Here's Your Sign

I am just now getting to #1 on my Spring Break to-do list, making signs for The Mission Field. You simply must know the story of The Mission Field...

My good friend and partner in ministry, Gina, thought it would be really neat if The Mission planted a garden to help supplement our food pantry through the summer until we have our food drive in the fall. Everyone agreed this would be a great thing. Well, a few days passed and Gina simply mentioned the idea to someone who knew someone who knew someone. Bottom line--9 city lots right in the heart of Gunter were leased to The Mission free of charge for the purpose of this community garden! Elation!

The day of the first plow was exciting! Until we noticed the substantial layer of ROCK that was being pulled to the surface. Come to find out, our garden had been a parking lot in a former life. I know nothing about gardening, but apparently rocky soil is bad business for growing stuff. As the guy from Love and Logic would say, "Bummer."

One night we were sitting around talking with Clayton and Lindsey about the garden and I distinctly remember someone saying that the garden would need a good 4 to 6 inches of premium soil spread over the whole thing if we were going to get anything to grow. Well, a few days later I got this email from Gina asking me to pray because she was expecting a phone call about some dirt. I said okay, hung up, and began to pray for something I can honestly say I had never prayed for before--dirt?!

No more than 30 minutes passed before I got a message from Gina in my inbox. Opened it. Just guess what it said! Can you guess? Um, hm. That's right. A very generous man donated $5000 worth of dirt for the garden! And do you know how many inches of dirt that is across the whole thing? 4 to 6.

Well, if that don't beat all!

Do I need a "sign" to know when God's around? Nope, He's always there. I know that, but I like it when he yells like this...as if to say "I am opening this door for you. Come on in!" I believe with all my heart that this garden is for His Kingdom purposes and I am humbled to be a part of it.

You may be wondering how I can be a part of it, with my purple thumb and all. Well, I figured we needed signs so I'm making those. So far we have people doing corn, peppers, cantaloupe, cucumbers, green beans, and more. These are all managed through the adopt-a-crop program. If you or someone you know would be interested in harvesting your very own crop for the Glory of God, then let me know and I will get you hooked up asap.

I absolutely can not end this post about signs without mentioning one of my favorite signs, considering its relevance to this topic. When I was growing up, as I walked out of church on Sunday mornings from a building that is now a funeral home and curiously located no more than 50 feet from our garden, I would look up and see a sign that always captured my attention. The sign read: You are now entering the Mission Field. I would think to myself, "But I'm just entering Gunter..."

Exactly.

Miss Gina, here's your sign.