Hard work paid off. This September morning, I walked out back in the crisp fall air, plucked the first ripe grapes, and plopped them into my mouth. Organically grown, with no pesticide film to wash off, I ate away while overlooking fields of corn stalks turned tan, brightening with the rising sun. The flavor was unlike any grape I have tasted before—rich, earthy, juicy, the perfect blend of sweet and tart.
These same grapevines were the backdrop of a lesson I taught to a group of inner-city Milwaukee kids during a week-long day camp we hold on our farm each summer. As the kids sat around the vines, I read John 15:1-8 where Jesus says He is the true vine and that we, the branches, must remain in Him to bear fruit. I showed the children a vine branch I had cut the day before. Though the leaves were still green, the branch was withered. Then I showed them a vine branch I had cut the week before, its leaves turned inward, brown and brittle. We could see clearly the death progression when branches are separated from vine, the flow of life cut off. Withering, drying, turning inward, becoming brittle. So like souls separated from God.
The kids tugged. People tried to pull them off but they hung on as if their lives depended on it, screaming and encouraging each other, “Hold on! Don’t let go!”
I love teaching when God gives an impromptu lesson extension. I wrote the lesson with the theme of remaining in the vine. God extended it to include the more important lesson of making sure we’re connected to the TRUE vine in the first place. God made it clear through the unexpected breaking of the hose that abiding means nothing if one is abiding in a FALSE vine. There is only one, true vine—Jesus. There is only one way to grow good fruit that never rots. Remain in Jesus.
John 15:4-5