This is the first year (ever!) that the tomatoes have turned ripe on the vine. Usually hubby and I have green tomatoes sitting all over our house the entire month of October waiting to turn ripe.
But not this year!
Our summer this year has been phenomenal! So much so, that the tomatoes turned ripe on the vine! … in September! Unbelievable!
Here you can see a sampling of our tomato harvest. Exciting!
I know you are probably asking: “And what, exactly, are you going to do with all those tomatoes?”
Well, I’ve never had a blessing such as this before.
Usually the green tomatoes, all over my house throughout October, only get ripe one or two at a time. So, we usually just eat them one or two at a time as they turn ripe.
But this year! This year I was able to juice my tomatoes! I have always wanted to make fresh tomato juice to put away in the freezer.
Here you can see my juicer. I am quite fond of my juicer. I load the tomatoes in the hopper at the top. As the juicer does its magic, the fresh tomato juice pours out the spout on the right-hand side, and the tomato pulp is collected in the big clear container on the left-hand side.
Thanks to our abundant harvest this year, I was able to freeze 18 jars of fresh tomato juice! Whoo Hoo! In addition, I was also able to freeze all the tomato pulp … which I will be using for winter recipes such as chili, soups, and stews.
So grateful!! So very grateful!!
Because this is the first year (ever) that I have processed & frozen fresh tomato juice, it came as a great surprise and total shock to discover that the jars of fresh tomato juice (now frozen) had separated out into two distinct parts!
You can see this here …
I had no idea fresh tomato juice was actually comprised of two distinct parts!!
Who would have known!
To be honest, my immediate “blink” reaction, as I surveyed the fascinating layers in the jar, was that it reminded me of plasma and red blood cells.
When you cut yourself and bleed all over the place it probably doesn’t occur to you that blood is actually comprised of different parts … such as plasma and red blood cells.
But one thing … blood … is comprised of several different, uniquely distinct parts.
Just as in the same way, the one thing … fresh tomato juice … separated out into two different and uniquely distinct parts.
So also, in the same way … every person is one human being … likewise comprised of two different, uniquely distinct parts: a physical body and a spiritual soul.
When we look at each other we only see the one total person. Just like we see blood, when we cut ourselves. Or just like we see a cup of red tomato juice. We only see the whole, combined together to make it what it is.
But … just like blood can be separated out into its different, uniquely distinct parts … and just like fresh tomato juice naturally separates out into its own different, uniquely distinct parts … so also, each human being can also be separated into our different, uniquely distinct parts.
How??
How can a person be separated into their different, uniquely distinct parts??
At death. At death, the spiritual soul in the person separates and leaves the physical body of the person.
The physical body of the person remains on the earth and goes into the ground to decay.
While the spiritual soul of the person continues to remain, very much conscious and real … and goes to either be with God in Heaven … or else to be in Hell.
As you look at this jar of fresh/frozen tomato juice … separated out into two distinct parts … this is what you as a human being are. The red part can represent your physical body, with blood that keeps you alive. And the white part can represent your spiritual soul … the part of you that is unseen … but is very much there!
You are two parts … physical body and spiritual soul.
When the time comes for your two parts to be separated … where will your spiritual soul go?
If you believe in Jesus Christ, that Jesus is the perfect, sinless Son of God who took the punishment for your sin, and if you accept Jesus’s gift of salvation for your soul, your soul will go to be with God in Heaven.
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” – Romans 10:9,13
“God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
“These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” – John 20:31
