Pastor's Life - Patience

God requires patience, whether tending tomatoes or our lives by Rev. Philip Beck There is an unofficial, but very competitive race where I live in western Pennsylvania. For home gardeners, it is the race for the first home-grown ripe tomato. The goal is to have your first ripe tomato by July 4th and, of course, bragging rights with all the other neighbors. The first person to harvest that beauty is sure to post a picture on social media and expound on the loveliness of that first ripe tomato. Many of us will do what we can to have the early tomato. We might gauge the weather and decide to risk it and plant early. We have different tricks to warm up the plant in the late spring and early summer to encourage it to grow more quickly. Varieties like "Early Girl" and "July Fourth" are planted, all promising to be early in production. I do have to say that most years, in fact, almost every year, the ripe tomato by the Fourth of July is not to be. Most years, the tomatoes don't begin to ripen until late July. Yet, when the time comes, it is typically a bumper crop of ripe tomatoes.

Rev. Philip Beck is the pastor at First United Presbyterian Church of Tarentum, north of Pittsburgh, having served there since May 2001 and is currently enjoying his first sabbatical in 28 years. Phil and his wife Christa have three children and an exchange daughter. All of the children are out of the household and are in college, graduate school or in the working world. Phil and Christa now travel to where their children live. Phil, along with Christa, helps run a local community garden that is now in its 8th year.

Featured Resources

Plant today to provide nourishment for tomorrow In the July lectionary preview, Rev. Dr. Amantha Barbee discusses that our purpose is to please God and not other humans. Church Financial Literacy and Leadership Grant Are you planning to attend Stewardship Kaleidoscope in Minneapolis September 25-27? Thanks to the Lilly Endowment, we have grants available to help pastors and leaders pay the cost of attendance.