The Jerusalem Artichoke and the Ladybug

April 24, 2026

The garden is coming along. The biggest surprise in the past year has been my introduction of Jerusalem artichokes to the few things I attempt to grow. They are also called sunchokes. They are knobby, edible tubers from a type of sunflower. They are not related to artichokes nor are they from Jerusalem.

You can click here if you want to find out how they were named.

I left the picture enlarged so that you can see the nice foliage on the plant. Because they are a species of sunflower they eventually put out long stems with small yellow flowers at the ends.

I only grow things that are easy to grow. Jerusalem artichokes have fit that description perfectly. The tubers from the plant can be eaten raw, cooked, or pickled. I have no problem eating a raw one that’s been cleaned. My wife bakes them after cutting them into slices. She sprays them with olive oil cooking spray and then she is pretty generous with the salt and garlic powder. Her last batch was delicious. If you like a bit of a kick you can add pepper. The pepper is too much for me.

I am not a great gardener but these plants have been very productive for me. There is only one drawback. It’s the wind that they may produce. That’s right, flatulence or flatus may be a result of eating them. Between my wife and I, I am the one that has windy results. So, if you are raising boys, particularly those in their teens, proceed with caution.

If you are looking for something easy to grow that is quite productive. you may want to give Jerusalem artichokes a try.

God’s blessings…

Chris Reimers

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Butterflies are a Miracle

April 5, 2026

Butterflies symbolize transformation, metamorphosis, and spiritual rebirth. If I didn’t know that, I still would have always liked butterflies. Butterflies are a wonder of God’s creation. -cr

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Crocus Celebration

March 4, 2026

Being painfully aware that this blog lacks actual color of late, I have decided to share an occasional picture from my garden this year. As God will be responsible for any picture I take, I must give Him attribution. I’m just holding a phone sorta steady and clicking on an icon. Some of you may have wondered where so many of the pictures that once graced the scribbling here went. I decided to ditch many of them because they hadn’t the proper attribution. In any case, I know all the places where one can get free pictures for a blog post if I want one but many of my recent posts are more about colorful words than pictures.

This grouping of flowers reminded me of these verses from my favorite sermon:

27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.”

By the way, the only contribution I made to what is in the picture was the dividing of crocus roots last year.

I know these colors will clash with my header, but I hope it’s not too unbearable. (Maybe it’s time for the old header to go!)

Chris Reimers 









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Quotes #24…Thomas Brooks 1608-1680

December 8, 2025

“Till men have faith in Christ, their best services are but glorious sins.”

A quote by Charles Spurgeon about Thomas Brooks’ writing:

“Brooks scatters stars with both hands, with an eagle eye of faith as well as the eagle eye of imagination”.

Thomas Brooks

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Quotes #22 …John Flavel 1627-1691

November 24, 2025

There is not such a pleasant history for you to read in all the world as the history of your own lives, if you would sit down and record from the beginning hitherto what God has been to you, and done for you; what evidences and outbreakings of his mercy, faithfulness, and love there have been in all the conditions you have passed through.

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Latest on the Origin of Life Research 2025

November 20, 2025

“A pair of Cambridge lectures examining the deepest challenges in origin-of-life research—from the chemistry of early Earth to the information systems inside every cell—and exploring why current prebiotic models fall short. Featuring Dr. James Tour and Dr. Stephen Meyer, this session highlights the scientific roadblocks, the role of information, and the implications for how life began.”

The cases of these two men continue to get stronger with time. I enjoyed these lectures and I hope you do as well.

CR

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Quotes #19…Joseph Caryl 1602-1673

November 10, 2025

So you may look lightly upon a Scripture and see nothing; meditate often upon it and there you shall see a light, like the light of the Sun.

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Quotes #16…Jeff Allen (Born 1956)

October 30, 2025

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Quotes #6…Reverand Paul Ford (Karl Malden) Early 1900s’

September 22, 2025

“Death comes unexpectedly.  And the God Jehovah will execute his vengeance on ye who despise his dying love and trample his benefits underfoot.  The unconverted soul, the foolish children of man do miserably delude themselves in the false confidence of their own strength and wisdom.
Now the great King of heaven and earth will abolish and annihilate this pride, will crush the hardened wretch of the polluted infinite abomination and rain on him a deluge of fire and brimstone…”

This is the first half of the second worse sermon ever preached.

Here is the full two minute sixteen second video of the second worse sermon ever preached.

This is the sermon that Reverand Paul Ford (Played by Karl Malden) “preached” in the fictional town of Beldingsville, Vermont where the movie Pollyanna (1960) was set. When I first saw it, I called it “the second worst sermon ever preached.” What is the law without the gospel after all?

Preacher Ford is a legalist who thinks that he can bully his congregation into good behavior (and maybe salvation) by preaching sermons that are all law and no gospel. Any sermon like this one, devoid of the greatest message given to the world through Jesus Christ our Lord, is an abomination to the purposes of God. There, I have given the legalist his own medicine.

One of the central themes of the movie, Pollyanna, is the power of optimism. Would I rather Preacher Ford give a sermon containing only optimism, completely ignoring the law? Absolutely not! I would consider a sermon like that possibly “The third worse sermon of all time.” A sermon like that would sound like something done by Joel Osteen, Robert Schuller, or Norman Vincent Peale. Most of those sermons weaken the gospel message by understating the seriousness of the law. This creates a misunderstanding of the power of the gospel. If a person doesn’t understand the importance of the law, a person doesn’t understand why we need the gospel. Sermons that don’t attempt to balance the truths of the law and gospel distort the truth found in the Bible.

CR

Note: I have highlighted the movie Pollyanna on this blog before. I enjoy the movie because the acting is great and it captures some truths found in a small town, both good and bad. They have done a good job of capturing the time period as well. It is a secular movie because it does not include the gospel message even though there are Christian themes within.

Here is my previous post about this movie from 12 years ago.

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Latest on the Origin of Life Research 2024

December 4, 2024

Once again, I’m publishing the best video of 2024 that I could find regarding Origin of Life research. And once again, the well known chemist, Dr. James Tour is it’s creator. I’ve watched the entire thing twice now and appreciate all of it but if you want to cut it short a bit start at 22:00 minutes.

If you have not heard of Dr. Tour, you can get an idea of his accomplishments here.

Chris Reimers

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