"Living with the Weeds"
 

 The parables of Jesus seem simple; and yet they are filled with meaning.  These teachings are not spoken in a vacuum.  He didn't wander the countryside to spout wise sayings.  The parables emerged as direct responses to specific questions.  Why is there still the reality of evil?  How do we get rid of this evil?

This year, like many, I started my own garden.  In fact, I planted over 100 tomato plants.  Some tell me I'm crazy as I will harvest many times that in tomatoes.  As they grew I watched them and watered them and even spade around them to get rid of the weeds.  Carefully, though, as one quick stroke with the spade and I could have clipped a tomato instead of a weed.

We, too, wonder about the evil in the world, the church, our ministry, and in the racing world of motorsports.  We see that which thwarts God's life-giving and loving intentions, and we name the evil when we see it.

Jesus says of the weeds and the wheat, "Let both of them grow together until harvest" (Matt.13:30).  Don't rush to judgment over what is good or bad.  Allow it to grow so you can observe the qualities of the product. 

Have you been at a sports event and walked past where you thought it would be of no use to waste your time witnessing?  Maybe you ignored the pit crew member who was sitting there with a beer or drink in his hand.  Later to find out someone took the time and witnessed to the individual and now there was a saved person from which could have been lost forever.

I have learned it's not easy to have a small garden and appreciate what it would be like to have a large farm to take care of instead of my 18 by 20 foot space.  We, as ministers, must also take care of what we have been given.  Enjoy yourself, love serving, healing, and teaching.  Most of all enjoy your labors of a fruitful harvest.  Get to work.  AMEN

Mike Williams