Communion Meditation June 10th, 2012

Here is my communion Meditation from June 10th, 2012

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  He acclomplished this phenomenal task in 6 days.

Day 1 He created Day and Night

Day 2 He created the sky and the waters

Day 3 He created the seas, land and vegetation

Day 4 He created the Sun and the Moon

Day5 He created the fish and the birds

Day 6 He created the animals and man

I have recently had the opportunity to spend some time in God’s creation.  The first was spent over a weekend at our local church camp during a family camp weekend retreat.  The second chance was during the past week at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.  During that time, I witnessed  various aspects of His great creation.  His majesty and splendor are evident.  His power and might are amazing and beyond comprehension.

This time spent in His creation led me to think of Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities- His eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

During the last supper, Our Lord Jesus took the cup and “after taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, ‘Take this and divide it among you.  For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’  And He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’

In the 143rd Psalm, verse 5 the Psalmist penned these words: “I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on your works and consider what your hands have done.”

 

HOW WILL YOU REMEMBER HIM TODAY?

Tips for New Fruit Trees?

Rows of thick-trunked leafless fruit trees covered in pink blossoms, against a backdrop of Osoyoos foothills. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am not sure about how to start new fruit trees.  Does that seem like an odd way to start a blog on new fruit trees, or what?   Hang in there and let me explain……I have never started new fruit trees (unless the 30 foot tall tree that grew from the abandoned peach pit counts).  In my quest to get inspiration for plate, I stumbled a cross a topic in my daily Bible devotion

Leviticus 19: 23-25

“When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden.  For three years you are to consider it forbidden, it must not be eaten.  In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord.  But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit.  In this way your harvest will be increased.  I am the Lord your God.”

English: Recently planted fruit trees, Hom Green This field has been planted with fruit trees within the last year as last September whis field was in arable use. See: [955381] (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Did you catch that recipe?  The first three years the fruit is forbidden.  I take this to mean….remove the fruit and the fruit buds.  This allows the tree to focus its nutrients toward strengthening itself by building better roots, a stronger trunk, and to strengthen its generalized health.
The fourth year the fruit is to be a praise offering.  I am not sure what this means for today.  Perhaps donating the food to a local food bank?  Though this has no purpose that I can think of for the tree….tithing the “firstfuits” is definitely a great Biblical principle.  In the fifth year, we may eat.
God promises a reward for this recipe stating “In this way your harvest will be increased.”  (Tangent alert….tangent alert:  this makes me think of the 10 commandments when God states: honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord is giving you.”  This is the only commandment with a promise).

I would like to get some new dwarf fruit trees this year.  I will try to recall the principles from above as I try to get our fruit trees off to a solid start.  I am interested to look and see if there is actually a recommendation that follows the outline above.

Earth Day 2012

I got inspired by the post below, so I thought it appropriate to share my thoughts about earth day.
A HISTORY OF EARTH DAY
At the beginning of creation, God created the heavens and the earth.  He created water, light, plants, animals and mankind.  Male and female he created them to dwell in the garden of Eden. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, setting in motion the decline of man and the need for a Savior. God challenged man to work the earth and to care for it and His creatures.
It is with this backdrop that I pause to appreciate His creation on this Earth Day 2012. I feel that Earth Day has become more of a reason to celebrate the earth itself rather than the Creator of both the heaven ans the earth. We focus on recycling and not leaving a carbon footprint or inprint or whatever print it is that we are supposed to limit. Why not love the Creator and take care of what He has created (plants, animals, and fellow man) everyday? I try to make it so that I live life, yet not abuse that around me.
We have chosen over the past few years to limit our intake of things that may harm our bodies, and in turn may harm the earth.
We have tried to cut out genetically modified corn products.
We have tried to eliminate other GMO products as well.
We raise grass fed beef and free rang chickens. We do this to lessen the impact that our farm has on our environment, but also to provide a safe and nutritious end product for ourselves and our consumers.
We raise organic vegetables in our garden. This is again to focus more in the end product, but also reduces our strain on the environment.
We burn our garbage, in an attempt to lessen the waste that ia headed into landfills.
We feed our leftover food to the chickens, creating less waste in the end.
We compost yard waste, which inturn becomes healthy compost for our organic vegetables.
We burn wood through the winter, so that we utilize less propane. This lets us trade a renewable energy source (wood) for a non renewable fossil-type fuel.

So I ask that you pause to consider the amazing creation that ia around. God gave it to us to use, but also to care for. This should be our calling. Worship the Creator first and then care for and cherish His creation

Homesteading: What Is It?

"The Covered Wagon of the Great Western Migration. 1886 in Loup Valley, Nebr." A family poses with the wagon in which they live and travel daily during their pursuit of a homestead. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So what is homesteading?  Without looking up the formal definition, I feel that homesteading incorporates many aspects.  These include self-sufficiency, food production, preparedness, self-reliance, knowledge…

From Wikipedia: Broadly defined, homesteading is a lifestyle of simple self-sufficiency.  The term may apply to anyone who follows the back-to-the-land movement by adopting a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle.

It seems to me that people who are defined as homesteaders tend to have some common traits.

Self-Sufficient:  The first is the desire to live as self-sufficient as possible.  Notice I did not state that they are independent, for in my experience homesteaders tend to have a very intricate network of similar minded friends and family.

Nutrition:  The second trend is that they place an importance on nutrition.  It seems that one of the main reasons that people begin down the path of homesteading is to provide healthy food for their families.

Environmentally Friendly:  A third trait may be that of environmental awareness.  Do not confuse this with being a tree-hugger or avid environmentalist, just simply that homesteaders tend to respect their land.  At least the homesteaders that I have dealt with have a focus on taking care of their land by composting, cultivation, seed saving, and other friendly practices.

Family Focused:  Homesteaders tend to have a tight knit family.  Many forgo the modern day trends of television and the like to keep life simply and unconstrained.  Also the lack of cable also provides a chane to save money.  Many tight knit homesteaders homeschool their children.  We also give our children “real chores” like feeding the animals.  This goes above and beyond the common city chores of cleaning your room and doing the dishes.  Animals are reliant upon us to take care of them.  Lack of responsibility and provision results in lack of production and ultimately death (If care is extremely poor).

Organic:  Some tend to be organically focused.  This is may simply tie in to the nutrition thing as stated above.  The concern about the overuse of chemical agents and insecticides tend to be a common theme that I have noted.

Conservation:  A lot of homesteaders end up as conservationists, perhaps unintentionally.  By this I mean that homesteaders will save seeds, preserving may heirloom and non hybrid types of vegetables.  Also the focus on dual purpose cattle in some instances also furthers the preservation of heritage breeds (something we like!)

Disaster Preparedness:  Homesteaders will tend to be preppers.  This means that they are prepared for potential disasters on some level or another.  This may be from canning, quilting, storage, seed saving, as well as many other facets involved in homesteading.

Connected:  As I stated above, homesteaders tend to be connected to one another.  There are networks that are established, as no one person or family can go it alone for every vital need.  Blogs like this also function within that network.  We have a network locally of about 6 families, which extends very loosely to perhaps dozens of acquaintances of one form or another.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Amish:  This is just a funny, though the Amish are practically homesteaders by tradition.  They may, in fact, be the ultimate homesteaders.  I say it is a funny, as many of us joke and get teased about being Amish.  It is a joke made with the utmost of respect.

Learners:  It seems to me that those I have associated with are constantly wanting to learn.  Whether it be skills or simply practical knowledge, I note the extreme desire to learn and the craving of knowledge.

Christian?  This may be controversial, but I think that many a homesteader tends to have a deep faith in God.  So whether that be Christian or not, I do not know, but it sure seems to me that God is a thread that runs deep within many homesteaders.  We like to live a little outside of the trends of society.

To sum it up, Homesteading is an intricate plan to:

1. provide for your family,
2. prepare for the future,
3. conserve the land that has been granted,
4. preserve genetic of both animals and plants,
5. live off the land, share knowledge and wisdom,
6. and to raise a family that is focused on family and thrive.

Please share your thoughts below and perhaps even your definition of homesteading.

(I will note the website below as an inspiration for this posting, though I did not follow it to a tee.)

http://www.christianhomesteaders.org/