Mary & I went home to Hamburg last week for the 4^th of July Celebration on the Square. The first place I had to check out was where my dad’s heart was… the farm. Dad called it headquarters. There were no tractors or farm implements present. The huge old oak tree that provided shade on the hot August days where we replaced the sickles blades & beater bars on the combines was gone. But there it stood. The shop seemed to say, “I’m still here. I’ve endured it all and I’m still standing.” To most people it is just another metal building. But it was here where I saw the skill & love that few people ever saw in my dad. His care & ability to fix stuff. He found a way.

We moved to Hamburg in 1953 or 54. Life & farm equipment were simple then. If it broke, you fixed it. It was in this shop building I witnessed dad disassemble, repair, and return to like new our tractors, combines, planters and other farm equipment. He didn’t have manuals or books, just the knowledge & experience of how and why something worked.

The shop was where the day began & usually ended. It began with fueling, greasing, and making any necessary repairs to the equipment. It was where we gathered up a few tools we would need in the field. It was during this short period of time we got to know each other. And of course, have some fun. One day we gathered for lunch at the shop. One of the guys stretched out across the seat of one of the big trucks. While he was napping one of the guys put a rubber snake in the cab with him. He almost tore the truck apart, getting away from the rubber snake.

The shop, although significant, was not the main thing. The main thing was what happened in the field. It’s in the field where the Law of the Farm happens. Ponder this truth. “A man reaps what he sows.” (Galatians 6:7)  So, if a man spends all his time at the shop and nothing gets planted…then nothing grows and nothing will get harvested. This is the core Principle of the Law of the Farm. We reap what we sow!

When I apply the Law of the Farm to my walk with the Lord, I think about my shop…the place I go to get fueled up, greased up & repaired for my work for the Lord. For Mary & me, our shop is FirstNLR (First Assembly of God North Little Rock). We regularly get refueled in the Holy Spirt, greased up with Scripture- based teachings that enable us to endure the pressures, frictions and stress that happens in the field. And the repair shop of skilled & anointed Pastors is always ready to take our broken parts and transform them for His useful purpose. They use God’s Word and the Holy Spirit to weld and re-tune our hearts. We have been Blessed. God has called His people to the field not to remain suspended in the shop.

So, where are you? Are you hanging around the shop thinking this is farming? Jesus gave all His followers a very clear command. “Therefore GO and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19. This two-letter word is found through out the Bible. It’s significant. It’s not a suggestion.

Several years ago, in our Bible Study Fellowship study of Matthew, The Holy Spirit convicted me about  the gifts I have been given. “The Parable of the Bags of Gold” found in Matthew 25:14-30 got may attention. As I thought about the dude that did nothing with what the master had left with him, I decided “When I see Jesus and look Him in the eyes I want to give Him back a bountiful harvest. I want to see Him smile and hear those words, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”

Folks, It’s “Plantin’ Time.” Get to your local shop, get fueled & greased up and get to the field. We are burning daylight. The seed of the Good News must be planted.