There are 2 basic ways to plant in the spring, Broadcast-Spreader (top picture) and Drilling. Growing up we had a red seeder wagon pulled behind a tractor. I remember we planted rice after we pulled the levees. My job as a 10- or 13-year-old was to ride in the back and shovel rice seed into the spreader and…not fall out of the wagon when we went over the levees. The drill, (bottom picture) puts the precise number of seeds in the exact depth and covers it up. While the drill provides better results, broadcaster spreaders still have a place on the farm.

As I read the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:1-8, I recognize a Broadcast-Spreader. “That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” 

The “Today’s Good News” that I have been publishing since March 17, 2020, is a Broadcast-Spreader. I didn’t recognize what God was doing at first, I simply desired to encourage family & friends during COVID. Over the years people would respond to a post with, “How did you know I needed this message today?” I have responded, “I didn’t, but He did. Please know, He was thinking of you when He gave me the words to write.” So, here I am riding in God’s Red Seeder Wagon, shoveling the seeds of His Hope into the spreader called, “Today’s Good News.”

But there are occasions where the drill application works best. It happens at the gas pump, hospital hallway or in Bible Study, when a person is ready to receive the seed of Hope. “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” 1 Timothy 4:10

In Mattew 28, Jesus clearly calls His followers to plant the Good Seed of Hope. It’s not a good idea or suggestion; it’s called the Great Commission. “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

God tells us in Jeramiah 29:11 that He has a plan (job) for us. Yet Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 9:37, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” Like the farm needs more than just the tractor drivers, it needs people to plow the ground, fuel, grease, get the seed and repair the equipment. There is much work to be done before He comes. Are you ready?