GARDENING

Gardening such hard work; exhausting and back-breaking. How does Sandra do it? Now she has a huge pile of dirt to make the back yard perfect. And you have to know the right dirt to buy and so we had to go back and buy the right dirt for dad's box.

Anyway my seeds are planted. I want to grow a few vegtables just to try. I grew up with our vegtable garden in which dad worked very hard too. Even digging it all up in the spring was hard work and Brian would be miserable having to help. I was a weed puller and a grass cutter. Mom never did any gardening and I do not remember flowers except the peonies the neighbors had.

Sandra was born to garden and make it beautiful; she makes the effort to keep learning so that she can make the ideas she has come to life!

I was born to be a believer and to have this desire to express the wonder and joy that faith adds to life. Faith does not free you from all fear or from all pain and suffering. Jesus began his life's work being baptized at the river but was then driven to the wilderness. None of us can escape times when we feel like we are in the wilderness. It is a challenge to keep learning even with what you believe.

Jesus told stories about seeds and rocky ground and beautiful lilies and the fig tree that born no fruit. His life began as a tiny babe just life ours.

He is called Emanuel, God with us!

"Faith in the text [of scripture] is essential to recovering the vibrancy of it."

We see God in all of nature, we see Him in every human being, He speaks to us through the scripture in all the different characters and stories. I am amazed at the writters of scripture; each one seeing things a little differently which supports the truth of what they were trying to express.

Sophisticated scholars want to argue and fictionize scripture. It is sad that so many are influenced by skeptical critics.

Seeds grow mysteriously and faith also has a potential to grow.