[Real Life] The True VineSampl

## Real Life My first missionary journey that opened my eyes to the nations was a trip to China. We were able to talk to people who were in English classes while answering questions about America. I wrote on the board that I was from Texas. The students started yelling words like ‘cows’, ‘horses’, and ‘hats’! They asked me if I had horses, and I explained that we don’t all have horses in Texas. I added that I was a minister at Texas A & M University and that our mascot was an Aggie. They did not grasp that at all, so I explained that it had to do with agriculture and farmland. They all got together and after much effort from their part translated the word aggie to peasant, which is the lowest rung of the society who works in the field. For an Aggie that is kind of offensive, I know, but we just went with it because we were not there to teach them about Aggie football. I use this illustration because I want you to see how sometimes we take God as the Gardener of our hearts and souls and we move Him down to the lowest rung. He only gets to garden where we give Him permission. We are above Him and we want Him to tend to what we want. We never actually say this, but we live like this: His gardening happens only when He has been given approval by ‘the big boss’—you and me. Whenever God gardens in ways we don't agree with, we get offended and say, “God, I want the blessing that this person has,” or “I don't want the trial that I have. I don't like it.” “Lord, here is the fruit that I want you to plant. I want you to water it on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but I want you to leave it alone on Tuesday and Thursday.” We make God into a peasant, one who follows our orders—instead of us following His. In John 14, Jesus gets us ready to trust the Gardener by talking to us about the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit is our Counselor, our Paraclete —one who walks alongside. He is part of the Trinity. So with the Counselor’s help, we are able to say, "Lord, you prune, clip, and plant as you want." In doing this, we will find real life.