Bittersweet Farm

Bittersweet Farm

Walking and Treadmills

Filed Under: Current Thoughts

No photo description available.
Photo by Leo Cumings

I’ve been walking every day this winter. People who love me want me to buy a treadmill. Not a chance. I’m not going to do it. They want me to stay off the road. They are afraid I will get hit by a car and die. I’m afraid if I walk on a treadmill I will wish I was dead or perish of boredom.

I really don’t want a treadmill because I don’t walk for punishment, but for refreshment. Nothing about walking on the treadmill seems refreshing to me. You can’t hear the birdsongs on a treadmill. You can’t watch the sunrise in the basement. You can’t feel the chill of the wind in your face. The earth doesn’t rise and fall under your feet. It never spits rain or snow. On a treadmill in the basement you will not smell the freshness of rain or the coming of spring or the fragrance of burning wood. How sad would it be to live in a world without the fragrance of burning wood. You never pass a neighbor with a friendly greeting or another human out walking their dog.

I would much rather have a little hardship or adjustment or challenge than unbroken boredom. So I’ll put on my reflective vest and get my little flashlight and bundle up and see if I can get down to the corner where the only traffic is deer and wild turkeys and if I get hit by a car on the way there or back, at least you know I didn’t die of boredom.

 

P.S. For those of you who love me and want me to be safe, thank you. I love you too. For those of you who love treadmills, bless you. That is a matter of Christian freedom. 🙂

 

Bittersweet Farm

January 9, 2023

 

A Sign of the End Times? | Bittersweet Farm Journal | January 11, 2023

Filed Under: Bittersweet Farm

Hope you and yours are well in this New Year. Do you have plans or goals? I’d love to hear about them. I’m going to write two books this year. I am going to organize our basement and carriage house. I’m going to walk or ride my bike six days a week. I have a few other goals to. Last night I was thinking about organizing my basement and
I’m developing a set of guidelines/practices for our storage areas:
—everything must be stored in a stackable container.
—all containers must be labeled.
—all contents must be logged on a database and keyed to the container number.
—never discard something that does not belong to you without permission of its owner.
—periodically sell, donate or discard unused and unneeded items.
—store bins in seasonal sections so you know where things are based on the time of year you need them. Shorts. Sweaters. Christmas. Easter bunny collection. Ashes of the red heifer, etc.
—never throw away clothing that matches your youngest daughter’s American girl doll that you bought her when she was small on a trip to Chicago years ago. Keep it so you can stand in the basement and clear your sinuses periodically.

May be a black-and-white image of 2 people, people standing, car and outdoors

 

Signs of the Times? 

When the children were small we lived in an old farmhouse on a dead-end road. To get home I would pass where you could see the house in a clearing from highway 36 and then double back on the dead-end road where the house was located. When I came home I would pass the clearing and beep my horn. The kids would usually be playing in the yard knowing I would be home soon. They would run or ride their bikes down the road to meet me. They are all grown up now and live in other places in Michigan or in other states. I don’t get to see them at the end of every day but I cherish the memory of their eagerness and unfiltered love.

I got to thinking about that this morning because recently a video has been going around on the internet with about the end times, the return of Christ, and the drying up of the Euphrates River. It got me thinking about the return of Christ. How much and how often do I look forward to the return of Christ? How eager am I to see him? Do I love to think about the Lord’s return? Do I love to talk about the Lord’s return? Are the many scriptures about the Lord’s return precious to me?

Paul wrote; “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:8, ESV)

Christians should avoid discrediting their witness with end-times sensationalism or inappropriate speculation about end-time signs, but we should cultivate a deep love for Christ and his appearing. We all must always battle the temptation to fixate on things that won’t last and don’t matter over the things that will last forever and matter to God.

In a couple places the Scriptures predict the drying up of the Euphrates River. Recently this has been coming up in discussion because the water level in the Euphrates River is low right now. We should pay careful attention to these things and they should make us study the word carefully. We should avoid speculation and sensationalism, but we should also be careful not to be apathetic or indifferent about the return of Jesus.

It has been said that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is mentioned 318 times in the 260 chapters of the New Testament and that this teaching occupies one in every twenty-five verses from Matthew to Revelation
About the drying up of the Euphrates, I found a helpful article about this from a reliable, thoughtful source that answers Bible questions. Here is a link. I highly recommend it. It’s a quick read.

 

Bittersweet Farm

January 11, 2023

 

Who Will You Influence This Year? | January 3, 2023 | Bittersweet Farm Journal

Filed Under: Current Thoughts

In the film “It’s A Wonderful Life,” George Bailey felt like a failure and he determined to jump off a bridge so his family would have his life insurance benefits. God sends an angel who comes up with a plan. He shows George Bailey what it would have been like if he had never lived. He sees that his life touched many other lives… and when he does he desperately wants to live again… It’s powerful stuff. Only God knows how many people we influence in our lives.

Whose Life Will You Touch?

If you are a believer, a Jesus-follower you have the Holy Spirit living in you and you have been given a mission by Jesus to go and make disciples. At our church was say, “Follow Jesus and Help Others Follow Jesus.” You have an opportunity to touch so many other lives, to influence them spiritually… to lead them in the way of eternal life.

In order to help the people of our church to have a lasting spiritual influenence, I introduced a plan. It has four simple parts. Anyone can do it. It’s best to form a team and work to influence others for Christ as a team.

Here is a powerful plan to have a spiritual influence.

Pray. Pray for people who are far from God. Pray for what they want you to pray for. Pray for wisdom about what you can do to love them.

Love. The smallest act of love can be a powerful thing. Love them in a meaningful way.

Invite. Invite then to a Christian concert or even or church service or church function or Bible study. Invite the to breakfast or lunch or to your home. Invite them to take a walk or workout with you or attend a sports event.

Gospel Conversation. Engage them in gospel conversation. Ask them questions. Learn their story. Explore what they believe. Listen with your heart. Ask follow-up questions. Show genuine interest.

Every Saturday morning the Bethel elders meet to pray. Once a month we do business. Once a month we eat breakfast and pray with the men of Bethel. One of the things we do is share stories of our attempts at spiritual influence. Our goal is to follow Jesus and help others follow Jesus.

Who will you influence this year?

Bittersweet Farm
January 2, 2023

Christmas in the Shadowlands | Bittersweet Farm Journal | December 25, 2022

Filed Under: Bittersweet Farm

Christmas Night 2022

Hope’s husband,Tim is a nurse. He worked today. Hope came to the Candlelight service last night and returned for the Christmas service today then she spent Christmas Day with us on Bittersweet Farm. The services were so beautiful. The Bethel people braved the cold and snow and wind and we had brass and bells and singers and organ and candles and all the Christmas things we love so much this time of year. After church we feasted well. Lois made a roast. A few minutes ago Hope drove away into the snowy night with Hazard and now the house is quiet again.

Tonight I want to share a true story I told as a part of my Christmas Eve service at Bethel last night. The message emphasised the longing for more that Christmas stirs up. I called it “Christmas in the Shadowlands.” I have added a link of the service at the end…

Last week I had a visitor in my study who told me a memorable story. He lived with his family in a summer cottage between two lakes that had been turned into rental home. He’s 70 now but he still has a very powerful memory of a sad Christmas when he was just seven years old.

His dad had too much to drink. Things got out of control. His dad mistreated his mother. He pulled a knife. Family members were called. Loud arguments began. He got his younger brothers and his younger sister away from the shouting. They hid away in a closet. Things got worse. The police were called. It took a while for them to get there. By the time they did his dad had settled some but the boy was still in hiding with his siblings. The police arrived and they told him he was going to have to spend the night in jail. He begged them to let him stay. He promised not to do anything violent. He told them, “It’s Christmas. Please don’t take me to jail.”

They said they had no choice. He was going to jail. The little boy could hear his father pleading in the next room. “If I have to go to jail tonight can I at least watch my children open their presents?”

The officers were merciful. “Alright, they said, get them out here.”

The children were afraid to come out of hiding. The little girl never did that night but the boy now 70 years old told me that he remembered, “We were all opening our Christmas gifts but we were weeping…” It was a sad, lingering Christmas memory. 63 years ago, but still the pain of the memory is vivid.

They were invited to a church and attended but they did not feel welcome so they never returned. A worker invited them to another church. They tried it. At that church they received a warm welcome and more than come to understand who Jesus is. For all their lives they had heard about Jesus. They knew about Jesus, but at that warm and welcoming, friendly church they came to know Jesus personally and they moved from Cultural Christianity to Personal Christianity. They celebrated their last, sad cultural Christmas and from then on they would celebrate the birthday of Jesus who they had come to know. He had forgiven them. He had transformed them.

The oldest boy drifted from following the Lord and exposed other truth claims but he found them false and empty. One day he met a woman who could not see, but had keep spiritual insight. He went with her to church. The old songs stirred up something deep within and soon he was back on the Jesus way.

Today he no longer celebrates a cultural Christmas. He is a fully-devoted follower of Jesus. In fact tonight he and that young lady who could not see but had keep spiritual insight. Well they are married and they sang for us tonight.

While you pass the light from the Christ candle to your neighbor may you know and never doubt that Jesus is the light of the world, our savior from sin, the one who will return to earth a King is his heavenly glory and bring goodwill to men, peace on earth and JOY to the World, forever.

For the final time this year
Merry Christmas from Bittersweet Farm
Christmas Day 2022

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