Is there Fruit on your Peach Tree?

I have a peach tree in my backyard. We planted it 3 years ago. The first summer we were just glad it had leaves. Last year I spotted what looked like a fuzzy cherry pit--and that's as big as it got. This year you can tell it's a PEACH tree; we've had to prop up the branches because there is so much fruit!

So why am I writing about a peach tree in the ON MISSION blog? The peach tree popped into my mind last week during a visit from 4 Ecuadorian pastors. They were in town after participating in the Alliance World Fellowship meeting in Toronto. It was wonderful to reconnect with these brothers whom we had come to know during 20 years in Ecuador with The Alliance. David, the national church president, mentioned that they are living with the fruit of over 100 years of C&MA ministry in their country—and I pictured PEACHES.

These friends were pretty “green” when we first met them as seminary students or young pastors over 20 years ago; but it has been wonderful to watch them mature in ministry and become the leaders of the Alliance church in Ecuador. As we ate and laughed and prayed together, I realized that we have shared a lot of LIFE together. Before they left, José and Neyo prayed over our daughter Camila and her husband who are preparing for international ministry. I’m so glad that my kids could be blessed by these men who represent our years in Ecuador and a big chunk of Camila’s life.

Now that my work and ministry is back at “home” in the U.S., I’m thinking about those peaches again. Who are the people that are like ripening fruit in my life? Several come to mind—my co-worker who recently felt a call to Indonesia while on a Vision Trip, two college girls from my church who are studying to serve as missionary nurses, the recent high school grads who will be doing summer missions trips, the lady on our missions team who wants to use her nursing skills in Bosnia, the interns in the office who are trying to decide where God is leading them, the church planting team that uses our church building—they are all around me! I want the Lord to use me to pray for them, to encourage them, to challenge them to hear God’s voice, to network them with people and resources, to support them financially and whatever else He leads me to do.

So, look around. Who has God put in your life that you can encourage and invest in? How can you help them reach the goal that God has for them? Ask the Lord of the harvest… to send out workers into his harvest field (Matt 9:38) and to let you be a part of the process to get them there.