Buried in a Fourth Soil Environment

  We temporarily live in different surroundings here in Busingen, Germany/Switzerland.  We live on a Christian college campus where just about everyone who walks on the brick sidewalks here or crosses this parcel of land is most likely a believer.  An international church is located 30 seconds from our door, where in the last 10 weeks, we have met believers from every continent accept Antarctica, and strangely enough, we have met one man who has, in fact, expedition-ed into the Antarctica.  As previously communicated through our blog, we have had the advantage of meeting and cultivating friendships with both part-time missionaries and full-time commissioned missionaries, pastors, and other Mission Corps volunteers like us. We have interacted with former students who have intentionally sojourned back here to reminiscence about their previous experiences and callings. They are now pastors, youth pastors and missionaries.  All of this has been an absorbing and unique occurrence for us.  We believe we are living in a "fourth soil" environment, one of which we may never get to bury ourselves in again.  By that, we refer to the Parable of the Sower from Matthew 13 where Jesus explains the four types of soil in which a seed can fall.

     Here are the four soils:  (1) hard path where the seed never takes root, (2) rocky path where the soil was malnourished and unresourceful,  (3) thorny soil where the seed was choked to death, and finally, the fourth, (4) good soil where the seed was inspired to grow. 


We don't know where our future Mission Corps assignments will take us, but this one has provided a tremendous residence of good soil where we have grown through serving and being served. 
And, by the way, we are both delighted and inspired when God puts us in good soil!  We have fallen into "a fourth soil environment" and we are absorbing.  Don't be amazed at where you can find His good soil.

Keep Looking Up!
J:m and L:nda