About six years ago, just a few months after we had moved into the log home we built outside of Bells, Texas, I bought four pallets of Bermuda grass sod for our front yard. I rolled it all out and it looked pretty good. I watered it faithfully and did my best to nurture it. However, looking at my yard today, while it is very green, there is hardly any Bermuda grass growing there.

Our flower beds are a different story. Last week I spent several hours digging Bermuda grass out of the beds where our roses are planted across the back of our patio. As I was doing so, I remembered something an older guy told me back when I was living in Oklahoma. “If you want Bermuda grass to grow, you’ve got to disturb it a bit.” He went on to explain that if you dig around in it or till it, it will take off sending new shoots everywhere. So I took all that grass I dug out and planted it all around my front yard. We shall see.

That reminded me of a poem that I have shared before in my devotions, but it is worth sharing again. It was written by Sir Francis Drake in 1577 and entitled “Disturb Us, Lord.”  It speaks to living with the confidence of knowing Jesus is with us.

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the Waters of Life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery:
Where losing sight of land
We shall find the stars.
We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push us in the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

Francis Drake, 1577

I hope all the followers of Jesus will be disturbed today.