I was on my way to select some pumpkins when an
18,000-ton truck pulls into the dump area for harvested corn and my friend
Denny jumps out of the cab and says, “Get in.” He wanted this city-boy to
experience what’s its like to go out into the corn field and drive log side the
‘chopper.” Now when I shared this experience with family, they thought I was
invited to sit on a Harley motorcycle. This was better! I was traveling down
the county road with Chad who was taking me into the field to harvest the corn.
The driver in this truck has to be fearless and
watchful. Once in the field, you are looking for a behemoth of a machine known
by farmers as the “chopper.” This machine has massive forks that slide between
the corn stalks and pulls them into a center shoot that chops the corn at the
rate of a thousand RPMs.
Chad’s experienced showed as he maneuvers his truck
along side the chopper and carefully make sure his truck is under the device
that tosses the chopped remains of the corn into the bed of his truck. Unlike
the spoiled farmers out west with hundreds of flat acres, we are going up and
down hills where it’s possible to get stuck in the mud. Chad follows along side
the chopper for we have to keep up with this behemoth that races up and down
the rows of corn.
It’s one thing to know how to drive a truck, but then
you have to learn to drive up and down the hills of the field and then learn
how to stay close to the chopper to catch all the stalks that are being crushed
by this mean machine.
God’s invites us into his cab. He then takes us for a
ride that has many twists and turns; there is some pain, some sadness, a few
joys and even surprises. We need to be watchful and keep up where the Lord
takes us.
I was told that not many people want to be drivers in the
field during harvest. Just like not many people want to come inside church to
learn what it means to travel with Jesus in this life.
Let me share that at one point I was told to get out of
the truck and climb onboard the chopper. That ride in the chopper through the
fields was awesome. So too, our journey with God is awesome if we remain
watchful and ready to climb onboard.
Is God calling you today to serve in some way to bring
his love and comfort to others?
God speaks to our hearts:“I will lead the blind by a
road they do not know, by paths they have not known I will guide them. I will
turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them.”(Isaiah 42:16).
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshne Friends who accept Your
invitation to climb onboard into your cab and journey with You down the road
that leads to eternity life. May we be brave enough to follow You on our
journey in life.
