Thou Shalt

I’m just setting down with a cup of coffee here this late afternoon and figure I could write something. Between plowing snow and chores today that just about filled the entire day here. Things are fairly caught up with the snow plowed all around the corrals, barns, silage pit, round bales of hay rows along side of the silage pit, and a dozen other places. Our township road is plowed out nice and the county road is in pretty good shape. Then to make me busier a cow had a calf today, first noticed the thing walking around with its mother while I was almost ready to feed those cows this morning. The cows are the last thing on my feeding list, with the steers fed first, then the backrounding calves,then finally the cows. Great I thought, now I gotta dig out gates, and dig out the side sliding door on the calving barn and with all this new snow and drifts all over the place this just makes my day. I hate when I get these “unwed” mothers, durn! Calving is supposed to start in late April around here but to stretch feed the last couple of years I had the bulls with the cow herd till they started calving in spring. So now I have 7 calves with their mothers in another pen, but I’ll take em! After this year things should be back to normal and I won’t be getting a few of these strays in the wintertime. I’m not set up for winter calving but I reckon I can handle up to ten cow calf pairs without any damage being done. Then when the main calving comes in late April I’m not depending on a barn or any other kind of shelter when that main run hits. More my style and a fella doesn’t even have to worry about the weather so much, they make it just fine unless there’s a late April/early May snowstorm, which does happen by the way, just to keep this beef guy on his toes. Now with feed supplies being abundant this will be history when next year rolls around.

Listed three more fat steers to be butchered next week this afternoon and also have to call the salesbarn later this week to sell the calves I’m backrounding. That’ll sure be nice when they’re gone, plus a help to the pocket book also. Nice batch this year and they’re plenty big too with the higher quality feed that a person gets when that most important fertilizer is abundant, water! What a difference some July rains can make to a guy like me. Praise the Lord for em!

⁷And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.

That verse is from Ezekiel chapter 2 and I’ve been dwelling on it a bit. It kind of hits home in allot of ways. “Speak My words unto them”, something that simple, that direct. Not Tom’s words but the Word. Its not my business if people listen or ignore it. Keep it simple, and heaven forbid, never speak my opinion, (which is usually wrong anyhow), just stick to the Word. Here’s what I’m talking about, when faced with a question, never, ever give my opinion as far as faith matters are concerned,just stick to what it says in the Bible, simple. Its when we come up with our idea on what it means that we get in trouble. Basics is all, just stick to the basics.

Once in a while I visit farmers, ranchers, even a logger and I have a good time with them. Funny how easy it is for me to just josh with them. In fact there’s at least two places I visit that probably wouldn’t allow a clean cut preacher to visit them. But they have no problem with me stopping by, even when they know that somehow,someway, I got licensed  and even have the title reverend when I get mail from the church outfit that does the covering. I tell you, I sometimes go weeks forgetting that I really got that title. In other words I must not dwell on it all too much. Really doesn’t matter either, but doing God’s work is what matters.

Sometimes I wonder about this kind of ministry. It sure ain’t a glorified one. Once earlier this winter I was visiting with a small time beef guy who’s wife had left him years ago and bad luck follows him closer that a over tamed house cat. Sat there a couple hours in his rather messy house just visiting him. Plus he was well on his way to being drunk when I arrived. Did that bother me? No. In fact we had a rather good talk, mostly about beef, but I got more than enough of the Word in there to pay for the gas. This is the kind of folks that I visit once in a while, and I must say that a compassion rises up in a person that I could never get doing something in church. This is reality, this is where the misery is, this is where the unbearable hurts are. And this is where much to often there is no hope. Just day to day survival with not one thing to look forward to.

This is where some folks such as myself are called. To the very low ministry that has no glamor, no recognition, and no pay either. The towns folk don’t recognize a person as a church pastor, there’s no special invites into respectable peoples homes. But its real! I stay away from writing this more often than not, but this is real here. Armed with one of my little Cowboy pocket Bibles which fit into the blue jean jacket pocket ever so well, I have all I need physically. And God provides the rest, well, in fact most of it.

I guess I won’t ever be one of them big time glamorous preachers that get all tuned up and take pictures with fancy poses. Nope, just some dirty Wranglers that could very possibly have some cow manure on the cuffs, spreading the Word of God. Speaking it and if the listen or not is not my concern. God said, “Thou Shalt”, so I will.

Paying Tribute

Snowing out most of yesterday and all of today. A north east wind blowing it into drifts all over the place. I spent much of the day just plowing snow around the place. Those that know say it should taper off tonight and hopefully tomorrow I can catch up around here a bit. But its warm outside so that means allot of things go good compared to if it was 30 below zero! Cars and trucks start, cattle waterers don’t have the slightest problem, generally just plain good. Taking allot of bedding for the weaned calves though, that’s much easier to keep clean when its colder outside and everything freezes dry. I have the Bobcat parked in the attached garage to our house tonight, as I did last night too, that way even if it drifts up tonight I just hop in after a big breakfast and plow er out as I go. Kinda lazy I must admit, or maybe I’m just getting smarter as time goes on, one of the two I guess.

I was saddened a little while ago to find out that a man that I really respected went home with the Lord today. Glenn Smith, cowboy preacher, in fact one of those that truly blazed the trail in bringing the Gospel to farmers, ranchers, rodeo folks, just about anyone rural. I’ve mentioned him a few times in posts months back, the influence his life was having on mine. I preached about him at least twice in full length sermons months ago in church and also brought up much of his stuff in the shorter tithes and offering talks that I have been giving these last 6 months in church.

A couple of things stick to me from Glenn’s life and preachings. One is to always preach Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. To never veer from that. makes allot of sense too. Just stay with the Word, don’t try to tickle ears that want some tickling. I also loved his humor. I was listening to some of his sermons, in fact there’s a link on this blog’s sidebar that I use to listen to him. The down home talking is about as good as it gets for a fella like me. Nothing at all fancy, just the plain facts.

I wrote several times months back about his book that I purchased last spring, “Apostle Cowboy Style”, and besides the Bible in this past year that little book about how he started in his ministry is the most read book that I have. Practically every day I read some of it. I was even reading some at mid day today, before I found out that he went home to be with the Lord.

So tonight as its still snowing and blowing out here where the northern plains meet the north woods I pay tribute to this man that helped me in more ways than I can imagine.

Bulls, Tamales, and Just Believe

Ah, mid winter, now rumor has it that we’re in for a snow storm of sorts tomorrow and Monday. That’s what happens when it warms up in this area. Just got home after a double chores day. Went to the county seat 20 miles away and checked out a Mexican restaurant that we’ve been hearing about for some time. I am pleased to report that it gets five stars from me. Good food, plenty of it, and cheap!  My kind of place! Tomorrow being Sunday means in a little bit I had better get some things gathered together for tomorrow’s church service. Gotta do some minor preaching which means get a couple of verses prepared and away we go! Now this time of year besides seed catalogs to page through guys like me get bull buyer guides.What that consists of is a magazine type of thing with articles on bulls and bull buying and the publication is chuck full of ads from various ranches in the upper Midwest announcing their sales and such.  I’ve been around long enough to know who hypes the best, who grain feeds their bulls where they create a bull that will “melt down” in real world conditions out in pastures, and who sells just some good doing proven bulls. The cattle business isn’t for the weak hearted let me tell you cause you can lose a bundle fast following some fad and hype. Well, I was going through the bull buyers guide and I just rest easy when I see the ranch advertisement where I like buying bulls. The “Old Reliable Sale” and I tell you, they are. Never a problem, tough bulls, bulls that don’t melt down in real world conditions, plus durn good folks to do business with. This is a real bull sale, with the sales reps from the upper Midwest working the crowds.the sale is at the ranch, in a building they built a long while back for just such an event every year. There’s cowboy hats galore and these ain’t drug store cowboys neither! These are folks that make a good share or all of their living raising beef cattle. A long ways back I figured out how to buy a top notch bull at a much lower price than the high selling ones and still end up with durn near the same quality. Bump up the birth weight just a bit and you can knock a thousand dollars off the price tag. And still have the same quality if not sometimes even better than the high sellers. A long while back I discovered not to go overboard on low birth weights. The reason is that our Black Angus cows don’t have the slightest problem with moderate weight bulls. The money savings are huge, plus another problem is avoided too. That is the problem that many are discovering with repeated breedings of low birth weight cattle, these low birth weight cattle start having birthing problems after a few generations. Moderate ones never really do. Just an old cattleman’s trick and I ain’t even charging for the advice, can’t beat that deal eh!

Well, with all that free advice given and the Mexican food settling in finally I figure I had better tend to some faith things in a bit for tomorrow. Simple faith, simply believing, that’s what I like to talk about the most. There ain’t nothing moving from heaven to earth without faith being the thing that jump started it all. Where does a person begin,how does a person build up faith? Start simple, just believe.Now allot of folks just can’t get it, they say that they can’t get any faith moving and such.So I ask, (as always), do you read the Bible regular? The answer is always no. Well, that’s it then. How can you believe the Word if you don’t know the Word? You ain’t going to get fed watching TBN or something similar. Oh, it might keep you alive but sickly, but a person needs the Word, not stuff like that to move the mountain that needs moving. I liken it to the difference between a good beef cow’s milk and milk replacer. You take a good old cow and let her take care of the calf and that beef calf will grow and grow. It will flourish on that rich milk and then start nibbling the green grass in the pastures. It’ll grow strong and healthy. You take that same calf and take it away from its mother, buy some milk replacer and have it live on that and it’ll never even come near what that cow raised calf has become.

Its really simple, this modern day cattleman’s parable. Go for the rich mama’s milk and it will flourish. Get some imitation stuff and rely on that and the calf will end up a few hundred pounds lighter come fall. The milk replacer calf will never have the beautiful coat that its mama raised counterpart has and its frame won’t develop near as well as the calf’s that has been feeding on the real thing.

The Word of God is the real thing. Not some imitation to keep us going. As the Apostle Paul would say, “barely saved”. There’s allot said in that. Barely saved, living a defeated life, not living in victory as we were intended to. And always its from lack of knowledge as the Bible says. The only way to get that knowledge in a good dose is to get into the Word! It sure would save pastors an incredible amount of time if they wouldn’t have to be counciling defeated Christians all the time.

So this will probably be the theme of tomorrow’s talk in church, believing the Word, not trying to figure out what it means to us because rest assured a fella ain’t going to figure it out. Not until one just simply believes it. A preacher from years gone by named Smith Wigglesworth, a powerful, powerful preacher said, don’t try and understand the Bible,  just believe what it says and nothing will be able to shut the windows of heaven from pouring out blessings on the believer, (Tom’s paraphrase). Just believe!

Against the Flow

Pretty good day in these parts. Started out with around a couple inches of new clean snow on the ground, not enough to slow anything down around here. No wind so everything just stayed put where it fell. It was in the twenties today with sunshine much of the day and as I cut some firewood this afternoon I worked up a good sweat. Water was dripping off the roofs, even though it was below freezing, the sunshine gaining more and more power every day. This is paperwork season and to tell the truth I don’t like it all that much. I guess I was never cut out for that kinda stuff, its more a chore than anything else. Makes my eyes sore after a couple of hours. My regular days are pretty much always outdoors, just doing what I do all the time. In the fresh air, no matter what the weather, farming and doing what needs to be done.

Once I get done with this paperwork I gotta get into the seed catalogs and get some seeds rustled up for the family garden. Plus look around a bit for some seed for the farm. Alfalfa, clovers, grass seeds and the like. Amazing the price differences when a person looks around a little bit on the farm supplies. In my experience,which is considerable, I have found that the forage seeds that I buy at the local farmer friendly co-op and at a local Fleet Store can run circles around the big named seed company’s high price seed.

This year I have no idea what will all happen around here on the farm and I guess I ain’t worried about it very much. We take it as it comes, there’s not much else a person can do. Just like the oldtimers of faith, which I respect s very much. Not really the big named preachers of yesteryear, although I have allot of respect for them, just the old time people of simple faith that used to farm, used to raise families, used to trust God in every part of their lives. Funny, I read a book a long while back, a couple in fact, written a hundred or more years ago. And it was well documented how people when prosperous would stray away from the God that took them there in to prosperous living. I see it all the time, how folks can put together a new religion where living for materialism and calling ourselves Christian become respectable.

Are these new fangled gadgets evil? The answer is no. In fact the other evening when in the hospital waiting room I literally ran the farm and parts of the family from a cell phone. That was basically my first time ever truly using one, normally I never touch it cause the little thing is so small I figure I’ll drop it down my collar on my shirt or something. I need a phone with a receiver a person can grip with his hand, not fingertips. That’s just me though and I sure don’t judge anyone that prefers them. Its when the gadgets, the stuff, starts to rule us that we stray from the Lord.

Lately though this has been on my heart more than normal. About how we think society has the answers to man’s problems. How some figure certain political parties make a person more Christian and so on. I believe that there isn’t much difference in the parties, both run on corruption so I stay away from setting my hopes on them at all. I still vote, I still stay informed, but never give them any hope for changing anything because their system is the world system and that is going to burn away soon. No, I’ll put my trust in Jesus Christ, our King!

Here it is early February and I’m getting more and more stricken with spring fever. Dreaming about getting out there, working the fields, fixing fences, doing cow checks in the pastures everyday. Working in the yard and garden in the evenings to wind down the days. Going down to the creek and see what a person can spot lingering down there. Visiting some neighbors or visiting some friends from church. Heading off to church on Sunday mornings without having to warm up the car in order to keep from freezing down. All these years of writing have shown me that I still value what I did a few years ago. The good life out here. Its what you make it, it can be a disaster or a dream come true, its up to the person.

Wow, did I stray writing, I was trying to talk about the oldtimers of faith. Those farm families of yesteryear. Hard working folks! But they also knew how to stop working and talk with the Lord. Whether at meals, or reading the Bible by lamp light or candle light. About taking every Sunday off after chores were done and fellowshipping with the saints. Not worrying about some football game on the hellivision, not overwhelmed with the deafening noise of a society bent on self destruction through unbridled materialism and worship of self. Just getting together, talking the talk, enjoying each other, eating good!

We’ve lost allot. More than we can imagine. But this is one area where a person can change it themselves. And it might be harder than a person thinks depending on how addicted they are to the world. I know I have addictions in this world, but I also know I’d rather live the life God intended for us to live. To really live, not just go with the flow. I read somewhere that only dead fish go with the flow and by golly they are right. I have never seen a fish pointed down stream except to reposition themselves, live fish are always pointed against the flow!

Seek First The Kingdom

Matthew 6 (New King James Version)

³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Sunday evening around these parts and the weekend is almost over with.Was a rather adventurous weekend to say the least starting Friday morning while I was having a cup of coffee before going out to work before dawn. Our older daughter woke up and complained about a gut ache and I had to go outside then.Later I came in and checked and it was bad. So around eleven AM my wife took her into the hospital at the county seat to the ER. It was agreed upon that I’d stay home a few hours and then come to town for the yearly tax appointment  and then after that if they were still in the hospital I’d come directly there. I got there at 4:20 in the afternoon and still no word exactly what was wrong. Five minutes later they came into the room and said it was appendicitis. I give credit where credit is due, those hospital people didn’t waste any time and things were flying fast! I was calling home and making sure the two outdoor wood boilers would be fired up before 6 PM so we didn’t loose the fires.  To make a long story short, everything went about as perfect as it could get, Praise the Lord, and recovery is well on the way!

Later we thought it over how God had His hand in the whole day, from start to finish. If anything would have varied from how the day went it could have been a disaster, but even as the day seemed as crazy as it could get we look back now and see God’s hand in it all! Right to the smallest details. That’s what I’m starting to recognize daily here on the farm also. And last evening while sitting down and opening up the Bible the verse above jumped right out at me! “First seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness”. I see it more and more, in daily life, even in crazy days like we just had, God takes care of us because we seek Him first. I believe with all my heart that God will do what He says and He says that He will take care of those who seek Him and trust Him.

I know that in situations like we just had that I can get overwhelmed,make mistakes and all, but trusting God, going by those unctions He places in us, things go the right way. Farming is no different when we trust Him. Farming and ranching are some tough ways to make a living, very tough indeed! A person is at the mercy of everything and without trusting in God to take care of it I don’t know how or why a person would even attempt to take on this way of life. Because I can sure say that it can and will overwhelm a person, the weather,markets, the government, you just about name it, all have a hand in making farming and ranching very risky.

But seek God first, put Him as the number one thing, before family, before farm, heck, before church even and you will see Him move! Put Him before retirement accounts, bank savings, stocks and bonds and most importantly, put Him before the most dangerous idol of all, second to none, self. I’ve always said, when the letters in the Bible are in red a person had better take notice and the words written on the top of the post were in red in my Bibles. Seek Him, trust Him, even when there isn’t hardly an ounce of strength left in a person to do so. I think God loves it when we just hand it all over to Him in trust, in love, for the one who created us.

And God will tax the furthest star for those who simply do that! I can just imagine the chain of events unfold when a person seeks God, trusts Him and puts God first in everything they do. Heaven moves! And nothing can get in the way of God on the move, nothing. When God moves for someone who is putting their trust in Him, nothing can stand in the way!

Farming, ranching, raising a family, all are so blessed when we seek the Kingdom and His righteousness! There is no problem ever that is to big for God, in fact the bigger the better! He doesn’t get the glory when its simple, that’s when we take over so many times, claiming the victory for ourselves. I’ve learned these past few years that I never want to claim the victory, claiming that it was my own power that did it, because it sure wasn’t. No matter what the situation,whether raising cattle, crops, or family affairs, I can only praise God and no one else. He is in charge.In charge when we let Him. He wants to be in total charge, to keep us from harm, but how we push Him to the side,giving lip service and then just doing what we want to do. We screw it up and wonder how could God let this happen?

Seek, seek, seek! Jesus tells us to seek. To get into the Word, get into it daily. To get into the most precious thing that there is, His Word. His Word where there is life, Where there is peace. Where there is love and all the answers to anything a person would ever need to live. To live abundantly, to live for God! To live seeking the Kingdom! Seeking the Kingdom always results in the Kingdom coming! Always! It might not come in the way our simple minds were hoping for or expecting, no, it comes much better than anything we had figured.

The Real World

2 Kings 6 (New King James Version)

¹⁵ And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
¹⁶ So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

Spent the day, after morning chores working on the Bobcat.I was hauling silage and bales and I noticed the heater fan was about to give up the ghost, was grinding and growling so I decided it was a good time to make the 35 mile journey to the city and stop in at the Bobcat dealer to invest in a new fan motor. Spent the greater part of the afternoon doing the impossible, that is, working on a Bobcat. I tell you, it isn’t for the weak of heart! You gotta be double or triple jointed to do anything on those machines. But it got done and I can visualize a warm farmer tomorrow morning in the sub zero cold, feeding cows and praising the Lord without shivering! Glory!

Last evening I taught Children’s Church in the nice and warm doublewide alongside of our church. I taught on the verses above and a few more before and after them. The words “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them”, really stuck to me yesterday while working on the farm and I just had to tell the kids about it in my own unusual way. I love those kind of things from the Bible. Good old Elisha, he wasn’t afraid of an enemy army surrounding his house. He knew who was on his side, the armies of God!

¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Amen to that! Yep, this farmer was dwelling on that yesterday while working out here on the frozen tundra! Do I really believe that God is there to protect us? More and more I sure am! The more a person looks to God, believes what His Word says, the more a person starts to see reality. Beyond our five simple senses and starts getting into the real world! Think about it, if we believe this, if we really believe what is written, we aren’t alone in this journey, in fact we out number the world! Kinda neat if you ask me. The usual Christian way of expressing things is that we are alone, the world doesn’t understand. But reality of the Word says that the world doesn’t  understand that they are out numbered by a multitude to big to imagine! Hmm, think about that.

Think about that in our every day lives, where ever we are, where ever we go.I think about that on the farm, while I’m working,looking up on the hay hill to the east and wondering how many chariots of fire are up there. I know they are there! I believe the protecting angels are all over the farm. This is when Christianity gets really interesting, when a person believes the Bible. When a person sees miracles all the time. When a person sees God move in every situation, and recognizes it!

Farming takes faith. And faith is simply believing that God is who He says He is. That God will do what He says He will do. That His promises to us are real. More real than anything we sense with our natural  senses. Just believe! Just believe and God will do everything He has promised He will do. Boy, Christianity sure is simple when a person gets right down to the brass tacks of it. It doesn’t do a person a whole lot of good to go to church all the time, going through the motions if we don’t simply believe that God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do.

The whole Bible is chock full of promises! Good promises by a God who delivers, who cannot go back on His promises. All He asks is for us to simply believe. And when we believe we get filled with God’s love that builds up our faith and hope. Believe like a child, not doubts, just trust that God is who He says He is. Tell the wise to just leave me alone, I’m trusting the King of the universe, not in a fallen system that will burn away. I’ll trust in those horses and chariots of fire from the real world and not in the corruptible horses and chariots of man!

Old Elisha, he knew, he saw. He knew reality. These days are exciting times to be living in. The world is going one way, and the Kingdom is going another. This farmer is going with the larger crowd! What a way to wake up in the morning knowing that we are the overwhelming majority! What a way to work all day long knowing that we’re on the winning side! How can a person even deny knowing Jesus when they know this for a fact! I guess this is one of the reasons this farmer will openly declare Jesus Christ to any and all. This is why I can take something like farming and make it into an adventure for the Kingdom of God. Do I ever get bored with this? The answer is no. day after day, week after week, year after year it just keeps building.

An Open Door

Revelation 3:8 (New King James Version)

⁸ “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.

All continues to go well as January is winding down. It cooled off in these parts again and to tell the truth I like it better. It was just starting to get sloppy and some of the cattle were getting a little mudded up on their bellies and it was taking allot of straw all of a sudden to keep them clean. Now that it cooled down things are well under control again. Today was uneventful except for a big mistake made by our fuel man.I called up to order 300 gallons of diesel fuel and thought no more of it Just before noon he came and I seen him over by the two tanks, both 300 gallon, above ground tanks. A while later he came with the bill and told me the tank wasn’t empty, he said it was a third full so the bill was not so big. Now old Tom knew the diesel tank was empty and I had a sick gut feeling that the mistake had been made and I was right. He pumped 178 gallons of diesel fuel into the gas barrel. Oops! Which just goes to show that I’m not the only one in the world that screws up! Kinda made me happy in a way, now I know I’m not alone. But back to the adventure, the fuel man knew it was his fault instantly, cause how could anyone get out of this one when the diesel barrel is labeled diesel and the gas barrel is labeled regular unleaded?! In big letters too! Live and learn! I felt kinda bad for him and asked him what he’d do to the mix that he created and I felt better when he told me he could use it all to heat his shop, just gotta mix more fuel oil into the mixture to make it safer. So alls well that ends well with that.

This evening after doing a bit with taxes and getting more and more satisfied that I’m pretty well prepared I worked on our farm newsletter, “The Seed Sower” for a bit. Almost done with that, just have to put a roast beef recipe in there yet on page two and away we go! I’m kinda excited about starting a farm publication to keep in contact with all of our customers. Plus folks will be getting a dose of Farming For Jesus in the little Seed Sower newsletter too. In the verse above something caught me eye, (and heart). “I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it.” So what could this possibly have to do with anything I’m writing about tonight? Plenty! Over these past few years since coming to the Lord He has been opening doors like I wouldn’t, or couldn’t even imagine a couple of years ago! But its up to me, and no one else but me to go through those doors that He has opened in my life. Others would not understand when a door is opened for me, just as I probably wouldn’t see their open door from my point of view.

God has opened doors and I ain’t saying no to something from Him. God has miraculously provided all the customers we need, when we need them, not a moment to soon or too late, always with perfect timing. God say to trust Him and when we do it always works, every time without exception. Now God is working on my heart to have me let it be known that this is a Christian farm and to spread the Good News anytime I do anything involving the farm. The way I figure it and have gradually come to understand it is that the farm is owned by Jesus, my family belongs to Jesus, everything we have belongs to Jesus. I’m just the caretaker, the steward of our King’s possessions.

The one thing I’ve learned these past few years is the fact that as a farmer I can reach many, many more times the people than a pastor of a church could possibly reach. The doors are open when I come and talk about Jesus, the barriers are way down when a farmer with dirt under the nails talks about what Jesus has done for him than say a regular church preacher was trying the same thing. This is not belittling any pastors of churches, its just a fact. A farmer can talk the talk, can get right down to where the folks are. I had this happen this past week, a door flew wide open and I was able to minister, to gain the trust of a man that had very little to do with churches. A person can be talking one minute about skidsteer loaders and the next about Jesus. Hey, it works! And nothing catches the attention than real life testimonies when talking to other farmers and countryfolk.

This is going to be an exciting year the way it looks to me. I’m looking forward to a good year on the farm, with the crops, with the cattle, and also with working for the real owner of us and it all. No one can shut the door that Jesus opens for us. Its up to us to go through that door because when we do He will be with us every step of the way. Don’t matter what folks say or think about it all, because other folks aren’t going to be taking care of you, only Jesus can do that, perfectly.

Makings of a Country Sermon

The Lord’s Day today and it was a very good one! An anointed church service this morning and warm temps melting the ice around here that saturated the area yesterday. Yesterday the morning chores were down right dangerous with the icy conditions making it almost impossible to even walk anywhere. My main concern in the dark hours of early morning was if the cattle would be able to safely walk around without going down because of the ice. Well, my prayers were answered because where the cattle were they had the ice chewed up with their hooves and that was the only place on the farm that wasn’t slippery. There were a few hundred homes and farms without power right in the immediate area but we were spared the misery of that. So I didn’t have to set up any generators or anything like that which was fine with me.

Today in church was my day to start the service and then later give a shorter message, shorter than the main sermon but probably as long as main sermons in some time strapped churches. I’m starting to find what works best with me at the pulpit. Used to be I’d work and work, writing down notes and thoughts for when I was up there, but lately that is changing to just being armed with a few Bible verses and to tell the truth it goes much, much easier for me. In fact I really don’t know what I’ll be saying right up to the moment that I take the pulpit. Just relying on God and relying on His Word is all. Not relying on my notes and such. It seems to go very well, even if I can’t hardly remember any of it. When all is done I head to the back and unhook my mike that is clipped onto the collar of my clean work shirt, unclip the power pack from my Wrangler’s pocket and hand it back to the sound booth. The one thing and this is a very big thing that I’ve noticed since only being armed with the Word of God in the pulpit is the fact that sometimes after handing in the mike I’m almost totally exhausted! Doesn’t matter if its an hour sermon or 15 minutes, I almost collapse afterwards. Today I just slumped into a chair in the foyer for a few minutes before I could even get enough strength to take a seat in the back row of church for the rest of the service.

Today I had four Bible verses on paper, printed out in large print so I could read them at a glance. Here’s what they were.

Psalm 20:7-8 (New International Version)

⁷ Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

⁸ They are brought to their knees and fall,
but we rise up and stand firm.

John 14:12-14 (New Living Translation)

¹² “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. ¹³ You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴ Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

Mark 9:23 (New King James Version)

²³ Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

2 Timothy 2:13 (The Living Bible)

Even when we are too weak to have any faith left, He remains faithful to us and will help us, for He cannot disown us who are a part of Himself, and He will always carry out His promises to us.

These verses from four different books of the Word set the course for a good message. In fact the message has moved me as much as the most moved person listening. The part that got me was the last verse, from 1 Timothy. What a promise! What hope that puts in me!

Whatever You Ask

¹¹Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. ¹²I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. John 14

Kinda murky around these parts the last couple of days with a steady wind from the east. Those that know say that it could be a sloppy weekend around thee part and that’s no big deal with me. At least it isn’t cold out, been in the upper twenties and that’s summer in January in these parts! Nothing much new happening around here, just the same daily stuff on the farm, cut a little wood here and there and do chores every morning is about the extent of the day light hours.

A few minutes ago I ran across these verses and I just had to head them up on top of this post today! The question is, do we believe them? Do we believe this is for today or is it just something far in the past that fizzled out after the Apostles died? Folks can believe what they want I guess but I’m standing on the Word of God and I believe these words! I believe they are for today because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.He doesn’t change, man does, society does. And so does religion. Religion changes to keep in touch with the “times” as they say. Actually there’s two kinds of religion that don’t believe in the scripture, one is the kind that hangs on to traditions of men that were fabricated in the dark ages and folks figured they could set man’s apostasy in stone, figuring that if we keep these traditions and have us a dead and dry religion, that that’s the only way to go. Has nothing really to do with God at at. It has to do with a god made in the image of men. Then on the other extreme are those that follow society, throwing out much of the Word to please men and themselves, to justify living in sin, to justify societies sin, to overlook it or worse, call it good.

But there is the Word of God, that never changes, that is eternal and that’s what I must follow.Not men, not man made traditions from the middle ages when folks weren’t even allowed to read the Word, who were murdered for even attempting it, both  Catholic and Protestant. Many times a person reads folks arguing about Christianity, about how Christians murdered other Christians through the centuries and say how could it be justified. My answer is simple. Those church folks doing the murdering were not and are not Christian, simple. They were and are followers of man made religion that has very little if anything to do with God.

A Christian  believes the Bible its the most precious thing on this earth. Much more precious than anything else. It is the Living Word. Around the world millions of people hope to someday have a copy of the Bible. Crowds literally fight over Bibles in evangelistic campaigns in poor countries. In this society they are often not thought of as that special by church folk. For many the only real time that they handle a Bible is on Sunday morning, bring it into church to make it look good. Or if they don’t do that the church has pew Bibles so folks can at least touch one once a week.

But to the believer the Word is precious, so very precious. It is life itself. It is a Book written about our God and His relationship with us. It is a Book of more power than any other thing in the universe! Dead religion and dead churches do not preach this, but I believe it with everything I got! If we believe the Bible, if we believe the Word, all the power is available to those who “only believe”. GLORY! To those that DARE to believe! Yes, I truly do believe this and its growing stronger every day, this faith in what I have just written. This faith in the verses at the top of this post. Only believe and we will be doing what Jesus was doing in the Word. Hey, I didn’t say it, God said it!

There is no problem to big for God! He will alter the universe to help a person that trusts in His Word, He will tax the furthest star! This is what I truly believe. This isn’t anything to do with some modern prosperity Gospel that is only interested in carnal things. This is the promise of the Word, the promise of God Himself! Don’t let anyone ever tell you that these promises aren’t for us, if they say that they are liars,plain and simple. God sent forth His Word for us, to be believed, to be acted upon! To live the life of the Word is the best life anyone could ever have on this earth. God will never let us down, ever! We might walk away in unbelief, but God will never walk away from someone who believes, who trusts Him. Who hands over every care and problem to Him. Who praised the Lord in joy no matter what the circumstances!

Oh yes, this excites me,more than anything else in life because this is life itself! The life God wants us to live. A life of trusting Him in everything we do. Farming for Jesus is simply farming with this faith, with this belief. Giving it all over to God, the master farmer, is the best business plan, life plan, that anyone could ever have!

Faith, Hope and Love

¹ Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. ² Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. ³ For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

The above is from Colossians, chapter 3. I was reading my Bible last evening, winding down a Sunday and for some reason these verses just jumped out at me. I’ve been thinking a bit more eternally lately and when I come across some of these verses they catch my eye. And one more verse, a rather popular one with many from 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

¹³ Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Now I lean on writing and talking about faith allot. I love learning about faith, I love practicing faith and I love the results from faith. For as it is written, without faith its impossible to please Him. Love,well there’s lots and lots nowadays written on that subject in the Christian circles but I was thinking last evening that I don’t really run across the hope all that much. It might be just me because I tend to lean towards other things but every thing has its season and I do believe I’m getting into the hope season! One thing I noticed was when I started running across verses about hope that I became excited and could tell the the Holy Spirit wants me to go there.

So today I cleaned out the calf barn, I don’t know,maybe twenty five loads of manure that had thawed in this January warm spell. I thought, what is the Gospel?  The Gospel is hope! We’ve all heard the saying,hope for the hopeless and this has been working on me all day. Hope when there is no hope.I guess one reason it never really affected me so much before was the fact that we live in such a materialistic society that we kinda brush off hope because in the back of our minds or maybe even in the front of our minds we still rely on society. But any reliance on society will let a person down sooner or later and the one thing that is for sure is, anything we rely on society for will not be eternal. In the western church especially there has been a convenient blend of the world and Christianity, one that people and I mean church folks even raise the roof when a person talks about this subject. The blend of one foot relying on the world and the other supposedly relying on God. This does not mean a person becomes a recluse, this means that a person puts there trust in God, in the eternal.

So many, many times I have had folks tell me that they never see results from faith, they never really see the power of God in their lives. I believe them. I ask one simple, very simple question to the powerless Christians. “Do you read the Bible often?”  The answer is always no. In my heart I feel so sorry for these folks. I always tell them to read the Bible, even if you don’t feel like it. Do it daily at the least. This is the way to build up faith, hope and love. It doesn’t come by listening or watching popular preachers. Oh, it might keep a person going a while, but there will not be the growth that the Word brings to a person. In third world countries it amazes me, the hunger for Bibles. Here folks come up with all sorts of excuses to not read the Word.

The Word says three things will last forever, forever in our lives. Nothing else will, nothing. Think about that, nothing else will. This doesn’t mean that a person becomes a recluse and just reads the Bible day in and day out, not functioning in the regular world. No, a person, a Christian is here for one purpose, and that is to be the feet of Jesus,the mouth piece of Jesus. To bring hope to the hopeless, to spread the love of Christ in every direction in our lives. To have that faith that God will back us up with signs and wonders as He has promised to those who believe. This means that even a farmer, a simple farmer, who reads the Word, believes the Word, and acts on the Word can do incredible things! One of my favorite verses in the Bible is that God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise of this world. Amen! That means me! I’m hired!

When a believer stands before the judgment seat of Christ the only thing they will keep from this life are the three things mentioned in the verse above. Everything else will be burned off! In other words, everything beyond these three things is meaningless. Oh Lord, this excites me. This life is short,  incredibly short. The time given to us is to is to determine our eternal destiny. Every moment not doing God’s will is a waste. Every meaningless word will be burned up to our shame.

Jesus Christ gave it all for us, gave everything. He showed us how to live, He taught us how to love, how to have faith and how to hope. He dwells in every believer but we are the ones in control of our lives. Do we allow Him to operate through us. Or are we content being church folk, putting on the show, trying to be popular, and keeping Jesus safely under wraps?