Summer Booty

Hi folks! Here is some of the "booty" from the garden. Shame on you for thinking it would be something else!

If you look at the picture closely (you can click on the picture for a larger view) you will see straight neck summer squash, ruby queen corn, cantaloupe, a few purplehull peas, tomatoes, silver queen corn, and bell peppers. You can also see the tomatoes and squash we have canned so far. Unfortunately the green garden peas didn't make it into the picture. They are in freezer cartons in the deep freeze. (Did you notice the double squash next to the silver queen corn?)

The garden is doing very well. We have harvested almost all of the ruby queen corn today, and my first harvest of the bell peppers netted about 20 really nice peppers. We are getting abundant tomatoes, and they are really beginning to get some size to them.

I picked the first purplehull peas today. Picking them when they are really coming in is going to be a challenge. I planted them a little too close together. Next year I think that I'll allow more space and I may string them too to keep them from crossing up so much. They are a mass of peas now. There is no semblance of where the rows are. Does anyone have a machete that I can borrow?

I have gotten a couple ears of silver queen corn too. It will be ready en masse in a couple weeks. I think that it is time to indoctrinate my niece and nephew to the wonderful summertime tradition of the corn silking....

And we got the first cantaloupes today! We are currently waging a war with the field rats that have discovered that they are full of seeds. They don't seem to care much for the melon, they just want the seeds. If the little beggars would wait, I'd give them all the seeds they could manage, but they had to do it the hard way.

I thought that the garden peas were done, but it looks like they are putting on some new growth. I had planned to pull them up, but I think that I'll hold off for a week to see what they do.

The okra is over my head now. I was out spraying it today and it was like being in the jungle. It has finally started to bloom, so I should be getting okra soon. Perhaps I'll pickle some.

I have never seen the fordhook lima beans so full of bloom. I do believe that I am going to have my hands full when it comes to picking time - and that time is quickly approaching. The plants are full of bean pods and they are beginning to fill out. I do not look forward to standing on my head to pick them!

I guess my brother really did pick off a lot of blooms when he was a kid!

Which reminds me. He has been up to his old tricks again. Our surveillance cameras have provided us with all of the evidence that we needed.



When he was down visiting, my brother took some really interesting pictures of the garden. I never knew he was such a good photographer. You can see them at his Flickr site.

This is all for now. I have many more updates to give, but they will have to wait for another time!

He Places The Lonely In Families...

I think the greatest benefit of being a Christian here on earth is the beauty of belonging to the world's biggest family. I can go anywhere in the world and find a group of Christians, and the chances are pretty good that we will begin to connect very quickly.

This phenomenon is axiomatic for Christians. It bridges culture, language, race, and even denomination. In fact, I would probably go as far as to say that if this doesn't occur, one of the parties is likely not a Christian.

Now I know that there are people who aren't the easiest people to love - even within the church. ESPECIALLY within the church! But even with EGR people (Extra Grace Required) there are moments of commonality that make being a Christian one of the sweetest things I know.

I was able to experience the sweetness of belonging to the family of God tonight. Ever since StillWaters was euthanised, the music team has continued to meet on our usual practice night. The meetings have changed a little bit, though. Since we don't have the pressure of getting a 5-8 song worship set together we have been exploring some of the other aspects of what having church is really all about.

As a result, we have begun enjoying a meal together, working on some music, spending a little time in the Word (the Bible), and some time in prayer. At times this transition has been a little clumsy, but we have found some wonderful life in it.

Tonight turned out a little different. Three of the families that usually join us weren't able to come for various reasons. So tonight's group boiled down to only the musicians. I prepared my Shepherd's Pie, Sara made a salad and some brownies, and we were set.

What was funny about tonight was that we hardly did any of the religious stuff. We did pray over the meal, but that was the extent of our "churchiness." The rest of the evening, we talked about the future, played some jazz (we didn't even PLAY any "churchy" music!) and listened to some jazz. It was a precious, precious evening.

Can you imagine what Heaven will be like? Can you imagine what life will be like in the New Jerusalem in the presence of Christ Himself? If our fellowship is this sweet in a fallen world with our flawed flesh, what will it be like when our sinful nature is totally removed? It makes me tear up with joy to just think about how wonderful that will be.

I swiped the picture above from a USA Today article that I found using a Google Image search. I really miss having church with a group like that. When I attended Immanuel Baptist Church in Greensboro, NC as a child and later attended King's Park International Church in Durham, NC and Piedmont International Church in Greensboro, NC after college that was my reality. Every race that you could imagine was present, worshiping God. We got along just fine. I so miss that.

Unfortunately, things aren't quite as integrated here in my area. It's sad really. I hope that God will move here soon to break down the racial barriers that exist.

This correction seems to be something that is on the Lord's heart for Salisbury. A couple of years ago a very significant event occurred that I believe was prophetic in nature. The city council decided to make a breach in the stone wall between the Old English Cemetery and the Freedman's Cemetery (a cemetery for free black people.)

Of course there was some outcry that a section of the old stone wall was torn down between the cemeteries, but the council did it intentionally to signify a breaking down of the wall between the races. Praise God! I guess every once in a while the government does end up doing the right thing! (If you look closely you can see the spire of the First Presbyterian Church through the breach. I thought that it was cool that it was there in the picture.)

But I digress...

The article in USA Today talked about how the generation begun right after Generation X is much more open to the different races than those from Generation X and before. I think that is fantastic. That is so much more encouraging than the racism being displayed in the contest for the Democratic nomination.

I truly hope that we can get beyond the hatred and the nonsense between the races. I would truly love to see that in my lifetime. It won't happen while The Church is used to promote racism, though.

I hate that I was removed from the environment that I knew my first couple years in elementary school. I was in a VERY integrated school and church. I feel certain that such an influence, had it remained, would have been positive.

I guess all of this just goes to say that there is nothing like being a member of the family of God. I wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING. It is so wonderful to be able to go anywhere in the world and find BROTHERS and SISTERS, MOTHERS and FATHERS.

Alone and need a family? Come to Jesus, and get plugged in! There's always room for one more!