Freedom Fries and Stayin' Alive

What's in a name?

A lot.

Discord can happen by the slightest of offenses.

Controversy:  A dispute between sides holding opposing views; turned in an opposite direction.

It is not uncommon to have controversy.

Freedom fries was a word coined to offset the discord of opposing views over a war.

There are so many wars going on everywhere. Not just big wars and the threat of world war three, but wars in families, wars among siblings, wars on drugs, wars on poverty.

Mercy, mercy me.

Controversy. Imagine having a wine rack in the middle of a church community garden. As if that isn't enough to make people talk. And then start choosing sides?

But, because of the controversy over a war, a local liquor store decided to remove any reference to France; so Grace Chapel Community Garden was the fortunate recipient of a wire wine bottle display rack that resembles the Eiffel Tower.

We now have a cucumber plant growing at it's feet and hope it will support the growth upwards and off the ground to help keep pesky little critters from eating them before we can.

Grace Chapel has been being blessed from all directions. Sometimes it can seem that the struggle will be uphill forever. But then all of a sudden a corner is turned and the struggle becomes delight. New, good things are happening with every turn from there. Friends of members, friends of friends of members and just members of the community at large are showing up with gifts and offerings. Angels are appearing.

Recently Grace Chapel was given the gift of a park model mobile building. It was a lot of work making it ready to move and then to move it.
Pastor Lupe told the donor, "Sure, we'd love to have it. Sure we can move it within two weeks."
Then he wondered, "How are we ever going to do all that?!"

Angels.

Suddenly there was help to ready it. And from nowhere came a young man with a truck that seemed too small to do the job but got it done, indeed he did.

Angel.

One Angel striped the purple paint off the new church doors, another dressed them up with a cross, refinished them and put them up for us all to walk through.

Are we blessed or what?

Then, as if that all isn't enough, Dana of Dana's Upholstery in Benson, Master Gardener, friend of a member, member of the community at large, donated all kinds of her Heirloom, green-house, personally hand-started plantings and offered up all kinds of friendly advice for how to get the garden growing.

Sometimes it's almost more than we can keep up with. Almost more joy than we can keep to ourselves.

But we are NOT complainin', mind you!

And we know that once we empty our blessings back out to our friends and the community that we love, we will have an empty cup that can be filled up again.

And that's just exactly how we like it.

We don't prefer controversy. We don't like turning in opposite directions. We like having Pot Blessed gatherings and sharing our thoughts peacefully and harmoniously in our laugh-a-minute Wednesday night home meetings. We want to share what we have and care about our friends and sometimes even our enemies.

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;" Matthew 5:44

So thank you all for loving us back and giving us the things that you have. We are feeling encouraged and seeing the growth that we hope will result in blessings back to you.

Now, if we can just keep all those lovely plants alive.

Calling all green-thumbed Angels!