By Jan Penton-Miller
Columnist

A pleasant breeze drifts through my backyard, almost making me forget that summer is
near. My friend, Karen, and I have been at it again this morning. Our morning walk
morphed into a hunting expedition pretty quickly. We systematically look up plants on
her phone app and dream of our beautiful lush gardens as we walk.
Actually, Karen is relatively new to gardening, but she now has a real case of the
gardening bug. Anytime we find a fellow plant lover outside we engage them in
conversation if they are willing and often leave with a goodie. Most garden lovers enjoy
showing off their glorious displays or works in progress as the case may be, and truly
delight in sharing their bounty.
Today, we toured a beautiful work in progress and did a little foraging of our neighbor’s
plants, with permission of course. I am careful to make sure that anything in the fence is
non-toxic to pets so I was thrilled my forage of the day was safe for Winnie.
Mike has been a real champ about moving dangerous plants to the front yard, and what
looked like a negative has turned out just fine. Now, the front yard is looking lovelier than
before, and the back is not only shaping up with great colors and textures, but it is also a
safe space for Winnie.
I can’t get our Easter service off my mind. We were encouraged to reach out to the
community and invite people to celebrate Christ’s resurrection with us; the results were
phenomenal. Our sanctuary overflowed with worshipers and seekers alike. It doesn’t
take much intelligence at all to know that our world is messed up, and out of order.
People are looking for truth, and hope. There is only One who can reach down and
change a heart, and He is the One we celebrate on Easter.
The message was about the second coming of Christ, and one song in particular spoke
to my heart in a special way. I couldn’t help weeping for joy when we sang “Come Jesus
Come”. I’ll have to ask my grandson, Gauge, to learn to play it on his guitar; he is such a
talented and sweet young man I bet he’ll do that for me. The version I’m listening to on
YouTube right now is Come Jesus Come//Stephen McWhirter// Live From The Writer
Room. Check it out; it’s totally awesome.
The wonderful thing about Sunday was not so much about how many people came to
church, but how many people came in the door one way and walked out another. Jesus
was born and laid in a manger in Bethlehem for the purpose of giving His life on Calvary
for the sin of the world. He is waiting for anyone to cry out to Him for forgiveness of
his/her sins. He promises a new life here on earth and an eternal heavenly home beyond
our comprehension. Come, Jesus, come.