Ken Pierpont's Blog, page 47
April 23, 2019
Letters to Garrison Keillor (April 23, 2019)
Good Morning Garrison.
Every day I listen to your rich voice with the soft piano playing under the words, “Be well. Do good work, and keep in touch.”
I’ve been well, and I’m doing my best work to the best of my ability. You mentioned you wanted me to keep in touch and I’m not sure you text, I guess I will keep in touch with you the way you keep in touch with me, by posting my writing publicly. I hope that works for you. Let me know if you would like me to correspond or communicate in a different way.
I want to report on a happy experience. A few months ago I realized that you were consistently blogging, creating fresh new material in the form of a brief personal essay/journal article every week. Paying attention, I began to realize it came into my in-box every Wednesday… Today I discovered that it is posted sometime on Tuesday, so I get up and find it and read it every Tuesday morning. It is a part of my routine as sure as listening to the podcast of the Writer’s Almanac on the way to my study at the church. The essay and The Writer’s Almanac are some consolation for not being able to listen to A Prairie Home Companion on the radio every Saturday night as I did for over thirty years.
The other night I was talking to my youngest son, Wesley. He has moved to Texas and he had a long drive ahead of him from Austin to Dallas on a Saturday night. Remembering his childhood, he looked up old recordings of the News from Lake Woebegone and listened to them on his dive. I laughed when he told me that because I have the same instinct. Often on Saturday nights I reach for the radio dial and then realize things are not now what they used to be and it takes some getting used to.
This week, when you reported on your moving experience of worship at church on Easter Sunday and your hope in the resurrection of the dead, I was heartened. I know you have moved away from the sect of your childhood, but I had always hoped that did not mean you threw the baby (Jesus) out with the bathwater (narrow sect claiming to be the only true understanding of the church). Apparently you have not, for which I am glad and my heart is warm.
Keeping in Touch;
Ken Pierpont
April 21, 2019
Bittersweet Farm Journal (Number 41) The Backstory
Easter. It’s dusk on Easter Day out on Bittersweet Farm. All the family have gone home and the house is quiet leaving us to our thoughts, and they are sweet tonight. Friday at Bethel the church was full of worshippers even with some in the balcony. Today the place was full to the ceiling, even the balcony was well-populated. We celebrated with food, brass, bells, songs, choir, dance (on Friday night), prayers, praise, accordion, and the preaching of the Word. The Bethel faithful invited hundreds of guests. I’m sure it is a day I will remember for the rest of my life. We are so blessed to serve here.
Finding Bittersweet.Every day I’m getting reports from people who are reading Finding Bittersweet. My heart is full for how it is being used to encourage people. When I was writing the book I knew it would be of interest to our friends, but I was not sure how it would be received by those who do not know us well. The testimonies that are coming back are from some who are going through deep waters and the Finding Bittersweet story is helping them cling to the promises of God.
A Story Behind the Writing of the Finding Bittersweet Story
This evening I am in my writing corner and the sun has set on Easter and I’m tired. I’m tired in a peaceful way. I’m about to climb up into our wonderful bed and rest. Tonight I will rest with a smile in my heart. 
I have a beautiful copy of my new book Finding Bittersweet lying on my desk under the light beside me. I keep looking over at it with satisfaction. I pick it up and fan through it. I re-read snatches of it. It makes me smile. It makes me want to cry. I give thanks to God.
To the author a book like Finding Bittersweet is an accomplishment, it is a treasure, it is the culmination of decades of living and reading and writing and crafting words and conversations and stories and listening. There are are stories and stories behind stories revealed in the book and there are stores behind the stories of the book that will probably never be printed.
So the book is really the product of primary grade teachers drilling basic facts into a hyper little blonde boy. It’s the product of bus rides and reading groups and book clubs and trips to the Principal’s office. It’s the product of my parents faithful discipleship and discipline, their love and encouragement. There are dead-ends and there are misunderstandings. There are false starts and scraps of ideas that never came to anything. There were hurts and injustices. There were my own many sins and mistakes.
When I wrote the heart of the book it was in the deep winter. We had a snow day and it was imprudent to try to get the church office open. We stayed home and enjoyed the luxury of a snow day with the calendar page wiped clean. I wrote that day. All day. Coffee and writing. Little else. Sitting by the window in the dead of winter writing about spring drives through the mountains it seemed at times if I opened the window the air would bear the fragrance of spring.
My faithful little Jeep sat out in the yard as if shivering in the snow and icy wind. The furnace purred. I napped, rose refreshed, brewed more coffee, wrapped myself is a fleece-lined flannel shirt jacket and kept writing. I wrote on into the night and that day the heart of the book was done.
There would be many, many, more hours of writing, editing, re-writing, listening to others, but I was well on my way after that winter day.
A now spring has come and the book is on the desk beside me and a season of my life has ended, but the lessons are sealed in this book. Now I look forward to new and fresh stories. There will always be more stories. Life pulses with them.
Ken Pierpont
Bittersweet Farm
Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019
Below I have gathered some photos of many of the family today.
Our son Pastor Kyle, his wife Elizabeth and the boys.
Kyle, Oliver, and Leland
Our daughter Holly and baby Bella
This is Bella Allene our daughter Holly and her husband Jesse’s baby. The also have Aiden Redemption, but they did not send gramps any Easter pictures…
Our son Pastor Chuk, his wife CC and children Aspen and Gunnison
Our Daughter Heidi
Our daughter Hannah and her husband Dale
Our son Deputy Dan Pierpont, his wife Katelynn and their son Waylon (another on the way)
Our newest granddaughter, Halie Marie Pierpont, born to our son Wes and his wife Dylan.
Hope America and her friend Tim
And this is Lois, who avoids pictures a lot but needed to be on this page… without whom, no one would be here.
The Jesus Story-Resurrection (Sermon) Video
The Jesus Story–The Resurrection
Easter Sunday-April 21. 2019 AM
Bethel Church-Jackson, MI
The Jesus Story-Resurrection (Sermon) Audio
The Jesus Story–The Resurrection
Easter Sunday-April 21. 2019 AM
Bethel Church-Jackson, MI
https://kenpierpont.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2019-04-21-143003-d58ydh6pmbprvrutpfms-audio-b2335s-e4879s-online-audio-converter.com-1.mp3
April 18, 2019
On Seeing A Man Walking
I saw a man walking on a county road yesterday. He was wearing a yellow cap, using a walking stick. The birds have returned. The daffodils are nodding in the cool, spring breeze. The trees are about to open into bud and there he was; a man on a backcountry road pausing to peer down into a stream on a spring morning.
To show my regard for walking people I slowed my car and gave him lots of room. He waved a thank you back my way without looking away from the stream.
I’m suffering from an attack of gout and for the last two weeks walking across the room has been a painful ordeal. The sight of the walking man moved me to tears.
By God’s grace in a few weeks I will be able to walk again. I will be the walking man and I will savor every single blessed step.
April 14, 2019
Bittersweet Farm Journal (Number 40) Finding Bittersweet
Sometimes life can be hard and unfair. It can keep you awake at night. It can break your heart. It can crush your spirit. Our family had an experience like that a couple years ago. In my new book Finding Bittersweet I tell the story. When you put it down I think you will be encouraged to build your faith on the promises of God, even when it feels like your life is falling apart.
You can order Finding Bittersweet in e-book version or in paperback now.
For well over twenty years I have written at least weekly and posted my writing free on my website. Most of what I have written you can read here for free with two notable exceptions: My last two full-length books are not available on-line. For a Few Days (written in 2013) and Finding Bittersweet (Published this week).
Stories are already coming in from people who have read Finding Bittersweet in the the e-book version. As I hoped, it is a faith-strengthening book. If you add it to your library, leave me a review on Amazon. The message of the book will touch more people if you do.
Springtime Improvements to Bittersweet Farm
Out on Bittersweet Farm it’s been busy. Our son-in-law Dale (married to our daughter Hannah) has been with us the last two weekends installing hickory hardwood floors throughout the entire downstairs. It is stunning and we are humbled by priceless gift.
Wes and Dylan. Still no news from Wes and Dylan, who are expecting a little baby girl any day now. We will explode the ‘net when we have news to share.
Holly. Today our oldest daughter celebrated her birthday. Holly is a married mother of two and lives on the stunning west coast of Oregon. I’m writing this on Sunday night after a good, long day. My thoughts are warm when I think back over the joy it was to raise Holly and the joy to come as we watch she and Jesse raise our grandchildren. Happy Birthday Holly.
Daniel. Our son Dan and his wife Katelynn have a wee boy named Waylon and another child on the way. Dan is a Lea County Sheriff’s Deputy in New Mexico. He dresses in the uniform for the first time in the morning. I have often said that when you have children you don’t have to read books on prayer… they drive you to your knees.
Bethel Church. I love serving Bethel Church. The church was a gift from God to us. We thank God for the people of Bethel every day. Today there was love in the house you could feel. The church is growing. We just added two full-time staff members to serve with kids, teens, and families. Lois and I often lie in bed and night and talk and pray. It is one of my favorite times of the day. Lying in our bed at night, just before drifting into sleep, we often say, “We really do have a good life here.”
Today was Palm Sunday. The children proceeded in waving palm branches and lead us in singing. The choir was at it’s best as was the worship band. At Bethel Church I preached a message based on Psalm 103. I called it Three Ways to Fill Your Soul with Praise. I embedded it here to encourage you.
Three Ways to Fill Your Soul with Praise (Sermon) Video
Three Ways to Fill Your Soul with Praise (Psalm 103)
Bethel Church–Jackson, Michigan
April 14, 2019 AM
Pastor Ken Pierpont
Three Ways to Fill Your Soul with Praise (Sermon) Audio
Three Ways to Fill Your Soul with Praise (Psalm 103)
Bethel Church–Jackson, Michigan
April 14, 2019 AM
Pastor Ken Pierpont
https://kenpierpont.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Three-Ways-to-Fil-Your-Soul-With-Praise-Psalm-103.mp3
April 12, 2019
April 7, 2019
Bittersweet Farm Journal (Number 39) Music in the Mountains
Our youngest son, Wes and his wife Dylan are expecting a baby girl this week.
On Thursday proof copies of Finding Bittersweet should arrive out on Bittersweet Farm. Soon thereafter the book will be available on Amazon. If you sometimes wrestle to see the sweet in the bitter our you know someone who does, I think this book will encourage and inspire.
Sometimes things will get better. Sometimes they will not get better in this life. It is then especially when our faith is tested and we cling to the promises of God. Today’s story is an example of that.
Music in the Mountains
Our oldest son, Kyle is a pastor in Grand Rapids. A couple years ago a family needed his pastoral services. Grandpa had died. Kyle preached his funeral and ministered to the family. A few months later the family called again. This time the news was especially bitter. Their fourteen-year-old son had died at his own hand. The family was devastated.
Kyle spent time with them. He prayed with them and listened to their stories. The boys mother and father were divorced. They shared custody. Kyle asked the boy’s mother if she could share a happy memory about her boy. She told him this story:
One summer they visited the Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky. The plan was for them to hike up to the bridge together. It is a tough hike. On the way up mom ran out of strength. She just couldn’t go on. She found a bench and sat down to rest. Brokenhearted, she told her son, “Go on without me. I’ll have to wait for you here.”
He sat down with her. “Mom, I love you. I didn’t come here to see the Natural Bridge. I came to spend time with you.”
She insisted. He took off and ran to the top and quickly returned to join his mom on the bench. He said, “There’s someone up there with an instrument, mom.”
They sat there in silence at dusk or a few minutes when, suddenly beautiful music began to drift down from above them. Not just birdsong and wind in the leaves, but something more. It was the cello. The music filled the giant amphitheater of mountain and forest with with music.
They sat and listened to the music that day on the bench on the mountainside—music that seemed especially arranged for them.
She said; “I will always cherish that memory.”
Deep silence.
Kyle listened to the story quietly and then said; “One day there will be a new heaven and there will be a new earth. I think in the new heaven and the new earth there will still be a Natural Bridge. I think you can go back one day. In your glorified body you will be able to reach the top together.
Life in this broken world can damage your spirit and threaten your faith, but we have the promises of God that one day all that is wrong in this world will be made right and those who hope in Jesus will be with Him again in a place were divorce do violence to love and young boys will never again be crushed with despair.
Bittersweet Farm
April 7, 2019
