"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." This page was inspired by the book called Secrets of the Vine by Bruce Wilkinson One of my good friends on the net told me about this book at a time I really needed to hear about it. I had just been through a rough year dealing with many life issues involving my family and myself. At the time that this book was mentioned, I was in the process of having my house re-painted and finalizing the registration of a women's retreat. My work was keeping me very busy also. Though I was spending time reading my Bible, I wasn't spending as much quiet time with God that I really needed. So I knew I had to go out and get the book. Why? Because my friend told me about a part that said we need to abide in Christ. To abide means to remain. It is a continous process. Once I started the book, I could not put it down. I know that God was speaking to me through this book. I realized that a lot of what I was going through was pruning. And it is not an easy process. The book explained the process that takes place in a vineyard. As I was reading this book, I remember my sister inviting me to Callaway Wineries where she give tours. I thought, wow, I would love to go see the actual vineyard to get a visual of what I was reading. Well on July 13, we got to visit the Callaway Winery. I was real proud of my sister and she really knows her job well. She was off work that day but was nice enough to give us a private tour. We learned how the vineyards are taken care of. It takes a plant 5 years before a plant can give fruit that is good enough for the harvest. We saw a baby vine and we named her Denise! We learned about the harvesting of the grapes and how the white wine grapes are harvested differently from the red wine grapes. White wine is ready before the red wine grapes. White wine grapes have the skins removed before they are crushed. Red wine grapes keep the skins on. The juice of the wines sit in these large metal storage containers that are kept chilled for about 24 hours. Then yeast is added to the juice to start the fermenting process. My sister told us it is a special yeast that eats the sugars in the grapes and that causes the grapes to ferment. To learn more about the whole process, you can visit the Callaway Coastal Web Page After the tour, Terry took us to see the mature vines with fruit on it. This was real exciting for us. We now had a visual picture of what we had been reading. We were talking on how it must have been for Jesus to be explaining this to His disciples. We could just imagine being with Him there. This is the scripture the book is based on. John 15 1-11 1" I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3."You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8"My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9"Just as (10) the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10"If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. 11"These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full." New American Standard Bible (NASB) Tap Next to see more pictures. Midi is Garden by Bruce De Boer Contents & Graphics Copyright © Susan's Garden of Friendship/2001 and the graphic artist listed. Our work is not Public Domain, and should NOT be taken from this site. Thank you.