God has fulfilled a lifelong dream to own land I can grow plants and fruit trees on, which I could never have naturally afforded.

I have grown up with the love of growing plants.  Some of my earliest memories are of growing carrot tops in Mum’s kitchen or sprouting kumara tubers and seeing how far the shoots could be trained.  Another early childhood memory is the love of eating freshly tree ripened peaches with the juice running down my cheeks on a hot summer’s day.  From an early age I was involved in Brown’s Berry fruit Farm, which was a family business on the outskirts of Levin.

When I left High School, I completed a Horticultural Science Degree at Massey University in Palmerston North and came home unexpectedly to run the family business for six years.  I knew there was a pastoral call on my life and wrestled with how that would be outworked in a horticultural setting.  When the family business sold, my wife Gillian and I went to Bible College thinking that we would use our horticultural and medical skills as missionaries in another country.

God challenged us to serve in New Zealand and to prepare others for mission in New Zealand and Overseas.  We led churches in Paraparaumu for 10 years, Wellington for 10 years and Christchurch for 9.5 years.  During this time my ongoing prayer was, “God, I would love a piece of land.”  The dream was clear, but we didn’t have the financial resources to further the dream and felt that we needed to live in the communities where the churches were located.

In 2018 when God started talking to us about transitioning the church in Christchurch to a younger couple and shifting to Hamilton, there was no one on the horizon.  Pastor Sheridyn met Pastor Josh van Berkel at a conference in Australia and asked Josh if he would ever consider leading a church in Christchurch, which set the wheels in motion for the first miracle.  We had been a single income family for some of our time in ministry and felt called to positions that weren’t always well remunerated at other times.  God always met our needs, but the desire for some land didn’t seem to be amongst them.  This was something that we couldn’t make happen for ourselves.

In October 2019 we relocated to Hamilton, and when we looked at properties there seemed to be nothing that we could afford.  God miraculously provided the property we now live in, which is situated in Eureka with 1.4 acres of land.  Eureka comes from the Greek word meaning, “I have found it.”  Archimedes is credited as proclaiming “Eureka” when he discovered that the water level which dropped when he got out of the bath, was the same volume as his submerged body.  He supposedly, leapt out of the bathtub and ran naked down the streets.

My wife Gillian says that I am in my happy place when I am on our property.  When I was running the family orchard, my favourite time of the day was in the cool of the evening when everyone had gone home for the day. It felt like God, and I would walk through the orchard together.  I would often get revelation from God during those walks about what needed to be done naturally in the orchard and spiritually in my own life. Now I get to walk with God in the garden, each and every day.

In this season, I say that I am trying to recreate the garden of Eden, by growing anything that you can eat.  We love being able to share what God is doing in our garden with others.  I have re-created the ark, not for animals this time, but for boysenberries, raspberries, and blueberries to fruit freely and prolifically in their pest free enclosure.  When I need more space, I simply dig up more ground, by hand of course, so that I don’t get too carried away.

Our family property was called “Brown Acres” and this property is called “Brown’s Acre”, as it’s 1.25 acres rather than 64 acres.  God has spoiled us and enabled us to steward a property that was beyond our own natural resources.  For us it is God’s supernatural provision.  Don’t give up on your dream, continue to be faithful to what God is asking of you in this season.  There will be seasons of sacrifice and loss, but God is able to redeem and restore.  I have learnt that God is able to do anything when I place my life in his hands and ask him to use my life to glorify God.

Luke 6:38 (NLT)

38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

Prayer

Lord, I pray for those today who like me are holding onto unfulfilled dreams and promises.  Help them to continue to take hold of you in this season of their lives and to believe that you are the God who can make a way.  Help them to enjoy the journey with you as they grow in their love for you and the people you have placed around them.