Good Shepherd Lutheran Church / Tuesday, March 23, 2021 / Categories: Publications, Daily Devotions Daily Devotion by Deacon Debbie Jones 1Cor. 3:6 I (Paul) planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. Outside of my work at Good Shepherd, I like to volunteer at a Community Garden that raises food for local soup pantries. I also like to cook. Just ask my husband, Steve, how many spices I have. He will tell you over 200! We have an agreement that if I cook, he will serve as the quality control taste tester and dishwasher/loader. Somehow this arrangement seems to work. But sometimes no matter how much I have looked after a plant or followed a recipe perfectly, my efforts have failed. The plant dies or the recipe tastes awful. Over 30 years ago, Steve and I served a declining congregation in Toledo, Ohio. 60% of the homes in the neighborhood had a single parent raising children. The church had a huge gymnasium. Steve and I were convinced that the church had a great opportunity to minister to the neighborhood by creating an afterschool program, offering tutoring and an open gym. No matter how hard we tried, we could not make this happen. Our efforts failed, or so we thought. Looking on Facebook we now see that the church serves a diverse population, and do you know what? It houses a local food pantry, offers an afterschool tutoring program and an open gym. I am not sure how many years this took to happen, but it did and is much better than anything we could have imagined. We may have planted the seed, but it took other folks to help the seed germinate and blossom. Last March I was faced with putting our Traditional Services online. I realized I had no idea how to do this. Watching Zoom Webinars and countless YouTube videos gave me some ideas of what to do. However, I still could not do this alone. Then appeared Mark Buelsing who knew how to develop a worship window for our online worship and Frank Wiewandt who had the equipment and skills to record our sermons. Their gifts combined with the gifts of Pastors and staff helped us continue to worship even when the church was closed. In my faith journey I know that sometimes I may be a planter. Other times I may be the waterer. Sometimes I will not know how I fit into God's plan. I also know that I always have a sense of hope when planting a seed or beginning a new recipe. This hope gives my life joy and purpose. So, what are you planting or what are you watering for God these days? Picture note: This Amaryllis rebloomed this year after being cut back and hid in a closet for a few weeks. Previous Article Daily Devotion Next Article Daily Devotion Print 6585 Rate this article: 4.5 2 comments on article "Daily Devotion" Kristin Kalsem I loved this Debbie--thank you for sharing your wise words! 3/23/2021 10:20 AM Reply to Danelle Buelsing No matter what you are planting or watering, Debbie, you do it with wisdom and grace. You certainly have risen to the task during this pandemic, and your efforts have been a huge blessing to our congregation. 3/23/2021 11:03 PM Reply to Leave a comment Name: Please enter a name. Email: Please enter an email address. Please enter a valid email address. Comment: Please enter comment. I agree This form collects your name, email, IP address and content so that we can keep track of the comments placed on the website. For more info check our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use where you will get more info on where, how and why we store your data. You must read and accept this rules. Add comment
Danelle Buelsing No matter what you are planting or watering, Debbie, you do it with wisdom and grace. You certainly have risen to the task during this pandemic, and your efforts have been a huge blessing to our congregation. 3/23/2021 11:03 PM