the harvest

We've been bringing in the harvest. My first day we dug potatoes and garlic. Yesterday it was tomatoes and red onions.

And this morning we started picking corn at 5:30 to be able to send it fresh to the farmer's market in town.

Then I came back, got a cup of coffee, and found the library. There was a book there by Jacques Ellul, on Revelation (a harvest of a different kind). I'd just been reading Revelation so I took a look, and it brought something interesting to my attention. There are only two (of the seven) churches that are not criticized or threatened by the Spirit in Rev 2-3. Smyrna and Philadelphia. Notice how they are described:

"I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich)... Do not fear what you are about to suffer."

"I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word... you have kept my word of patient endurance."

(Contrast this to the description of the church I wrote about a few days ago.)

And the promise to these poor, powerless churches?

"Behold, I will make [your oppressors] come and bow down before your feet, and learn that I have loved you."