Chapel Worship Guide 8.26.2012

Service Order for 9:00 AM
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Nemmers Family Chapel at Advocate Condell

 

Prelude—Allan Koetz

Welcome—Barbara Shafer, Christ Church Highland Park

Songs of Praise­—Allan Koetz

Reading of Scripture:  (NIV)  Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another– and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Prayer—Barbara Shafer

Message—“Who is this King of Glory?  He is faithful!” by Barbara Shafer

In today’s passage, we see 5 aspects of God’s faithfulness:

  1. Its duration is eternal
  2. Its magnitude is greatness
  3. Its focus is the Kingdom
  4. Its proof is in God’s provision
  5. Its final result is justice

(NIV) Psalm 145:1 A psalm of praise. Of David. I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. 2 Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.

3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. 4 One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. 5 They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. 6 They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. 7 They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

8 The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. 9 The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. 10 All you have made will praise you, O LORD; your saints will extol you. 11 They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, 12 so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.

14 The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. 15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. 16 You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. 17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made.

18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. 20 The LORD watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.   21 My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.

Songs of Response—Allan Koetz

Benediction—Barbara Shafer

Postlude—Allan Koetz

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Chapel Worship Guide 8.19.2012

Service Order for 9:00 AM
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Nemmers Family Chapel at Advocate Condell

 

Welcome—Barbara Shafer, Christ Church Highland Park

Songs of Praise­—Allan Koetz

Reading of Scripture:  Luke 20:27-38 (NIV)

27 Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. 28 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. 30 The second 31 and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. 32 Finally, the woman died too. 33 Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

34 Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. 37 But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

Prayer—Campus Pastor Nathan LeMahieu, Christ Church Highland Park

Message— Campus Pastor Nathan LeMahieu

“Who is this King of Glory?  He is the Living Redeemer!” 

Job 19:21-27 (HCSB)

 21 Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for God’s hand has struck me.
22 Why do you persecute me as God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?

23 I wish that my words were written down,
that they were recorded on a scroll
24 or were inscribed in stone forever
by an iron stylus and lead!
25 But I know my living Redeemer,
and He will stand on the dust at last.
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed,
yet I will see God in my flesh.
27 I will see Him myself;
my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger.
My heart longs within me.

Songs of Response and Choral Benediction— Allan Koetz

 

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Chapel Worship Guide 8.12.2012

Service Order for 9:00 AM
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Nemmers Family Chapel at Advocate Condell

Welcome—Barbara Shafer, Christ Church Highland Park

Songs of Praise­—Allan Koetz

Reading of Scripture:

Isaiah 49:6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” 7 This is what the LORD says– the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel– to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: “Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” 8 This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, 9 to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ “They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. 10 They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. 11 I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up. 12 See, they will come from afar– some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan.” 13 Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones (NIV)

2 Corinthians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. 8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. (NIV)

Prayer—Barbara Shafer

Message— Barbara Shafer

“Who is this King of Glory?  He is the God who comforts us.” 

God condescends to us in our suffering and offers us comfort.  He brings Himself to us eye-to-eye and face-to-face in our suffering.  He came to us this way in Christ who took on flesh, who took on the role of Suffering Servant, and who took our punishment so that we could have the blessed hope of eternal life.

By looking at us in this way, God comforts us and in so doing, He shows us that:

(1)    Our suffering has purpose—to learn how to comfort others.  To share comfort and learn compassion.

(2)    Our suffering has meaning—to share in what Christ shared in leaving His heavenly home and adding humanity, being God with Us.  We share in His suffering (in part) and we share in His comfort (in abundance).

(3)    Our suffering has an effect: perseverance!  Christ learned obedience to what He suffered.

(4)    Our suffering has hope—Christ has overcome the world.  We must rely on God and not on ourselves.

Song of Response— Allan Koetz

Benediction—Barbara Shafer

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Chapel Worship Guide 8.5.2012

Service Order for 9:00 AM
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Nemmers Family Chapel at Advocate Condell

 

Welcome—Barbara Shafer, Christ Church Highland Park

Songs of Praise­—Allan Koetz

Reading of Scripture Colossians 2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf, and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with persuasive argument. 5 For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. 6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. 9 For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.  (NASB)     

 

Prayer—Shane Burns,  Crossroads Church, Grayslake

Message— Shane Burns

“Who is this King of Glory?  He is the God who carries us.”  (Isaiah 46)

Isaiah 46: 1 Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over; Their images are consigned to the beasts and the cattle. The things that you carry are burdensome, A load for the weary beast. 2 They stooped over, they have bowed down together; They could not rescue the burden, But have themselves gone into captivity. 3 “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, You who have been borne by Me from birth, And have been carried from the womb; 4 Even to your old age, I shall be the same, And even to your graying years I shall bear you! I have done it, and I shall carry you; And I shall bear you, and I shall deliver you. 5 “To whom would you liken Me, And make Me equal and compare Me, That we should be alike? 6 “Those who lavish gold from the purse And weigh silver on the scale Hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; They bow down, indeed they worship it. 7 “They lift it upon the shoulder and carry it; They set it in its place and it stands there. It does not move from its place. Though one may cry to it, it cannot answer; It cannot deliver him from his distress. 8 “Remember this, and be assured; Recall it to mind, you transgressors. 9 “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; 11 Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it. 12 “Listen to Me, you stubborn-minded, Who are far from righteousness. 13 “I bring near My righteousness, it is not far off; And My salvation will not delay. And I will grant salvation in Zion, And My glory for Israel. (NASB)

 

Song of Response— Allan Koetz

Benediction—Shane Burns

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Bee-Loved

Unlike Jesus who loves all of us equally, bees love some plants more than others.

In this short post, I’d like to outline a few flowers that bees particularly love.

This is important for attracting bees, if you’re thinking of bee-keeping.  But plant placement is also important because you really don’t want these plants within 3 feet of your entry doors.  This is also helpful information for the two out of every 1000 people who are allergic to bee stings.  You will want to avoid planting these near walkways, doorways, and traffic areas of your yard.

While most of these plants are favored by butterflies and honey bees–both of which are welcome visitors to the garden, occasionally a honey bee can sting passersby instead of just sticking to its work of gathering nectar for making honey.

Some of the most bee-loved plants include:

Asclepias

(Butterfly weed)

Aster

Crocus

Echinacea (Coneflower)

Erica (Heath, Heather)

Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed)

Helianthus (Sunflower)

Lavender

Monarda (Bee-balm)

Nepeta  (Catmint)

Sedum

I personally love seeing honey bees in my yard. 

They are much more of a rarity these days. 

Why honey bees have been disappearing is a bit of a mystery. 

It’s been happening all over the world.

Some say it’s over use of pesticides.  Some say it may be a fungus or a virus.

Some suspect electromagnetic radiation from cell phone towers.  Scientists just don’t know for sure.

I certainly don’t have an answer, but I do make it a policy not to spray or use pesticides of any type on or anywhere near the plants that I know honey bees favor.

For this reason and so many others, it helps to know which flowers are Bee-Loved.

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Asking All the Wrong Questions about Homosexuality

When my daughter was stillborn in 1998, I learned something: Good Theology Must Answer Hard Issues. No glib word, Christian cliché, or reassuring pat on the back can ever put a new frame around what is bad and make it good, make the hard easy, or turn any wrong into a right.

Good theology meets us in the hard places, in the hard issues, and in the cold hard realities of life.  And it offers the Gospel as an answer.  It offers Compassion in the form of Love.  And it offers Truth.

With that in mind, I want to confess up front that my “Wrong Questions” series began in my mind with the one I’m going to answer today, Asking All the Wrong Questions about Homosexuality.  Over the past 3 months, a daily series of events has kept this issue in front of my eyes.  I know I need to answer it because Good Theology Answers Hard Issues…and it does so with the Gospel’s Truth and Love.

The Gospel enters another person’s pain.

When you’ve been in the waters of deep pain, you are in a unique place to see the pain of others up close and personal.  Many people preach from the glassy-walled observation room.  I preach the Gospel from the deep waters of the ocean of pain.

From the depth of pain, I know the topic of homosexuality hits people in their hearts much like the women-in-ministry debate hits me in the heart. 

For those of us affected by topics in a direct way, it’s not just a theological plank in a platform.  It’s personal.

For the homosexual reading this, I want you to know that I understand.  For you, it’s personal.

Over the course of the past decade, on AllExperts, a few brave souls publicly solicited my view of homosexuality.  The questioners have been sincere and kind—as most homosexuals I know are.  Note, however, that the vast majority of questions I’ve answered were flagged as private—private, because homosexual thoughts and tendencies are a source of deep confusion.  It’s very personal to them.  My answers remain between the questioner, myself and God.  I bring my thoughts about the topic out of the closet today because I have something to say:

The question that I’ve been asked in a hundred different ways is the same, “Who made me homosexual: God or me?”
I’ve grown to see that this is the wrong question.  The right question is “What will be my response?”

“Who made me this way?” is a question designed to affix blame—on God or on self.  But the blame squarely rests with the broken world in which we live.  It’s like my asking, “Who killed my daughter?”  Do I blame God for why this happened…or me?

Pain looks for someone to blame.  The Gospel ministers a response of hope.

I’d like to take this a step deeper as it relates to homosexuality.  If you’d like to see how Christians can understand the difference between the wrong question and the right question, please join me on the next page.

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Asking All the Wrong Questions about Marriage–Part 2

Asking the wrong question “Who can be legally married?” leads us to wrong answers.  Instead, we need to remember the original purpose and definition of marriage being one man and one woman becoming “one flesh” to the glory of God.  God both established and defined marriage.

Society now circumscribes–through a series of written laws–something like marriage, just without God.

The redefinition of marriage began.   

In Part 1 we traced the history of marriage from Bible times to the Middle Ages.  Now we will explore six of the watershed events resulting in the legal code that we see today in Europe and America.

1.  Ironically, the great concern over mutual consent was the first of six pivotal events that determined the course of Western marriage as we know it.  

Mutual consent can be considered pivotal because marriage shifted from a family-endorsed social structure with dual purpose (religious and social) to an individual decision apart from a religious framework or social benefit.  This was not a bad thing since many families arranged marriages for completely political or worldly reasons.  But a shift from community to individual paved the way for future changes.

Mutual consent was an issue because, under Germanic law in the 5th to 9th centuries A.D., marriage didn’t require the bride’s consent at all.  The families arranged a Brautkauf or bride-purchase agreement in which the groom consented and the bride was assumed to consent by her family.  Originally, a nuptial pretium (a certain amount of property or money) was contracted as the purchase price given to the father or guardian of the bride-to-be.  Eventually, to combat the idea of a wife as purchased property, the nuptial pretium became a sum given to the bride as her security should her husband die prematurely.

At this point, we’re in the central and late Middle Ages and the Catholic Church altered Germanic marital practice to insist upon direct, free, and fully mutual consent by both parties in the marriage.  To ensure that the union was by mutual consent, the Church established the suggestion that unions be blessed.

A religious blessing became part of the union and occasionally the Catholic Church threatened to excommunicate any persons who married without the blessings of the local priest.  Given that the position of women (prior to the Catholic canonists) was extremely low in Frankish tribes, the mutual consent aspect was a good development.

It took significant time for divorce—common in Germanic law—to be abolished by the spread of Catholicism.  In the Frankish tribes, legal matters (including marriage related issues such as adultery, divorce, etc.) were typically resolved by ordeal–an ordeal being by fire, water, combat, etc.  Eventually a system of compensation—the giving of money to satisfy grievances—was encouraged by the Catholic Church to curb violence and paved the way for the development of the system of indulgences.  For those of you who know Reformation history, the system of indulgences eventually became one of Martin Luther’s hot button issues.

Join me on the next page for the next watershed moment, marriage as a sacrament.

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Asking All the Wrong Questions about Marriage–Part 1

A recent Wall Street Journal article entitled “The Divorcé’s Guide to Marriage” opened with, “Want great marriage advice?  Ask a divorced person.”   I’d say “Ask History.”  After 30 years of marriage to my husband, I’m convinced it has much more to do with understanding what marriage is all about.

These days, the topic of marriage is getting confusing.

In American culture, a war has been escalating over the question, “Who is legally allowed to have something called a marriage?”  But we’re asking the wrong question.

The right question is “What was the original purpose of marriage as an institution?”

I’ve been wondering something for a while now.  Somewhere down the aisle it seems marriage has changed from a sacred institution of God (Genesis chapter 2) to something that courts decide as they subordinate the original religious ideal beneath an increasingly complicated legal code requiring decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court.

It bubbles up from the oddest of places as even the recent Chick-fil-A vs. gay marriage controversy demonstrates.  Why is the definition of marriage so blurred?

In short, sin.  To counteract sin, the Bible outlined a few laws.  But for the past 250 years, we’ve added new laws upon existing laws to deal with problems with applying prior laws.

But what was the original purpose of marriage?

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28).

In the beginning, marriage was intended as one man and one woman to be joined as one flesh by God, then blessed by God to be fruitful (literally fertile, hence increase in number); to fill and subdue the earth; and to rule over it all.  God’s design was for the image of God present in both man and woman to be multiplied by length of days and production of offspring.

Somewhere, though, we’ve gone off-track.  In the pages that follow, I will trace the history of marriage.  In Part 2, I will explain how 6 pivotal events have shaped marriage law–for better or for worse.  These 6 watershed moments–some of which represented progress at the time–had unintended consequences as they paved the way to a redefinition of marriage:

      1. Mutual Consent
      2. Marriage as a Sacrament
      3. The Protestant Reformation
      4. The Council of Trent
      5. The Clandestine Marriage Act of 1753
      6. Vatican II

Would you like to learn more about the history of this important institution called marriage?  Join me on the next page.

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Chapel Worship Guide 7.29.2012

Service Order for 9:00 AM
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Nemmers Family Chapel at Advocate Condell

Welcome—Barbara Shafer, Christ Church Highland Park

Songs of Praise­—Adam Dolezal, Christ Church Lake Forest

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing 

On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand 

Before the Throne of God Above

 

Reading of Scripture (ESV)   

2 Corinthians 5: 11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

6 :1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says,

“In a favorable time I listened to you,

  and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

 

Prayer—Adam Dolezal

Message— Adam Dolezal  “Who is this King of Glory?  He is the God who transforms us” 

Song of Response— Amazing Grace

Benediction—Adam Dolezal

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Do Those Actually Work? Earth Boxes and Hose Reels

I am a curious person and sometimes I indulge my inner skeptic by purchasing something that I’ve always wondered about, “Do those actually work?”  So often it seems there are gimmicks on TV or in the stores and they seem like a good idea, but the thrifty person in me wants to learn from someone else’s experience.

You can learn from my experiences this time around. 

I’m here to report on two products:  Earth Boxes and self-winding hose reels.

Three years ago, I bought my first Earth Box online.  I planted it with two tomatoes to grow them on the deckYes, they work.  They really work well, so the next year I bought four.  I’m growing tomato plants the size of small trees (seriously!)  and the fruit are abundant and ripening well.

What I really like best about the Earth Boxes are (1) the way the regular watering from the self-watering feature keeps the tomatoes from the stress that causes splitting of the fruit; and (2) the watering from below and the cover on top serve to keep soil-borne foliage and fruit diseases  to a minimum.  Before I pruned off some of the leafy growth (so that the fruit can develop fully), the plants looked like this (right) in a photo taken a month ago (June 2012).

If the leafy growth was allowed to continue at will, it will.  What do you get?  You will have great big plants with fruit that are acceptable in size, but some of the larger fruiting varieties might disappoint.  However, if the number of flower stalks are limited to ones occurring on primary branches, the fruit will develop faster and more fully.  It’s how I am growing Black Krim and Mortgage Lifter that are nearly ready to harvest now–and they are big, beautiful fruit.  I’ve had to rig up a staking arrangement with a trellis, but that’s only because I like the challenge of trying to make something better than what’s available commercially.  Soon, I’ll take photos of some of the harvest so you can be a believer too.

I’m absolutely sold on Earth Boxes because my deck is the sunniest part of my yard and my tomatoes love the heat and the regular water…and I love tomatoes.  So, we’re all happy.  Check the end of this post for recent photos of the plants and harvest.

I am also happy to report that I love my self-winding hose reel.  It’s one of the hose reels that automatically rewinds using water to drive the rewinding mechanism.  Placement has been key.  I have the water discharge hose placed to deep water my Japanese Maple which must feel like it won the tree-placement lottery.  It’s exceedingly happy.  I’m happy.  What can I say?  We’re a happy group these days around my house.

I like the way the brown box of my hose reel blends right in with the flower bed and almost disappears.  I don’t have a red arrow in my yard, but I thought you might find it helpful.  The only thing I needed to do to make this hose reel perfect was to install some hose guides to keep the rewinding hose from damaging my hostas.

Not all the time do I have such gardening joy to report, but I’m happy to say that the answer to the question, “Do those actually work?” when it comes to Earth Boxes and self-winding hose reels… is ….YES!

 

 

 

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