I’ve been having fun with Juan lately; I find he is an exceptionally classy guy. One of the things that really make this easy to see is the way he tries to please folks around him. He is very calm, very patient, and very trusting. He’s also got this conscience thing going.

What I mean by that is when I tease him about writing a bulletin he takes me seriously. Instead of just throwing a “whatever” at me, he actually thinks about doing one. He feels empathy for me, and in his “let me help you” way he tries to see how he could do me this favor. When I pretend I just can’t do it without his help, he is quite uncomfortable because he really does want to help me. Sucker!

Anyway, Juan doesn’t know a lot of bible stories yet. He is a newer convert and that’s a pretty big book to read and remember so much from! But I was quite impressed with how much he did know, and since the building cleaning today was spent mostly cutting back the trees and brush from the sides of our lot he tried to use the task to help out.

For instance, Juan noted that plants that are not wanted are uprooted. He didn’t remember the Lord had said that every plant which God had not planted would be rooted up, but he was quick to see how that could apply. When we do things God’s way, he is the sower. When we plant things our own way, they are not acceptable by God.

Juan also noticed we were cutting off lots of branches. I asked him if he’d heard about how God had broken some branches off and cast them away, while other branches (the Gentiles) he’d grafted in, in their place. No, but it made sense to him that when a branch was no good, when we are not bearing fruit for God, that he will break us off and cast us away. So there ya go!

Finally, Juan noticed that branches we cut off were dead – that they had no life in them. God says I am the vine and ye are the branches. Juan knows that branches don’t live when they are apart from the root, just as we cannot live if we are apart from God! In that he and I have hearty agreement.

I love talking to Juan, and I know it won’t be long that he will read all these passages and stories for himself. Actually, I admit that I envy him – when I read the bible for the first time, many of these books were fantastic. They really cemented my faith. I have read and re-read them since then but that magic first time is past me, which Juan has yet to experience. The book of Job. The book of James! The mysterious Song of Solomon. And of course a good study like one of the Gospels. What a treat he has in store for him.

There was one thing he didn’t notice today though that I thought about later. All those little wanna-be trees that grow up around the big trees. The big trees are where it’s at, they provide the home for birds, have pretty leaves, etc. The little viney stuff we cut out, it simply tries to snake through the tree and rob it of sunlight and rain. Know what many folks call those serpent like grows that bear no fruit but try to steal from trees that do? Suckers! Must be a bulletin there somewhere…

Randy