Peanuts and Prayers

He was born into slavery in what is now Diamond, Missouri, around 1864. When he was a week old, he, his sister, and their mother were kidnapped by slave raiders from Arkansas. His enslaver hired someone to find the kidnap victims, but the tiny baby was the only one recovered. After slavery was abolished, he and his older brother were raised by his former enslaver and his wife as their own children. He struggled against racism to get an education. Along the way he met a woman named Mariah Watkins, who encouraged him with these words, “You must learn all you can, then go back out into the world and give your learning back to the people.” And that is exactly what he did. 

He homesteaded a small claim, working 17 acres and planting a variety of crops. He earned money through odd jobs and hiring out as a ranch hand. He eventually was able to attend college, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in fields of agriculture and botany. He developed techniques to improve soils depleted by repeated plantings of a single crop. He urged farmers to practice crop rotation to restore nitrogen to soils, alternating cotton with plantings of sweet potatoes, peanuts, and other beneficial crops. He founded an industrial research laboratory where he and assistants popularized the new crops by developing hundreds of applications for them. American Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, and Franklin D. Roosevelt met with him, and the Crown Prince of Sweden studied with him for three weeks. In 1906 he started the Jesup Wagon, a mobile classroom in a wagon where poor farmers were taught about agriculture. This led to the beginnings of the Cooperative Extension Service we know today.

The man we know as George Washington Carver (he never used the name Washington, only the initial W to distinguish himself from another George Carver) had more accomplishments than most of us can dream of. But there was a side to him which most of us have not heard about, his Christian beliefs. He believed he could have faith both in God and science, and he integrated them into his life. He testified that his faith in Jesus was the only mechanism through which he could effectively pursue and perform the art of science. In 1931 he wrote about becoming a Christian as a young boy:

“I was just a mere boy when converted, hardly ten years old. There isn’t much of a story to it. God just came into my heart one afternoon while I was alone in the loft of our big barn while I was shelling corn … A dear little white boy, one of our neighbors, about my age came by … and in talking and playing he told me he was going to Sunday school tomorrow morning. I was eager to know what a Sunday school was. He said they sang hymns and prayed. I asked him what prayer was and what they said. I do not remember what he said; only remember that as soon as he left I climbed up into the loft, knelt down by the barrel of corn, and prayed as best I could. I do not remember what I said. I only recall that I felt so good that I prayed several times before I quit … That was my simple conversion, and I have tried to keep the faith.” 

“Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” John 20:29.

Sunday, October 11 is the 20th Sunday after Pentecost. The scripture readings for this Sunday are Isaiah 25:1-9; Psalm 23; Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14. 

Commissioned Lay Pastor Mary Ellen Lucas will lead the service in the Lutheran Order with communion in the church building and as a Zoom meeting beginning at 11 a.m. Bobby Boothe will give the message. To join the Zoom meeting, use the email contact on the website [dpflc.org] to ask for an invitation.

The congregations of Delta Presbyterian (PCUSA) and Faith Lutheran (ELCA) meet together and alternate orders of worship weekly in the log church building located at 1760 Richardson Highway, near the Delta Community Library and just south of the Delta Community Center. Our website is www.dpflc.org - click the link on the website to follow us on Facebook.

The Alcoholics Anonymous Buffalo Group is a group of individuals who strive for sobriety and seek others for support and encouragement. The group holds open meetings at 7:30 p.m. in the church basement on Mondays for discussion and Thursdays for the 12-step recovery program. Call 907-978-5575 or 760-835-2274, or see fairbanksaa.org for more information about Alcoholics Anonymous.

The Al-Anon group (people who have been affected by someone else’s drinking) meets Thursdays at 6 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. Contact Sue at 907-687-9682 or online at al-anon.org for more information.

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4.

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