Pictured: Rick Bush in 2011, holding his newborn twin boys. In June of 2001, Houston was hit by Tropical Storm Allison. Everything was flooding and destruction. No one could work. I had not seen my friend Rick in a while, so I called him and arranged lunch. Rick and I had met in the fallContinue reading “Words Spoken for a Word-Lover: RICK BUSH AND THE HOUND OF HEAVEN. Psalm 139:7-8.”
Category Archives: Pruned to Bear Fruit/Secrets of the Vine
FRUIT. John 15:8,16.
When I was a boy my parents planted peach trees. For years, they bore only leaves and a bit of shade. Finally, they bore fruit. Fruit trees are like that—they don’t bear much fruit during the first years. We don’t either. But as we get older, God gives us the capacity to bear spiritual fruit:Continue reading “FRUIT. John 15:8,16.”
Leave Things Better. Matthew 21:18-22.
My Boy Scout troop went camping one weekend of every month. As we packed up to go home on Sunday mornings, we would “police the area,” picking up even the tiniest specks of trash. Some bits of trash—such as cigarette butts—were clearly not dropped by any of us, but we picked them up anyway. OurContinue reading “Leave Things Better. Matthew 21:18-22.”
Are You Bearing Fruit? Luke 13:6-9.
God put us here to bear fruit—to make an impact, to nourish and sweeten the world around us. Are you doing that? Does your life bear fruit? In Luke 13, Jesus tells a story about fruit. “And He began telling this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard;Continue reading “Are You Bearing Fruit? Luke 13:6-9.”
JERUSALEM HAS NO RIVER. Ezekiel 47:1-12; John 4:14.
Great cities are built on the water: New York, Cairo, London, Paris, Rome, Tokyo—but not Jerusalem. This world capital, a sacred destination to billions of Christians, Jews, and Muslims—has no river, no port, no shipping. Jerusalem is landlocked. But in Heaven the New Jerusalem will be the source of the greatest river: “There was waterContinue reading “JERUSALEM HAS NO RIVER. Ezekiel 47:1-12; John 4:14.”
MY PURPOSE? TO BEAR FRUIT. Isaiah 5:1-4.
We are here to bear fruit. But how? The same way trees bear fruit. They need sunlight, water, and soil. They also need a few years—peach trees and grape vines often don’t bear fruit until year three or four. First, they need good roots. God explains Himself as a farmer with crops that are unsatisfying:Continue reading “MY PURPOSE? TO BEAR FRUIT. Isaiah 5:1-4.”
Household Words: 