My parents purchased their farm after I had left high school and moved
away. In the years that have passed, I've had many farm related experiences
but would never consider myself a farmer because I simply don't know enough
about it and that's not where my God given gifts appear.
There is though, a certain romantic appeal about a simpler rural life.
The reality is that it has as many stresses and problems as a city life, they
are just different problems. I have been blessed a number of times to have
spent a week at the farm by myself while my parents were away for holidays. I
got to play at being a farmer while looking after the livestock and
house-sitting.
One of my first opportunities was in the "old house", a three room
mobile home with a wood stove for heat. They have long since moved into nicer
and larger accommodations. I stayed for a week in mid winter.
The weather was brutally cold, -40 and windy. I wasn't used to heating
with a woodstove and was having difficulty getting the temperature right.
Around midnight, I awoke feeling very cold. The wood stove had gone nearly
out. I got it burning again and in my zeal to get warm, I stuffed it far too
full of wood.
Before long, it was like a sauna in the trailer and the temperature was
still climbing. The cast iron on the woodstove was beginning to glow red hot.
I panicked and looked for a way to cool things off before a fire started
outside the stove. Not knowing any better, I threw a bucket of cold water
into the firebox. The firebox groaned in protest and the room filled with
steam, but the temperature dropped. I still don't know why the firebox didn't
explode; only the grace of God watching over a fool can explain it. Red hot
cast iron and cold water don't mix together really well.
We often do things out of sheer ignorance. No one has told us any
better and we simply grope and stumble along.
There is an area of life that is too important to be ignorant about.
People who don't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ are destined
for eternal separation from God.
Eternal separation from God out of a knowing choice is tragic enough.
To have it happen because someone didn't tell you is a tragedy beyond
measure.
The world is a dark and dangerous place. For many, as hellish as their
life is, it is the closest they will ever get to heaven.
Do you remember what it was like to live in the darkness without hope?
Do you remember the freedom that came with knowing Jesus? Share those things
with others. If you can't or won't go into the harvest field give generously
to those who do and pray for them.
