THE MONEYMAKER PECAN TREEWritten by Irvin L. Rozier
Isaiah 11.1 "And there shall come forth a rod out of stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:"I live in a pecan orchard where most of trees are at least 80 years old. One of varieties original owners of land planted was called a "moneymaker". This pecan is round, has a good flavor and a hard shell..It is a tough nut to crack by hand. Since 1962, when we moved on this place, we have gathered hundreds of pounds of these delicious nuts, and trees have given up some to squirrels and birds. One of my moneymaker trees was huge...about four feet in diameter, and usually produced over 200 pounds of pecans. Then, one year, it was struck by lightning, and one side of it begin to die. It took a few years for top to fall out and limbs to fall from damaged side. Finally, there was one huge limb left, yet it still continued to produce pecans. I carefully watched that limb as it slowly separated from what was left of trunk of tree. One day, I was outside, and heard a loud noise...It was one remaining limb falling from trunk of tree. Sadly, I watched as old tree gave a quiver, and shuddered as it gave up ghost. After a few weeks, I got my chainsaw and begin to clean up fallen tree. I burned all debris, and thought of all pecans that had fallen from that good old tree. My thoughts went back to day it was planted in hope by someone else, it was carefully nutured, and then I imagined joy of previous owner when it produced it's first pecans. It was over now, life of tree, or so it seemed.
| | GONE HOME..God honors the faith of His servantsWritten by Irvin L. Rozier
Gone Home...god Honors Faith And His ServantsThis is a short version from story number five (out of 50) from my recently published book, My Walk with Lord. Psalm 116.15: "Precious in sight of Lord is death of his saints." I had a dear uncle, Rev. Owen Rozier, who came down with cancer. Although his body was weak, his faith in Lord was strong. Just like verse in Amazing Grace "Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come", Uncle Owen had his share of tribulations while preaching word for over thirty years. He and my father, late Rev. A.J. Rozier, were close in age and close as brothers. Daddy went home to be with Lord in 1966, and here it was in 1987. On July 17, 1987, about 7 PM, Lord spoke to me and said, "I'm going to take Uncle Owen home tonight. Go on over to his house." As I was driving over there, song "I Won't Have to Cross Jordan Alone" came on radio. It played twice. As tears filled my eyes, Lord gave confirmation of what He had told me. When I arrived at Uncle owen's, I noticed several other cars were there. Other people started arriving. No one had called them to come. The Lord drew them so Uncle Owen could preach his last sermon. We all gathered around his bed; I read Psalm 23. Uncle Owen called on someone to pray, and then feebly preached his last sermon..the few words he spoke was precious.
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