Leaven

But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Numbers 14:21

 Awhile back, a long while back, I took my Grandmother a quarter cup of fast acting yeast. I was getting into bread baking. I wanted bread like she made. She said she hadn't made bread in a long time and was afraid she had forgotten. I encouraged her. "You've got a bread recipe around here somewhere." 

We talked a little about how she remembered her mother making bread. Grandma told me her mother would make her own leaven for their bread. Well, I thought I knew what leaven was. To me, leaven was just her old fashioned word for yeast. It was in the Bible about a woman who took leaven and hid it in three measures of meal until it leavened the whole lump (Matthew 13:33). In my mind that was a tablespoon of yeast in three cups of flour. But Grandma said they made their own yeast. They took the leaven and spread it out on pans in the sun and let it dry. It was then broken in pieces to be used to leaven the bread. I asked for the recipe for making my own. She didn't remember if she had ever known. She helped as a child.

After I left, Grandma tried to use the yeast I'd brought. Her bread was hard and inedible. She had used it all in one loaf. It was not the leaven she knew how to use. 

Grandma has been gone for twenty years. I've learned to bake bread in different ways. I've learned to make sourdough bread from a starter that can be refrigerated, frozen, and DRIED! If you stir about a cup and a quarter into three cups of flour, add a little water and it will begin to spread and rise. I don't have to knead it. Every hour I simply fold it over four times and let it rest again for another hour. I do this four times and let it rest a complete seven hours from the beginning. This longer rise time allows the WILD yeast to consume many of the carbs that regular bread contains, thereby giving me healthier bread. 

When Jesus told the story of hiding leaven in three measures of meal there was no fast acting yeast. These are modern inventions supposedly to make bread faster, but the kneading is a real workout for the baker and the bread. I think Jesus was talking about sourdough. The baker takes the growing sourdough and mixes it into the flour. Finally after seven hours, it's ready to be baked. 

The gospel can't be like a package of yeast that is worked into flour and worked and worked and worked. After the shorter rise, it is shoved into the oven. The gospel needs to be well delivered, revisited, and gently turned, never punching it down, but lovingly turned and allowed to incorporate on its on by the Holy Spirit into a person's heart for the complete work. Remember the seven hours — seven — a number of completeness.

Scripture says when the fullness of time has come the whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. That's what the Lord is waiting on (II Peter 3:9) He's not in a hurry. He wants us to fully understand and our hearts permeated with the gospel so we don't turn away when things aren't perfect, when suffering comes. He wants us fully matured, filled with the gospel, being a witness through thick and thin until the whole earth is filled with the glory of the Lord. 

Maybe your family or your Sunday School group would like to experience a more Biblical bread, a healthier bread, a bread of purpose, and remembrance. Enjoy the taste of good bread as we taste and see that the Lord is good as He fulfills His purpose through us filling the whole earth with the glory of the Lord. 

Blessings, 

Gail

Under the Shadow of Our Steeple

 

And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. John 8:11

Do you remember reading The Scarlet Letter? When I picked up my granddaughter from school the other day, she asked me if I had read it. Then she said her teacher told them a song by Casting Crowns talked about it in some song lyrics. I remembered the song but misnamed it. I remembered the part about "under the shadow of our steeple." There was a tragedy in the shadow of our steeple just about the time the song was released. I remember thinking I hadn't gone to visit or invite the family to church before the tragedy. 

Actually, the name of the song was "Can Anybody Hear Her?" It was more about a girl with an unexpected pregnancy. It was about how the church looks down on these girls. The past couple of weeks I've trained with the Carolina Pregnancy Center. Part of the training is Life Issues which includes Biblical Sexuality. Our God is a God of second chances. Remember the woman at the well? No one in her town wanted to openly have anything to do with her. Neither did the disciples — but Jesus. There's always the — but Jesus. Remember the woman taken in adultery? There were many accusers but because of Jesus, there was no one to cast the first stone. Neither did He cast a stone but told her to go and sin no more. Jesus spoke truth and love to both women. It made all the difference in both their lives. In the Samaritan town of Sychar, love and truth made a difference in the whole town in two days (John 4).  

How are we as Christians helping others see the truth in love? How do we show them we care about them and their unborn baby? Abortion in the US is used in over 95% of the cases for social and economic factors, "my boyfriend will leave me", "I have to go to school", "I've got a scholarship", and the list goes on. Less then 5% are for rape, incest, life of the mother, health of the mother, or health of the baby (produced by Lisa Van Riper, President of SC Citizens for Life. You will need to type in www.sclife.org).

Does anybody hear her? Does anybody see her? She needs support from Christians, from the church, and from her family. She needs to know Jesus will forgive her. She needs to know He wants to change her life and lifestyle, even if her pregnancy test is negative. The only way she can know Jesus loves her is if Christians love her, support her emotionally, spiritually, and physically, giving her a hand up. 

Those girls who are post-abortion need exactly the same love and truth. Probably no one told them the truth about their baby. Jesus still stands ready to forgive and renew their hearts as well. 

Friends, she is running in all the wrong directions. Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see her? There is a Crisis Pregnancy Center near you. Will you and your church find out how you can help? 

Blessings,

Gail

Hidden Treasures

 

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15 

Amazing what a little investment will produce! Last spring I found purple sweet potato slips at the farmers' market. They were three dollars for twelve plants. 

I brought them home, dug a trench, placed the slips, watered them and that was pretty much all I did. The vines spread everywhere. By the time the bush beans were finished the sweet potatoes were taking over their spot. They were climbing into the rose trellis and creeping into the squash vines. Finally, in September, they began to bloom pretty purple and white morning glory type blooms. 

Yesterday was my only free Saturday left in October to harvest the potatoes. Wow, was I surprised! Under the first hill were huge potatoes that more than paid for the investment. As I dug the hills, I was rewarded with lots more. I wonder how many more I would have found if the ground had been softer or if I had taken the tiller to the area and turned the soil with the turn plow. 

Digging all these potatoes got me thinking, as it always does. Just a little effort in God's word will turn up some "hidden treasures" if we only invest a few minutes of our time. 

I was saved as a teenager. From that time I began to invest a few minutes each day in reading my Bible. I would only read one chapter each day when I came in from school before I started my homework. 

I started with the New Testament and in the next 5 years, I read the New Testament 4 times and the Old Testament 3 times. There were some dry years I didn't read, but for pretty much all my life, a chapter a day has been my reading plan. 

Though I have read the Bible many times, each time turns up something new and interesting that I missed before. I often wonder why I never saw that before. God gives us what we need when we need it and if we are willing to invest a little time and do a little digging. 

Hey Kids:

My grandkids love digging root crops! It's like finding hidden treasure. 

Carrots, sweet potatoes, and other root crops also hold hidden treasures for our health. The carotenoids in these vegetables help keep our vision strong. 

God's word has its hidden treasures as well. It will take a little digging to find them, but it will improve our spiritual vision.  Reading is like eating. Eating the best foods makes us strong. Reading the Bible makes us spiritually strong. 

Digging root crops won't do us any good unless we eat the vegetables.

Reading the Bible won't do us any good unless we think about it and then do whatever it says.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. James 1:22

Sharing God's word is like sharing your garden crops. It helps everyone, good food, and good fellowship. This week, find a friend who will be a spiritual treasure hunter with you.

Blessings,

Gail

Experiencing Eden

 

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1
... we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

II Peter 3:13

You know the feeling that you just need to get out and away, just forget about everything and have a day of refreshing? Yeah, we all know that feeling. This past week we took a day trip just to get away. We rambled around buying fall flowers and discovering a little new territory but after lunch we ended up heading toward Cataloochee. 

We spent about thirty minutes winding back through the mountains and on a dirt road finally topping out the ridge and making that final left turn. The road led us to scenic vistas, trails, old barns and a settlement with a church, a school and an old house. The road to the house was washed out so it was only open to foot traffic. We walked maybe a quarter of a mile along the road passing grassy pastures and signs to old graveyards before we came to a huge barn and a footbridge on the left across the creek to an early 20th Century house. An older lady sat on the bridge picking grasses and platting a crown like we used to do as kids. Her husband was walking back from the house. We spoke as we passed and rambled on through the yard and the house, taking pictures of butterflies on wildflowers and listening to goldfinches twitter about the thistle seeds. 

Now the gentleman sat on the bridge and pointed with a stick, talking with his wife about the birds. "I've never seen a yellow bird like that." There was also a cedar waxwing, a bird I'd rarely seen, joining the goldfinches in the flowers draping over the water. We enjoyed a neighborly talk. I just wanted to cook a pone of cornbread and get some cold buttermilk from the spring house for our supper, but that wasn't to be in this 21st century.

The walk back to the truck was hot but pleasant. As we passed a field near the creek I saw her. "Bear!" That's not my usual reaction to a bear but the unexpected sighting had startled me and apparently I startled her too. She raised up on her hind legs and looked in our direction while I fumbled with my camera. She must have decided she and her cub might need to head toward the creek.

Now, in the road near the creek stood a big bull elk. The signs say stay fifty yards away. Well now what, with a mama bear to our left and a bull elk to our right? He noticed we needed to pass so he kindly ambled off into the woods out of our path. 

When I got back to the truck I noticed a type of euphoria. Actually, I had been experiencing it most of the afternoon. There was joy and peace there on the mountain. There was excitement in the birds and bears and elk. Maybe it was because I'm part of the older folks my thoughts drifted to the future when God places me in the new heavens and new earth, a re-creation of the Garden of Eden. I think I got to experience just a little bit of that garden this week. The Lord surely knew I needed it on a hot summer afternoon. 

How is God giving you peace and joy in the midst of craziness? How is He preparing you for His future? Your future? 

Blessings, 

Gail