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Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Mount Gretna Lake
Early this morning we passed the swimming lake at Mount Gretna. With a heat index forecast for 109 degrees this afternoon this will surely be a very busy place.
(Click on image to enlarge)

"The Hard-Working Farmer"

Message summary: Our word of encouragement to you today is to thank God for all who are expressing obedience to God by engaging in productive work that benefits society, especially the hard-working farmer.

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"The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops" (2 Timothy 2:6).

As most readers know we live out in the country surrounded by farms in Lancaster County. Lancaster County is rapidly growing in population but remains the state’s largest agricultural producer. Its $1.5 billion in AG sales account for 19% of the state’s total. Lancaster leads the state in sales of grain, tobacco, vegetables, and nearly every animal AG category. (from the Lancaster Farming newspaper).

The extent of my "farming" is tending to our lawn and landscaping. Currently the extreme heat and lack of rain are sure taking a toll. Brooksyne waters her flowers each day so they look good but our lawn is a dry stubble. It is 99 degrees today as we post this.

Uncomfortable for sure but we especially consider the weather's impact on our farmer friends. Although it's not planting or harvest season these farmers are very busy in one way or another year round since there's always work to do on a farm in every season! And this very hot weather is a tremendous strain in many ways.*

In today's portion of Scripture Paul uses three vocations to illustrate Christian service: the soldier, the athlete and the farmer. The Bible uses timeless illustrations that span all times and cultures. After all, we still have soldiers, athletes and farmers and virtually anywhere the Bible is read we are aware of these three vocations, although living in the midst of a farming area makes the third example particularly relevant to us.

Hard-working farmerIn regard to the farmer we have this descriptive adjective, "hardworking". We drive by farms where the Amish still work the fields with horse teams. We have a neighbor who farms the old-fashioned way which is a very interesting sight. We also drive by many farms using the latest in farming equipment and technology. One thing we know for sure: regardless of the variety or sophistication of the equipment, farmers work very hard!

"Hardworking" in the Greek (kopiōnta) is in the present tense picturing continual wearying, tiring activity.

Here I find a helpful study note from Stephen Olford:

The hardworking farmer is not a glamorous metaphor like the athlete or soldier, for the farmer begins his demanding work early and often goes late, limited finally by the dimming light of day. His work is often tedious, boring and unexciting. Not many farmers ever become celebrities unlike soldiers and athletes. He is often called to endure cold, heat, rain, and drought. He plows whether the soil is hard or not. He waits not for a convenient time because the seasons do not wait for him (2 Timothy 4:2). When it's time to plant, he must plant. When weeds appear, he must extract them. When the fruit ripens, he must harvest. What drives the farmer to labor under such grueling, unpredictable conditions? Is it not because he is looking forward to the bountiful harvest (2 Peter 1:11). But while he tarries, the bulk of his labor is tedious, humdrum, and unexciting.

Unlike the teacher, the soldier, or the athlete, a farmer often works alone with no students to stimulate, no fellow soldiers to fight alongside and no crowd in the stands to cheer him on. The lives of many believers are like the farmer's life. To be sure, there may be seasons of harvest excitement, but for the most part the daily routine is often mundane and seemingly unrewarding. But like the hardworking farmer, faithful believers are promised God’s blessing and reward not only in this life but in that which is to come. They may be underpaid, unjustly treated, or unappreciated but they have yet to see the bountiful harvest reward Christ will present to the faithful hardworking farmer. (Stephen Olford Ministries International)

Today let us all give thanks to God for the farmer. In our home we tend to be specific when we give thanks for our food considering not only God's blessing but the specific labor and laborers that made it possible for the food to reach our table. We encourage our readers to do the same and consider that it most certainly involved some vision, expense, and hard labor.

But expanding on that challenge our word of encouragement to you today is to thank God for all who are expressing obedience to God by engaging in productive work that benefits society. And before you judge or criticize anyone (particularly farmers) consider the contribution they are making to your life! A sign along a rural farm road caught my attention, "Don't criticize the farmer with your mouth full". If you consume anything edible today it is a result of some type of farming effort. Call this to mind as you thank God for your food before eating!


Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13


Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Praying man Daily prayer: Father, we thank You for the hard-working farmers who work the soil, plant the seeds, and then busy themselves with other farm chores as they await the germination and growth of the seeds planted. It's all a work of faith since many crucial factors are out of their control; too much rain or lack thereof, the proper growing temperatures, disease and harmful insects can make or break the harvest, and catastrophic storms can affect the fields for this season and the next. So we thank you for those who year after year toil in the fields to provide healthy, vibrant and delicious foods to fill our plates. It's generally a family effort so we pray Your blessings upon the entire family as they work together to make a very productive contribution to our well-being. We also give thanks for our spiritual leaders who contribute to our spiritual well-being, who work hard at feeding our souls. They, too, deal with troubling elements out of their control following their seed planting, so faith and persistence are key tools in the results of their labor and future harvest. Bless them, their families, and give them fruit for their labor, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Tractor

We dedicate "Hard-working Farmer" to my (Brooksyne's) cousins on Mountain Top, Arkansas. I took the above photo 7 years ago of my Uncle Carroll Sherrell who farmed his whole life. He went to be with the Lord last month at 82 years of age. My dad was always proud of his "little" brother. Not long before I took this photo he had a run-in with a mean bull which landed him in the hospital. It really tore up his face and eye requiring plastic surgery. We will be on the mountain next week and I will sure miss seeing him, as now there are only two of my dad's siblings still living, the oldest being 98 years of age.


Steincross  cousins with Uncle Gentry (mid sixties)
Stephen: My uncle Gentry was also a farmer in southern Missouri and how he enjoyed seeing that his nieces and nephews had a good time on the farm!

*Galen is our longest term friend here in Lancaster County and his farming family goes back many generations and his son is following him as a farmer. Another farming friend, Bob, operates a large dairy operation and his wife told me Saturday on a class bike ride that the hot weather and drought will most certainly impact crop yield. We saw the stunted and dry corn as we traveled through Lebanon this morning. Mike, a long-time friend who works with chickens, described the chickens as panting in the heat. Jim is a newer farmer friend who told me Sunday before class it was going to be a rough week for his livestock: chickens and hogs.

And there are many other challenges. The other evening I stopped by to visit with Chris, an Amish farmer neighbor up the road from us. He was out in the field with two of his sons dealing with some type of blight that is affecting some of his squash.

We list many of the hardships that come with farming in our message today, but we should also comment that, perhaps due to the many hardships, farmers are some of the greatest men of faith that we have met along life's journey, including Brooksyne's grandpa. Their reliance on God as their faith is tested from year to year, for many farmers, brings spiritual maturity that we all long for.

Hughes sums up the farmer's life, each of these characteristics having spiritual application...

1) Early and long hours because he could not afford to lose time;

2) Constant toil (plowing, sowing, tending, weeding, reaping, storing);

3) Regular disappointments—frosts, pests, and disease;

4) Much patience—everything happens at less than slow motion; and

5) Boredom. (Hughes, R. K., & Chapell, B. 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus: Preaching the Word. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books)


Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

Ruby's Gardens Yesterday morning Brooksyne took a video of her flowers around our house and Ester placed it on Facebook here.  Her sister, Elaine, whom we'll be seeing in a few days, purchased a home in the Nashville area and is re-doing her landscaping so Brooksyne made the video for her to get ideas for plants and flowers. Ester set it to music thinking it would last the entire video. Unfortunately, it did not so you will hear the pets loudly trying to get her attention so they could come out and join her. I teasingly named it Ruby's Gardens since she has a beautiful "little ruby alternathera" plant and because it's Brooksyne's first name.

Lancaster Farming

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