Well, a different kind of day but thank You, Father, for walking beside me today. The schedule for the last couple of weeks has really worn me down, literally to the point of tears. But it is all to Your glory! This morning I truly believe my weeping helped convey Your heart as I spoke on “healing”. May I sleep well tonight and be ready for the full week ahead. And, Father…I will be leaning fully on You.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

For quite some time I have felt compelled to take a picture from the window in my dining room – so I finally did…and here it is.
We have lived here now for almost 30 years and to my knowledge, my friend, Jerry, has farmed the land across the road for at least that long and probably longer. He rotates the roadside of this field between corn and soybeans and obviously this year’s crop is corn (the backside of the field is the exact opposite – beans this year).
Year after year, I have a front-row seat as the cycles of the season run through once more. He sows the seed, the seeds germinate and grow and grow and grow, until finally, they reach the point of maturity where fruit is born and then in short order reaches the time of harvest.
Now Jerry is the farmer and I am just an ignorant non-farmer watching, as it were, from the sidelines. I’m sure I could learn to do what Jerry does but that’s his thing, not mine.
I’m sure you are familiar with the passage in John’s Gospel, the fourth chapter where Jesus has been talking with a Samaritan woman while the disciples went into town in search of food. Upon their return, they are shocked to see Him talking with a woman and a Samaritan woman on top of that!
In the middle of all that has been going on and all this about to transpire. They urge Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something.”
But Jesus replied, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about.”
Uh, what? Where did He get food? Isn’t that why we went into town?
Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.” John 4:31-38 (NLT) (emphasis mine)
I may be a bystander in the corn harvest across the road but not in “the fields [that] are already ripe for harvest.”
Every single one of Jesus’ followers has the obligation to “gather the harvest.”
We may protest, well that’s his thing or her thing, not mine but does Jesus even hint that there is any kind of loop hole in His command? Nope. “Wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.”
Jesus calls and we have no choice but to answer and act upon that call.
Lord Jesus, may we gain wisdom as to how to participate in this calling. Many have “already done the work” and now we “will get to gather the harvest.” If Jerry fails to harvest his crop, he loses his investment of time and resources. If we fail to harvest Your crop, they may just lose the opportunity for an eternity with You. May each of us feel the weight of that obligation and act. Amen.

Sept 15th, 2019, Sun, 5:48 pm