CARL’S GARDEN

Carl was a quiet man. He didn't talk much. He would always greet you with a big smile and a firm handshake. Even after living in our neighborhood for over 50 years, no one could really say they knew him very well. Before his retirement, he took the bus to work each morning. The lone sight of him walking down the street often worried us. He had a slight limp from a bullet wound received in WWII. Watching him, we worried that although he had survived WWII, he may not make it through our changing uptown neighborhood with its ever-increasing random violence, gangs, and drug activity.

When he saw the flyer at our local church asking for volunteers for caring for the gardens behind the minister's residence, he responded in his characteristically unassuming manner. Without fanfare, he just signed up. He was well into his 87th year when the very thing we had always feared finally happened. He was just finishing his watering for the day when three gang members approached him. Ignoring their attempt to intimidate him, he simply asked, 'Would you like a drink from the hose?'

The tallest and toughest-looking of the three said, 'Yeah, sure,' with a malevolent little smile. As Carl offered the hose to him, the other two grabbed Carl's arm, throwing him down. As the hose snaked crazily over the ground, dousing everything in its way, Carl's assailants stole his retirement watch and his wallet, and then fled. Carl tried to get himself up, but he had been thrown down on his bad leg. He lay there trying to gather himself as the minister came running to help him. Although the minister had witnessed the attack from his window, he couldn't get there fast enough to stop it.

'Carl, are you okay? Are you hurt?' the minister kept asking as he helped Carl to his feet. Carl just passed a hand over his brow and sighed, shaking his head. 'Just some punk kids. I hope they'll wise-up someday.' His wet clothes clung to his slight frame as he bent to pick up the hose. He adjusted the nozzle again and started to water. Confused and a little concerned, the minister asked, 'Carl, what are you doing?' 'I've got to finish my watering. It's been very dry lately,' came the calm reply.

Satisfying himself that Carl really was all right, the minister could only marvel. Carl was a man from a different time and place. A few weeks later the three returned. Just as before their threat was unchallenged. Carl again offered them a drink from his hose. This time they didn't rob him. They wrenched the hose from his hand and drenched him from head to foot in the icy water. When they had finished their humiliation of him, they sauntered off down the street, throwing catcalls and curses, falling over on another laughing at the hilarity of what they had just done.

Carl just watched them. Then he turned toward the warmth giving sun, picked up his hose, and went on with his watering.

The summer was quickly fading into fall Carl was doing some tilling when he was startled by the sudden approach of someone behind him. He stumbled and fell into some evergreen branches. As he struggled to regain his footing, he turned to see the tall leader of his summer tormentors reaching down for him. He braced himself for the expected attack.

'Don't worry old man, I'm not gonna hurt you this time.' The young man spoke softly, still offering the tattooed and scarred hand to Carl. As he helped Carl get up, the man pulled a crumpled bag from his pocket and handed it to Carl. 'What's this?' Carl asked. 'It's your stuff,' the man explained. 'It's your stuff back, even the money in your wallet. ''I don't understand,' Carl said. 'Why would you help me now?'

The man shifted his feet, seeming embarrassed and ill at ease. I learned something from you, he said. I ran with that gang and hurt people like you. We picked you because you were old and we knew we could do it. But every time we came and did something to you, instead of yelling and fighting back, you tried to give us a drink. You didn't hate us for hating you. You kept showing love against our hate.' He stopped for a moment. I couldn't sleep after we stole your stuff, so here it is back.'

He paused for another awkward moment, not knowing what more there was to say. That bag's my way of saying thanks for straightening me out, I guess. And with that, he walked off down the street. Carl looked down at the sack in his hands and gingerly opened it. He took out his retirement watch and put it back on his wrist. Opening his wallet, he checked for his wedding photo. He gazed for a moment at the young bride that still smiled back at him from all those years ago.

He died one cold day after Christmas that winter. Many people attended his funeral in spite of the weather. In particular the minister noticed a tall young man that he didn't know sitting quietly in a distant corner of the church. The minister spoke of Carl's garden as a lesson in life. In a voice made thick with unshed tears, he said, 'Do your best and make your garden as beautiful as you can. We will never forget Carl and his garden.'

The following spring another flyer went up. It read: 'Person needed to care for Carl's garden.'
The flyer went unnoticed by the busy parishioners until one day when a knock was heard at the minister's office door. Opening the door, the minister saw a pair of scarred and tattooed hands holding the flyer. I believe this is my job, if you'll have me, the young man said. The minister recognized him as the same young man who had returned the stolen watch and wallet to Carl. He knew that Carl's kindness had turned this man's life around. As the minister handed him the keys to the garden shed, he said, 'Yes, go take care of Carl's garden and honor him.'

The man went to work and, over the next several years, he tended the flowers and vegetables just as Carl had done. In that time, he went to college, got married, and became a prominent member of the community. But he never forgot his promise to Carl's memory and kept the garden as beautiful as he thought Carl would have kept it. One day he approached the new minister and told him that he couldn't care for the garden any longer. He explained with a shy and happy smile, 'My wife just had a baby boy last night, and she's bringing him home on Saturday.'

'Well, congratulations!' said the minister, as he was handed the garden shed keys. 'That's wonderful! What's the baby's name?' 'Carl,' he replied.
That's the whole gospel message simply stated!

I teach in a Christian School; therefore, it is acceptable, expected and normal that we pray in our classes every day. My hat goes off to our Christian Teachers in the Public School system who are true missionaries functioning in ministry under true restraints upon their freedoms analogoud to those working in Communist, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist nations! Please consider the following paryerfully. ~ Bob

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[Editor’s Note: The poem below has been circulating through the internet for quite a few years now. Whether you agree with every portion of it or not, please read through it carefully and then the Editor’s Comment and Call to Prayer that follows. Thank you, and God Bless!]


NEW PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Since the Pledge of Allegiance and The Lord's Prayer are not allowed in most public schools anymore, because the word "God" is mentioned.... A kid in Arizona wrote the attached
NEW School prayer:

Now I sit me down in school Where praying is against the rule For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's "inappropriate" to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such "judgments" do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.

It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen

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Editor’s Note: Brethren, the evangelical church slept through a number of situations and attacks upon our religious freedoms over the past 40+ years for which we must sincerely repent. In addition, it is time for us to awaken to our calling and our responsibility to bring Christ and His Kingdom to this nation and to the nations of the world! Jesus did not say that we should hope to hear our Father say to us after we have lived out the course of our lives here, “Well thought . . .” or “Well intentioned . . . .” Rather, we must live in such a way as to hear Him say, “Well done good and faithful servant!”

It is time for us to become passionately involved in this culture, so as to be the true light and salt that Christ said we are (Matthew 5:13-16). We must pray daily for those in authority and call God’s Spirit to move upon them with the blessings of righteousness, to pray for their salvation and to cry out for a call to change and conform them to His will, whether we agree with them or not! We must pray for our President daily, both now and in the future regardless of his/her name and/or party, now and in the future. We must pray for our Supreme Court Justices, our Senators and our Representatives in Congress. We must also pray fervently for those in authority in our state and local governments. Finally, we must become actively involved in some area of service to the society we live in, wherever that may be for each one of us as the Father has called us.

Let us truly be and live as Ambassadors of Reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:20) speaking life, blessings, salvation, healing, deliverance, and provision to every person and situation we encounter every day of our lives, to the Glory of God, in Jesus’ Holy Name! Amen!!

May God richly bless you and your loved ones, Beloved!
May the Lord guide and keep you as we enter into this new year 2011.
May we be people who know, live and express true thanksgiving for all that we have and all that He has done for us. May we approach the celebration of this year with awe and wonder. Refresh and renew us, we pray, O God.

Shalom! ~ Bob Preston