Skip to main content

to be a tree



This morning I was thinking about seeds. If you plant a radish seed, you are going to get fruit in about 2 or 3 weeks. If you plant annual flowers you will have flowers for one season. But I have a magnolia tree in my front garden. It takes about 5 years for its roots to get established. But once it grows, it becomes a very large tree that can live for a few hundred years. Many churches are sewing radish and marigold seeds. They are getting quick “fruit”. And I am wondering why we don’t want our people to be trees? It takes years for trees to be “established”, but then they remain. In October we will be studying Bonhoeffer in our church. If you have ever read the cost of Discipleship you will understand he was not asking the church to grow radishes.
“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession...Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

chicken coop idea

Why not start with an IBC and cut a hole for the door? You could build closed laying boxes into it, and something for the chickens to roost on. Put some straw or saw dust on the floor. You could add vents to the side for air. If it sat inside a chicken run that you can walk into, the chickens could be safe, dry and happy. I have an extra IBC. Maybe this could be my chicken house? I bet I could even plant the outside of it with mud and grass for extra insulation and good looks.
4 comments
Read more

The Opel Agilia

I think I don't want to spend the money for the VW New Beetle. It's a very cute and safe car, but cost about 17,000Euros new. I can find it for 13,000Euros (this is the most basic model) but that's more then I would want to spend. I don't really drive that much. I'm pretty cheep at heart. I need real value for my money. I keep thinking we really should take advantage of the money Germany is offering to trade old cars in for 2500Euros towards a new car. If I buy a car that's around 10,000 Euros, then the Government is actually going to pay 25% of the cost of that car. That's really a very good deal. Since I know I will need a new car in the near future, I feel I should get a new 10,000 Euro car. The Opel Agilia is around 9,900 Euros. It's got 5 doors, and room for 5. It is pretty safe, and comes with a 6 year warranty. I would not call it my dream car, but I could easily afford it. I'm trying to be wise here. There are other cars in thi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reading Kingdom

I am very happy to review the Reading Kingdom.   This is an online program that uses a variety of methods to teach reading.   I decided to share this product with my adopted granddaughter Ruth.   Reading kingdom uses a six skills integrative method Ruth only just began to use the program. She is only 3 years old and cannot use the program without help.   But her mom says that she can already recognize words like girl and kids when they are shown on the screen.   Sylvia wrote that she loves the repetition of the words in the program .   That Ruth is memorizing the words she sees.     She will be able to use it for an entire year.   But I expect her to become a very good reader.   And what a great gift to give to any child!   She will have a lifetime love for books.     Sylvia also works with teenage mothers in Uganda.   And many of these women have never attended school.   So she plans to use these ideas to h...
Post a Comment
Read more