Christian Living

Winter – Time to Flex our Faith Muscles

/ Bill Jones / 2 Comments
Pecan Orchard in Winter

Pecan Orchard in Winter

Here’s a lifeless orchard of pecan trees a few miles from our house. You can tell it’s lifeless because there are no outward appearances of life. There are a few husks from the nuts that are still on the tree but very little fruit is there.

Perhaps, though, it’s not dead but could just be hibernating. Everything has shut down and nothing’s happening. Nothing is outwardly apparent.

But, we know, that there is a lot happening out of our sight. The roots are growing and flexing their muscles – spreading into new areas and strengthening their grip on the earth. They’re getting ready for the right time – when it’s time for them to help push out the sprouting leaves and start the fruit of the next season.

We, too, can have seasons that appear lifeless, when there’s not much happening outwardly. We could spend time in hibernation and shut down. But, even in those quiet, seemingly slow times, we need to be strengthening our roots – by prayer and meditation, by study in God’s Word – flexing our faith muscles and getting ready for the next opportunity that God will give us to serve Him.

“Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” Romans 12:11 ESV

Old Doctortown and God’s Old Paths

/ Bill Jones / 4 Comments
Railroad Bridge over Altamaha River at Old Doctortown (SE Georgia)

Railroad Bridge over Altamaha River at Old Doctortown (SE Georgia)

This railroad bridge and Old Doctortown are isolated in the back reaches of land owned by the Rayonier Paper Mill outside Jesup, Georgia. The Altamaha River that the bridge crosses is one of the largest along the Atlantic coast and for decades was filled with barge traffic bringing lumber and naval stores down to the coast.

Doctortown was once a thriving community located at one of the few crossings of the Altamaha. There’s nothing left now except a few mounds and some signs that denote where a few of the buildings were, and oak trees huge enough that it’s obvious they were growing there long before there was a Doctortown.

Being an engineer, I sure would like to see the drawbridge work (if it still does?)

As I get older, I seem to notice more places called “Old” something. In this busy, technological, digital age we can think things were so much different long ago, and “old” was just, you know, so old. But, as Solomon wrote “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9 ESV).

People are still people. Doctortown, before it was Old, had good people, middle of the road people and bad people, sorrows and joys, life and death, just as we have today. But, the greatest thing is the Living God back then is the same Living God we have today (“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”)! For that reason, we need to remember the old days and learn from them, changing things that need to be improved, but making no changes just for the sake of change, or especially, not making changes because the culture demands it. We need to follow the old paths when they are God’s paths.

“Thus says the Lord:  “Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16 NKJV

Doctortown Historical Marker (Southeast Georgia)

Doctortown Historical Marker (Southeast Georgia)

Here’s the Historical Marker for Doctortown. It’s located upriver from the actual site, at a location that’s accessible to the public.

Peach Tree Pruning and Cat Composting

/ Bill Jones / Leave a comment
Peach Tree Pruning and Cat on Composter

Peach Tree Pruning and Cat on Composter

I had to prune the peach tree a week ago. We had a few days of cold weather but several warm days had it ready to bloom. I realize that may do it for this next season but it was too out of hand to let it keep growing. We had no peaches last year when the tree bloomed way early and got zapped by later cold snaps. But the pruning was necessary, both for the health of the tree and the fruit production. Much like the pruning God does with us.

The cat on the composter was just an extra – interesting place to decide to sit in the warm sun.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:1-5 ESV

We Sinners Sometimes Need an Electric Fence to Keep Us In.

/ Bill Jones / 4 Comments
Electric Fence Around Pasture

Electric Fence Around Pasture

My cousin began shimmying, shook his shotgun in the air, and let out a yelp that sounded like a turkey gobble. We were walking through a section of tall grass and I was afraid a snake had bitten him. But, as I cautiously stepped closer, I saw a thin wire in a clear spot about two feet off the ground. The shock of walking into an electric fence caused his gyrations.

Several years later, I discovered what he felt like when I cut across our neighbor’s cow pasture. The electric fence that surrounded the pasture was clearly visible so I easily avoided walking into it. One spot had insulators in the three wires as a “gate”. The insulators formed a handgrip you could move from one side and hang on the other while you went through.

But, I didn’t notice one insulator was installed incorrectly. The wire wrapped around the end, as it should, but there was an extra inch or two that curled behind the handle. As I grabbed the insulator to open the gate, I touched that protruding piece, got a good jolt, and quickly dropped it. I don’t think I shimmied, but a yelp or two did escape.

An electric fence keeps animals in a pasture, most of the time. The three or four strands of wire attached to insulators on stick-like fiberglass posts, are less expensive than a full fence, and are simple to rearrange when necessary. The shock received when the animal touches the wire is usually enough to keep them contained (My cousin and I understand why.)

But, having observed the cows next door, I can say sometimes they will suffer for an instant to gain what they want. Once, I watched a calf stand before the fence, hesitate, and then walk back and forth a bit, appearing to be making a go-no go decision. Then, he stuck his head down, pushed his nose through, stretched the wires out, and walked through with a jerky motion as the intermittent jolts hit him. After coming through the other side, he shook himself from head to toe like a retriever coming out of the water, then put his head down and started munching the clump of grass that had apparently been his target outside the fence.

One night my wife, Sharon, and I heard clomping on the side porch. When I opened the door to check, two huge cow eyes stared back at me. The full-grown cow they belonged to moved toward the open door, but thankfully stopped when I yelled and slammed the door. That night the animal apparently decided to leave the pasture and meet the neighbors, no matter how painful the shock of the fence might be.

Christians are sometimes described as being like sheep, but, from those incidents, it seems we can be like cows too. God’s Word gives us boundaries, and the Holy Spirit guides us to stay within them.

Yet, like the cows, we sometimes push our way through anyway. We think we just have to get to that greener grass promised on the other side. But, rather than barreling through the boundaries, our responsibility is to take heed of the first tingle in our conscience, or especially react to the shock that makes us shimmy and yelp a bit, and turn around, and stay “inside the pasture.” After all, God’s pasture has the greenest grass and is the safest and most secure place to be.

“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures…” Psalms 23:1:2 ESV

“In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.” Psalms 4:8 ESV