thinking deeper

 IT'S TAKING OVER! IT'S SPREADING ALL OVER THE PLACE!

haha, now seriously. let me introduce you all to my strawberry plant. about a month ago, a friend of ours gave me this little guy. when i first got it, it only had three sets of leaves. now, well, you can see how it's grown since i replanted it. jonny laughs at my childlike enthusiasm when i see a new berry ripening or see another little shoot springing out, but it doesn't at all affect my excitement. i love seeing my little plant grow.



as you all know, normally, strawberries are planted in the ground where they can grow and spread as they please. they can shoot out their little tentacles and grow as big and wherever they'd like. that's in nature, however. my plant is not in it's natural environment, although it acts like it is. when i first saw its attempts at expansion, i had no clue what to do. we live on the second floor and there definitely aren't communal gardens where i could set the little guy free. then, i had an idea - cups! from then on, i've been using spare pots and little disposable cups every time a shoot has grown long enough to replant.



as i was pondering its amazing growth and rapid expansion, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see my plant in a very new way. jonny and i are very much like my little strawberry plant. we have been planted in an environment here in the basque country that is not our natural one. in fact, it's far from our natural social environment. we try and try to do what is natural and to reach out in the ways we know how, but no matter how much we try to expand and find new dirt, the fact remains that we feel like we live on the second floor of an apartment with no new dirt to be expanded in!

i've come to the realization, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, that, like our plant, we won't find new soil to plant ourselves in unless God gives it to us. until He provides a new 'pot of dirt', our 'little shoots' will just keep growing and growing and get really discouraged.

please pray for us. pray that God would give us new 'pots', new lives we can invest in and plant ourselves in. thank Him for the 'pots' He has already given to us. pray that we would continue to live naturally even though we know we are living in an unnatural environment. pray that we would not lose heart. pray also that we would see growth and fruit come from the pots He has planted us in. we have many contacts right now. pray that these contacts would grow into friendships and that we would have the opportunity to share the Gospel with our basque friends. pray that they, in turn would send out shoots into their own, natural environment so that this amazing group of people would know that He is Lord and would turn to Him as their Savior.