Safe To Be, Safe to Grow

I grew up in the country. 

How country was it??

It was so country that all of our pets came as the result of people releasing them into the "wild" at the end of our road. 

One of the big perks of growing up in the country is the kinds of things that would randomly grow where we lived. One time we threw watermelon remains out into the pasture for the cows to eat and a watermelon vine popped up. I loved watermelon and was so excited at this bit of unplanned agriculture. 

I remember watching it grow and waiting for the day I got to taste the sweet, sweet fruit of surprise homegrown watermelon. I was positive that it would taste much better than any other watermelon I had ever had because of it's miraculous growth. 

I'd love for this to be the part of the story where I regale you with the flavor and texture of the watermelon in too much detail. I cannot because the not-so-unexpected happened. The cows ate it. 

I wasn't the only one watching that watermelon grow. I wasn't the only one celebrating this miracle of good soil, sun and water converging. I was, unfortunately, the only one waiting one day too long to partake in the fruit. 

The story illustrates that while that field was a safe place for growth, it wasn't a safe place to be. It would have been much safer for the watermelon to be in an isolated desert without the greedy eyes of cattle and children planing its delicious demise. That's not possible, however, because the desert isn't a safe place for growth.

The combination of safety in being and growth is vital for success, and at Cascade this best captures our hope for church.