Soil - Not just Good.

   Have you noticed how easy it is to see the specks in other peoples eyes, but the log in your own is easier to ignore than to face? I know that many, like myself, deny this and wish/hope that this isn't true about themselves. Reality check - It Is.
   My church is doing a church wide study on the book "Rooted in Good Soil." It looks at the parable of the soils and challenges its readers to look at the world through the eyes of a "farmer." My group started discussing which soils we were. At first we started as the Good Soil that the seed grew up strong in. But as we dug deeper we came to find that we said that more because that is where we felt we should be, and that we want to be. There is really no good answer for which soil we are, and its not easy to face that.

Kinds of Soil:

Hard Path – Lack of understanding: Sin

Rocky Soil – Trouble or persecution

Soil with weeds/thorns – Worries, pleasures, deceitfulness of wealth

Good Soil – is broken soil: It needs the right nutrients to produce strong plants (garbage, manure); a planted seed under-goes change and takes time to grow to maturity

Seeds need – Sun, soil and rain to grow; God uses all three to produce change; He is God of regeneration, restoration and renewal.

Key Players:

Sower = God

Seed    = Message of the Kingdom/Gospel

Soil   = Heart of the hearers

Evil one = Devil, Satan

   If we allow ourselves to admit it, we would find that we are different soils at different places in our lives. Maybe we are on the hard path in dealing with fear, rocky soil with lust or envy, Weedy soil with prayer and trust, and Good Soil with compassion and understanding. Everyone is different and as you let yourself take an honest look at your heart you will too find that your relationship with the Trinity is not just one way but there are many areas in your life that need different approaches.

What Soil are you today? At lunch? Tomorrow? At church? At work? With your friends?

Why oh Why?!?!

Just sitting here I begin to wonder why we do some of the things we do.
Why do we wear shoes that hurt our feet?
Why do we work 5 days a week and only take 2 days off?
Why do we run around in a hurry about everything, and never take the time to enjoy things?
Why do we eat crap and then go to the gym to try and make up for all the crap?
Why do we think that working out for 30 minutes will make us thin, yet we are lazy all the rest of the time and eat more crap?
Why do people get angry when they break something and blame it on the people who are there to help them?
Why do people think that they are better than other people? What gives them the right and/or who gave them that status?
Why do people fear the things that are there to protect them? (The law, Officers, Rules/Regulations)

And the biggest kicker is Why are people blind? How can they look at this world; wind, flowers stars, blue sky, mountains, animals, grass, the human body;  and doubt that there is a God who is greater then all that and loves them more than anything they could ever imagine?

So those are my thoughts as I look out the window at the fall colors and marvel at how the leaves change and all the color around.

Why are we so blessed yet so unsatisfied?

And What A Way to Go

One day down. I can't believe that I have already taught one class, me!!! I Am The Teacher. It is a crazy thought. I had my first class, it was my smallest class, but so much fun. My Monday mornings will be fun, starting the week with them. They are decent with English so it was entertaining to hear some of the sentences they came up with and what they had to say. I had a student make up his own english name. I can't help but laugh when he struts to the front of the class and writes his name on the board. Standing tall he informed the class that this his is new name, that he made up, and this is what everyone will call him from now on. What a riot, but I had to keep a straight was face and say ok!

It was a blessing to have such a class as a start to my teaching career. There is no denying that there was a plan set in motion long before China was even in my mind. There will be hard times, there will be sad times, there will be fun times, and times to rejoice. For every season there is a time. A fun class, with a plan set in motion, what a way to go!

Silence in Massive Crowds

China, the largest populated country in the world. Buses, Train Stations, Supermarket, the streets, all crowded there is no sense of personal space. How can in a world like this there be silence. If you stop and listen the restaurants are buzzing with conversation, the streets have cars honking their horns constantly, but you understand none of it. Below my window two friends are talking and laughing, but it is just a string of sounds, at home you would be thinking of your opinion on the matter or wish they would keep their thoughts to themselves. When you hear even one English word it sounds like it was screamed, it triggers recognition and your ears are so much more sensitive to that sound than they are at home. It sounds like a whole lot of gibberish but it makes sense. When you do not understand what is being said, you ignore it and start to tune it out. I am living in a busy world of silence.

Walking down the street you get stared at 100% of the time. There is no shame, just as there are no personal spaces. It is really nice to not know what they are saying and the same goes the other way as well. We openly stare at them too, and comment on their outfit or hairstyle. They don's understand us, so we don't keep our voices to a whisper. I can tell you know that when the time comes to return to the states, it will be loud, and personal bubbles will need to be redevolped as well as openly staring! Remember that nothing is as it seems in China - it is the opposite!