Bittersweet Farm

We spent a significant amount of our vacation last week in Wolfe County Kentucky sitting on the porch, talking and drinking cold, sweet ginger ale. (They call it Ale-8 in Eastern Kentucky). We enjoyed the hot tub a little. We hiked in the mountains some. We visited Hoedown Island a few times. Lois and I had a date night at the Hemlock Lodge, halfway up the mountain to the Natural Bridge. They were serving a dish called “Kentucky Brown” and they were featuring Blackberry Cobbler. Oh, my. We visited Emmanuel Baptist Church, a fine church in Stanton pastored by an equally fine man, Pastor Gregg Webb. Holly and Chuk sang. Holly and her sisters sang in the park in Campton on Thursday night. Mostly, though we just sat on the porch and talked.

One night we were out on the porch listening to the frogs and crickets and silence and looking out into the unusual darkness.

Chuk broke the silence and said; “Down at Natural Bridge I noticed some writing on the bathroom wall.”

“It said; ‘Susan Johnson is a whore.'” (name changed)

“Someone had crossed out ‘whore’ and written ‘daughter of God.'”

Then it read “Susan Johnson is a daughter of God.”

Sitting on the porch in the dark looking out on the stars and hearing Chuk’s simple story touched a deep place in my soul.

Satan could write some very damning and embarrassing things about me for all the world to read. That is true for all of us–no exceptions. He would even accuse me before the Father’s Throne, but Jesus Christ took all the evidence against me and nailed it to the cross. He cancelled my debt. He destroyed the evidence. He is changing me inside-out. I have a dark past, but I have a bright future.

John wrote: “And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (Revelation 12:10-12 ESV)

Over all my guilt and shame and the accusations against me he has written: “Ken Pierpont is a child of God”

If you would like to listen to a message on this theme here is a link to my Good Friday message: Cosmic Blackmail. https://kenpierpont.com/2012/04/cosmic-blackmail/

Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
August 20, 2012

Hope you and yours are well. God has been especially kind to the Pierponts lately. We are all well and working and enjoying life and trying to nudge people Godward. We have many loyal friends. We have enough hardship to keep us on our knees. The street in front of Granville Cottage is lined with cars every day like it is most other places only on Holidays. It’s a lively place full of love–lot’s of laughter and plenty of pizza and one small, spoiled Yorkie. God has been especially good to the Pierponts lately.

Here’s a little something for you to think about:

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Do You Ever Do This?
by Ken Pierpont

It’s may day off. I’m writing this little piece at the counter at our local Starbucks. I like to write here sometimes to be where I can write without much distraction and be near Chuk. Chuck is our third-born, our second-born son. He is a making coffee and conversation. He’s good at it.  

He has the “never-met-a-strager, never-at-a-loss-for-what-to-say” gift. He has a ready wit and a quick mind. He knows when to talk and he knows when to listen. He has his mother’s gift of understanding people. This makes for interesting conversion. He leaves most people with a smile on their face.

He told me once of a brief conversation he had on an airplane. He settled into his seat and started to make small-talk with his seat-mate–a young businessman going places. The young man was a veteran traveller. He wasn’t on an adventure or a journey or a vacation. This was not a social event for him. This was just a part of is workday. He was just earning a living and doing business. 

Chuk offered a line of conversation. He responded; “Look I’m tired. I’d really rather not talk, OK?” He plugged earbuds in and went to sleep. When Chuk told me this story a felt a sharp pang in my heart. At first I felt sorry for my son but after I thought about it for a while my pity shifted to the young traveller–he squandered a perfect opportunity to connect with a delightful young man. 

I wonder how often I do that. 

Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan 
August 6, 2012