Many years ago Parson Rayphe use to have a favorite song by a
country music artist who was most popular in the 1960-1970's named, Merle Haggard. The song title was "Are the
Good Times Really Over" The song begins by saying "I wish a buck was still silver, and it was back, when the
country was strong". If you're interested (we hope you're not), you can here the song by clicking here and scrolling down to the bottom of the page to the video.
But what makes a country strong? Strong people.
What makes strong people? People who have a firm reliance
upon Almighty God and His ways. As part of Living Water Ministries the Classroom offers a course in basic gardening.
Back in the 1940's, during World War II, many things were in short
supply; food was one of them. Unlike today, when the government is trying to regulate small farms into extinction; Back then the American government at least pretended
to want what was best for the American people. And
so in order to meet the need of a slight food supply during the war, the
American government actually encouraged Americans to produce "Victory gardens".
As a result, Victory gardens sprouted up all over
the country: from city alley ways to rural farms. It was the victory garden that fed many American families
during those years. People were stronger then. Obesity wasn't at epidemic proportions and people were willing
to work for what they received.
But
we have adopted the term "Victory Garden" because we believe it is still one avenue
on the road to victory. It is one way to fight rising food costs, inflation and chemically
saturated fake foods.
This is in keeping with one of the distinctions of Yahweh God's
people; generally, we are an agriculturally based society. An
agricultural society is by nature in touch and "in tune" with Yahweh's
Creation flowing and working with it rather than against it.
While it may be challenging, in today's world, for all of us to live
on a farm; One of the ways that almost all of us can all get a little closer to Yahweh God is by tending to a garden.
Could there be a reason that Yahweh created the first man and woman and placed them in a garden?
To many of us a garden is completely foreign and often somewhat intimidating; but it needn't be so.
Like people, gardens come in all shapes, sizes and varieties
and they can be adapted in a variety of ways to suit your needs. If you live in an apartment perhaps you can borrow
a small plot
in a friend's back yard or focus on sprouting and / or container gardening. If you do live where you have, even a small
amount of, available ground there are extremely creative ways to make the most use of it. Whatever your situation the important
thing is to do something.
Commit today, in a determined way, to stay on the
road to victory!
Victory gardens don't need to be
large. Start out small. Every
little bit helps.
He causeth the grass to grow
for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may ring forth food out of the earth Ps 104:14
The video on the left was produced by the American
government during WWII. It's approximately 21 minutes long, gives you a feel for the "Victory Garden's" role
in the lives of American's, and encourages the production of "Victory Gardens".
We
don't necessarily advocate these methods of gardening and we certainly discourage the seemingly liberal use of chemicals but
the video is kind of fun to watch and is also a little enlightening.
The video on the right
is nearly one hour and fifty minutes long. It addresses the disruption of the food supply by chemical corruption.
While it may be challenging, in today's world, for all of us to live
on a farm; One of the ways that almost all of us can all get a little closer to Yahweh God is by tending to a garden.
Could there be a reason that Yahweh created the first man and woman and placed them in a garden?
