I’m a corn-crop nerd. No offense to myself, but I cannot come up with a better way of saying it; Throughout the summer I constantly watch the corn fields as I drive on highways and along the countryside. I keep copious track of how well the stalks are growing. How quickly are they springing up from the ground? How tall do they stand once Fourth of July arrives? What’s their tasselling date? Are the ears filling out well, or is the dry summer stunting growth? Will the plants make it to the first frost, or will the stress of summer create an early death and stunt the final harvest results? Now you see what I mean: Corn-crop nerd! Most of the results are unfair, really. The little corn seeds faithfully sown each spring are total slaves to soil quality and the weather. The first part is evident as I pass by corn crops and find thick, mature ears of corn engulfing a field on one side of the road, and starved, stunted ears on the other side: soil quality certainly plays a part in the process. In addition, weather plays and enormous factor. Wet rains in early spring keep crops from being planted on time. Lack of rain starves the plants. A cool summer means there’s not enough energy for growth. Early frosts end the season early. Hail or a strong windstorm can annihilate an entire field in minutes. (I’m thrilled that at least the locust plagues have been held in check since Pioneer days!) All these factors play a crucial part in whether the farmer will be able to purchase that much-needed new tractor over the Winter-time, or whether he’ll be begging the bank for credit extensions next Spring. Switching gears: I see that same unfairness in the quality of home-life a child is raised in. Through no choice on the child’s part, one might be born into a loving, devoted family while across the street another is brought up in an abusive hell. One girl is given all the tools necessary for earthly success—value, significance, nurture, safety; Another is scorned as a curse, a horrible accident, a troublesome whore. One boy grows up with health and over-all wellness, while another is born sickly and becomes a life-long cripple through a terrible bike accident. Like those corn crops, we have all been blessed or burdened by the fickleness of life-circumstances as well as the quality of family-life we were born into. That’s why it is all-too-fitting to find God challenging everyone to undergo a re-birth into the fields of His “Forever Family.” After all, Imagine the healing pride a beat-up and burnt-out teenager can experience by declaring herself a princess, since her Father is the “King of Kings!” How much value can a young man contrive by realizing that the One who measures the universe by a hands-breath has immeasurably-tender feelings for his life? How much hope can the cripple contain by seizing the reality that a feeble body is not his identity, and that one day the corpse will be cast off so the cripple can dance exuberantly in Heaven’s fields of grace? And how much joy can a former crack-baby endure when, despite having a dad serving life in prison and a mother working the streets at night, can tearfully boast about having the bloodline of God’s holiness running hotly through his re-created veins? That’s the miracle of the born-again life. It’s being transplanted from the capricious fields of physical life and placed perfectly into the rich soil of God’s tender embrace. It eradicates social classes, lowers mountains and raises valleys, erases identities based on skin color, intelligence, or skill-sets, and fits us firmly as brothers and sisters knit together through the powerful affections of our Heavenly Father. And the harvest reaped is one of love, joy, peace, and righteousness as we live on Planet Earth to pollinate others with the same Hope we have found in Him. How about you: Would you like to leave the bondage of the field you’ve been born into and try a re-birth with the One who loves you without end and can give you power for living here on Planet Earth? I sure hope so! “All honor to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is by His boundless mercy that God has given us the privilege of being born again.” (I Peter 1:3)
Posted on: Sat, 14 Sep 2013 11:53:15 +0000
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