The past few days have been an interesting process of dealing with the effect – bad side effects – of changing medications; and of new methods that do not work.  Not the most pleasurable of experiences.

Yesterday we received several hundred pounds of chicken breasts.  The truck bringing it to town was 8 hours late – not a good thing when it has to be processed right away and the time that had been dedicated to doing that was wasted. 

Fortunately Carla had the day off and was able to help in the process – I was not doing well and we would never have finished, but Carla and Teresa, working together got the job done.  We received the chicken so late that Deed had to take hers home – I am sure Josh assisted her with it.

It takes a lot of time, although we got most of it done last night – working late – and finished up canning the last of it this morning.  To can chicken – counting getting the jars ready, cutting up the meat, putting the meat in the jars, cleaning the jars and placing them in the pressure canner – then waiting for the pressure to build, pressure to cook and seal the container (which is 75 minutes itself,) letting the canner cool so the pressure releases (another 40 – 55 minutes by itself) and then removing the jars to a counter for cooling is about 5 hours per canner – about 8 quarts worth of chicken total, although we placed them in pints and half pints.  We worked two canners last night and the last one today.

I took care of the canners.  I have to hand it to Carla’s mother and other women that used the pressure canners on wood stoves.  It is difficult to maintain the constant temperature in pressure canning.  If it goes too high, the liquid can boil out of the jars and not seal properly, too low and there is danger of botulism from not being processed correctly – if the pressure goes below the recipe’s requirement then the pressure must be brought back up and the time starts all over again.

We learned a trick in the OSU classes we took.  We have a canner with a pressure gauge – however, we were told we could obtain weights for the pressure release valve to help maintain the pressure.  In doing so we have learned as long as we hear the quiet wisp of the release valve and not go too low or too loud we are on target, it will warn us if it gets a bit high by the wisp making the weight bobble more and getting louder, then we just turn the temp down a small mite. 

Canning is a hands-on - all the time process, not something you can just walk away from so it is time consuming.  At least we don’t have that hot wood stove to deal with.

We also froze around two-thirds or so of the chicken; total of three canners of pints and half-pints of chicken and the rest processed, bagged, sealed and placed in the freezer for winter. 

Carla wants to can some more green tomato salsa, I thought we would be done, but she also wants to can some special recipe for apple butter – it looks like the Hot Water Canners will stay out a while longer. 

1 Corinthians 3:7-8 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

⁸ Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

In the world people strive to be on top, they want to have more money, more recognition and more power.  To realize that they must make sure that whomever they are working for sees them and compliments them on their work.

It drives some people so hard they will claim the work of others as their own.  They will lie about how much work they actually do, they will use devious means to undermine competitors and make them look bad.

The world is competitive and to get ahead is the show of success.  Numbers of sales, numbers of product made, numbers of merchandise accounted for – no matter the job, there is always a way to stand out; especially if the person points out their ‘superior work.’

Businesses are in competition and the bigger the company the more successful they appear.  The mood there too can be one of deception and or undermining of competitors.  They want credit for their work and if they can’t get it honestly some will resort to dishonesty.

All too frequently man brings that manner of measuring success into the church.  We want our church to be recognized as the best church in the area.  We measure success by numbers of visitors, numbers of converts, size of offering, prestige within the community and many other ways to get people to come to our church.  In the process the Word of God and His Truths can be distorted; the delivery of the Word becomes more important than the actual teaching of the Word. 

People like to feel good about themselves, so they want a church that will also make them feel good about themselves – many don’t’ want to really understand the work that must go into serving God.  If the church meets only the feel good needs of its congregation it does a disservice to them and to God by pacifying this need and not meeting the spiritual needs of the people.  They may have a ‘growing’ church, but it is not one that is pleasing to God.

It is so very difficult not to bring the world’s value system into our spiritual life.  In the world the key is how well WE are doing; with God it is how well we humble ourselves before God.  Being proud of our service to God is contradicting His commands for us to serve Him. 

John 13:5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

And 12-16 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?

¹³ Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

¹⁶ Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

It is not an easy transition.  We know that Jesus expects us to serve and do the lowliest jobs.  We know that He expects us to not strive for greatness in His Work, but to humbly follow His example.  AND we should not be proud of our humbleness...

We must ask ourselves “What is the purpose of my service to God?”  The answer must be an honest one, if we are having difficulty understanding it we should ask God to search our heart, to make it open to Him.  If the answer is anything other than to serve God, then we must re-evaluate our purpose.

We don’t serve to make us feel better, we don’t serve to make converts for Him, we don’t serve to feed the poor, we don’t serve to encourage people to come to Him – we serve because He demands we serve HIM and we serve out of love for Him.  All the things we do should be as a reflection of that service.  Feeding the poor is a work He approves of – but if we aren’t doing it as to Him we are not serving Him.  The same goes with teaching Sunday School, visiting the sick and shut-ins.  The list goes on and on.

The world’s teaching, the world’s method of measuring success should not be in our minds as we serve Him.  The world says a bigger church is a better church; God doesn’t – now that church may be better.  But, if it is it is because the hearts of the people are in tuned to Him, not because it has a larger congregation or building.  It could very well be that in comparing two churches the one with 1000 people is not serving God as well as the one that is in a small community and only has 50 people.

The church in which I was saved had a congregation of about 100-120 people.  People came and went, the numbers always seemed to be the same.  In my mind I couldn’t understand why we didn’t grow – we had revivals, missionary visitations on a regular basis, dedicated lay people a Pastor and his wife that worked hard and taught well. 

Yet, that church produced many Pastors; many people dedicated to God that still live for Him decades later.  It produced people who received the basics in that church and went on to other churches serving in one way or another in them. 

The youth group grew in Christ and brought friends in so they too could find Him.  They were good at making new people feel good about coming to events and services.  The whole church supported the youth, prayed and gave them good council. 

I look back at this church as one blessed by God, in fondness because it was where I was saved, but also in my experiences I can now see the success this church, and its Pastors, had was not in numbers, but in practicing the service to God. 

As Christians we should not consider ourselves as ‘better’ than others, we should not look at the work and deem it unsuccessful simply because it doesn’t produce the numbers we think it should.  We must learn to measure the worth, the success of a life, not by numbers, but by the humbling before God - and the most important person we should evaluate in that regard is ourselves; daily.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again