Ladomato Living

Well, when we think of the mercy of God, what comes to mind? Being spared from dying? Narrowly escaping a major physical injury? Having miraculous healing by the power of God? Amen, these things are all signs of the mercy of God. We also see His mercy in day-to-day ways that show His power and goodness to us. “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.” Psalm 127:1

After Jackie finished canning for a week, things needed to be put away so I assisted her in taking the jars from the garage down to the basement to the canning shelf I had built last year. It is an adjustable shelf that allows for moving the pegs and changing the shelf heights accordingly. After taking the 24 quarts of peach jars down and loading them on a shelf, I was concerned with the amount of gap that was showing at the side of the shelf. Our basement floor is not completely level so the shelf has a slight skew to it that makes a gap appear at the end of the shelf. I thought, that needs some extra screws in that shelf to permanently secure it and make sure the jars don’t come crashing down. After loading the shelf with peaches that meant the top shelf was half full of grape juice, the second shelf was completely full with peaches, the third shelf was lined with cherry jam, pickles and salsa, the fourth was partially loaded with quarts of tomatoes and the fifth shelf had tomatoes and frosting. So it was a loaded shelf. I went outdoors to clean up some boxes and take them outside to give back to my mom who had let Jackie borrow them for the canning prep. As I was outside cleaning up and getting things arranged, Jackie hurried out looking for me. She wanted to know what had happened? I looked inquisitively at her wondering what she was talking about. She said, “I heard a huge crash and wondered if you were hurt!”

“No,” I replied, “I have been outside here working.”

Then it dawned on me, the shelves had come crashing down while I was outside. Oh no!

“Was it a big crash you heard?” I inquired of Jackie.

“Yes, very big, in fact, it was more than one crash.”

I was quite grieved and a bit frustrated that I had just ruined the work Jackie and Ruth had so painstakingly and faithfully completed. All week’s canning, plus last year’s tomatoes, pickles, salsa, jelly, grape juice¦I was getting sick to my stomach.

“Let’s go look at it.” I sighed.

As we went down into the basement, each step down the stairs drew us closer and closer to ground zero of the devastation. As we turned the corner to view the wreckage I stood and stared in amazement. All the shelves were sitting on top of each other stacked nicely at the bottom of the shelf with all of the jars still on the shelves! It was a miracle. One peach jar had fallen off the second shelf about 3 feet up and hit the basement floor. The canning lid did not even come ajar and the quart jar did not break. Mind you, the entire shelf was filled with glass jars! Nothing broke or was damaged. As the second shelf of peaches had given way to the weight, it slammed down on the third shelf bending the pegs and releasing it to crash down on the forth shelf. The forth did the same, until shelves 2, 3 and 4 were all perched so carefully on the bottom shelf, it was as if an angel had gently set them down making sure nothing was damaged. We cried out to the Lord in joy and thanksgiving for His marvelous mercy on behalf of men. We truly remembered that “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.” Psalm 127:1 Today, I plan to put screws in ALL the shelves now that God has been so merciful to us, even when our building skills lack. He is the perfect builder and defender!

While out planting this year and preparing for the upcoming growing season, we have sought to be diligent about our crops. Now going into our third year of marriage and having a little experience with the garden and our fruit trees, we are learning how important “diligence” is in the yield of a good crop. We can do 90% of the hard work of tilling, planting, watering, thinning, pruning and more, but if we don’t weed and watch for harmful bugs and animals, our harvest can be completely ruined. What a waste that would be! This year we have resorted to a 2 ft fence around our leafy vegtables so the many rabbits don’t eat them for dinner–like last year. We also sprayed the fruit trees to ward off germs and mildew that is common in Michigan and can ruin an entire crop of pears. We also put a frost blanket over the tender garden plants when there was a late-season frost warning in mid-May. All this reminds us of the parable of the sower that Jesus taught. Let’s look at that parable:

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”–(Mark 4:9)

This parable was taught by Jesus to the multitudes while he was by the Sea of Galilee. He described what happens to many who hear the Word of truth, and how they respond to it, and the results that are produced. He was concerned with more than fields, crops and vineyards, he was concerned with God and how people were responding to Him. Here Jesus gives us the interpretation of the parable and what it means to us in a fast food generation. Yes, we still have farms and fields and farmers who sow the seed, but we have yet a greater need and an ever-present subject to grapple with: the destiny and souls of men in light of God’s kingdom. Let us see how this parable of truth pertains to our day:

“The farmer sows the word.

Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. ¹⁷But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ¹⁸Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; ¹⁹but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²⁰Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop–thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”–(Mark 4:14-20)

So our lives are like soil and seeds and in need of care and tending, just like a field. If we aren’t diligent about our salvation, we will not produce a crop. So you and I must ask the question, “How does the soil of my life look? Is my heart good soil that is rich for producing good fruit that leads to eternally life?” If you are living for selfish pleasures or focused on entertainment, then those are weeds in your garden. You may understand and teach the truth of God, but it will not be producing what God desires. You may pray, go to church and do deeds you consider to be good, but what does God really think of your lifestyle and your field? The Scripture says that if you give everything you have to the poor or even go to the point of dying for your beliefs but don’t have love it profits nothing (1 Corinthians 13). So how do we come to know love and show love? Is it by trying hard to follow a set of rules? The only way we can love is to first receive the love that God has for us. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). If you have sinned in your life, then you are incapable of pleasing God (for God demands holiness). The only way to become right with Him is to repent and believe in the sacrifice that He has sent. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. ³⁶ He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:35-36). So if we are going to submit to God, to follow His ways and to live in a way that pleases Him, we must believe in him whom God has sent. “And we have seen and do testify that God has sent his Son, Jesus, to be the savior of the world” (1 John 4:14).

Do you remember about the patriarch Abraham when God tested him with his son Isaac? What was the way for Isaac, the son of Abraham, to be saved from the power of death? He had to trust in God and accept the sacrifice that God provided in his place. God provided a ram caught in the bushes to be offered instead of Isaac. You see, all sin requires a reckoning and a retribution because sin is lawlessness, disobedience and rebellion which leads to destruction for every person unless it is stopped. All throughout time, atonement for sin has been accomplished by the shedding of blood, of a bull, a goat or a ram of some sort. Yet these sacrifices were really only a reminder of sin, because even the ones who offered the sacrifice had sinned and need to be cleansed. So what is the answer? How can we all be made pure and right with God? “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). “For he [God] hath made him [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him [Jesus]” (2 Corinthians 5:21). So who are we to say to God, “I have a better way”? Who can say, “I am pure and have kept myself from sin”? Who of you can instruct God, who alone is wise and gives wisdom? Who can say, “God I don’t need what you provide”? The Scriptures say to not receive God’s grace in vain. So if God provides His grace and we reject or discount its value, then we in turn are disgracing and rejecting Him who gives us this grace. “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

Let us access the tool of grace that God gives to all who trust Him. With that tool we can resist the devil and his atempts to rob our crop and spoil our labors. Jesus said that he who continues to the end will be saved. May it be so in our lives and gardens and also in yours.

–Giampaolo

It seems hard to believe that summer is quickly coming to a close here in Michigan, and harvest time is already upon us!

Last week, our younger sister, Ruth, came and helped Jackie can tomatoes and to harvest and make juice from our grapes. It was a very busy 2 days as they worked all day gathering and processing the fruit. While last year our grape harvest was very scant, this spring we pruned our grapevine for the first time, and what a difference it made. John 15 came to life as we harvested an amazing 4 bushels of grapes-6 1/2 gallons of juice this year, as compared to 1 1/2 gallons last year!

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit…. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned…. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

We want to be like our fruitful vine: bearing much good fruit, to the glory of the Father. And He prunes us of all blight, disease and misspent endeavors so we will be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

While we rejoiced in our abundant grape harvest, Jackie was caught a bit by surprise by the drastic increase of fruit, and she found at the last minute (after she had already purchased a bushel and a half of tomatoes from the Farmer’s Market) that she had planned a bit too much for two days’ time. She had planned to process grapes in one day… and tomatoes the next. Alas, Proverbs says, “A man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”

As we looked at the 2 bins full of grapes, weighing a total of about 75 pounds, we were reminded of Jesus words, “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest” (Luke 10:2). The harvest was, indeed, ready–spilling over onto the floors, in need of immediate attention, lest it should spoil and be wasted. But the difficulty was finding hands enough to process this bountiful harvest. Thankfully, Mom Allen, and friends Teresa and Kerry were willing to come over in the evening and lend some extra hands to get all that harvest in before it spoiled! But what about that Great Harvest?

A couple weeks ago, Giampaolo shared with the fellowship from Matthew 22 and Luke 14 about the Great Wedding Feast. The Master of the Banquet sent out servants to invite men to come to the banquet which He had prepared for them. But these men were not willing to come. The Master, rich in mercy, sent out His servants again to invite these men to the banquet. “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to my wedding.” But the Scriptures tell us that these men made light of this invitation. They went their ways: one to his own farm, another to his business, another to his wife…

What a sobering thought to think that we could be unwilling to respond to or that we would make light of the Lord’s invitation to us to come to His wedding feast! Are we so caught up in our fields, our families, our plans, that we are missing the will of God for our lives? The time of the harvest is upon us, and near at hand. God is calling a people who will be willing to work out their salvation with fear and trembling and to live blameless lives that shine like stars in the universe as they hold forth the Word of life (Philippians 2:12-16). He is yearning for a people who will turn many to righteousness. He is looking for a faithful bride who will not compromise out of the fear of man or the desire to be popular with her peers. He is looking for shepherds who will feed the flock and not only themselves–not taking advantage and gain from the sins of others but being willing to snatch others from the very fires of hell that seek to lick up the souls of men. May we be found making every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him–about His business and not just our own–when He returns.

“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. Will the Son of Man find faith on earth when He returns?” Will that faith be in you?

Laboring in His Harvest Fields,

Giampaolo & Jackie