Sunday, August 2, 2015

Rising to the Top - Cream of the Crop





Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,… II Corinthians 6:17a

This week was Vacation Bible School with an old-fashioned circuit riding preacher theme. We decorated the fellowship building with quilts and old farm equipment: push plow, churn, baskets, hoe, quilts on the wall, etc. The best thing we learned was using quilts for seating kept the children in their seats; it was like a carpet square at school. Our crafts were paired with Bible stories. Our teachers taught the stories in a conversational style as the children worked on the crafts. We tried to plant gospel seeds and water them well, so God will give the increase in His time. He has already begun; one of the older girls received Christ on the fourth night!

The old - fashioned item that the children seemed most fascinated with was a crank butter churn. I added raw milk, you know, cream on the top and they took turns turning every night. Since it was just a few minutes each night we never got butter but they sure enjoyed watching the cream and milk slosh around in the glass jar.

Planting seeds, watering and churning butter is a lot like our lives. It is extremely rare that a person will be saved on first hearing the gospel. It takes hearing over and over in a period, maybe a long period, of time. But when the person finally understands that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” and he/she is part of “all”, then the seeds begin to take root, the cream begins to separate, the gospel begins to take shape in that person’s heart. As a seed pushes through soil, the seed dies and changes into a plant. As cream thickens into butter, it separates from the milk and forms its own mass. Plants cannot become seeds again, neither can butter separate back into the milk again. So we, as saved people, are changed; we can never return to what we used to be.  

Scripture is filled with agricultural metaphors. It’s fun to take a few minutes here at God’s 2 Acres to see how scripture plays out in our daily lives.  Won’t you share how God is opening your eyes to His word through your daily life?  

Father, help us not pass by Your Word in our daily lives because our lives seem so ordinary. There is truly nothing ordinary in the world You have created by Your own hand. Thank you, Lord for showing us the extraordinary in our ordinary. In Jesus name, Amen.

HEY KIDS:

You may not have a butter churn at home but you can make butter with just a few kitchen items. You will need:

A mixer

A bowl

Some whipping cream(in the dairy case at your grocery store)

Pour the whipping cream into a large bowl. Place the mixer in the cream and slowly turn the speed up to high. If you still need to stand in a chair to reach the counter, you probably will need help with the mixer. In a few minutes, the whipping cream will become whipped cream. If you stop here, you can add sugar and put it on some fruit for dessert. If you whip a little longer, the whipped cream will begin to separate and butter will form on the beaters. Pour off the now skim milk and remove the beaters with the butter. The butter can be pressed into a small bowl. Pressing will release the rest of the skim milk. Get mom to fix you some hot biscuits for the butter. YUM!

If you’re small and patient you can make butter in a jelly jar. Pour ½ cup of whipping cream into a one cup jelly jar. Tighten the lid. Shake and shake and shake some more. When you get tired, shake some more. If you have a brother or a sister, get them to help shake. Mama can probably bake the biscuits while you’re making butter. It will take 10 to 15 minutes for the whipping cream to form and then just another minute for the butter to form. Pour off the skim milk and press the butter. Are the biscuits ready yet?

Blessings,

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