The SOWERS Flyby

Michael Behm is currently the coordinator of the S.O.W.E.R.S. program

There we were joking about where we are now and it’s not over yet. Each event was like a peanut butter shot of learning to linger on into the doldrums of days to follow only to do it all over again. And in the end the question remains “what is Michael Behm talking about?”
Ten word or less? Oh no, please explain.

There we were in the S.O.W.E.R.S. clubhouse, in the library, at the table, in our chairs, staring into the stark reality that we were about to put the program up to ludicrous speed.
Four months is going to feel like yesterday in about fifteen minutes. There is something special about the SOWERS program that makes the last few months seem to fly by. And, as of this current publication there are only about three weeks left.

As our manner is, on Wednesday, February 22, 2012, Doug, Allison and I had a meeting.
In this particular meeting we planned out the general order of events through to the end of the year. After we (I) got over how many times Doug used the word “can” in a sentence,
Allison laughing with (at) me and Doug pondering my persistence in the lowest form of humor,
Doug warned us of the fact that the year was indeed about to fly by.

Part of the illusion of the speed of time is that we do a lot of things. Since that Wednesday we have planted, smoldered, transplanted, lost and pondered the wellbeing of countless tomato plants. We have plotted, painted, and studied regions, cities and a temple; built a Pig Palace (a.k.a. Little Pig Town, Pigsburgh, The Swine Sanctuary); traveled to Memphis, TN, Niceville, FL, Spokane, WA and Bozeman, MT. With John Crouch we watched the stars date the birth of our Lord and figures illuminate the Word of God. With Walter Cummins we saw how the Word interprets itself. With Steve Armstrong we learned a lot about the rocks. From the rocks we learned a lot about ourselves. Through the books “Jesus Christ our Promised Seed,”
“The Acceptable Year of the Lord,” and “Jesus Christ our Passover” we have seen his star in the East. We saw his awesome power and unending compassion. We sat at his feet when he taught and heard their accusations. We remembered his broken body and shed blood through the taking of the bread and wine.

And here I must also pause to mention some who too have been learning what books cannot teach, what lips may not utter, of the immeasurable greatness of our God and the power of the simplicity of the Word. After nine months of hard work in the outreach of the Good News of our God and our Lord Jesus Christ we are proud to welcome home these W.O.W. ‘s.
They too will be able to stand and say, as they are pinned June 10^th, that they have done a lot of things. They too have learned in concentrated dosages on many occasions.

For us its like the peanut butter shot. OK, just like but different. The peanut butter shot,
also called penicillin, goes a little like this (at least in boot camp it does…). After seeing your friends tortured in front of your face you are called to lean over the table and pull down your drawers to expose your gluteus maximus into which the careful nurse jams the largest needle you never saw coming and injects what feels to be peanut butter into this tough but ever so tender part of your body. With tears in your eyes you pull up your britches and are left with only one cure. Walk it out. For days. Everything we have done in this last four months has been jammed full of lessons and learning. It takes time to digest each dosage.

In the doldrums of the morning after, you realize your mind has now been impregnated with so much knowledge it’s sometimes hard to grasp. All the vastness of the research will many times bring you right back to the greatness of the new birth and all the technicals of the Word still require child like believing. Now it’s our turn to put it all together in our brain and learn to walk on the Word. We have done this week in and week out.

“A day can’t know what a week knows, a week can’t know what a month knows…”
There is nothing like S.O.W.E.R.S.
There is nothing like W.O.W.
There is nothing like ludicrous speed.
Like the frog said “time is fun when you are having flies.”

God Bless,
Michael Behm

With the ending of this S.O.W.E.R.S. year, June 10^th, we will commemorate these W.O.W. Ambassadors for a job well done. It has been forty years since the first wave of W.O.W. ‘s were commissioned back in 1971. Forty years. Think about it.  More info on the “W.O.W. Ambassador” page. See you at the Rock!                                                                     W.O.W.!