New Growth

I think it is official...summer has finally arrived in the San Luis Valley.  Too often throughout the long winter it feels as if summer will never get here...as if the warmth of the sun will never again radiate across our dead lawns, our lifeless gardens, and our cold porches.  But now, with tomato plants producing small yellow blossoms, with baby birds chirping for worms from nest built in the most amazing of locations, we can see that summer has in fact arrived.  We can smell the rain and feel the deep, dark soil of gardens promising future bounty.  We can bask in morning sun, enjoying our coffee and the absolute joy of being in Colorado in June.

Many of us realize that the Bible has a lot to say about gardening and farming...about planting and harvest.  Now I've recently begun to take more and more interest in the subject...in fact, after recently building several raised bed planters I've actually gotten kind of excited about tomatoes and onions, potatoes and celery.  I've enjoyed building compost bins and discovering how stealthy squirrels can be when stealing old lettuce and corn cobs.  Planting and growing for Christians carries an intrinsic double meaning, an integrous understanding of that which is most important...for Christian gardeners this truth is even more so.  1 Corinthians speaks directly to this idea of growth.  Paul is talking to the church in Corinth as they wrestle with issues bogging down the potential of this body.  In Chapter 3, Paul addresses the misplaced loyalty found among the people; in a desire to maintain allegiance to spiritual leaders, some to Paul and some to Apollos, the church has begun to choose sides.  Paul states in verse five, "What, after all, is Apollos?  And what is Paul?  Only servants, through whom you came to believe-as the Lord has assigned to each his task."  Then Paul breaks down his role as a human in verses six and seven:  "I planted the seed.  Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow."

Beloved, as we move forward deeper into the Project 160 vision God has given us, dreaming of seeing satellite campuses of Calvary spread throughout the Valley, we need to hold onto the fact that no matter what we do...no matter how much we work and toil and prepare the soil...God is the one who will make things grow.  God is the one who will build His church.  God is the one who will draw people to Himself and introduce them to His love, grace, and beauty.  This doesn't diminish the fact that we still have a job to do, it simply emphasizes that this is all about the mission of God...it is not about us but rather it has ALWAYS been about Him.  Help me to remember, as I help you, that our mission as Followers of Jesus is to plant and water and fertilize but ultimately God will be responsible for the growth.