The Gardener and His Wife

The Gardener and His Wife

Carol Condon

www.carolcondon.com

I noticed the folded paper towel pressed toward the back of our countertop. Being an inquisitive young girl, I opened it and saw little seeds stuck in each fold. Thankfully I didn’t just pitch it. I asked my Mom what they were and she informed me that one day they would be tomatoes.

In our gardener’s opinion it wasn’t as simple as just buying a seed, pushing it through the dirt, and waiting to see if it would sprout. My dad had a plan that was in effect year around. He grew the most amazing tomatoes that I have ever tasted. He took seeds from them, dried them out, placed them in little jars to sprout, planted them under fluorescent lighting throughout the winter, and transplanted them into tiny cups of special soil. Finally, when the plants seemed strong enough, it was spring and time to go into the ground.

My mom was side by side my dad throughout this whole process. The gardener, my dad, then cut carpet strips to go between the rows of these precious plants. He said the carpet helped with the weeds and his knees as he knelt to work around each plant. He built his own wire cages that would assist the plant as it grew to an unbelievable height. As my dad went to work, I would look out the window and there was my mom, the gardener’s wife, down on her knees pulling weeds, checking for insect damage, and looking for ripe tomatoes to bring to the table.

As I loaded a box of about 750 door hangers into my car last night, I thought of my sweet parents, “the gardener and his wife”, and realized that I have become a “gardener’s wife”, the wife of a church planter.

Mark told me in April of 2013 that he had finally apologized to the Lord for not acting on the call that he had been battling with for approximately 10 years. I knew what this meant. Because of the price that this would cost, I went into denial. I had a perfect little comfort zone. My husband was employed as a full time worship pastor of a great church. Our children were all involved in different areas of the church. My parents and siblings have always lived far from me so this church had become my family and I knew I would have to walk away. Finally, I, too, apologized to the Lord as I embraced this calling.

Like my dad, we began to collect “seeds” and prepare them for planting. Thankfully, it was not just the “gardener and his wife”, but 5 great children along with a fabulous team gathered and began planting along side of us. After many months of preparing the seeds, soil, and the garden plot for Infinite Church, we are ready. God has blessed us with an “upper room” in a “store front” at Creekside in Gahanna, Ohio. This coming Sunday, August 17, 2014, at 10:00am we will have the Official Launch of Infinite Church. There are many of you who will not be able to be with us on this momentous day, but we so need your prayers and the support of those of you who are able to give at www.ininitechurch.org.

The Great Commission has now entered a new city and we do not take it lightly.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Matthew 28:19