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June 2003

Dear Saints:

I trust that the flowers in your yard are blooming with all the rain we have been having lately. Isn’t this time of year great with the flowers budding and everybody getting their gardens in shape? Maria and I enjoy going to the different nurseries around the area and see the plants, shrubs, trees and flowers they have to sell. No matter which nursery we visit, they are all busy with customers. As a regular visitor to these nurseries I noticed that all their flowers with all their different colors, smells, shapes and sizes can be categorized in to two basic categories, perennial and annual. The Perennial comes back every year but the Annual plant only lives for that season - it doesn’t come back next year. We once bought a beautiful grass and planted it in the back yard. The plant grew and was just gorgeous, especially around the fall; we could hardly wait until the next year to see it go through the seasonal changes again. To our saddened hearts it never came back in the spring. We inquired from the nursery where we had purchased it and found out our ornamental grass was an annual not a perennial.

I am not a plant expert. I do not know why some plants have the ability to come back year after year, season after season. While others only have the ability to grow one season then the winter comes and kills them. It may be that the roots of annuals don’t go far enough into the ground to survive the winter. I just don’t know. As I thought on this it occurred to me that in the church we have "Perennial Christians" and "Annual Christians." Just like the flower, the Perennial Christian has their roots growing deep into the Rock Christ Jesus. They can survive winter after winter and as each year passes they grow more fruitful. But the Annual Christian bears fruit for just one season. When the harsh winter sets in on their lives they give up. They simply don’t make it to the next spring. Is it possible for an annual plant to bear fruit for two seasons? The answer is yes! But only if that plant is brought inside and taken care of by the gardener during the harsh winter. That is where and annual plant can survive to produce fruit again in the next spring. This is the church’s responsibility to the Annual Christian. We are to harbor the Annual Christians, love them and nourish them and allow the gardener of the church (Jesus) to take care of them. With his love and care he can do what gardeners only dream of, he can change an annual into a perennial. All plants need the gardener’s care, but it is the gardener’s desire that all his plants would produce fruit year after year. We can do this by staying in his church and in his hands.

Join us for Friday night fellowship at our house (6719 Oleatha Ave.) on June 6^th and 20^th. An old friend of ours, Pastor Hal Santos from Grace Church in Belleville, Ilinois will be ministering in the service on Sunday, June 22^nd. We love you and appreciate being "planted" with you at Zion City Church.

Looking forward to growing with you.

Pastor Rick