Churchville Trees

Gary and I have been back at plogging which means collecting garbage while on our walks throughout Churchville this spring.  People (Can I call them pigs?) must be very lazy and self-centred if they can’t walk a few steps to throw their refuse in the garbage cans in the parks instead of on the ground.  Oh well, I guess we are not going to change them.  And it is nice to hear someone travelling in their car nearby with their window rolled down yelling out, “Thank you for doing that!”

We do enjoy two beautiful parks buried within Churchville with their tall branching out trees.  It is like walking through a wonderful fairyland, i.e. after the garbage has been picked up. It’s as if we live in the country inside a large city. It reminds me of The Tree Song written by a favourite blind Christian songwriter of ours, Ken Medema.  The lyrics to the first verse are:

I saw a tree by the riverside, one day as I walked along,

Straight as an arrow and pointing to the sky growing tall and strong

How do you grow so tall and strong I said to the riverside tree,

This is the song that my tree friend sang to me.

I’ve got roots growing down to the water,

I’ve got leaves growing up to the sunshine and the fruit that I bear is a sign of life in me,

I am shade from the hot summer sundown,

I am nest for the birds of the heaven,

I’m becoming what the Lord of trees has meant me to be.

This is a significant week for Hillside church as we begin another outreach campaign connecting with Milton communities.  Two hired students, Marion and Kaiya, will train and call homes for 11 weeks to see if people will do a survey and agree to allow the church to communicate with them.  We long to see our church grow tall and strong like the trees, being known for its life, giving shade to the weary and becoming what God wants us to be.  Please pray that Gary will be able to solve some database problems to properly record the information gathered.

Gary unexpectedly connected with our friend Thomas in Myanmar this past week.  People are so afraid living in that country more than ever before.  Thomas has to decide to register his children in the public school or home-school.  Please pray that he, his family and other Christians will be able to endure terrible hardships with strong roots in Christ.

Have you taken the opportunity to watch The Chosen series on the life of Christ with its excellent acting?  Season 2 is now being released found at TheChosen.TV.

May we all take to heart Psalm 1, “Blessed is the one … whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law, day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.  For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.”

Sincerely in Him,

Wendy wendy.carter@kainos.org