Beautify the Inner Man

     Recently I found a daily devotional at the local Goodwill written by a man named Watchman Nee. He was a Chinese Christian who was martyred for the faith in the early 20th century.  I found a theme among his works concerning the beautification of the inner man and found it to go right along with the theme of intimacy with the Lord that I have been dwelling on the last few months.

I'm a very practical person. When I learn something in the Word of God, I struggle with it until I can find a way that it may be somehow expressed in everyday life. It's almost as if it isn't mine unless it is expressible or I am able to teach it to another. Brother Nee referenced 1 Peter 3:3,4 which reads:

3 Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

Intimacy with God is naturally more than the practices of religion which often tend to vanity only. One of the most frequent themes in Christ's teachings were against the outward show of the Pharisee while the inward parts were 'as dead men's bones'. This scripture in 1 Peter speaks this same truth. Let us not have the empty vanity of appearances only, but have a depth of reliance on the Lord that is incorruptible which in turn brings a gentle and quiet spirit. You know who has a gentle and quiet spirit? Individuals whose confidence is unshakable.  They need not defend themselves or their pride for it is not abiding in themselves.

Going back to the initial thought on intimacy, in James the Word says "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw night to you". When the follower of Christ seeks to, in the secret place, find God where no man can see them and where no glory can be shed abroad on them for any displays of holiness, the Lord honors in secret this person. In the words of Leonard Ravenhill, when you're alone in prayer and there's no one to observe you, there's no showing off in front of God. You can't use the big words or the bluster of pride. It would be as empty as merely breathing. But when you seek the Lord from the depths of sorrow and appreciation, he says, "you will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all of your heart".  Do you want to know God? Or do you simply want what he can give you? Let us all examine the inner man and pray the Lord reveal our hearts to us.

Just Point them to Christ

I'm a talker. I mean I love communicating ideas and sharing thoughts with people. However, there's a lesson I've had to learn over the last few years that has been challenging but effective from the Lord. As a communicator, I often have the confidence that I am able to somehow bring about words that will be helpful or perhaps minister to people. I've found through personal experience and struggles in discipleship that is more often not the case.  Instead, the counsel or advice is rarely heeded and it causes my heart to harden in pride as I see it happen. I realize this all sounds quite prideful. The Lord allows us to learn compounding lessons if we're willing to turn the judgement back on ourselves.

The issue, however, is seldom something we can actually provide words to fix, yet, we always hope they'll do the trick. Perhaps a quick injection of some verse or a life lesson distilled in to a short bout of advice and the person will ideally be on the mend and thanking you all the way.  Unfortunately, life and situations are always much more complicated and even if communicated well, words can rarely be delivered in such a way as the receiving party will understand them as intended.

It takes time. I don't mean that time heals all wounds kind of time but from the one that is trying to help, it takes more than words. It takes, compassion, patience, and if at all possible, empathy. The problem with empathy is that first you must suffer so that you can understand the pain.  When ministering to someone the goal is not to fix their problems. It is to encourage and assist them to work through their situation in a way that strengthens them in their relationship with God individually.  It's not a quick fix like a shot of advice seeks to give. Instead it's often even a trial for the one seeking to help, but enriches both parties when we bear one another's burdens. Is there someone in your life with issues that you are just plain frustrated with? Are you worn down from trying to advise them? Perhaps this is an opportunity for you to go before the Lord in fasting or prayer on their behalf and patiently point them to Christ. He is the actual healer. He is the real power. Just remember that trust precedes faith and without faith we cannot do a thing.

First Blog; First Citizen of R&R Farm

Appropriately this is my first blog since this week we have mothered  our two first baby chicks. 

(Aside) 

I've always meant to write in this blog but never felt I was as poetic or as fluid a writer as my co-blogger (oh and husband). But I decided that I am who I am and though it won't be a page turner, it is simply what's going on in my little world right now. 

(and back) 

A few weeks ago two of our hens became broody and we decided that we would just plop a clutch of eggs, 9 to be precise,  under her and see what happened. We've never let them set on any if them because we were fearful of failure and having to see the lil' babies be tortured by the other hens. We said "why not" this time. It comes at a strange time though considering we were just given 20 new chickens to take care of. We were given 6 Americana chicks by a family member with a less than happy landlord and we had already accepted a deal for 12 black stars from a friend who's daughters were doing them for 4H. They however were given 12 extra chicks and were generous and gave us two more for free! 

OK, math time, not my strongest subject but here we go... 

13  black star Hens (original brood +/-  some here and there)  "chickens" 

1 rooster ( Americana - thought he was a she)

6 Americana's  we call them the "cheens" - "teenage chicks" 

14- 4H black stars -  "chicks" 

34 total now

And we are possibly adding in 9 more? We must be crazy right? 

About 21 days after we let the momma hen set on some eggs (yes I meant "set", to those in my family who live to correct my grammar, you know who you are), we see some activity. 

Not the kind we wanted though. We aren't exactly sure what happened but we see one in the coop being shared as a meal between the other hens and one in in the nest with the momma who just didn't make it. 

We keep checking for signs of life that day and the next day Rick calls and says "don't forget to check on the eggs". I hadn't really thought about it and didn't give much hope to any successful hatching.  However, I went out and heard some very faint peeping under the super fluffy protective mother. I lifted her up and there was a little tiny hole and a beak peeking in and out. When the momma saw it she immediately rared her head back and stabbed at it a couple times. 

I don't know much about hens and mothering but I don't think it is very motherly to try and silence the "peeps"coming out of your offspring's protective housing. Remembering the previous day and the previous two chicks who were treated as snacks, I went into Mother hen mode myself. I yelled "nononononono"  and without any thought shoved her out of the nesting box. Whoops. I had grabbed a sand box bucket and put some wood chips in it before I came outside, so I nestled the lil' egg in it and ran inside, it was a tad bit chilly that morning.  I put it on the table and grabbed the heat lamp that was used previously for our "cheens" and yelled for the girls (Lilly Beth and Ava my niece) to come see! 

I held the heat lamp above the bucket for the duration of the unveiling. The girls "ooooh'd"  and "aaaaaawww'd" and gasped at every movement and sign of life! They also were so into watching and seeing everything that they kept forgetting about the lamp and burning their foreheads. "ouch, I burned my head" then giggles followed.  She hatched herself  ( I am assuming it is a "she" because the egg is round which usually means pullet while the more pointy eggs are usually cockerals, how appropritae right?...) with little assistance in about 20 minutes. It was the sweetest thing to see this little bitty soggy peeper come out of this tiny shell. 

She teetered and wobbled around for a minute or so at a time and was just so completed exhausted she would go limp and pass out wherever she stood. It was an amazing thing to see, the first official "citizen" born on the Lansdon Farm! This was OUR lil' baby bird, not from someone elses' eggs or from tractor supply, but ours! 

I keep checking on the remaining eggs under the hen almost every 20-30 minutes driving myself crazy with worry that I might not make it in time to save another. So, I bring them inside and nestle them in the bucket, who ever thought Lilly Beth's beach bucket would be so useful!

Two days,  57 temperature checks, 23 Internet searches on DIY incubators, spritzing eggs with water, lid on lid off,  lid on lid off, and losing hope of any further life I decided to listen to the eggs. Kinda like hearing the ocean in a conch shell, egg to ear, eyes moving around "listening" (as if it helps to hear by looking around) . 

And then....  "Peep peep tap tap tap", Wowza! There is another one! 

About 8 hours of "labor" after the first Crack in the shell our new chick is born, we helped a tiny bit  because we wanted to make sure it made it out before we had to leave for church that evening. It probably would have done fine by itself but I figured after 8 hours of being cooped up smelling the outside world (and it's own bottom)  that I didn't think it would mind a little assistance. 

I will admit in the shortest version possible that we did have another born, to soon, not formed all the way that survived about 6 hours and then rested peacefully under our old strawberry bed. 

We still have 4 more in the sand bucket, still waiting for their moment to peek out of there shells and see the world. We have been blessed, 2 out of 5 isn't bad for never having done this before. 

36 chickens and holding. We hope and pray that the some if not all of the others will make a healthy entrance into our family!

I thank the Lord for letting me experience this and that Lilly Beth has seen life being brought into the world and she has also seen death. Although she does not understand either, she has experienced them and will be more appreciative when she does understand. After the second chick was hatched successfully she said "Thank you Jesus for our new happy chick". She loves all of her chickens and wants so badly to hold the littlest but is content with wrangling the chicks and cheens and occasionally picks up one of the big hens and totes it around.

It's funny, she goes through stages of fear and love for the chickens. When we first got them she would chase them around and try to pick them up though she was too little. She would walk around the yard with them surrounding her with no fear, but bring a piece of pizza outside with you when you are as tall as the chickens, that will strike fear into the bravest of the brave.  

Poor thing, she tried to hold it above her head and they just jumped up and pecked it out of her tiny grasp. She ran screaming to the safety of her hysterical parents. What?! You'd have laughed too at this spectacle. What's the point of having kids if you can't laugh at their folly, my parents did the same to me and I turned out just fine (no comments are being accepted at this time...). 

She is now on friendly terms with the chickens. She totes them around and lets them stand on her head. Her favorite is one of the cheens we named Deborah. All the cheens have names because they are identifiable. Ruth, Ester, Jezebel, Delilah, Deborah and Dorcas, all women of the Bible. Some of the others have names as well, but only for a flaw or a quality of annoyance that we can identify them.  For instance; Connie, has one crooked toe on her left foot, as does my mother-in-law who also happens to be named Connie, what a strange coincidence (hehe). The rooster is named Olof with his snow white sister Elsa, or Calamity b/c she is always causing a ruckus, or skinhead, appropriately named because for some reason the other hens don't like her and rip the feathers out of her head. She roams about the yard freely and does not play well with others.

I love our farm and our home and the lessons we have learned on the value of life. Losing animals to unexplained circumstances, having to decide to take a life for the betterment of our farm ( the devil rooster who attacked Lilly Beth and I non stop), and just being responsible for things other than ourselves. Being on the farm and dealing with life and death helps us be closer to God and understand his original purpose for us on this earth. We are here to serve him and take care and appreciate all life and all he has given us. We are to share his love  with others and be good stewards of all the things we have temporary custody of, even our daughter is not our own but a gift we have been given charge of and to lead her into the path of servant-hood to our heavenly father. I pray that we show her his love and truth everyday and I am thankful for the avenue he has given us to do so. 

Tootles was lonely and peeped
for a new friend...

...and God brought her a little sister/brother.
We have yet to name the yellow/striped one.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."    Genesis 1:27-28

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

A House vs A Home

Investment is the difference...  (I apologize for all of the graphic changes. I'm still trying to find what will look the best for the blog!)

As we continue to organize and shuffle boxes around in our new house, the comfort level of being there has really increased over the last few weeks.  I'm making a conscious effort to notice this because in the beginning, our house definitely did not feel like a home.  It's an old one, built originally in the late 1800's, with many creaks, noises, and other points of character that come with a 130 year old property.  Since I've been observing our transition, it has really had me thinking on what makes a home.  I'm finding the more we invest our time in the place, it becomes innately ours.  If you've ever moved to a new location, you know the feeling of uneasiness that comes with change and the slow comfort that comes as familiarity creeps in.  We're still getting to know the place and our roots have yet to really dig in to the soil of our new location.  I'm finding what makes a house, and the shell that it is, in to a home and the warmth that it brings.  For me and maybe for you, it's the people, the objects imbued with memories, and the love shared throughout.  

Our modern view of gathering together in the Lord's name for church has had me thinking lately on where my heart is in relation to the comparison of a house vs. a home. Sometimes I find that church has become more of a scheduled activity rather than an anticipated opportunity to worship and gather with like-minded people.  Like many, I consider myself a member of my church, but do I consider myself a part of it?  Church attendance is more than a chance to check off a good deed for the week and to many has become more a religious activity than the fulfillment of it’s original design.  Outside of teaching and hearing the Word of God, coming together in the Lord’s name in church is to be a refuge for the weary believer who has endured the world and needs to gather with other Christ followers to be encouraged to continue on and to find that we are not alone.  We are to have hearts that are knit together closer than even our own families because the blood line we share supersedes our earthly ones since Christ's blood is eternal.  I like to tell my friends that if they are in Christ, then they can’t escape me because I am in Christ and I will literally know them in a million years.  Imagine that!  Yet, we do not typically see our own brothers and sisters in Christ with such love, let alone the lost of this world. Christ prayed that we would have this kind of heart for each other in John 17:20,21.

John 17:20,21

I do not pray for these alone,
but also for those who will believe 
in me through their word; 
that they all may be one, 
as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; 
that they also may be one in Us, 
that the world may believe that You sent Me.

I recommend reading the whole chapter.  It's beautiful.  Christ prayed that just as He and God were one, we would be also so that the world would believe in Him and see Him in us.  Purposeful love together is what draws more people in to a relationship with the Lord.  This is the love that goes beyond ourselves and serves others so that they may feel loved and not just us being enabled to feel like good people.  I realize this calls for so much humility and obedience.  However, the house of God won't feel like a home until we've invested in each other in such a way that we are exposed and even open ourselves up to being hurt in the name of loving for His sake.  Isn't the Lord worthy that we may embody Christ's prayer?  The heart of the church should be a commitment to each other in the name of Christ and not merely a commitment to an organization at large.  Otherwise, what's the difference between a church and other community social groups like the Shriners or the Lions club?  

Prayer:  Lord, please open my eyes to the true calling of your Church.  Help me to see past my own selfish reasons for church attendance and look to minister to the hurting people I'm surrounded by so that they may see you in me and I may have the honor of serving you.

All flesh is grass...

Our front pasture...

                               Also see below for a homemade cough medicine recipe!

Isaiah 40:6-8

6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

From a farming standpoint, grass is life. A famous contemporary farmer, Joel Salatin, who has been made famous by such recent documentaries as Fresh and Food, Inc proudly states that he isn't a cattle man despite having hundreds of cattle, or a poultry farmer despite having thousands; he is a grass farmer. Grass to most is the green jewel of manicured lawns and the bane of gardens everywhere, but it is so very necessary since it is the natural food of just about every piece of meat that we consume. It is a staple of survival, yet more often than not I used to view it more as a chore than a blessing.  So, if we are what we eat then truly all flesh is grass, I suppose.

In Isaiah 40, our mortality and fragility in this life are compared to the grasses of the fields. As I look out over my field, I see that the grass has turned golden, brittle, and yet still beautiful. In August before the hay was cut, I remember seeing some of those stalks at eight foot tall! How the mighty have fallen! The Lord provides such an important reminder to us in this scripture of our limited time in this place and how we must take seriously His calling of obedience to be a witness. Notice also how the flower of the grass fades because the glory to be had in this life apart from the Lord is for naught. It truly is a fleeting gesture of short lasting importance. Does this mean that all is for nothing and that we shouldn't waste our time? If we are merely grass, should we seek to rise above the ground? Absolutely! I would say to you what I would always say to my class of young men in the youth at church, “We are involved in the only calling that can actually affect other people's eternities.” It is so extremely encouraging that the Lord would allow us to seed and water His fields. It is the highest honor bestowed upon a person that we may not only serve the true and living God but also reveal Him to hearts darkened by the sin in this world. So, my challenge to you is not to see our lives as grass that will wither as a negative thing at all, but a call to leave a grass stain on this Earth that will exalt and glorify the King of Heaven and Earth!

Prayer: Father, please help me to wrap my heart around knowing that what I do with the limited time I have here is of eternal importance to myself and other lost souls out there. Please, Lord, help me to see that the glory that I claim for myself will dissipate in the wind like a dandelion's puff, but if I look to you and have your kingdom in mind, my actions can echo in eternity. Thank you for showing me who I am in you and please give me the heart to be in your Word and even more so live it.

Also, recently a cough has been going around and I have found a remedy for alleviating it.  If you are interested, please see the recipe below.  It helps stop the coughing and breaks up the yucky stuff in your throat.  It’s especially helpful before going to sleep so you will not cough your head off. See below:

Ingredients:
Apple Cider Vinegar ½ cup
Lemon Juice ½ cup
6 tablespoons Honey
Teaspoon Cayenne
Teaspoon Ground Ginger

Simmer ½ cup apple cider vinegar and a ½ cup lemon juice then mix in the rest of the ingredients and stir well.  We store ours in a pint mason jar and it should keep on your shelf for a long time.  It has quite a kick when taken by the spoonful so I mix mine with a glass of water.  It actually tastes great in hot tea or hot apple juice/cider!  I would recommend the same recipe minus the cayenne for a cold preventative tonic too.

Iron Sharpens Iron

As Iron Sharpens Iron...

I've found over time that I'm not alone in this being my favorite verse.  I've taught on this scripture many times and it, like many other lessons, is one to be reminded of from time to time in order to take stock of where we are and what influences are affecting us.  I've always had this mentality  that I should get a wiser and more experienced person's perspective when making decisions concerning things like building something, taking on a new responsibility, making financial decisions, and especially to my view of scripture.  I couldn't tell you if it's humility that has caused me to err on the side of safety or a lack of confidence, but I figure it's somewhere in between.  I know that I've been saved from making costly mistakes by inquiring of someone what their experience has taught them and I continue to do so because of that.

Let's get on to the scripture... As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

This scripture is, like most proverbs, pretty straight forward, yet, is so revealing if we can take a moment to dwell on it.  At times while meditating on a recent lesson or some scripture, I will ask myself, "Why do you think this way about this scripture or what is affecting your mood towards this person or situation?"  More often than not, the most affecting things in my life are the people I surround myself with.  Just as iron can sharpen iron, it can also dull it if not applied correctly.  For example, while in the military I had friends that were very dear to me but because they were not Godly, despite their best intentions, I was dulled in my Christian walk in some ways by associating with them so much.  This isn't to say that I should have avoided them, but it does mean that I should have sought more Godly influences to encourage and exhort me unto being more Christ-like.  In the same vein, just as people influence our decisions in life, they also influence our interpretations of the Word. I'm not speaking against sharing with friends, on the contrary, I highly encourage it, but always with the consideration that what they say may not be exactly correct.  In my life, I have some very strong influences concerning the interpretation of the Word of God but should I blindly accept everything that I hear?  I don't think so.  The bible says that everyone should work out there own salvation with fear and trembling.  Philippians 2:12 This tells me that my salvation is my very own and I have to take responsibility for it.  It is not dependent on my wife, children, whether my grandfather was a preacher, etc... it is dependent upon my falling in love with the Lord and being obedient to Him alone. This shouldn't detract from my previous statement concerning fellowship with respected brothers and sisters in Christ.  By all means, seek them out and be the blessing and encouragement to them that you would desire for them to be to you.  Oftentimes, you will find that when you lift them up, it pulls you up along with them.  I would like to strive to always be an instrument for sharpening my brothers and sisters that we all may grow closer to the Lord and desire Him all the more.

Prayer: Lord, please help me to always be a benefit to my brothers and sisters in you.  Please let me not make them stumble but always lift them up.  In the same way, I pray that you will give me the wisdom and discernment I need to make wise decisions about with whom I associate and which counsel I take.

Why We Want to Farm

We subscribe to this magazine and I'm a veteran, so we considered it quite providential that we received this specific copy while closing on the farm.  

                                                      Image courtesy of Organic Gardening

                                                       

While there are a number of reasons Bekah and I want to farm.  I’m confident we agree on a few. Hopefully…

A few reasons we desire to slow down a bit and live a more agrarian style life are that we enjoy eating food fresh from the garden, milk fresh from the cow, and meat freshly slaughtered.  While it may seem to be quite a raw viewpoint of food, not everyone understands that every bite you eat came about because something had to die.  It could be as simple as a leaf of spinach picked by hand to a thousand pound yearling bull that although now looks like a tasty burger at a Five Guys restaurant, was walking around not too long ago.  You see, we’ve become so far removed from the emotional connection once held between the land and the landowner that to think of a chicken nugget as ever being anything but that is quite foreign to children and to many adults.  In fact, one of the most visceral experiences of my life was when I helped a friend slaughter a cow about ten years ago.  There was a moment when the animal in front of me was alive and then another moment when it wasn’t.  There’s an impact of consequence provided when you are standing in the presence of something like that.  If you hunt, then you are probably very familiar with the feeling, but imagine you raised that deer from birth and then harvested it.  It brings life to the forefront of your thoughts while you are in that moment.  That is what I want for my family and me.  I don’t want to be so distanced from the realities of sacrifice that we take for granted the lives that must end so that we may continue our own. 

I’m not advocating that everyone should go out and buy a farm.  Honestly, I can’t even claim to be a farmer… at this moment, we are only remodeling what once was a farm.  The farming has yet to really begin and the test of our resolve to do so is yet to come.  I do know that what I have experienced has left an indelible impression on me.  It’s for that reason that I always tell people that they are welcome to visit anytime.  I call it our open barn door policy. This is especially true if we are working...  I want what has inspired my heart to do the same in others.  I have a vision for the farm but that vision has many untraveled roads for us within it.  Bekah consistently is helping me to be reasonable because I have such plans to do this or that and we haven’t even moved in yet!  One example that makes me laugh and I will mention later is that I want to grow our own wheat.  Not just so we can make our own low gluten bread but so that we can live out the lesson of separating the wheat from the chaff.  Well, before we've even moved in to the house, I've already invited the Sunday school class we teach over to help separate the wheat from the chaff next year.  We don't own a single wheat seed...  I just get so excited and love to involve others in what gets me going!

This brings me to probably the most important reason I want to farm and that is I want to experience the Lord through His creation.  I've learned so much from just my simple experience with helping keep bees at my grandfathers and how they will literally work themselves to death so the hive can survive.  I truly believe there are some great biblical principles there and know from experience they can be found all over the place in creation if we can just slow down to observe them.  Growing wheat to see things like separating the chaff while winnowing, keeping sheep and observing the innocence of a lamb, and planting on different types of soil to see how it grows will enable us to better understand the parables Christ so often used in His teachings.  This is why we want to farm.  We desire to understand and hopefully draw closer to the Lord and to be a blessing to our community.  We will have an open barn door policy because we want you to be involved with us so that we can, together, exhort one another unto Him, fellowship unto His glory, and ultimately grow closer to the Lord.

As always, if you have any comments you want to leave I encourage you to do so at the bottom.

Prayer: Lord, please help us to be better stewards of your creation.  Help us to slow down and consider it and the beautiful revelations you provide every day.  I pray that we will, through this farm, be a blessing to our friends, family, and community that in some way they will see you and draw closer to your heart and come to the knowledge of your salvation and redemption.