I know I remark on the weather perhaps too often in this space, but I gotta tell you, it seems weird writing a column for the October newsletter when it’s going to be over 90 degrees today. And I know there’s no rule that what I share here needs to be seasonal or in any way specific to what time of year it’s being written, but that’s what I tend to do anyway. So here goes: what time of year is it? If you drive with any regularity on country roads, or any two-lane roads in central Illinois, you have surely experienced the frustration of getting stuck behind a tractor, a combine, or some other piece of farm equipment. Or you have experienced the tension of having to drive with two wheels in the ditch to pass one coming the other way. Why? It’s harvest time.
I was driving home from Champaign yesterday and saw a combine harvesting the very last section of a field of soybeans. It was quite a sight; acre after acre of inches-high stubble except for a hundred yards or so of beans exactly as wide as the combine that was devouring them. I wondered how it felt to be driving that combine. I’m sure that wasn’t the last of his work, but the feeling of finishing that job must be satisfying on some level. All the work, the soil preparation, the planting, the fertilizing, the weed and pest control, irrigation, drainage, etc. has all been leading to this moment; the moment of harvest.
We have talked a lot recently about how many times people must hear thegospel before they are able to respond to it. We talk often of planting seed, of watering. But Jesus said the harvest is ready. The fields are ripe. The harvest is plentiful, but laborers are few. We are to pray that the Lord sends laborers into His fields, but don’t forget that they will labor among us, not instead of us. I leave you for now with the lyrics to a song called “Lord of the Harvest.” Enjoy and be challenged and en-couraged:
See the fields, ripe and white as snow Up from the seeds of faith we planted long ago So many the hearts in season with every prayer they’ve grown He has made them ready but we must bring them home
Lord of the harvest place your fire in me Servant you need now, servant I will be Give me the eyes of your spirit, your heart of compassion to know Lord of the harvest, show me where to go
Time like a free wind, so quickly slips away Too soon today’s tomorrow, too soon yesterday So little time for the reaping and the laborers are few Lift your head to the fields of white the work that we must do
Lord of the harvest place your fire in me Servant you need now, servant I will be Give me the eyes of your spirit, your heart of compassion to know Wherever you may lead me Lord of the Harvest I’ll Go
With you in Christ,
