Cider

October 18, 2019

Last Christmas, Linda surprised me with an antique cider press. It needed a rebuild of the grinder, but I still have some oak table leaves my grandfather bought for ten cents apiece back in the fifties. After dismantling the old grinder to use as a pattern, I built and installed the new one. We just needed to wait for apple season to try it out. A couple weeks ago Linda and I drove to Northeast, PA to our friend Gordon, who owns and operates a vegetable and fruit farm. We came back with three bushels of apples, including a bushel of seconds for cider. 

Tonight, the grandkids took turns helping grind and press the apples. The work wasn’t entered into as enthusiastically as the sampling of the wares, but followed by our annual apple dunking contest, I would say the evening was a success. 

A number of times through the evening I received phone calls from Debbie, the associate pastor in Dunkirk. Although I’ve turned over the reins to Matt, we actually work as a team, and since I’ve been involved in this particular situation from the start, it was natural for Debbie to call me. We’ve been working with a homeless woman, repeatedly paying to put her up in a local motel and instructing her as to what she needs to do on her part. She hasn’t done any of what we outlined, and tonight showed up at Debbie’s door, having been evicted from the motel. She is middle-aged, has no contact with her family, no friends, and neither the skills nor the social skills needed to hold down a job. 

I can’t help but reflect on the difference in our lives. I am surrounded by grandchildren who laugh, press cider, bob for apples, work on jigsaw puzzles, and have fun together while filling our hearts with joy. They are the fruit of years of labor and prayers over their parents, of our choices and God’s grace. We are blessed and I am deeply grateful tonight.