✝ Daily Encouragement (8/10/23) "Thank God For The Watermelon!"
Published: Thu, 08/10/23
A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber.
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Home Archives About Us Listen to these messages <Previous Message Web version of this message Thursday, August 10, 2023
Watermelon processing on Eli's
farm.
(Click on photo to enlarge.) "Thank God For The
Watermelon!"
Note:
Today's message is admittedly light on Biblical exposition
but hopefully our consideration of one of God's many blessings will remind us of all His blessings.
Message
summary:
Today most of us will be ingesting some type of "seed-bearing plant" according to God’s provision in Genesis 1:29. Let us praise God from whom all blessings flow, including the blessing of a tasty sweet watermelon with or without
seeds!
Listen to our message on your audio player.
“Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it,
according to their various kinds.’ And it was so” (Genesis 1:11). “Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food’” (Genesis 1:29). “He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate— bringing forth food from the earth” (Psalm 104:14).
Yesterday I rode up the road and passed our neighbor Eli's farm. A Lancaster Farm Fresh co-op truck drove down his lane so I knew he must have harvested something fresh. I followed the truck down the dusty lane to check it out. The truck was there to pick up watermelons freshly picked from the field.
Eli and his sons were processing the melons for shipment (photo above). He told me he had a good harvest and expected to have watermelon for several
weeks at the small produce stand at the end of his lane which we have enjoyed for several years. He had many large boxes like the ones seen in our photo today that you often see on a skid in the
supermarket.
How many of our readers like a cold, juicy slice of watermelon? I would think almost everyone. If not, what's wrong with you! Eli shared some
fresh, right from the field watermelon with me. Although it was not chilled it was still sweet and
tasty.
Mark Twain described the watermelon, "When one has tasted it, he knows what the angels eat". Ester would agree with Mark Twain. When she
was three years old recovering from an open heart surgery she would eat nothing the nurses brought to her. After days of refusing to eat, finally the doctor gave into Brooksyne’s plea to give her watermelon. They'd been refusing her request since watermelon is mostly water and they felt it was calorie deficient for what Ester needed at the time. But finally they gave in and when they did she devoured it. It's still her favorite
fruit!
Over 1,200 varieties of watermelon are grown in 96 countries. Asia is the continent with the largest watermelon production, more than 80% of the
world-wide production. Africa, Europe and North America have similar productions, around 3-4 million annual tons. But they also grow watermelon in Brazil and Costa Rica so it's pretty much
world-wide.
Watermelon contains about 92 percent water so its name makes perfect sense! Our friend Rick Steudler grows watermelons in his home garden (not commercially) and muses about the marvel of going out to his patch and observing that the soil around the plant is bone dry. Then he wonders aloud, "Where does the watermelon get all that water?"
We also wonder where all that sugary sweetness comes from! Is dirt sweet when packaged in a hard shell?
In Belton, Missouri, the small town I lived in till I was in high school, we had watermelon eating contests where children and grown-ups alike enthusiastically contested against each other for who could consume the most. Brooksyne’s relatives on the mountain top in Arkansas grow delicious watermelons, mostly seeded. Of course like most kids we wondered if eating the seeds would cause a watermelon to grow inside us!
Many of us recall eating watermelon as kids and spitting out the seeds, which by the way is one of the only acceptable times to spit in public. I’ve even participated in seed spitting contests where contestants are cheered on for their spitting skills but I was never the winner. Perhaps I was too timid to be bold in public
spitting, since I was raised to think it a nasty habit to be practiced only when others aren't looking.
Wikipedia records that a young girl, Victoria, won her age group in 2010 with a spit of 36 feet. In 2012 her 17 year old brother, A.J., broke the youth record in Luling Texas, when he spat a seed 58 feet 9 1/2 inches. That's more than half the length of a basketball court. Victoria and A.J. must come from a family with heavy duty healthy lungs! (The adult seed-spitting world record, set in 1989, is 68 feet 9 1/8 inches.) But in our adult years we have come to appreciate the seedless watermelon. Actually the “seedless” watermelon has some seeds but they’re so soft you eat them without even being aware of it, kind of like a banana seed. Or did you not know you have been eating banana seeds all along? Within a generation, many won’t even know that watermelons have seeds (at least the hard black kind), let alone the joy of eating them right off the rind and spitting out the seeds that is a childhood memory for many of us! Ultimately seedless watermelons are grown from seeds and the process in the development of the "seedless" varieties is beyond my scientific understanding. However they are not genetically modified, as some might assume, but rather hybrids that have been grown in the United States since the middle of the 20th century. (See below for to an explanation.) Watermelons aren’t specifically mentioned in the Bible, along with many other fruit we enjoy such as bananas and oranges. However early in the creation account we have this gift from God to the human race: "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food". We enjoy preparing these messages for people from all over the world and often consider the many, many things we have in common regardless of where we live. Today virtually all of us will be ingesting some type of "seed-bearing plant" according to God’s provision in Genesis 1:29. Let us praise God from whom all blessings flow, including the blessing of a sweet, juicy watermelon with or without the seeds!
Be encouraged today, (
Hebrews
3:13)
Stephen & Brooksyne
Weber
Daily
prayer:
Father, we are abundantly blessed with foods of all kinds, both vegetable and fruit, meat and bread. Thank you for those who diligently work the land and reap the harvest that we might place food on our tables and be nurtured physically. You make the grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate—bringing forth food from the earth. All we have
needed Your hand has provided. Great is Your faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Amen.
William Jennings Bryan observed:
"I have observed the power of the watermelon seed. It has the power of
drawing from the ground and through itself 200,000 times its weight. When you can tell me how it takes this material and, out of it, colors an outside surface beyond the imitation of art, and then forms inside of it a white rind and within that again a red heart, thickly inlaid with black seeds, each one of which in turn is capable of drawing through itself 200,000 times its weight--when you can explain to me the mystery of a watermelon, you can ask me to explain the mystery of
God."
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
Look carefully: This morning two Amish boys were on their way to the farm and passed in front of our house. We know when a horse-drawn open cart or a traditional buggy is on
our road as the dogs (all four) excitedly inform us once they hear the clip clop of the horses' shoes. In fact it's hard to calm their
excitement!
Click on photo to enlarge
For local readers:
Eli's produce stand is on Kraybill Church Road (here
on Google map) where you can buy a fresh
watermelon. The young boys were at the stand this morning and delivered the melon right into our car. It's closed each Sunday as is true of all Amish produce stands in honor of the Lord's Day. In the background is the one room Amish schoolhouse the local children
attend.
Planting Watermelon
Several years ago we passed a farm where they were planting watermelons. It was a very hot, humid day so they rigged a cloth canopy over their work area to provide some shade. When Brooksyne asked the farmer if he was planting seeded or seedless watermelons he told us this: Every third watermelon is a "throw-away" watermelon with seeds which is used to pollinate the seedless watermelons. Normally you won't find these Mennonites without hats but it was very hot! Notice the man driving the tractor is wearing a straw hat. The other two threw theirs under the wagon, possibly to cool them down before wearing them again. If so, it looks like the cloud has lifted and the sun is now warming the one hat. Oh, well, it was a good idea anyway. And Harvest
Watermelon harvest on an old-order Mennonite farm here in Lancaster County. The long white boom is to load the melons. This farm is near New Holland PA. The wagon is heading
back from the field with a full load. The watermelons are picked by hand. The chute sticking out from the right of the wagon is a conveyor transporting the watermelons to the boxes on the
wagon.
Click on photo to enlarge Eli harvesting the watermelons right here on Kraybill Church Road. In past years we frequented this neighborhood produce stand on our road. The small seedless watermelons to the left were just $1.00 so we ate a lot of watermelon that summer! (Corner of Kraybill Church Road and Colebrook Road) John Glick is a local Amish friend who has been reading our messages for many years at his work computer. He was pleased to show us this 80 pound watermelon grown in his patch. Crimson Sweet watermelon (pictured) is famous for its high sugar content and great flavor. I wonder how many could be fed with an 80# watermelon?
At our family reunion last month we visited with Hadley and Katie Hageman who are preparing for ministry in Papua, New Guinea with Ethnos 360
. They married earlier this year. Katie is the granddaughter of my oldest
cousin.
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Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
717-823-0592
Daily Encouragement Net
https://www.dailyencouragement.net
Mail service provider is aweber.com
495 Kraybill Church Rd
Mount Joy PA 17552
USA
Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options