In 1999, The Simpsons go to a movie theater to see The Poke of Zorro. Afterwards, Homer, imitating Zorro, frightens Snake (the neighborhood thug) away by challenging him to a duel, slapping him with a glove when he insults Marge; he then starts to use his dueling glove to get anything he wants from people. First up is Moe for calling him heavyset, but after a slap, he gives Homer a free beer. Thus begins a short montage to the tune of “Glove Slap” (a parody of The B-52s’ song “Love Shack”). When a gun-toting Southern colonel at the Kwik-E-Mart actually “accepts” Homer’s challenge, Homer finds himself bound to a duel at dawn the following day. The colonel and his wife set up camp outside the house in his RV (which bears bumper stickers like “Honk if You Demand Satisfaction”), awaiting the duel.
With Homer fearing for his life, the family sneaks out and searches for a temporary home. They come across Grampa’s old farmhouse on Rural Route 9 outside of Springfield, where they decide to live and, despite the land’s poor reputation for growing crops, Homer becomes a farmer.
Homer calls Lenny and requests that he send plutonium to make the crops grow “real big, real fast.” They do eventually grow, but since Homer had accidentally mixed the tomato seeds with the tobacco seeds, he decides to call the tomato-crossed-with-tobacco, Tomacco.
The legend of Tomacco was born. Now, this is pretty silly story from a cartoon, but life has imitated art. Rob Baur of Lake Oswego, Oregon, researched tobacco plants and tomato plants and realized that they are both from the nightshade plant family. He successfully grafted a tomato plant onto tobacco roots. Results: real-life tomacco.
This brings me to the question at hand, what kind of fruit are you producing? Christ tells us that when we produce fruit, that God is glorified.
“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” — John 15:8
Don’t be a Homer and produce funky, mutated fruit, but produce fruit that glorifies God with — “things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”
