling against dark powers that threaten to crush me and those I love, I get up early, I find a quiet spot, I search His word for his promises, and I trust Him to do what only He can do. And it doesn’t hurt if I’m doing all this with a cup of hot black coffee in hand.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
May 19, 2015
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