AUGUST 2016 EDITION

Our yard is a source of both pride and headaches. In the early Spring, our yard is magnificent, if I do say so myself. Actually, I have very little to do with it. I am the “mow, edge and blow” guy. Peggy is the real reason our yard is quite beautiful. She has filled it with azaleas and multiple varieties of hydrangeas as well as other ornamental plants and seasonal flowers. In addition, she also plants a successful vegetable garden each year. All this requires a great deal of work to properly manage and develop a beautiful yard.

The source of headaches is a different story. Our yard is plagued with weeds and vines. Our azaleas and camellia bushes can quickly be entangled and overrun by creeping vines. The English Ivy I once planted as ground cover in our small side yard now occupies more than one third of our entire front yard. It is said of ivy that it ”sleeps, then creeps, then leaps”! It is a constant battle to keep it at bay! Left to its own devices our lawn quickly becomes host to a variety of weeds. It can also be assaulted by fungus and brown spot disease. Our yard is planted in fescue grass, which is a cool season grass so when our southern sun reaches the apex of its heat, our grass begins to go dormant and goes brown. In order to keep the grass as green as possible, it requires constant watering, preferably the Lord provides, instead of the water I provide which is much more expensive. This year we are experiencing a drought. Our water bills have gone through the roof!

 I find it interesting that weeds, vines, fungus and mold do not require much in the way of cultivation to flourish. They thrive on neglect. The difficulty lies in ridding the yard of these nuisances. It requires constant vigilance and not a small amount of chemicals to either keep them at bay or eliminate them altogether.

 Isn’t our Christian life like this? It does not require much for the harmful elements to creep into our lives… a chance image on the computer gives the vines of pornography a foothold, an ”innocent” lunch with an associate of the opposite sex can lead to an adulterous affair, a “hit’ on a joint can lead to a lifetime of addiction or death. A neglect of our family relationships can lead to alienation, separation and even divorce. A neglect of our spiritual life can lead to a cynical, hardened heart or an attitude of self-reliance.

 Let us not be complacent or neglectful of our relationship with Christ. We must be proactive in guarding the garden of our hearts. This should be a labor of love. We must cultivate the soil of our hearts to break up the hardness of our hearts. We must weed out any impurities in our thoughts, speech and actions. We should fertilize it with faith. Prune with accountability relationships with other believers and water it with prayer. Ultimately, we must remember, however, that God gives the growth with His shining Son so as not to rely solely on our own abilities. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

 MINISTRY NEWS
I am thoroughly enjoying my role as pastor to the staff of Young Life in the Southeast Region in Georgia and Alabama. There are now over 100 staff involved. I meet regularly with some of the staff and make myself available to others as needed. I am privileged to pray daily for them. I feel very blessed to work with such gifted, attractive, but above all, deeply committed to following Christ and making him know to middle school kids through Wyld Life, to high school kids through Young Life, to college students through College Life, to physical and mentally challenged young people through Caperneum and to teen moms through Young Lives. Young Life is thoroughly committed to taking the Gospel to all kids everywhere, urban, suburban, rural and international.

 My ministry to individual men continues to keep me busy meeting with them over the breakfast or lunch table.

 Our Friday Men’s group continues for its twenty-second year. All this is made possible by your faithful support of Net Work Ministries though financial and prayer support. I am truly grateful.