CONTENTMENT AMONG THE CHRISTMAS TREES
Daniel Lake
July 1, 1990
Every pastor frets from time to time about preparing for retirement, and most pastors occasionally long to do something distinctly nonministerial, even while still serving a pastorate. I found a way to accomplish both at the same time.
When the Lord called me into the pastorate, I left my science teaching position of seven years and all the retirement benefits I'd accrued. Six months after completing graduate school, we were settled into the parsonage of a small New England church and excited about ministry.
However, after seven years in the church, I sensed a need to develop interests outside the congregation. I'd always loved the outdoors. Years earlier I'd considered buying an old Christmas tree farm. In addition, l was becoming more aware that we couldn't spend the rest of our lives in a church-owned house. Perhaps we could purchase some land to begin a Christmas tree farm and provide a site for a future home.
We prayed for the Lord's leading and started to look for land. Ray, a man in our congregation, buys and manages real estate wisely. He also has managed his own Christmas tree farm for more than thirty years. I invited him to lunch one day to present my plan and ask his advice.
"Dan," he said, "you need something close. Find a large parcel that has a good building site and some extra land of marginal value. Some day you can build a home on the building site. Meanwhile, you can develop the marginal land for Christmas trees. Stick within twenty miles. It will be near enough to work on your day off without too much travel."
Ray made sense. I figured good counsel isn't worth much if you don't follow through, so I did.
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Throughout the fall and early winter of 1981-82, I prayed and looked at more than ...
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