Farming has always had its challenges- in 1993 it was the floods, in 2001 it was the soybean aphids, in 1997, it was the corn borer. I was farming in Southwestern Minnesota in 1997. The crops were looking great. I took kernel counts in mid summer and began to formulate a very optimistic yield estimate. Then the corn borers came. They came worse than we had ever seen them. We should have sprayed, but did not. By the time we realized what was happening it was too late. They had tunneled through though the stock, cutting off the nutrient supply to the ear. They were so bad that they had even tunneled through the center of most ears. Later as we combined, the grain tank was literally littered with corn borer larva. One of the fields yielded only half of what I had estimated because the kernels stayed small and the test weight was terrible.
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As I was combining a particularly bad field, I began to punch numbers and do the math…based on yield, price crop insurance payments and expenses, will I be able to pay the bills? I determined that I would be alright. I was single at the time, so my living expenses were quite low. I just would not be able to afford the piece of machinery I had had my eye on. I began to think, “well maybe next year.”
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Then I began to think, “what if I have a bumper crop and great prices next year? Then what? What if I have many profitable years and even am able to get all new machinery? So what?” As a Christian, I knew that there was more to life than a new John Deere, so I began to pray as I drove the combine.
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I began to feel an emptiness. I thought that instead of buying a new tractor, I could give the money to the church. I knew that would be a good thing to do, but then it hit me, God didn’t want my money as much as He wanted me. I saw how easy it would be to get so focused in my work of farming that I did not give my time to God. I realized that if I earned less money, but served Him more, that God could easily get the money that I would have given from somewhere else. I remembered the truth of Psalm 50:10, “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.”
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God did not want my money as much as he wanted me. I got to the end of the field and waited for my brother to come with a wagon. I bowed my head on the combine steering wheel and told the Lord that I was ready to do whatever he wanted even if it meant giving up farming. I was willing to stop farming if that was what was asked of me, but the Lord allowed me to continue to farm another six years, just on a smaller scale. Shortly after that prayer, the doors began to open up to volunteer at church. I had cut back on acres, so that gave me the time to walk through those open doors. Eventually I quit farming to prepare for the pastorate.
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I am not writing this to tell the readers that they should quit their jobs and become a pastor, but to remind all of us that there is something more important than ourselves. Matthew 16:26 says, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” We cannot buy off God - not with our money, not even with our service, yet He is worthy of both.
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What God really wants is us. Not just our time, not just our wallet, but our very hearts and souls. “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” Matthew 22:37-38. If you do not give God your heart in this life, there is nothing you can give for your soul in the next.
To read past articles by Pastor Miller, please visit bancroftbaptist.blogspot.com
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Paint the Rock Wagon
How much rain did you get? This question has become a reminder of all the troubles that come with too much water in one place. We praise God, for rain, because without it, the crops would not grow, yet an overabundance of a good thing brings its own set of problems- flooded basements, unplanted crops, drowned crops, whole houses washed away, whole towns under water, and even the loss of life. “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” James 5:17-18. Times like these should remind us to pray if nothing else.
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As I reflect on the above verses I recall the childlike faith of my little brother when we were children. We grew up on a farm, and the rains kept missing us. Instead of being too wet, it was too dry. My little brother was not very old at the time, and he had heard Dad praying for rain, so he began to pray for rain before every meal. This went on for weeks until it finally started to rain. We were blessed with great rains, in fact, they kept coming, but my little brother had gotten into the habit of praying his prayer. Finally, Dad (although not wanting to hurt the little guy’s feelings) told him that we had enough rain for now, and he could quit praying for it. Who knows, before long we may be praying for rain again.
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In situations like floods, tornados, and other weather systems, we realize how completely helpless we are, and how much me must depend on God. It is not always easy when the water is pouring into your basement, or your crops are under water. You find yourself in the midst of trials.
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In the first chapter of James, we are told to count it joy when we face trials. That sounds strange at first, because who wants to have problems? But we are given the reason: “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:3-4.
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Basically what he is saying is that by going through trials, you learn patience so you are better able to endure them. Some folks have lived such sheltered lives, that when the slightest problem comes along, they fall apart. Be going through a few challenges along the way, we are strengthened so we are better able to face life.
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The value of the patience we gain in trials should not be underestimated. Most rural folks have a lets “git er done” attitude. In most cases that’s good. Its an evidence of a strong work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit. But when it comes to waiting for the fields to dry out, or the river to go down, sometimes we just have to wait on God’s timing. That teaches us to wait in other areas as well.
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I remember trying to plant crops in the wet spring of 1993. A friend of mine was utterly depressed as we approached June without having the beans planted. He felt like a failure because he did not have his crop in yet. I asked him if he thought the same of all his neighbors, because none of us had our crops in yet either. He did not, but said he wished that there was something more he could do. I asked him if the planter, digger, and tractors were all ready to go as soon as the fields dried out. I think he told me that he had already greased them multiple times. I said there is nothing else we can do but wait and pray. He still was not satisfied and said that he wished that there was something more he could do. “Okay,” I said, “if you want to do something, then paint the rock wagon.” Ironically, he felt better, because now he had a goal and something he could do, but ultimately he understood he would have to learn to wait patiently.
-
As I reflect on the above verses I recall the childlike faith of my little brother when we were children. We grew up on a farm, and the rains kept missing us. Instead of being too wet, it was too dry. My little brother was not very old at the time, and he had heard Dad praying for rain, so he began to pray for rain before every meal. This went on for weeks until it finally started to rain. We were blessed with great rains, in fact, they kept coming, but my little brother had gotten into the habit of praying his prayer. Finally, Dad (although not wanting to hurt the little guy’s feelings) told him that we had enough rain for now, and he could quit praying for it. Who knows, before long we may be praying for rain again.
-
In situations like floods, tornados, and other weather systems, we realize how completely helpless we are, and how much me must depend on God. It is not always easy when the water is pouring into your basement, or your crops are under water. You find yourself in the midst of trials.
-
In the first chapter of James, we are told to count it joy when we face trials. That sounds strange at first, because who wants to have problems? But we are given the reason: “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:3-4.
-
Basically what he is saying is that by going through trials, you learn patience so you are better able to endure them. Some folks have lived such sheltered lives, that when the slightest problem comes along, they fall apart. Be going through a few challenges along the way, we are strengthened so we are better able to face life.
-
The value of the patience we gain in trials should not be underestimated. Most rural folks have a lets “git er done” attitude. In most cases that’s good. Its an evidence of a strong work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit. But when it comes to waiting for the fields to dry out, or the river to go down, sometimes we just have to wait on God’s timing. That teaches us to wait in other areas as well.
-
I remember trying to plant crops in the wet spring of 1993. A friend of mine was utterly depressed as we approached June without having the beans planted. He felt like a failure because he did not have his crop in yet. I asked him if he thought the same of all his neighbors, because none of us had our crops in yet either. He did not, but said he wished that there was something more he could do. I asked him if the planter, digger, and tractors were all ready to go as soon as the fields dried out. I think he told me that he had already greased them multiple times. I said there is nothing else we can do but wait and pray. He still was not satisfied and said that he wished that there was something more he could do. “Okay,” I said, “if you want to do something, then paint the rock wagon.” Ironically, he felt better, because now he had a goal and something he could do, but ultimately he understood he would have to learn to wait patiently.
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