Summer Move

It is time to post again, now that summer has slowed down a bit for us. We started in May to look for a house near the coast. Our time in the mountains was coming to a close. Although we dearly love our friends and community in the mountains, it seemed that it was a wise move to get closer to my husband's director for the work in the Middle East. We looked for a for some months and we were just about to give up!

One day, driving around and seeing so many houses for sale, we pulled up in front of a likely one and in spite of the for sale sign we called and asked if the house might be for rent. It was not, we were informed, but the lady had another house in a village, would we like to see it? We spent a lovely afternoon in the village with her, hearing the whole story of a wonderful revival that took place in the 50's when her uncle went to the States and received the Lord Jesus and was filled with the Holy Spirit. He came back and preached to the village, and many responded positively to his message. It was the beginning of a denomination here on the island of Cyprus. We were excited that we had made a random phone call, and stumbled upon the history of the gospel in Cyprus.

She changed her mind a couple of weeks later and called us back, offering us the original house for rent. We told her our limitations, since we are on a missionary budget, and she graciously agreed to our price. So we moved in the hottest time of the year, right at the beginning of July.

It was hard to part with our mountain home and our friends, but we are near the airport and so expect to see many of them on their journeys into and out of the country. We enjoy a good sea breeze most days, although we are having to cope with high humidity. At least this house has air conditioners for those days when it's just not comfortable and sweat is pouring down our faces. Of course, there is the nearby beach where we can go soak in the water until sundown and cool off.

The back yard of our new home is completely unlandscaped. It brought to mind the Dervais' in Pasadena, California, and the way they transformed their back yard into a garden producing over 6,000 pounds of food in a year. Wow, can we do that here? To some extent perhaps. The house and lot are not ours, we are renting, so that is a limitation, but we have been told we can plant anything and landscape to our hearts' content. I am already envisioning lemon trees, bay laurel, palms, frangipane, and perennial herbs to name a few ideas.

Behind our house are fields. In the mornings, we can see a goatherd who comes to take his goats out for a walk in the cool dawn. There are irrigated fields and greenhouses, or polytunnels as some call them. We are right between two stone Orthodox churches so we hear bells frequently. It is quiet and breezy and we are sure we are right where we need to be for the time being.

We are still dreaming of our land in Missouri. That day will come. In the meantime, we continue to be faithful in all that the Lord has for us in this assignment.

A Garden of Worship

Standing on the south ridge, looking northward over the rolling hills and the creek winding through the bottomland of our property, one consuming desire arises within my heart -- to make it a garden of praise to God -- a place in which every effort is worshipful. I have always believed that work could be worship, but never have I seen it so clearly as when I consider how to shape our land to reflect God's glory.

A garden is a heritage of worship to God that we pass on to the next generation. Long after we are gone, if it is planted and tended well, its life will praise His name. It declares our appreciation of all God's creation. It declares a commitment to pursue a godly heritage for our children. It rejoices in the fruit and the flowers and the grain. It humbly expresses our dependence on God's grace for our daily bread. And, as we worship God in the garden, our praise is not hidden. It can be seen and appreciated by every passerby.

Those with heaven-bound eyes will look on our garden and see an act of praise. Those with earth-bound eyes may only see it as the beautiful but obsessive preoccupation of reality-escape artists. But no matter how they view it, it will bless and inspire nearly everyone and, perhaps, feed more than a few during lean times.

A garden positions us in agreement with the stewardship responsibility God has placed on the human race. It recognizes that mankind was created suitable to this worshipful brand of labor -- to responsibly till the ground and cultivate its wildness. It recognizes both the limits of our temporal nature and the limitlessness of our generational duty. A garden bridges the span between today and tomorrow in a living way.

Cultivating life in a garden is more than a mission. It's a lifestyle birthed in reverence for God. Inseparable from the Divine genesis that first displayed nature's glory or from the redemption that restores it, the cultivation of life is a holy pursuit. Enjoined continuously by mankind from the beginning of time, cultivation is also likely to be part of our eternal destiny -- an eternity that forever celebrates life.

What better place and what better way to celebrate life than to engage as a family in the cultivation of a garden? In this occupation, we feed our children, strengthen their frames for useful labor, and teach them the essential principles of life that all creation shares. In this occupation, we discover together, as family, the wonders of nature and of nature's God. In this occupation, as we all pass through the seasons of life together, we learn to become neighbors willing to help neighbors in need. In this occupation, our genius is bent toward creating implements for the cultivation of life rather than instruments of war.

A garden is a good place from which to worship God and, perhaps, that is why God first placed mankind there (Genesis 2:8). It was in this garden that mankind said to God, 'Not Thy will but mine be done." (Genesis 3:1-6) It was from a garden that God chose to initiate redemption -- the Garden of Gethsemane -- where Jesus prayed, "not My will but Yours be done" (Luke 22:43) and where Jesus was betrayed into the hands of sinful men. And, finally, a garden is part of the consummate venue of God's redemptive plan. Perhaps, that is why much of our most inspiring eschatological Scripture points toward the liberation of creation from its man-engendered corruption (Isaiah 2:4, 35:1-10, 51:3, 55:12-13, 65:21-22, Jeremiah 31:10-14, Ezekiel 36:33-36, 47:6-12, Joel 2:18-27, Amos 9:13-15, Micah 4:1-4, Zechariah 3:10, Romans 8:18-22, Revelation 2:7, 22:1-3).

If there is a garden aspect in heaven, to which mankind is redeemed, I think I would prefer that occupation as the venue of my worship. I would thrill to be a co-laborer with God in the cultivation of life. My faltering contemporary steps toward a more agrarian lifestyle, as clumsy and childlike as they are, are a worshipful, anticipatory attempt to position my heart for that heavenly occupation.

I think a garden is and should be an act of worship toward God. I think a garden passes on a heritage of worship to our children. I think gardens can feed a world increasingly desperate for redemption. I think a garden is the ideal place for the heart of a man to reconnect to the heart of God.

Michael Hennen

Eat Seasonally, Eat Locally

God had a reason for creating food to ripen at certain times. It seems that the nutrients we need are supplied in the right season. Oranges and lemons in the winter, cherries in the spring, eggplant and peppers and zucchini in the summer, sounds Mediterranean to me. The foods we preserve keep us through the winter, but the remainder of the year, fresh seasonal food is the best choice. The picture you see above was taken after a shopping trip to my local grocery store - artichokes and citrus in season!

Most people today have a disconnected view of food. I heard an interview on TV a few years ago with people on the street in Maryland being asked if a certain law regarding farmers should be passed. One woman remarked, "Why do we need farmers? We have the supermarket." I was astounded. Just recently, a friend mentioned to me that it was too bad we couldn't grow certain vegetables out of season, "After all, they are in the supermarket, so why can't we grow them now?" Amazing. She apparently had no idea that these foods were imported from other lands where they were in season, picked too early, gassed and shipped many miles to this island so we could eat the things we want any time we want. This generation is deeply out of touch with the rhythm of life, the changing seasons, and the pace of nature.

I propose that we live more in tune with the seasonal changes of food production. I enjoy the changing vegetable options as the year progresses. On the corner near my house there is a small mom and pop grocery store. I talked to the owner and asked him about his produce. He said, "I buy the vegetables from the farmers here nearby. It is always fresher." I inquired about the rabbit meat and asked where the rabbit farm was. "It is not a farm for rabbits, it is a house where they keep rabbits." Hooray for local food production! It is not organic, but it is local. So I go with local whenever I can.

Our garden about 7 kilometers from our house is organic, but we do not sell the produce. Instead we use it to feed several missionary families that live in the area. We have avoided pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers. One day we were out with everyone hoeing the healthy weeds out, when one person said to me, "Haven't you ever heard of herbicides?" I said, "Yes, first it poisons the weeds, then it poisons you." Another disconnect from the city-raised folks. There is no firewall between the pesticides and herbicides and your own body.

I am happy buying the seasonal vegetables from our corner store. In fact, when I go to the city supermarket to buy my monthly supplies, I skip most of the produce section and save my money for the local stuff closer to home. I would love it if the local farmers would not use chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides, but all the world has bought into the food production paradigm offered by modern industrial agriculture. I buy organic when I can, grow it when I cannot, and then buy locally to enjoy the seasonal variety of foods.

Aimee Hennen 

Shabbat

This is the first Shabbat of this New Year. As we lit the candles at sunset, we thanked the Lord for this new beginning, for the understanding that Yeshua is the Messiah, for the message inherent in the Scriptures and symbolized by the lighting of the two Shabbat candles: God is the Creator and He is our Redeemer. The rabbis say that the candles of Shabbat are a testimony about God's two great acts: creation and redemption.

Yeshua is the light of the world. May HIs light shine in every heart and every home this year.

Gardening in Cyprus

Last year we visited with some dear relatives in Minnesota. They were telling us about their severe drought - they hadn't had rain for a whole month! The crops were failing, farmers were worried.

 We live year round in Cyprus. I had to chuckle about this Minnesota drought, because we don't get rain here from about April to the end of September in a good year. This year (2008) it didn't rain from the end of February until October, Now that's a drought.

This garden picture you see above is from the year 2007. We live in the mountains and the area is an agricultural area. Mostly grapes and olives are grown here, but there are some farmers down the road that keep the local grocery store supplied with fresh produce. It is not organically grown, unfortunately. We have made every effort in our community garden to keep it organic. We wonder when the rain washes the soil from the mountain above us into our garden how organic it really is.

This year I don't have a picture of our garden. We planted it early, but the weather stayed cool and nothing was growing. Then the rain stopped, and we had no well. All there was for water was a foul spring that was filled with frogs and their pee. So we used that until it ran out. We had a week between the time when the frog pee water ran out and the well got dug, and that's all it took to wipe us out. The tomatoes fried, the cucumbers turned white, the corn died at 2 feet tall. But I have to report that the eggplant, the bell peppers, the onions and zucchini all made it. We had a bumper crop of those!

All this to say that water is a precious resource. Here in the Mediterranean it is a critical resource, and one that we must conserve. I am learning to use less water to wash dishes, to save water in the bottom of drinking glasses to pour on my house plants, and to not wash my car although it looks so dusty.

I will never take water for granted again.

Gardening in Cyprus,

Aimee