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Welcome To Jerry's Haven &Tell Talks. We are
so happy you have joined us. We will be sending out a
newsletter once a week and touch on different subjects as well
as including some links, poetry, and all around Christian Fun.
If there is anything that youwould like to see please do let
us know. We welcome any and all comments. (This page can also
be viewed on the web at http://www.whatistruth.info/talks2/19.html)
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Both my parents, Hungarian
immigrants, were born with green thumbs. Our
family of ten depended on the food we grew in our huge
vegetable garden. My mother canned much of the
produce for winter, and my father sold potatoes and
cabbage to the local stores and high schools. Our
garden was the pride of the neighborhood.
But
then, one summer when I was quite young, we had a
problem. Someone was stealing some of our
vegetables. My parents were dumbfounded. “I
don’t get it,” my father said. “If someone wants
vegetables from us, all they have to do is ask. If
they can’t afford to pay for them, they could just have
them.”
What can string beans teach you about
life's lessons?
Then one of the neighbors tipped
us off that an old bachelor who lived a short distance
from us was seen selling some vegetables in a nearby
town. It didn’t take long for my parents to put
two and two together. Benny did not have a
garden. So he was obviously getting his vegetables
from someone else’s garden.
Now, Benny was not a
bad old fellow. My dad often hired him for haying
and other odd jobs just to help him out. Benny had
no steady job and lived in a small cabin that looked
rather bleak to me. My parents figured he was
taking our vegetables to earn a few extra dollars.
But stealing is stealing, and it just isn’t right.
My father decided to handle this situation his own
way.
“I’m going to hire Benny,” he announced one
day.
“What?” my mother exclaimed. “Joseph,
we don’t have enough money to hire anyone.
Besides, why would we hire the man who’s taking our
vegetables?”
My father only smiled and said,
“Trust me, Mary, I’ve got a plan.”
“What are you
going to do?” my mother asked.
“I’m going to hire
him to guard our garden.”
My mother shook her
head. “What? That’s like hiring the fox to
watch the henhouse. I don’t
understand.”
“Well,” my father said, “here’s what
I think. Benny’s got himself backed into a
corner. And I’m going to give him a way out.
The way I figure it, he can’t turn me down. And he
sure can’t take the vegetables that he’s
guarding.”
When my father approached him about
the job, Benny was obviously a bit shocked. But
Dad handled it pretty well.
“Benny,” he said,
“someone - probably some kids - has been taking
vegetables out of our garden. I wonder if I could
hire you to guard it for me?”
Benny hemmed and
hawed for a bit, but after Dad explained that he would
also be eating supper with us (and Mom’s cooking was
legendary), he finally agreed.
Needless to say,
there were no vegetables missing the next day.
Whether or not Benny slept most of the night was not
important. The fact was that Dad’s plan was
working. We were not missing any vegetables and
Benny had a job . . . of sorts. I don’t think my
folks could have been paying him much. But he was
being paid. And just having a job gave Benny more
than a little pride.
That solved our
problem. But that wasn’t the end of the
story. Things worked out even better than my
father had planned. You see, each morning, after
Benny got done sleeping - er, guarding the garden - he’d
stick around long enough for breakfast and then follow
us around in the garden.
Now, Benny got to kind
of liking this garden business. He’d ask questions
like, “Why do you plant these carrots here? How
come some of these peas are growing faster than those
over there?”
My parents were patient with him,
answering all his questions. Then my father
suggested something. “You know, Benny, the growing
season is just about over, but I could take my team of
horses over to your place and plow you up a nice patch
of ground where you could plant a garden next
spring.”
“You would do that?” Benny
asked.
“Certainly,” my father replied.
“That’s what neighbors are for.”
By the following
spring, Benny had his garden spot, all plowed, disked
and ready for planting. In fact, my parents gave
him various seeds that he could use: corn, peas,
pumpkins, potatoes and such. Benny caught on to
gardening as if he’d been a born farmer.
As we
drove by his place in our old rattletrap car one day,
Dad slowed down and pointed at Benny’s garden.
“Look at that, would you? He’s growing nicer sweet
corn than we are. And he’s so busy gardening that
he doesn’t have time to guard our garden. Of
course . . . for some reason, we don’t need a garden
guard anymore.”
We all chuckled a little at
that. But our smiles lingered for a long time
after - smiles of pride in the new gardener we had
helped create, and pride in our remarkable
father. |
Do you have a favorite link you would like to
share? Email Us and let us know.
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Men Should Join The Choir
Top Ten Reasons Why Men Should Join
The Choir . . . .
- 10. Rehearsals are
every Wednesday night. Which means that for those few
hours, you will significantly reduce your risk of
contracting tendonitis from nonstop operation of a
television remote control or computer mouse.
- 9. Because you wear a
choir robe every Sunday, you are liberated from a task
many men find quite challenging: finding clothes that
match properly.
- 8. From your special
vantage point every Sunday, in which you look out at
the entire congregation from the choir seats, you will
develop interesting new hobbies. Among these is a
little guessing game called "Who's Praying, Who's
Sleeping?"
- 7. On the other hand,
sitting in full view of 400-500 people on a weekly
basis makes it much less likely that you yourself will
give in to a chronic lack of sleep. Although it has
been known to happen.
- 6. If you think your
singing in the shower sounds good now, just wait till
you've been singing with us for a few weeks.
- 5. Singing in a choir
is one of the few activities for men that does not
require electronic equipment or expensive power tools.
This could be good for the family budget.
- 4. For the fitness
buffs, singing in the Choir is not only heart healthy,
it's soul healthy. But there are no monthly membership
fees, and it's a lot easier on the knees than jogging.
- 3. If you think you've
done everything there is to do, and there are no great
challenges left in life, try singing with us and
staying on pitch, guys.
- 2. Choir rehearsal
lasts half as long as a professional football game,
but is at least twice as satisfying. (Don't worry,
though, the rehearsals are on Wednesday, not Monday
Nights.)
- 1. When people ask you
whether you've been behaving yourself, you can say
with the utmost sincerity, "Hey, I'm a Choir
Boy."
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Simple Southwestern Chicken
Salad
INGREDIENTS
2
boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and cubed
3/4 cup
mayonnaise
1/4 cup
chopped celery
chopped fresh
cilantro to taste
1 (1 ounce)
package taco seasoning mix
DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, combine the
chicken, mayonnaise, celery, cilantro and seasoning mix.
Mix well.
Cover bowl and refrigerate for 1
hour.
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