My Year of Abiding
My word for 2017 was ABIDE: To remain, continue, stay, dwell, reside, live . In John 15:5, Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Last January, God gave me a perfect illustration for my word. Over the previous month, n orthern California had received 20 inches of rain. Finally, the five-year drought had ended. This was all well and good, except for the little lemon tree in our back yard that was loaded down with a huge crop of lemons. With the soaking wet ground and the citrus trees’ shallow root system, the little tree just couldn’t take it. One winter night, it silently crashed and burned. Just like that, it fell over. Bam! In an effort to save the poor thing, we cut off two branches and hoisted it back up, supporting it with some posts. Would it survive? We didn’t know. Time sound tell. Meanwhile, Don had to leave on an extended trip, so we just left the lopped