I have been having more and more conversations with God in the last few months.  Sundary afternoon I was having one of those conversations when I mentioned how I felt a little sad about the vine Lucero just cut off the railing of our front steps.  I said,  " Isn't that silly to feel bad about the loss of a vine?" 

     You see, there is this flowering vine that I found at the front of our place close to the road when I was cutting the underbrush on our property, trying to decide where to put the driveway and the house.  I left it because it had these prolific bright yellow blooms.  After giving it some sun, we found out that it actually blooms several times a year beginning in early spring.  Once we got the house and driveway established, we also put one in the front yard close to the house at the side of our front steps and one in the back of the house next to the pool.

     The one we planted next to the pool grew up onto the deck and onto one of those old=fashioned clotheslines that turn like a large patio umbrella.  It has completely taken over that and looks like some sort of umbrella tree over the side of the pool; a great pain to keep the pool clean when the flowers bloom and fall into the pool, but well worth the work to see its beauty shine forth.

     The one next to the front steps climbed up the rail to the small landing about six feet off of the ground and over to the concrete bench I bought when I bought the angel fountain for my son Chris' memorial.  Then, it went over to the live oak tree growing behind the bench and up over the house.  It's been grwoing there for years, and in the last couple of yers all the blooms have been up high in the tree, and I have been increasingly woried that it would kill the tree, which at one point is only about six inches from the corner of the house.  But my concern for the tree grew as the months went by.

     The other day, Lucero said "I think this vine on our stair rail is going to destroy it, so I think it needs to go."  So, I immediately agreed with her, because God wouldn't have given both of us worry that the plant was doing too much destruction where it was.  I wasn't worried about the rail, because it took me a few hours to build the first one, and I knew I could rebuild it, but she couldn't.  I was worried about the tree, because it would take 30 or 40 years to rebuild it, and I don't know it I'll be around that long.  But we were both worried about the destruction.

       So, as soon as I told God how silly it was that I felt sadness at the loss of the vine, He said "It's no different about how I feel sadness at the loss of a human."  You see, the difference between that vine and I is less of a difference that between God and I; and God surely does have agape love for us; so if the vine comes back from roots this time, I'll try to do a better job taining it to go where it can show its beauty and cause minimal damage.      
                          See ya Sunday, and every week – on the internet -  www.facebook.com/timthepastor.  
                                                   All glory and honor to God.  Peace and blessings,

                                                                                                              Tim.  

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