Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground;

for it is time to seek the LORD, until He comes and showers righteousness on you.

Micah 10:12, (1978 NIV)

 

I stretch forth my hands unto Thee; my soul thirsts after Thee , as a thirsty land.

Selah

Psalms 143:6, (KJV)

 

Sometime around the year 1960, a man by the name of J. David Bamberger went into partnership with another gentleman in a fried chicken business they opened up across from the Alamo. It was a great location and an even better product. Within a decade, J. David Bamberger and his partner had expanded to over 1,600 locations. Now, you might be wondering why you never heard of this incredibly successful organization, but it is very likely that you have, for Mr. Bamberger, along with his partner, Bill Church, called this franchise "Church's Fried Chicken".

 

About 1969 they sold out and Mr. Bamberger and his wife, were ready for a new adventure. So they bought several thousand acres of what he described as "the worst land in the Hill Country of Texas". It was a land that was filled with cactus and rock and a close cousin of the cedar tree - the Ashe Juniper. There was no live water on these abused sections of land for it had long ago been over=grazed of its native grass and then overgrown by the Juniper.

 

Mr. Bamberger then had seven wells drilled at a depth of 500 feet, but in reality they could hardly be called wells, for they didn't yield any water at all. A lesser man would have given up, but not J. David Bamberger! Being a business man, he began to look at the assets and liabilities of the land. It was in an area that received 28 inches of annual rainfall - this was certainly more than adequate for a healthy land, but the Juniper that covered most of his ranch was a genuine "water hog". So he began the meticulous process of bulldozing the greatest portion of these thirsty trees and then sowed the ground with tons of native grass seed.

 

Then he allowed the land to "pause" and let God's nature take over. It was to be a long pause, indeed.

 

But he added to his hard work and wisdom the virtue of patience, and two and one half years later, it happened! Water started to flow out of a portion of one of the hills in this hill country, and a natural spring was re-born! Over the years a total of eleven springs, along with the resulting streams and ponds have formed... but how did this happen?

 

As it turns out, this portion of the hill country of Texas lies atop a huge layer of Edwards Limestone, one of the best natural "sponges and filters" created by the Lord. When Mr. Bamberger removed the Ashe Juniper, he removed a tree that essentially takes the rainfall it needs, and then lets the rest runoff to places far away. And, when he planted the native grass, he was placing in the soil a plant that took just what it needed to survive, and then drained the rest of the water, through its long roots, deep into the soil where it could reach the limestone to be stored until it hit the saturation point and trickled out into the natural springs and streams and ponds.

 

In fact, the water is so plentiful in the wet years that its streams carry the water to a river which flows into the City of Austin, Texas some twenty miles away, adding much needed liquid to the water supply of this thriving city.

 

And, the Bamberger's Ranch? It has grown to a 5,500 acre wildlife preserve. It has been transformed from a near wasteland of cactus and rocks and Ashe Junipers, to an oasis containing over a hundred varieties of both wildlife and plant life. It has huge trees, large areas of native grass for grazing and even a bat cave that Mr. and Mrs. Bamberger built from the ground up and which is now the seasonal home for hundreds of thousands of bats migrating from Mexico.

 

It is a beautiful land, indeed! It is the work of a lifetime, and it continues to this day. The Bamberger Ranch Preserve has since been featured on documentaries by the National Geographic Society, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and countless others. His unique method of land restoration has been copied by numerous others with excellent results. The ranch has been set up as a foundation which will allow it to be run in perpetuity. Thousands of school children has visited the ranch over the years to allow them to see what can be accomplished if a person just makes their mind up to do it. It is a testimony to what can be done when a man sets his mind to do something worthwhile with the life and resources that God has allowed him to posses. Oh, one more thing you might want to know about this ranch.

 

They named it, "Selah"!

 

Mr. Bamberger took the name from the Bible, when he discovered the word meant to stop, to pause, to look around, and to reflect upon what you see.

 

What would happen if we did that with the resources that God has given us? It is no doubt that the world would be a more beautiful place, but just imagine what it could be like if we would "break up our unplowed ground" from a spiritual perspective. Imagine what could happen if we had that "Selah" spirit in our service to God. Imagine what we could accomplish with the help of the Lord if we would just pause long enough to think about what we are really here for and what we could do for the kingdom of God if we would just take the time to reflect on our duty as servants to the Most High. Why, this world would become a Paradise, would it not?

 

The second lesson of Selah is to pause and reflect, and then to get to the hard work of breaking up our unplowed ground and sowing righteousness until the Lord comes! What great things could God accomplish through you, if you would just pause and think about it?