Endless Summer Missions
The Summers Family: Missionary Associates to the PhilippinesArchive for Jesus
Spiritual Peach Trees
Our back yard is full of planted peach trees. I think we have over 12. They had been planted there by the previous owner who loved any kind of vegetation and would stake and nourish any little volunteer plant that sprouted up. He placed these peach pits, from one original tree, around the yard and eventually they sprouted up. Here’s the thing, only the original tree is strong and actually producing fruit. The rest are stunted in their growth and look like they’re only in their first year of growth when they’ve actually been there for years. The reason, poor root growth and development. They have no foundation on which to grow. The life giving nutrients can’t be taken in to enable them to produce the amazing fruit they are supposed to. The whole purpose of that tree is to produce peaches, without doing that it’s just an average plant taking up space.
Christians are spiritual peach trees. We are either constantly growing and producing fruit or… we’re not. There’s not a whole lot of in between. Those who produce spiritual fruit have a strong foundation in Jesus Christ and rely on the Holy Spirit to guide and direct their lives. They devote time in worship, prayer and studying God’s word to continually grow stronger. Their roots are fully developed and continually taking in the vital spiritual food to achieve the purpose God has made them for. Yet there are many who lack the desire to grow themselves, so they lack the ability to produce fruit, just like a stunted peach tree. In the same way that these second generation peach trees fail to produce fruit, those who have grown up in church can take for granted what it means to be a true follower of Christ.
The other day we dug up most of these non-fruit producing peach trees. It wasn’t hard because there wasn’t much to the roots to dig up and they were only a couple feet tall, thin and weak. The hardest part was making the decision that it was better for the yard as a whole if they were removed. In a couple days I’ll throw them into the fire pit with the other dead branches that fall off the large mature trees…
John 15:4-6 (The Message)
4“Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.
5-8“I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.
Do I Pray like this? I want to everyday…
Lord, make an instrument of your peace.
When there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master; Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
A Big Day
Today was a very big day. We did something we have never done before.
We formally resigned from youth ministry at Dakota Ridge Assembly.
We have known this day would someday come. We didn’t know how, or when, or why, but now we do.
We are so excited about what the future holds.
God has placed a passion in our hearts to become misssionaries in the Phillippines.
Specifically the eastern Visayas, to the islands of Samar and Leyte.
We will be partnering with career missionaries of 20 years, the Alstons.
We’re looking forward to the coming weeks as we write the ending of this paragraph of our lives and prepare for the coming months of preparation, training, and raising support.
Thank you for your support, we need your prayers as we take this step of faith.
Heb. 11:1, 2 (The Message)
1-2The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
White washing doors…I never knew painting could be so spiritual.
I’ve been painting today. Whitewashing doors actually; makes me think of Tom Sawyer.
The goal was to paint the bathroom and kitchen and then my bride reminded me I wasn’t done painting all the doors in the house; at least not the final coat.
When we bought our house the doors were circa 1981, super dark brown…needless to say well overdue for an update.
The thing is, after putting the first coat on, it was pretty clear it would need a second coat. I went from door to door, easily circling around and putting on another layer, no big deal. Well after a couple hours of this, it gets old. So I stopped; cleaned up and put away the brushes. You know what? The doors looked so much better, it completely changed the feel of the house; Bridget was thrilled.
Jesus talks about standing at the door of our heart and knocking, seeking to be a part of our life. But the previous verses confront complacency.
Eugene Peterson put it this way when he paraphrased scripture in The Message…
Rev. 3:
15-17″I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You’re not cold, you’re not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, ‘I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,’ oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.
18″Here’s what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that’s been through the refiner’s fire. Then you’ll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You’ve gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see.
19″The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they’ll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!
20-21″Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That’s my gift to the conquerors!
22″Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.”
You know what, it’s easy to approach our lives like I did with the doors.
“It’s so much better than it was.” “Nobody will really notice.”
The doors look great from a distance, but if you get close, the old brown is showing through in places, and until I started putting on the final coat did it become obvious how much they needed it; the process wasn’t done yet.
It’s the same way with our lives. God’s redeeming work is a never ending process. Sanctification, that process of our lives being cleaned out by the Holy Spirit should constantly be happening. When it is, it’s easy to see how far we’ve come, and how much we need God’s grace and salvation each day.
Let us guard our hearts from being satisfied with where we came from and focus on where the Holy Spirit desires to take us…on an incredible journey.
Well, back to work…I’ve got another coat left to paint.
Living Thankful?
What does it mean to live Thankful?
Can you really be Thankful if you don’t recognize that everything we have and are; is a direct result of God and the fact that He IS.
Can we really be Thankful if we think that we provide for ourselves exclusively?
Do we really sustain ourselves without outside help, guidance, or direction.
The concept of a ‘tithe’ is the act of giving a portion (old testament history reflects 10%) of what we have back to God. Not because 10% is His, but 100% comes from Him.
When we realize that the life we have is not our own we suddenly become thankful for the last breath we took, the loose change in our pocket, the bed we sleep in and the extra weight we carry (and desire to lose.)
How is Thanksgiving lived out in your life?
Endless Summer Missions 