{"id":304,"date":"2011-04-25T05:20:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-25T11:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.195.124.95\/~redletu4\/the-dandelion-wars\/"},"modified":"2011-04-25T05:20:00","modified_gmt":"2011-04-25T11:20:00","slug":"the-dandelion-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/the-dandelion-wars\/","title":{"rendered":"The dandelion wars"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><div>\n<span>One of the sure signs of spring is the presence of dandelions. Despite their yellow floral bursts, they\u2019re generally\u00a0considered\u00a0noxious weeds. To me, they are the worst\u00a0alien invaders of a well-kept lawn.\u00a0<\/span>\n<p><span>And to say that I\u2019m, um, anal about ridding them is an understatement. Like a hunter, I am on the prowl for them as I make my regular rounds. When I find one, I gear up with weed killer, a long dagger and a don\u2019t-stop-me look in my eye. <em>Pity the weed.<\/em><\/span><br><span><br><\/span><\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_n3tvlzeK1OE\/SgrYXttFcJI\/AAAAAAAAAds\/MBRWjMC8bGw\/s1600-h\/weeds.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_n3tvlzeK1OE\/SgrYXttFcJI\/AAAAAAAAAds\/MBRWjMC8bGw\/s320\/weeds.jpg\"><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span>The red house we lived in, the one on 9th, had a nice lawn, thanks to my efforts and the grumbled mowing of my sons. But neither of the neighbors on either side had the same ethic. Their green was riddled with yellow. Theirs was now enemy turf and they were lofting para-troopers in an all-out aerial assault on my green dream.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><b>This was war<\/b>. I wore camouflage over my flannel. Armed with a 20-foot single sprayer I targeted the evil flowers through the slats in my fence. Like a sniper, I took them out one by one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>You see, <em>their problem was becoming mine<\/em>. And if I hadn\u2019t been vigilant, my especially fertile soil would have welcomed the invaders. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A<\/span><span>nd today I\u2019m reminded that my life isn\u2019 t lived in a vacuum. <\/span><em><span>When one part of the body suffers, we all do.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span>Those of us who live by faith need to focus on ridding the weeds in our backyards before they infect our neighbors. We cannot run independently. <em>My sin isn\u2019t just my own<\/em>. It has hurt others. It has cost people to trust a little less. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When I am grumpy, the whole family adopts my attitude. When I am negative at work, there is a heaviness in the air. One bad egg at church can disrupt a whole congregation.\u00a0<\/span><em><span>We all affect each other.<\/span><\/em>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-I-5Tw52QzJE\/TbSfodmS8xI\/AAAAAAAACIo\/HQa3pp-k0vo\/s1600\/Use+it+on+Monday.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span><img decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" height=\"200px\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-I-5Tw52QzJE\/TbSfodmS8xI\/AAAAAAAACIo\/HQa3pp-k0vo\/s200\/Use+it+on+Monday.jpg\" width=\"136px\"><\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<span>Joining in with Nebraska Graceful<\/span><br><span>on her Here it On Sunday, Use it on Monday<\/span><br><span>Some great links!<\/span>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><span>\ufeff<\/span>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Many of us are coming out of a long winter and we look forward to greener days ahead. But those days will be spoiled if we don\u2019t get rid of the weeds now. They will spread and will overtake all the good for you and those around you.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><span><br><\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>What kind of weeds need to be pulled from your life?\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/comment.g?blogID=956512876042479602&amp;postID=8375501357296415896&amp;isPopup=true\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span>Comment here<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><br><span><br><\/span><br><span><i>Also, check out Charity Singleton\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/charitysingleton.blogspot.com\/2011\/04\/my-heart-bleeds-for-dandelions.html#more\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wide Open Spaces<\/a> for her take on dandelions.<\/i><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>\ufeff\ufeff<\/span> <\/p><\/div>\n<div><span><br><\/span><\/div>\n<div><em><span><\/span><\/em><\/div>\n<div align=\"left\">\n<em><span>And we would be most honored if you would subscribe to this blog. Please\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.feedburner.com\/fb\/a\/emailverifySubmit?feedId=1392543&amp;loc=en_US\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em><span>Click here<\/span><\/em><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<div>Please, share with a friend if you feel moved.<br>\nRead all past issues at http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the sure signs of spring is the presence of dandelions. Despite their yellow floral bursts, they\u2019re generally\u00a0considered\u00a0noxious weeds. To me, they are the worst\u00a0alien invaders of a well-kept lawn.\u00a0 And to say that I\u2019m, um, anal about ridding them is an understatement. Like a hunter, I am on the prowl for them as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2375,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,677,953,1006],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-eggs","category-pulling-dandelions","category-weeds","category-your-sin-will-affect-others"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The dandelion wars<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the sure signs of spring is the presence of dandelions. Despite their yellow floral bursts, they&#039;re generally\u00a0considered\u00a0noxious weeds. To me, they\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/the-dandelion-wars\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The dandelion wars\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the sure signs of spring is the presence of dandelions. Despite their yellow floral bursts, they&#039;re generally\u00a0considered\u00a0noxious weeds. To me, they\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/the-dandelion-wars\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-25T11:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_n3tvlzeK1OE\/SgrYXttFcJI\/AAAAAAAAAds\/MBRWjMC8bGw\/s320\/weeds.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@rupzip\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/the-dandelion-wars\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/the-dandelion-wars\/\",\"name\":\"The dandelion wars\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-25T11:20:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-04-25T11:20:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81\"},\"description\":\"One of the sure signs of spring is the presence of dandelions. Despite their yellow floral bursts, they're generally\u00a0considered\u00a0noxious weeds. To me, they\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/the-dandelion-wars\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/the-dandelion-wars\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/the-dandelion-wars\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The dandelion wars\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/\",\"name\":\"David Rupert\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81\",\"name\":\"David Rupert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Rupert\"},\"description\":\"I am a communication professional who has a passion for people. I dream big and with that comes even bigger prayers.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.redletterbelievers.com\",\"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rupzip\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/author\/drupert\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The dandelion wars","description":"One of the sure signs of spring is the presence of dandelions. Despite their yellow floral bursts, they're generally\u00a0considered\u00a0noxious weeds. To me, they","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/the-dandelion-wars\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The dandelion wars","og_description":"One of the sure signs of spring is the presence of dandelions. Despite their yellow floral bursts, they're generally\u00a0considered\u00a0noxious weeds. To me, they","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/the-dandelion-wars\/","og_site_name":"David Rupert","article_author":"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert","article_published_time":"2011-04-25T11:20:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_n3tvlzeK1OE\/SgrYXttFcJI\/AAAAAAAAAds\/MBRWjMC8bGw\/s320\/weeds.jpg"}],"author":"David Rupert","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@rupzip","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Rupert","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/the-dandelion-wars\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/the-dandelion-wars\/","name":"The dandelion wars","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-04-25T11:20:00+00:00","dateModified":"2011-04-25T11:20:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81"},"description":"One of the sure signs of spring is the presence of dandelions. Despite their yellow floral bursts, they're generally\u00a0considered\u00a0noxious weeds. To me, they","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/the-dandelion-wars\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/the-dandelion-wars\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/the-dandelion-wars\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The dandelion wars"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/","name":"David Rupert","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81","name":"David Rupert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Rupert"},"description":"I am a communication professional who has a passion for people. I dream big and with that comes even bigger prayers.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.redletterbelievers.com","www.facebook.com\/davidrupert","https:\/\/twitter.com\/rupzip"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/author\/drupert\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}