As my first book, “Preparing Fields for Seasons of Change” is currently under production, I decided to keep putting my thoughts forward in a written blog – after all, that is what authors do, right?  But what to write about? What would glorify God and edify others? Currently, the church I am serving is on a 40-day prayer challenge, guided by Mark Batterson’s book, “Draw the Circle.” So today, I was on day 8 of the daily devotional guide and the letters PBJ jumped off the page at me.  So, I read that section again.

Let me explain. Back in my very first church as a student pastor, I had children’s moments during the Sunday morning worship service. One day, a teenager in attendance at that little country church commented, “I guess its PBJ time.” I looked at them quizzically and he responded, “you know, Pastor Becky and Jesus time.” It’s been 15 years since someone said that phrase in any kind of theological setting and here the author of the devotional brought it up in reference to George Washington Carver. Carver’s implementation of crop rotation led to an over abundant peanut crop facing rot, which subsequently led to a discerning prayer walk. During that prayer walk, Carver asked God to give him direction on this problem of too much of a good thing. Batterson writes that Carver had circled Job 12:8 in his Bible: Speak to the earth and it will teach you… (NIV). For Carver, that meant saving future peanut crops by developing over 300 uses for the peanut. For me, the meaning of PBJ and the Job passage combined re-kindled a spirit spark within me.

See, my life has held many roles over the years: a daughter, a wife, a mother, a student, a waitress, a newspaper reporter, a schoolteacher of students with special needs, and a pastor of mostly small churches. One life with many purposes and even more opportunities to share Jesus in a real and authentic ways. Yes, I have four college degrees and they have served helped move me from one season of life to the next. But I find my truest sense of purpose when I return to the land. For me, if I want to hear the most clearly from God, that communication doesn’t usually happen in my office or even in the church, but when I go take a walk or a drive amidst the fields and forests. Getting back to the land is getting back to God. 

In Genesis, God created us – all of us – from the dirt. (Gen. 2:7 MSG). Not soil. Dirt. By scientific definition, dirt and soil are two different things. Dirt is composed of lifeless particles with no layers of life-giving history. Soil, on the other hand, is composed of layers of organic history, some living and some once living, compacted over time to create a vibrant mix into which a seed can take root. We began as dirt and became “living” dirt when God breathed the breath of life into us. And things have never been the same.

“Remember where you came from” is a familiar saying, especially in the small towns and rural churches that have dotted the landscape of my life. And while dirt can be seen in a negative fashion, remember we all came from dirt. So, like Carver taking a prayer walk in the woods or me taking a barefoot trek through freshly plowed fields, getting close to the land keeps us grounded in our purpose. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “We are God’s field, God’s farm…” (1 Cor. 3:9 NCV). For dirt is meant to live so something can be grown there.